I have to fight.

It's character development.

Ooh.

She doesn't want to fight.

You.

Kick hard.

Kick through these people.

How bad do you want something?

It is so good, if not great, to be the underdog.

You ready?

Love you're over there.

You good?

Mamas, it's different.

You're behind the kit.

You're running it.

All right, we ready?

We're ready.

We're rolling.

Are you ready?

I'm so ready.

All right, let's do this.

I'm excited.

Okay.

This is.

This is a long time coming.

I know.

I'm usually behind watching everyone.

What?

Are you okay?

Sad?

Not yet.

We're still in the beginning.

Are you okay?

You can't make me cry.

Are you okay?

Do you want your water?

I swear it's the fast cramp.

Do you want your water?

I gotta add crap.

I'm not gonna get through this show.

D. Oh, okay.

You okay?

No, I'm not getting through this one.

It's gonna be a tough one.

Okay, you want me to get.

You want me to hold on to the tissues?

No, I'm gonna need to hold on to them.

Dad, you can't make me cry beforehand.

All right.

Wait,

what?

Yes.

If you peek a little bit.

And it's in the yellow.

Just make sure.

Mostly my AB is cramping so bad right now.

All right.

Yeah.

In advance.

If I get this volume.

Okay, let's try to get through this freaking intro, huh?

Yes.

This is different.

So why is this hard for you?

I don't know how we're going to get through this episode.

Because it's the 100th episode and it's her.

Oh, my God.

I don't give a about the numbers.

Just watching her grow.

All right, all right.

I'm excited you're editing all of this shit out.

Dad, we get to have a conversation.

I know.

And for however long.

For however long.

And you can't leave.

I'm just kidding.

All right.

I'm not making it through this episode.

I haven't even started yet.

All right.

All right, my love.

Hi, dad.

Let's do this thing.

Are you okay?

I feel so bad.

Too.

It's a fit.

It's the fast.

I'm blaming it all on the fast.

We want to give him a beef stick.

No, I'm not eating.

I'm not quitting.

All right.

Dad's got such good self control.

Sweating already.

Haven't even started.

Dude, what the hell do I do?

I.

You're okay.

If people really do.

This is.

This is wild chaos.

All right.

Damn I don't know how I'm going to even get into this episode.

I can't even intro you.

All right, you want to open the window?

Is it open?

Yeah, I might need to.

I'm not sweating.

Damn.

Okay.

Not think I was going to try train wreck like this.

You can't make.

I. I could cry so far in the beginning.

All right, if that gets cold, just tell me.

No, I'm hot, too.

It's actually toasty up here.

I really got belly button sweat.

You're okay, dad.

You're okay.

That looks.

No, you're good.

Just.

Yeah, there you go.

I'm not using that one for my face.

All right.

All right, kid.

Let's get serious.

All right, now, I got that out.

Let's.

That's not gonna be the last time.

Okay, you ready, my love?

I'm so ready.

I can't even get through the intro of this.

Okay.

This is a very special episode because you are my life.

You're the producer of the podcast.

Yes.

Along of probably one of the most incredible human beings I have ever had the opportunity to even just be around.

So I wanted to do this episode because.

You're one of the most incredible human beings and you've run this whole entire podcast.

We got a lot of to talk about, so.

We do.

Dad, it's episode 100.

Yes.

Episode 100.

I'm just so proud of you and what you've accomplished and who you're becoming and.

Yeah.

So I love you.

It's okay.

It's okay.

All right.

Just start talking, I guess.

No, I'm just kidding.

All right, so this is a very special episode that I can't even get to the intro on.

I can't even look at you right now because I'm so proud of you.

Thank you.

You.

And it's time for the world to know who the hell you are.

Because I brag about you constantly.

I church you up to every single person you're changing lives.

You're a leader in your community and your own peers.

And I threw you into this wild ass chaos journey of a podcast with me.

Yes.

And you have turned it into something absolutely incredible.

And you've done it all within a year and a half.

And having absolutely zero experience.

True.

Zero interest, zero knowledge, zero anything on podcasting.

I don't even think you've ever listened to a podcast.

I have not.

I have not.

And I told you to get on YouTube.

Figure it out.

Figure it out.

We're gonna take the podcast in house and we're gonna do it Ourselves.

And here we are, episode 100.

Your very first episode was episode 32 or 33 with Kyle Nations.

Kyle Nations.

Love Kyle.

Shout.

Huge.

Shout out to Kyle if y' all haven't watched episode.

I don't remember what it is.

33.

3.

33, I think.

33.

Kyle nations on the wall.

Kyle.

33.

So that was your very first one.

And to watch that episode compared to now has been one of the most incredible transformations of anything I've ever seen.

Insane.

I think we recorded his episode and his mic wasn't even on.

It was just like picking up the audio on ours.

The whole entire.

The.

The lighting was God awful.

Every back splash.

Yeah.

There's nothing behind us.

And it was our very first.

Your very first episode.

And here we are, 100.

That's crazy.

I mean, even the wall behind you, I look at it every time we film and it's like, that's my favorite part is seeing the people in the chairs.

And then they go and sign the wall at the end.

Like it's.

They just leave, like a piece of them here.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

Now I get to sign the wall.

You do?

You officially get on the wall.

Trying to figure out my placement.

I'm thinking in the middle of the D, so I think what I'm going to do.

So it's right by you.

All right.

Who are you?

My name is Christy Marshall.

I have two amazing parents.

One that's sitting right in front of me and one that's currently taking my position behind the screen and filming us doing this.

If anything doesn't turn out today, we're blaming this on mom.

Just kidding.

Just kidding.

We trained her a little bit.

We trained her a little bit.

Get into it.

Let's get into this.

All right.

So you're the producer of the podcast.

I guess we could just start here.

I have no direction of where this is going to go.

I just wanted to have a conversation with you because you're one of my favorite human beings on Earth.

We've been through a lot together.

We're growing together.

Yes.

And here we are.

We grow.

We run a business together.

We have gone through some pretty crazy times of watching you mature and bloom into this incredible young woman.

So I want the world to be able to hear some perspectives, I guess, about homeschooling.

Right.

You're a homeschool kid.

So we're going to find out how weird you are.

And you.

I want to talk martial arts and what that did to you and in your journey of life, because that was a Huge chapter for helping you blossom into, I think, the incredible person you are today, for sure.

And you.

You don't give yourself enough credit.

No, I'll never take the credit.

It's all you.

And so I'm going to give you all the credit.

And Mom.

And mom.

And mom gets most of the credit, so.

Well, cool.

Let's get into this.

Where do we want to start?

We can start.

We could start homeschool and then taekwondo.

Okay, we could do that because it transitions into it.

So we decided to pull you guys out of school right in the beginning of COVID when mom came to me and she looked me dead in my face and she said, I'm pulling the girls out.

You're either with me or you're against me on this.

And those were her exact words.

And I looked at her and I said, all right, let's do it.

Are you sure you know what we're doing?

And she goes, I don't have a clue, but our kids will not spend another day in public school.

And here we are, seven years later.

Seven, I think, coming up on seven,

six years later, at least, here you are, you're graduating early.

You're going to be crushing life.

And let's get into homeschooling.

Yeah, let's do it.

How is it, Ben, being who you are growing up, and you've been able to get a little bit of public school, and then obviously you missed the high school years being a homeschooler.

What has it been like homeschooling for you?

What's.

What's one of the greatest things?

We'll just start out with that.

What's one of the greatest parts about homeschooling or being homeschooled?

I gotta say, I love spending time with my family.

So I gotta say, being with you guys 247 is.

I. I just.

It doesn't.

It doesn't compare to anything else.

Like, I've been around plenty of people, and I've come in contact with a lot of kids, and they're like, I just want to get out of my house.

Like, I don't want to.

My parents are annoying me.

They bug me, and I just can't relate again.

And so I'm like, I love my.

Like, I love spending time with my parents and talking your ear off.

That's why I'm so excited we're doing this, because we get to have a conversation.

And you know how much I love having conversations with you.

Yes.

Technically, we do this hunting all the time in the car, especially when I'm

trapped with you for four hours on a drive, and I don't say one word.

We have an easy four hour conversation.

So I'm excited for this, that we do.

And you can't leave.

I'm trapped.

You can't leave.

So I would have to say spending time with my family, but I would also say the amount of freedom that you have as a homeschooler, just being at home, like school.

Think about it.

When you go to public high school, you have school for how many hours a day?

Maybe like six to eight.

Six to eight.

Or high schoolers?

Maybe like four.

Some schools are different, right?

Yeah, they do that.

And then you have school sports.

Whether or not you're in, like, band or you do school sport, right?

That takes up the whole rest of your day.

So you barely have any time to see your parents, see your family at the end of the day.

No time for doing anything fun, no time for hanging out with friends or just like, exploring, traveling.

Like, it's, it's really hard.

I feel mentally and physically straining on your body and your mind.

And I notice it too, especially being out of the system for so long.

I notice the difference in online school kids, public school kids, homeschool kids.

It's just like, I feel they're so tired and drained.

And honestly, like, I feel so bad for just like, even some of my friends and stuff too.

It's just they're like, spending so much time just kind of locked away at school, not doing anything or even feel like they're learning as much.

I mean, you ask kids, right?

Like parents ask their kids what you learn today.

Kids like, not much, then they don't really learn a lot.

And then it's like, I, I just, I have to say, it's.

It's the freedom.

It's a freedom we get to.

I never would have had this opportunity to do this podcast, take on a role such as this if I was in school.

I feel a lot of, just kind of the positivity that I try to, like, give out to the world just comes from just having a lot of time to myself and a lot of time with just good influences in my life and the way that I'm being raised is just, it's.

It's amazing.

And I, I feel like if a lot of, A lot of public school kids kind of just had like, more time and they didn't, they weren't just babysitting you at school and keeping you locked away for so long, I feel a lot more kids would just like, be able to Breathe and just be a little bit more, like, happy minded and just like, positive and stuff.

I feel like it just puts a cloud on you.

You have to, like, attain a certain look in school, a certain goal.

I mean, I've heard so many kids.

Dad talk about.

And this is just like, from freshman year, sophomore, junior, senior, to, like, me now being a senior, all my years of being homeschooled and not being inside public school.

I hear so many kids talk about how it's just they're learning absolutely nothing in school.

No life skills.

That's a big one.

I feel too many people focus on kind of like, what are the.

What are.

Like the book smarts.

Book smarts.

Like that, but they're not teaching you life skills.

Like, absolutely.

Critical thinking.

Critical thinking.

Problem solving.

Yeah, Problem solving.

People skills.

Troubleshooting.

Oh, my God, People skills is such a good one.

Like social skills.

And like, by no means am I picking on anyone, but you come in contact with different people and it's.

It's just wild how different it is.

Like, the no eye contact.

A lot of kids can't keep eye contact at my age or younger, even older.

They can't hold a conversation.

Like, banter, I feel, is such an underrated skill to have with people.

Absolutely.

And that's something I literally pride you and mom on so much.

And I admire that about you guys because you guys can hold a conversation with anyone.

And I've watched it growing up, and so I'm like, how can I acquire a skill like this to where I could just talk with anyone?

And I watch you do it all the time.

I watch you behind there talk with people and just like, you just come up with things like, someone will be talking, right?

And you'll at least go on, like, four different subjects, and then you'll remember something they said the first time and you bring it up again.

And I'm like, how does he remember this?

While also trying to keep the podcast going on track?

And so, like, I know everything down.

I don't say it enough, but I observe you and mom and like, everything you do.

And that's just something I admire about you guys, is how you guys can actually have a conversation with anyone at any given time.

There's a huge misconception in homeschool kids that you guys aren't socialized.

How have you.

How do you see that when people say, oh, homeschool kids are awkward and unsocialized ones?

You have your world, and then you're also involved in a huge community of your own age?

Peers that are all public school kids.

How do you believe that homeschool kids are unsocialized?

No, I haven't.

Here's how I'd answer this question.

Okay.

I haven't.

I'm very particular with how I answer this because I haven't met.

Obviously, there's different demographics of people, for sure.

And I remember when we started homeschool people, it was.

It was totally like a category you were put into of, like, you're automatically, like, considered.

I'm doing quotes.

Weird kid.

Right.

Antisocial, like, have no friends.

Doesn't really, like, go outside or do stuff, you know, doesn't leave their house.

There's like, that category of kids.

Absolutely.

And I was not going to lie.

This is me being real raw.

I was kind of scared because I was like, oh, people are gonna think of me like that, and am I gonna turn into the kids that everyone talks about is gonna be like that?

You know what I mean?

And I got to experience firsthand that it is not like that.

I feel.

And since I've got to experience kind of like public school, online school, homeschool, It's a thing in public school to categorize people into groups.

So if you're not a part of a specific group, there's no such thing as that.

You have to be in a group, whether it's popular, it's considered weird.

You know, the cool kids are the popular kids.

You've got the weird kids, you got the smart ones, you got the athletes.

Like, everyone is just in a group, categorized.

Yes.

And so when you're out of the system of public school, you're on your own.

And you're like, you're the underdog, you're the outsider.

You're automatically labeled a certain way.

Whether you.

Whether you like it or not, people label you a certain way.

And I've got to experience.

I've even talked with other homeschool kids that I've met.

They're freaking awesome.

They're so cool.

Do you ever see a difference?

Can you pick out a homeschool kid?

I can.

Really?

I can.

Okay.

I really can.

And even sometimes where, like, I kind of guess if someone's homeschooled or not, I talk with them a little bit, and then I'll.

I'll, like, kind of ask some questions, and I can tell.

The first thing I can tell when talking with someone is how well they can conversate back with me.

And that's usually a homeschool kid.

That's usually a homeschool kid.

Interesting.

I'm not picking on anyone in particular.

This is just reality.

I want to know your perspective.

A lot of people ask, yeah, I've

talked to so many different kids, just meeting, meeting people, places, regardless of the age.

But I'm talking, like, probably from maybe like 13, 13 to 18 year olds.

And that's the range I'm talking about.

Oh, insane.

And I'm like, what makes them stand out?

So, like, when you're talking to these other teenagers and you have this conversation, what sparks that I wonder if this guy's this, this kid's homeschooled or not.

The way he or she can articulate.

Interesting.

The way they can articulate their words.

How many filler words that they use.

If it's, if it's like, if it's.

I don't know.

Those are the three filler words that I usually pick up on the most.

Okay.

It's.

It's actually insane because I had a conversation with one, one time, and I, I thought she was homeschooled.

Right.

I was like, oh, she, she.

We can, we have, like, similarities with this, you know, and she can hold a conversation with me and she is very intentional with certain things and she can go deep in conversation, you know, and so I was like, I was like, oh, I really love having these types of, like, stimulating conversations with other kids.

And I find out she's like, I've been homeschooled for four years.

And I was like, no way.

Me too.

You know, and so that's just.

It's such a cool conversation to have with people, but they give me eye contact.

That's another one.

They can have a conversation and hold a conversation.

There's a difference.

You could start a conversation by saying, like, how are you doing?

Right.

And that's it.

Good.

I'm doing good.

You know, kind of that simple.

Yep.

Simple banter, but it's when someone actually asks you different questions and.

And keeps asking you questions and seems intrigued with what you're going to say makes all the difference, I feel.

What do you think one of the biggest life skills that you've learned being a homeschooler, that public skills, public school kids don't learn.

What is the biggest life skill being a homeschooler?

I would say being able to talk with adults is huge.

Yeah.

Why?

I know I keep saying the con.

Being able to conversate with people.

It's a huge skill.

It's a very important asset to be able to pull out at any time because of networking.

And then obviously, when you go into the adult world.

Being able to network and connect opens so many doors for people.

And the ones that are quiet and you can't articulate or have a conversation with people there.

You don't move through ranks as quick or promotions or just life because you're kind of always in the shadows because you're too scared to be able to have a conversation.

Right.

I've talked about it before on the show where, like, I've watched your little sis sit at a table at like eight years old with four adults and they're all dying, laughing, talking to her.

You could talk with anyone.

Yeah.

I'm just saying.

So convers.

Conversating.

Right.

Is a huge skill that you have learned over the years.

Like, where do you see that, if you seen that benefits into anything that you're doing these days?

I do.

I feel it unlocks so many opportunities if you can be able to talk with adults.

And it makes them.

Honestly, I've noticed this too.

They're surprise.

They're very surprised.

If you could shake an adult's hand, being.

I mean, I'm 17.

Right.

I'm a senior.

If I come up to you first and I introduce myself and I shake your hand, you don't see that a lot nowadays.

Never.

I don't see a bunch of my kids when I'm in group settings, which is kind of rare, but when I am, I observe everything.

No one introduces themselves by shaking their hands.

Their posture is slouched.

They don't have good posture.

And to me, that's how I can tell if someone's confident or not is their posture.

Yeah.

And when talking with an adult, they notice those things because they're like, wow, she's mature for her age.

Not a lot.

Like, it makes you stand out in a certain way.

Yeah.

If you have good posture, if you're able to hold a conversation, if you're able to hold eye contact, that's a really big thing.

And not, like, have to.

I mean, looking away for certain things is okay, obviously, but.

But if you can't look them in their eyes when they're talking to you or even actively listening back is a big one.

Because people want to be listened to.

Something I've learned.

Yep.

You want to be heard.

Yeah.

And if you could talk.

I told you this the other day when we were talking about this.

I was like, if you can talk with someone and make them feel like you're interested in what they have to say and intrigued in what they're talking about, like, they're going to want to

Talk with you more 100%.

If you, you know, if you're talking with them like that and you're like, oh, tell me more like, oh, that's super cool.

And you have someone talk about themselves.

It's something I've learned, keeps the conversation going, especially because a lot of.

I've noticed a lot of kids are more awkward in public school nowadays because they're so used to just being with kids their own age.

And that's one thing you and mom have raised me with of.

We're going to bring.

We're going to bring her and her sister to as many events possible with people older than her so that she can learn from those people, gain wisdom, gain knowledge, you know, be able to learn how to hold a conversation with it at all.

That's what I give homeschool kids the most props, are they're not afraid.

They're not afraid to hold a conversation because that's what they do.

The biggest thing homeschool has taught me, being homeschool kid, is having a conversation with adults.

It's a huge skill.

So back, kind of back to the uns.

Public school or homeschool kids are unsocialized.

What were some of the ways that mom and I were able to help you socialize, and what were some of the things that you seeked out on your own?

Oh, that's a good question.

I would say for many of the listeners, they probably know we have a bread business.

Yep.

The Sour B.

Right.

Which we don't even have any here.

Which we don't have.

Our Bra Beer at Rock Art Bra that we usually keep up here.

We don't have it.

Yeah.

But we bake sourdough loaves as a family and we go to local events and we sell the bread.

But mom and dad, here's the kicker.

Mom and dad make us do it.

So we're the salesman.

Right.

We sit at the booth.

Sometimes they'll leave us, too.

We have so many memories of this.

They'll leave us to test us.

They're like, okay, they show us, you know, how to work the square reader, how to.

For cakey, how to make sure she counts cash properly and gives proper change back.

Right.

But that puts you in such a stressful situation at a young age.

Doing something alone, running something alone is stressful no matter how old you are.

But it's a.

That's.

That's the difference.

It's a good stress.

And I feel if we put more kids into, like, good, stressful situations, it matures them and makes them Ready for life a lot.

I don't want to say sooner, but just prepares you.

Prepares you in a way.

You know, your mom and I, I don't know if we've.

Every time it's been a win, but we've put you, especially you.

Yes.

Under a lot of stress over the years through martial arts, you stepping in the ring and fighting all boys for tournaments.

Yes.

To figuring out a podcast and getting it up and running.

Like, we put a lot on your plate.

How has that helped you grow?

Wow.

I would say knowing that you have a lot on your plate, I feel would stress a lot of people out.

Rightfully so.

Because that's a lot of things you have to balance at one time.

Yeah.

And being as young that I am, it's kind of a lot.

It's a mindset shift.

Okay.

You have.

No one can pull you out of, and no one can turn that on for you.

I feel that's something you have to do for yourself because you could.

I could easily sit back and be like, this is.

This is awful.

I am learning something.

I have no idea what to do.

I. I just want to ask for help or I want to quit.

Like, I feel like it's the easiest thing to do for people is just quit when it gets hard.

Absolutely.

And something you guys have taught me that I've grown up realizing is, like, if it's a challenge, I love a good challenge.

Because at the end of it, it's

so worth it because you'll learn something from it.

You'll learn something from it.

But that's the mindset shift.

You could be like, this sucks.

Like, I don't want to do this at all.

Or, this.

Is this taking up my time.

I want to go hang out with my friends.

Like, I feel I'm not leaving the house enough.

And trust me, those thoughts happen sometimes from, like, I just want to get out of the house because I get cabin fever.

Right.

But then I come back home and I'm like, well, you know, because I'm just, like, a little recluse now, being homeschool.

Like, I just.

I really do miss home, and I love home.

But having so many things on your plate is.

It's character development.

Oh, character development.

Do you ever.

When you're ever around your peers, do you ever hear them talking about stressful situations, and then you look at them like, that's.

This is a good one.

Does that ever.

How often does that happen?

This is where you just laugh in your own head.

Like, honey, like, you're.

You're Stressing over an exam does this.

Yes.

Is this a thing happens so much.

And obviously I'm not here to judge.

Everyone has a different stress level, right?

Everyone has a different stress level.

But I do think in my head, I'm like, okay, my suck level is different.

Like our gauges are just different.

Well, that's because through everything we've put you through.

Yes.

Okay.

Because like you said, what is it that you and mom always say?

Pressure.

Pressure creates diamonds or pressure makes diamonds.

And so I've always thought of that in my head.

I'm like, okay, well, you need pressure in order to become a little diamond, you know, so it's like, it's important.

And the.

With all the stuff that you said that I have on my plate, right.

I feel, I'm like, oh, it's not, there's not that much.

You know, at certain points I'm like, no, this isn't that bad because I hear my peers will be like, oh my God, I got an.

I got an 85 on my math test.

I've gotten that a lot, right?

Like on my test I'm like, an 85.

That's good.

You know, I'm like, I'd be happy with that.

Like, if it's on math, I'd be happy with that.

What are you complaining?

Math is neither your or eyes strong point.

We dad and I are so similar with that.

We have to visually be shown.

Oh, God.

And then shown like 300 more times.

Yeah.

And like, I have another question.

You know what I mean?

So it's like, dad and I get that.

We get that part.

But it's like, I hear that and in my head I'm like, oh, yeah, that must be out loud.

I'm like, that must be.

Yeah, I get it.

I get it.

I'm like, oh my God, that's not.

I was like, no, no, no.

So it's like those types of things or my parents won't let me go out this Saturday with my friends.

Like, I. I don't understand.

It's the most I in my mind, just non stressful things to really be stressed about.

Okay.

I've always, always think to myself and I've thought to myself, this from the beginning of homeschool.

It can always be worse.

And that I feel, is so important in your mindset to think about on your own.

Because if you're like, wow, this I.

This is boring.

This is stupid.

I don't know why I'm doing this.

Like, this sucks.

Always remind yourself it can always be worse because then it changes your stressful situation and gives you a heart of gratitude instead.

And that's something I've noticed.

And it really does change me on the inside because I'm like, God, why am I complaining about this?

I have this opportunity even though I'm stuck at home for a couple days editing, right?

And I don't exactly get to go out and see my friends one week.

You know what I mean?

It can always be worse because what am I learning from this experiment or this experience?

What am I growing from in this experience?

You know what I mean?

We need more stressful situations.

Good stress, good stress.

To be able to like, build the person that you are and your suck level.

And you've always said your suck level.

So I always think of that.

I'm like, if this is my suck level, having the podcast, having to double up on school every day, you know, doing bigger classes, you know, trying to keep this bread business going, trying to start my own business.

Like, if this is my suck level, I'm so thankful that this is my suck level at 17, because what's my suck level gonna be at, like 28?

Uh huh.

Always raising the bar, you know, and

it was different at first.

Like when we started homeschool, I didn't think like that this isn't, I wasn't always thinking like this, like confident in myself enough or, or changing my mindset.

But you are the only one that can do it.

I think homeschooling was the greatest decision that we've made as a family.

We didn't have a clue what we were doing.

Never in a million years ever would I, if anybody would have asked me before mom came to me with that and was like, hey, would you ever homeschool your children 100%?

No, absolutely not.

Like, those people are out of their minds.

And now that we've gone from the public school to homeschool or life schooling, you girls, life schooling.

I, like, there's no way, there's no way I could ever see it any other way.

Like, I feel, I feel bad for people that don't have the opportunities to be able to, to homeschool their children just for so many reasons, by the relationship that we have been able to build over the last six, seven years.

I mean, you're, you're home all day.

Like I get to spend every single waking moment with you girls.

Besides when you're off doing your own thing now that you're spreading your wings and you know, growing up.

But that's, to me, it's like there's As a dad, as a mom, as a parent, like, I want as much time with my kids.

I want as much time to be able to spend with my children.

So sending them off for the government to be able to raise my kids for six to eight hours a day.

They come home, you ask them what they learn.

Nothing.

Go to their room.

They don't have a con.

They don't even conversate with you.

Like, what?

Like, that destroys me.

Like, I couldn't even.

I can't even fathom living like that because it would just kill me.

Like, yeah, I go a day without talking to you.

You're.

We're all both busy past them, cross, whatever, till nighttime.

Like, I'm like, where.

Where are they?

Where the girls I'm always asking about, why is it.

Where are they?

Why is it quiet here?

Where's Christy?

Where's this?

Like, you know, and so that's where I've hard for us, is learning to live with you guys every single day and that you're part of our life, not just our kids.

Like, you are literally ingrained in every aspect of our life through business, through our.

All of our journeys and.

And the growth that we've done as a family, and we've all been able to do it together.

And it's been one of the greatest gifts that I think mom has ever been able to give our family.

Besides, obviously birthing the most.

My two amazing children was pulling our kids and I.

The only regret that I have about putting you guys in homeschool is that we didn't do it sooner.

That's.

That's a really good answer.

That's my biggest regret.

I wish we would have done it sooner.

And like, the people that just.

They.

They doubt it.

It's.

It.

It's sad because the relationship, even if the husband's off working, right.

I get it.

Gone all day.

The fact that your kids are home and they're able to be sculpted by your wife and to learn legitimate life skills, you know, from problem.

The.

How I've watched your mind transform over these years from average kid to, like, when a situation arises now, you're already solving it or you're already coming up with a solution before I even, like, hey, we even thought about.

Well, yeah, she's already dead.

She got X, Y, and Z's.

Okay.

Yeah.

Don't worry, dad.

Don't worry, dad.

I'm already.

I know.

Already on.

It's already done.

Right?

And so those are.

That's the.

That's the skills that one day, hopefully not anytime soon, when you leave the home, that as a father, as your.

As your dad, that I want to be able to just lay my head on my pillow night and be like, okay, I did as best we could.

Not just this dad that has no relationship with their children.

And then one day they're 18, and they're off and leaving the home, and they're like, well, good luck, kid.

Like, that terrifies me that these guys are sending their daughters and sons out into this world that is such a crazy place right now with no life skills.

And here we are able to teach you how to run a business.

You're the producer and editor, and every single title except for the host you hold as the podcast producer of Wild Chaos.

Yes.

You know, you run the bakery with your sister.

And just the life skills that I've watched you develop is.

There's no price.

There's literally not a price you could put on what you have transformed into by being out of the public school system.

And I thank you, dad.

It's the greatest thing that we've ever done.

Well, it's like, you hear.

You hear parents say when they're little, remember, like, you have a baby, right, Or a toddler, and they're like, oh, they're.

They grow up so fast, right, at such a young age.

They say that when the kids are little, but then as soon as the kids hit teenage years, preteen teenage years, it's almost like that mindset they had when they were little goes out the door.

And I know some people, obviously every family situation is different, but it's the people that can have the means and that they can be around their children, like, keep their children home and be around them and, like, want.

Want to learn their children is something I feel we had.

We had a lot more parents that were willing to do that with their children if they had the means.

Obviously, you know, it brings you closer with your children, and it ties you guys more, and the connection is way stronger.

Like, I feel when.

Like I said, when they're little, you're like, oh, they grew up so fast.

And you're not.

If you're not in your kid's life, how do you not have that same feeling of they're growing up so fast, if that makes sense.

You know what I mean?

Like, how do you not realize what.

Dang, they're gonna be out of the house soon.

Like, why is it a thank God they're out of the house soon?

I'm counting the days.

I couldn't picture you guys saying that.

Oh, no, and no one talks about it enough.

I mean, like, I speak about how much I love you guys and my relationship with you guys, but that was built, you know, that was built.

It wasn't just for me not being around you guys.

You guys are constantly in my life and through everything.

I couldn't imagine.

Here's the funny part.

I couldn't imagine coming back home and not talking to you guys.

I.

It's not an option.

It's not an option for me.

I'm like, something's wrong.

Hi.

You know, what's going on?

What you doing?

Like, I just come and lay on your bed.

I come and sit in there and, like, when you and mom are talking, you know, I. I always have to talk with you guys or tell you guys about my day.

Because you care and you're involved.

That also comes a lot on the parents of us.

Making sure that you've always had an open door, a safe environment to be able to come to, which was tough for me for a while when, you know, not in the right mindset as a father and, you know, kind of trying to be that tough alpha dad and raise these kids, which doesn't work.

And so, yeah, that's where, you know, it took a lot of me swallow.

Following my pride and shutting up and just listening.

Yes.

And hearing.

Hearing what you have to say instead of just reacting to it.

And so with the years of practice, I feel we've gotten pretty good at it still.

We still have our mom proud of you.

I'm very proud of you.

You've come a long way with that, for sure.

It's not easy.

I gave you so much grace with that.

It's not easy with girls.

Like, we're just so emotional and sensitive, and you're the only guy in the house, so it's like.

Well, I also come from a family that never shared emotions, never expressed anything, have a mother that's never taught her sons how to regulate or process emotions.

And then now I'm dumped into a girl dad life, and y' all are crying over math problems.

And I'm like, over here.

Like, math, math.

Like, we're crying over met, you know?

Yes.

So that's where it came.

The mom like, hey, they're not your little Marines.

They're your daughters.

This is how we approach these types of things.

And that takes time, though, obviously.

Yeah, absolutely.

And so it's.

It's been really cool to be able to grow together and mature together in this incredible relationship as a dad, daughter duo, because I could, like you said, I I couldn't picture you coming in the door.

Hey.

And going straight to your room.

That.

No.

What?

Something's wrong.

That's where I look at mom.

Yeah.

Something's wrong.

If I'm not talking, figure that out.

Like, that's a huge red flag, right?

And the fact that That' normal in homes.

It crushes me.

Or honestly, it's so sad to me that parents have accepted this.

Right?

And.

Because I don't know if it's like.

Like they get to a point of defeat where they just give up, right?

Because they just.

Their kids just.

That's the mindset of, obviously, teenagers.

And I think it's a natural occurrence, especially for boys.

We start turning on the family in a way.

It's challenging.

And then that's.

It goes back to primal days where that's what would push you out of the cave, right.

Or out of the tribe to go sp.

Your seed, everything everywhere else.

And so.

But for right now, it's.

It's.

I couldn't imagine not having the relationship and in being able to have the conversations that we have, that's my silent flex that I don't.

I don't know how I'd ever be able to express it or I don't even ever need to.

But that's one of my personal, like, silent flexes as a father, is knowing that you can come to me for anything.

And I know we have our moments, right?

It's not.

There's some things that are hard for me as a dad because.

Especially being the protective gargoyle over you that travels everywhere with you, even if you know it or not, I'm there.

Got eyes everywhere.

But that's been, you know, those times where I have to check myself, and especially as you grow older, being like, okay, she needs more room, more rope, right?

Not gonna let grow of the rope ever, but I'm gonna keep feeding it.

That's.

That's been one of the greatest things for me is being able to grow the relationship that we have.

And.

And.

But it's hard because, like, you're saying you don't.

It's hard to relate to a lot of your peers.

It's hard for me to relate to buddies and stuff.

Then they start talking about the problems and guys all the time, they're like, oh, you're a girl dead.

How old you kids?

Oh, 17, 11.

Oh, man.

Must be like, be careful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How's that?

How's attitude?

Like, and then I always.

I'm like, it's incredible.

And I can never.

It's Very few men that I run into that I'm able to actually connect with on the same level of one, how passionate and how in love they are with their children.

Like they just love being a dad and the relationship that they have with their kids to be like they.

I talk to guys in these groups and they think it is so weird.

Like you get to your daughter, comes in and shares things that's going on.

I'm like, but that takes time.

Building takes 100%.

It didn't just happen.

It's not easy.

No.

And it came.

And it's a lot of me swallowing a pride as a father when we make mistakes.

And to be able to come and show vulnerability to you, to be able to sit on your bed and talk about how I messed up and how I'm correcting this and how I've reflected on my mistakes and to show you like this is, this is, this is healthy.

Even though I.

Well, as a man we all do, we have our problems and flare ups or relapses or whatever we want to call them, but to own that and it obviously is not a reoccurring thing or doesn't mean anything, but to be able to address my weaknesses and show you girls vulnerability, I think helps a lot.

Like you said with your vulnerability.

I feel that it's so important with being a true man is if you can be vulnerable because I give you so much props.

You're not, you're hard and you're calloused, but you're also like soft and vulnerable.

Only to you girls, only to us.

That's what's so important though, for like me to look for.

And that's something that I've always looked for and will keep in mind.

You know what I mean?

That's like something I want.

I thought for so long you had to be the warrior.

Yes.

Wielding my sword, swinging it on everything, lobbing heads.

But it's more, it's so much more.

Especially as a girl dad.

And that's where I've had to check myself the most.

And I don't need to come in as this warrior.

I need to just come in as this beacon of light and to be able to show and teach and educate and to listen.

And that's where when you come in guns blazing on every situation, you shut down.

Yeah.

There's an instant wall.

And this goes for all kids.

And so that's where a huge lesson for me where I had to grow internally was matching your energy coming in equal with you.

Yes.

Instead of yelling and being Listen, you, you did what?

There's none of that.

Right.

And so, because you're instantly shut down.

And so that was one of those lessons that it took me a little while to really check myself on.

Like, okay, if I, if I truly want to have this relationship with my daughters, and this was big on mom pushing, like, hey, you're not going to have a relationship with your kids unless this continues, but they need to be heard.

And so that was a, that was a really big lesson for me as a father, was just learning to shut up and listen.

And there's time and we say it now.

You want my opinion or you want my ears?

Yeah.

You're like, do you want advice or do want me to listen?

I'm like a little bit of both.

And so, but that takes me sitting there, even though there's, there's conversations that we have that I do not want to even be involved with.

I know, yeah.

Take that breath.

Hear it out.

We give you, I give you my opinion and then we move on.

And then, you know, at least you know where I stand on situations.

And as you obviously become this young adult, we can't.

I'm not going to be there for you.

And so this is, this is a weird era or transition phase for you because this is where life starts to get really serious as you start to develop these adult relationships, starting to make adult decisions as far as work, life, relationships, everything else.

And so money.

Everything, everything.

And so this is where almost mom and I start to kind of step back, which is terrifying for me as much as you.

Oh, yeah, no, I don't ever want you to leave.

But this is where mom and I kind of have to take the step back.

Kind of like how we did when you were younger in that 1112 year old stage is where things start getting tight.

Like we start, right.

Getting really strict on certain things now.

This is where you get the more freedom and you get to start experiencing and exploring your new, freshly about to be adulthood here.

Yes.

And so it's a, it's a really weird transition stage for me as well.

And it's terrifying watching you grow because obviously I know it's out in the world and I'm not always going to be there to protect you, but I always will be.

I always call you if I'm, if you're this involved my whole life.

I can't just later and just.

That's why, like, you're gonna be even more involved.

Better be.

That's what it is.

As soon as I start my own individual life you're not out of it fully.

You and mom are like, we'll be your past.

And I hate when you guys say that, because I understand what you mean.

But you guys.

I'll always keep you guys there.

Like, you guys will always be there.

I never want.

That's a whole misconception.

I never want you guys to not be there.

Yeah.

With me, you know, I'm always going to come over.

I'm going to come over even if I don't have a life, if I'm not living here and I have my own house, I'm going to come over every day or try to.

I'm going to live nearby.

I'm going to try to find a place nearby.

But it's like, I do have advice.

I do have advice.

For any girl, dads listening and their daughters, I've got some advice.

Okay, yeah, let's hear this.

I'm going to tell them from hearing our relationship and kind of giving you guys a little snippet.

What the advice that I would give the dads whether you have a son or whether you have a daughter.

This goes for both.

Talk to them.

And that might sound so cliche, but what I mean is, like, do not take no as an answer of when they go in the room on nothing.

Not much.

Like, they don't talk to you.

Like, show them that you care.

Because if you meet them with the same energy as you don't care, if they don't care, kids, they're never gonna.

We're never gonna really ask you guys, we, as parents to come to us like that.

It stands out to us more when you guys, like, want to be involved and you're like, oh, tell us about this.

How did.

How did tonight go?

And you come and lay on our beds.

Like, regardless if we're in a good mood or not, that's something that stays in our minds.

And I will speak.

All kids want that.

We want that relationship with our parents.

And that's where my heart goes out to kids that don't have a good relationship with their mom or their dad.

And it's not a pity or, like, I feel bad type of thing.

It's like my heart goes out to those kids because we all want that.

No matter what anyone says, we want that relationship with our parents because they're our safe place.

And when our parents show us that they care enough and they.

They're involved in our lives, that's so meaningful, and we will forever think about that.

And also for the kids, for the kids listening, if you have Any daughters or sons listening?

Right.

Don't be afraid to come to your parents.

You can't.

And it's so hard to give this advice because I know everyone's home situation is different for sure.

Right.

So it's really hard.

But if you feel like there's a disconnect with your parents or parents, if you feel there's a disconnect with your child, you can always find a way to connect with your child.

I feel there's no excuses with that.

It's just one or the other not trying.

And it takes two people to try.

So I just.

It sounds so cliche of like, talk and communicate, but it's.

It's such a big.

It's such a big deal.

It is such a big deal.

And that's where I can talk to my parents about anything.

They give me that safe place.

They show that they care.

But I'm also like, okay, they've given me this place.

I feel comfortable enough and I'm excited to tell them what happened.

In my day, if I need help, like so many people, the teens are struggling.

And not even just teens.

Children struggle on their own.

And we're not meant to.

Just after school and after a whole day goes by for 365 days, just go back into your room and isolate yourself.

Social media doesn't help.

Your phones don't help.

Tablets don't help.

I can speak off personal experience, but I would feel so lonely not having you guys to come and talk to.

Do you think that's a huge problem in the teen world right now?

Because everything that I read and us talking of how lonely kids are, do you think a lot of that goes back to their relationship with their parents, not having to be able to communicate with anybody?

Yes, it's bad.

It's bad.

And it's.

It's something I don't feel a lot of people talk about because it's a very touchy subject.

And I don't think a lot of people want to admit that, you know,

you recently were able to speak at church in front of like 3, 400 kids, yearbone peers.

So many amazing opportunity.

It was one of the greatest things that I have been able to.

To be able to sit back and just watch as a father, not only for you, but for the two boys that I went up on, the other two friends.

Amazing.

Crush it.

To be able to watch.

To be able to watch teenagers speak in front of hundreds of their own peers and so confidently was one of the greatest things.

But obviously, you know, you be my daughter they're my favorite, but those other two boys crush it too.

And.

But then hearing these kids inside of your community and your circle.

I don't want to say circle, but just your peers.

A lot of kids are really depressed and, and are always talking about suicide and how many of these kids have suicidal thoughts and all this other stuff like how as this beacon of light.

How do you try to help these kids?

Or is there any advice for, you know, parents that are.

Might have kids that are closed off and maybe going through those, those dark periods.

Because you talk to a lot of these girls, you're helping a lot of them mentor a lot of them.

I do, like I said, my heart, I feel, I feel it for them because I've grown up having, being blessed beyond measure with having a great life.

Like I've been raised.

It's just such a blessing the way that I've been raised.

So I just want to preface that.

And I haven't experienced a lot of things that, like traumatic family things or just certain things.

There's a lot I can't relate with with my peers.

So it makes this a lot harder to navigate.

Talking with people my age and trying to relate with them and trying to connect.

It's really hard to relate and connect with people.

Interesting.

Very hard.

So it makes it a little bit different to navigate.

But what I've realized with what I've realized is that no matter what you've gone through, how drastic of events that have happened in your life or trauma that you may have, right?

How lonely you feel, everyone at some point has felt lonely.

And this was something I talked about when I did my student speech at my youth group at my, my church, right.

For my youth group people.

And it was so amazing because just being able to shine a light on a very dark topic that's not talked about a lot was something I feel those placed on my heart to do for a reason.

And the fact that the whole.

It was so crazy because the whole place auditorium was filled with like hundreds of kids that came just to watch us three kids on stage have our turn to speak.

And I remember agreeing to that, like, yes, right away I agreed to.

It was yes.

And then I thought about it at the end, I was like, I didn't even think about what I'm getting myself into, preparation wise.

What am I exactly like gonna talk about?

You know what I mean?

And I remember our youth group leaders that were telling us what we were gonna do.

They're like, okay, it's gotta be a topic that you guys can relate to that you've gone through.

So we can shed light on how you got through that topic.

You know what I mean?

Yep.

And so.

Or that experience.

And so I was like.

And I remember one day, it was like a Wednesday, and I was at youth group, and we were doing it in our.

In our little youth group sections.

And they're like, think of a word, one word that can describe a moment in time that you've gone through in your life or what your life looks like now or.

It was a question like that.

It was a really deep, personal question.

And I love those.

I love those.

Cause it's a challenge, like I said, and it makes you think.

And a question that can really make you think deep kind of shows you a little bit about yourself that you didn't know before.

And the first word that popped in my mind was solitude.

And that word stuck with me.

And I was like, I've never even really fully thought about that word before.

And so I was like, deep diving.

I was praying really hard about it, and I was like, leaning on the Lord the entire time through this process.

I'm like, lord, just speak through me.

It's hard for me to navigate this.

Please speak through me, if that makes sense, you know, because this is this tough.

Like, being able to relate with kids when I haven't gone through exactly what they've gone through is tough.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say when starting homeschool, it's pretty lonely going from having a group 24, 7 at school to your friends, being at school, making more friends without you, going down different paths, and you're more isolated, I guess.

But I started to realize when I was working on the speech for these kids and the Lord is speaking through me, I was like, this word solitude has such a negative connotation to it.

But I feel if with a mindset shift, it can have a positive connotation too.

How so?

Because isolation and loneliness are like the negative aspects of it, of thinking that you're just in this dark room, you're alone, no one understands me.

My parents don't care, but no one cares about me.

No one tries to understand me.

Those thoughts that we all have where you just.

You feel like you're the only one going through anything, and no one sees you, hears you, understands you.

Right.

We've all gone through those because we're human.

We've all had those thoughts.

But one thing I've come to realize when preparing the speech is I've gone through moments in my Life starting homeschool and just feeling.

Letting the world's perception of homeschoolers and their words get to me.

And I'm like, how am I gonna make friends?

I'm gonna be antisocial.

How am I gonna be able to, like, relate with anyone?

Make, like, making friends was a huge thing.

Yeah.

And a lot of kids struggle with making friends, too, whether they want to admit it or not.

Whether you're in high school, online school, or public school or public school, online school, or homeschool, that's a struggle.

And when you're not invited into a certain group with a certain amount of people, it's.

You feel lonely, you feel isolated, and you feel, like, stranded.

No one understands you right.

And so I'd have those thoughts, too.

So I felt like, okay, let me add this part where I can relate that I can really dive deep into, and hopefully, hopefully other kids can relate to it.

How did it.

How did you get.

Did you get the message across?

Did you.

How was the.

I guess that's my question.

How was the feedback after your message from your peers?

I think about that day on a daily basis.

It was one of the most incredible days of my entire life.

And it went by so fast.

Like, I wish I could experience that again.

I even kind of get emotional talking about it because I spent, like, weeks preparing this and just literally leaning on the Lord as much as I could and just trying to, like, find scriptures in my Bible that spoke to me and just praying a lot on it.

And I'm like, pra.

Like, not even really practicing because I didn't want it to be scripted.

I really wanted it to be, like, from the soul and from the heart, you know?

And I was like, just, I don't want a script.

You know, we're going to do this freestyle.

And the amount of kids that came up to me at the end was insane.

Dad.

And you guys left after you were there for a little bit of it, which I was so grateful for, but

we were there for all of it.

No, no, you guys were there.

You guys were there for the speech.

You were there for the speech.

But I'm saying, like, after the fact, right?

And you guys were like, we're gonna let you have your time, right?

Yeah.

We gave you your moment.

I was standing with some of my friends who just talking about it, and people just were filling me back up.

I tried going into it, like, blocking.

I was like, lord, let me just hear your voice and nothing else.

Block out all the noise.

Because in a moment like that, the devil Tried to get in your head and make you doubt yourself and second guess at.

Because you're doing something for the glory of God and for the glory of the kingdom, and discipling other people.

He's gonna try to make.

Make you think of yourself as small, and you're not gonna make a difference in anyone's life.

Like, no one's gonna relate with you.

So I. I had some of those thoughts, right?

And it was, like, I really tried.

This was one of those moments where I was like, nope, no, we're good.

The joy of the Lord's my strength.

Like, I can get through this.

You know what I mean?

Please, Lord, speak through me.

Just help me reach other kids.

And he worked in so many miraculous ways, dad, in amazing ways.

I. I don't even think there's a word big enough to describe the joy and just, like, love I felt from people.

I had people I've never spoken to before come up to me, and they're like, no one's ever talked about, like, this topic before.

And I've always struggled with it, and I've never had anyone, like, feel what I've felt before.

And I just want to let you know, like, thank you so much for speaking on it.

I wrote down so many notes.

I had people taking pictures.

I told kids, this.

This was a crazy.

I don't know if you guys heard this when you were sitting in the audience, but this is what was crazy.

I heard pen clicks.

So I told everyone.

There was, like, hundreds of kids in this auditorium, and I told everyone, like, you guys, feel free to take notes, too.

Like, open your Bible, open your notebooks, take notes.

Please.

Please do.

Because I had different statements up on the screens.

And so when I spoke, it went silent.

And I was like, feel free to take notes.

And I hear everywhere.

It was one of those sounds I'll never forget.

And I could have, like, cried then and there, because it was just.

God, it was.

I was just so filled just with the Lord's love and just with everyone around me.

It wasn't.

It was amazing.

I had kids, like I said, that never have ever come up to me before, and they were nervous, and they're like.

They're like, yeah, I don't.

I kind of struggle with making friends.

And you helped.

You helped me, like, kind of open myself up.

And one of my main points was, include the Lord in every thing you do in every way, every day.

It doesn't have to be at night on the floor.

It doesn't have to be in the morning, in every Way every day, and just keep him involved.

He wants to be involved, and he wants to hear you.

And that's what helped me get out of my lonely, like, isolated moments of, like, how do I make friends?

How is anyone gonna like me?

No one likes me because I'm.

I'm, like, weird.

I don't.

I'm not gonna know how to conversate.

Like, I. I need a group of friends around me, right?

And that's lonely when you don't have that anymore.

And societal standards tell kids that, no, you need to have a certain amount of friends in order to be liked, valued, important.

And that is not the case.

And that irks me to my core when people feel that they need to have a certain amount of friends with them at all times.

And that's another big thing I learned.

Being at home all the time is like, you learn so much about yourself in your alone time.

You grow closer with the Lord.

If you're searching for it, seek and you will find.

And when you really seek, he speaks to you in so many ways.

And so being able to speak on stage in front of kids, it's like, I never thought I'd be able to impact people like that.

And I went into this going, lord, please speak through me.

I pray that I impact kids.

But I'm not coming in with expectations of people coming up to me afterwards, because I'm not in it for, like, just to be on stage for, like, all this validation, for all this validation, or for this light.

I really want to touch people.

Like, my goal here is to touch kids, speak through me, you know, use me.

And so I prayed for that for weeks.

And even before that stage, I was, like, trying to show that I was excited.

And then more people came up to me than I ever could have imagined.

And I still get people that come up to me when I go there.

And it's just.

It's one of the most wild experiences because people still talk to me about how my speech impacted them.

And that's one of those things where, like, I give all the glory to God on that, because I would not have been able to do that without Him.

You crushed it.

Thank you.

Yeah, you crushed it.

I think you're supposed to go 10 minutes, you end up going, like, 20.

I went, like.

I think it was six or 16 minutes over.

It was 18.

He was speaking.

You can't stop when he's speaking.

And so I just kept going.

And there were certain things, Dad, I didn't even have written down that came to me on stage spitting I was scared.

I've never spoken on stage before.

It was pretty cool.

It was a, it was a super proud moment to sit there and watch you just crush this.

Because the, the crazy part was you didn't practice in front of mom and I.

You didn't tell us anything.

You didn't tell us anything.

So mom and I rolling it, I was like, oh, how's this gonna go?

You know, obviously I knew you we were gonna crush it, but I didn't think it would go to the level that you did where you just, I mean, you ran that whole entire place and it was, it was pretty, pretty incredible to watch you do.

So it was, that was a really cool thing.

I want to kind of shift gears.

Okay, let's talk about the podcast.

Oh, okay.

What has it been like being the producer of the Wild Chaos podcast?

I love this question because I've kind of had a lot of time to think about it.

And I would say, like, my favorite part of being a producer is there's so many things.

Like, there's not just one, actually, I almost just.

I was like, there's not just one.

There's so many things that just popped into mind right now.

But sitting behind that desk and listening to each individual person tell their story, it's.

It's wild.

The amount of things that I learn and take in from each individual person, it's.

It's wild.

It's literally the definition of wildcats.

Because each story shows me something and I learn something and it humbles me.

That's the word I would probably use for this is every single time, no matter what, I'm humbled by everyone's experience.

Well, it's crazy too, because obviously, you know, you've, you've have a lot of life experience, I'd say for a 17 year old, being able to travel and the things we've.

You've accomplished and we've been able to do.

But in the aspect of everything, you don't have for life experience.

Yeah, but you do hear so many incredible testimonies of people just failing, almost dying, losing everything, gaining it back, finding their faith again, vulnerability, being vulnerable.

I mean, I don't know how many guys, including myself, have lost it on this show.

Just being able to talk and just have a place to be able to be heard.

You know, I go red light when you get vulnerable too.

God, that's my worst part is when I see that camera light turn on me when I'm like losing it and it's, I'm like, you got to see

you See the real you.

Like I do.

No, they don't.

And so.

Yeah.

Who's been.

Okay, this is a hard question.

One of the hardest questions that I get.

This what I think you're going to ask.

Yeah.

Who's your.

Is there an episode that stands out to you the most so far in this.

In this 100 episode thing that we've done.

I guess 99.

You being 100.

There's a few.

And it's kind of hard how I categorize it because if you can really make me laugh back there.

And like, so I don't know if some of you guys hear me laugh in the back.

If it's funny, it's funny and I'm gonna laugh.

And so I have.

I. I gotta.

I gotta say some names here.

Okay.

I'm gonna shout out.

You think.

Okay.

Let's see if you know when I say it.

Okay.

Hagen.

Oh, shout out to Hagen.

Hagen's one of my favorites.

I love Hagen.

Okay.

Super cool, dude.

Super funny.

Episode 69.

Episode 69.

Of course, of course.

It was so happen to line up.

That was so perfect.

We have.

I'm trying to also look at the names.

There's so many.

Chuck.

I thought Chuck would be on your list.

Yes.

Sorry.

Chuck.

Yes.

You were going to come.

You're going to pop into mine in a second.

I.

You were on my list.

Love, Chuck K. Chuck was one of my favorites.

I was so funny.

Oh my gosh, that was so funny.

We have Kyle.

I'm going to shout out Kyle again.

I love Kyle.

He's a good friend of ours.

Ben, the IT guy.

I got.

I learned so much.

I was like, I want to delete all my social medias from Ben.

Like, Ben was so educational.

I just learned so much from him.

Austin Leg, that one.

Austin, yeah.

Austin Leg was a great one.

Great storyteller.

Like I was.

I was engaged the whole time.

Probably one of the best storytellers of all time.

Oh, I. Yeah, he was great.

I love Austin Leg.

I'm trying to think, Dad.

I know it's a hard one.

Okay.

So being a teenager, okay.

And obviously phones and social media are life for teenagers in general.

I really can't put you in that category.

Well, thank you.

Listening to Ben the IT Guy come on twice now.

Yes.

And here you are as a teenager having to sit through the full episode because a couple of times, because you record it, then you got to edit it and you got to clip it and everything else that comes along with it.

True.

So you get to hear all the knowledge all over and over and over again.

What are some of the things that you have learned from Ben and maybe some other guests?

That's a great question, Dad.

I take so many notes behind the screen of just like statements people say when they come on and I like, quote them.

I'm like, oh, Ben, the idea guys said this.

Like, I'm gonna remember this forever now.

He's brought so much light on how bad social media platforms, any platform.

Like, he didn't.

He said some in particular, but, like, we're talking Instagram, Tick Tock, Snapchat, like, even Roblox, Fortnite.

We got Call of Duty.

He's brought all these games to life and he's done so much deep, hardcore research out of passion to try and help parents protect their kids online.

And it's like, it's one of those things where I'm so grateful when he would speak and I'm so grateful for the things that I learned from him.

It made me get off my social medias more.

You know, I've even debated deleting them.

I might do like a detox for a couple.

I'm thinking of doing that like a detox for a couple days.

We should do it together.

Like, it's so hard because he made me want to fully get rid of it.

But then it's like, I don't know if I want to fully get rid of it because I archive some of my memories on there.

I don't know.

That's something I'm still figuring out.

But.

But you're never on your dad.

It honestly pisses me off sometimes.

They'll send you something like, yeah, look at the.

Look what I sent you, finally.

Yeah, I know.

So I can't ever be mad at you.

That's all due to Ben.

And that was a, that was a big change for you almost immediately because you, yes.

You get to sit through and actually see the impact of what these apps and games are doing to these children.

And that's where, that's where like the pride as a dad comes in.

Like, oh, like, I didn't have to be like, yo, did you hear what he said?

Like, you took it all in yourself and you made the, your own decision.

And I think it's, and it's probably hard for you because obviously you have this huge community of friends and they're always doing something.

Oh, that's.

So you'll go like days even without even getting back to people.

They get so mad at me.

And again.

Yeah.

And so it's, it's, it's probably really strange for your friends to not be able to realize why you're not getting back to them, because they probably think it's you just being rude and not wanting to respond, but not realizing you're one of the rare teens that isn't buried in their phone.

Thank you.

Well, because I have you up here editing and doing almost every single day.

Correct.

That helps.

That helps.

It helps.

It makes me not want to go on another screen because I'm already editing for so long on there.

I'm like, I'm tired of this.

Yeah.

You know, and so it's, it's got to be strange for you.

And it's also, you know, an attack.

It's an attack big time by you.

Almost a FOMO aspect of, you know, you know, you're missing opportunities or whatever, you know, and so.

Oh yeah, we could talk about that too.

It's got to be a weird feeling knowing like, okay, I have this.

I'm, I'm not trying to be a typical teen.

I'm not trying to be consumed by the media and games and apps and platforms.

Instead, you're growing a business, you're maturing and you're, you're building your future instead of it being, living through this app that nobody even gives a about at the end of the day.

And so it's, it's cool to watch you take that from Ben and now implement it into your real world life.

And, and so it's cool for me, like, I was just with Ben last night and I actually, I thanked him for everything that he's done coming on the show and all that stuff.

And because it's, it's impacted all of our lives.

I mean, he said things in there like the charging station for phones and getting him out of your room.

We did that.

That was a huge change in the family of everything goes on the charger, in the kitchen.

Nothing, no electronics, any rooms.

And how that changed my sleeping this.

That night, the same night we got our phones out of my room, that it, I, it was a meat that night because, you know, you sit there and scroll.

We all, we're all guilty of it.

And then your brain's turned on.

You're looking at these blue lights.

You're, you're, you're endorphins are being triggered.

And then now, you know, it's 11, 12 o' clock at night.

Then you put your phone down.

Then it takes you an hour or two to like wind down and get to bed, at least for me.

But it was like, okay, eight Nine o'.

Clock.

Boom.

Everything's in on the chargers.

And then it's like you're already wound down.

So when you go to bed, you go to bed.

Yeah, I wake up, dad.

That also helped.

Ben, thank you for the charging station thing, by the way.

I was kind of.

At first, I was like, I don't like this, you know, because I was like, we have to keep all our stuff out.

It's just uncomfortable at first, you know, when we would scroll or something or

make your friends put it on.

My best friend.

He made my best friend do it one time.

And she so caught off guard.

It was the funniest thing.

He's like, no, you too.

You.

Rules of my house.

You're in here.

When you left, she was like, I'm taking.

Taking it off.

She took it.

I figured.

I went back out the morning.

Her phone was gone and I couldn't make it.

Rules are rules.

Yeah.

It was so funny.

But even in the morning, I don't.

No one understands.

And it's so hard to make people understand.

It's not my first thing I think about in the morning.

I love that.

I'll even.

I'll go at it at, like, it's kind of bad sometimes I'll go and pick it up at 1 and take it off the charger.

Like 1pm yeah, I'll go all morning doing something else.

Talking with you guys, chilling on the couch, going.

Getting coffee, going on a walk.

It's like, it's pretty late in the afternoon by the time I even see you picking it up.

It's just.

It's not your first.

If it's not your first thing that the last thing that you're on at night, it's not the first thing in the morning.

And I think that can make a huge difference.

Absolutely does.

Ben.

Literally.

Thank you, Ben.

Again, you.

He literally made me.

The whole time, I was like, I didn't realize.

It's just the darkness behind it.

And I.

That also doesn't help teenagers and kids with being lonely.

Yeah.

You're just constantly comparing your life to people's highlights.

It's bad.

And so.

Thank you, Ben.

I just want to say thank you.

What else?

Who else has left an impact from guests?

Can you think of anything?

I forgot this one name.

That's one of my favorites on the list.

Brian.

Do you remember Brian?

He was one of our recent ones.

Recent Brian.

Recent Brian.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Was so.

It was just.

Good message too.

But he was just so funny and engaging and just like a great storyteller.

Like Cliff.

I love.

I got to say, guys, I love the funny ones.

Like, the engaging, fun story.

Like, really the way that they're able to tell stories.

Like, I love.

We just have a diverse amount of stories that we go from some pretty

random things because we'll go from some dude falling off a cliff and shoot himself robbing a dude.

Brian.

To a mother that's like, lost their children.

So it's.

It's so crazy to be like, goes like this.

The emotions.

I mean, you and I, we reflect after every episod and we'll stop here.

Like, holy.

Like, was not ready for that, you know, and like Natalia, obviously last week's episode, man, like, that one was a rough one for both of us.

And to be able to hear what this mother has gone through and losing her children and just, it's heartbreaking.

And then like.

But also at the same time, here you are hearing like the red flags that she was seeing and things that.

That's what I love the.

I think the most about you being younger and being the producer of this podcast is because you get to hear some of the most effed up, encouraging, motivating, failing stories of how people have ruined their lives or.

And built them back.

And it's.

And here you are as this teenager.

Instead of you sitting in a classroom all day, just bored as staring at a teacher, not caring, scrolling, you're sitting in here and you're like, like, holy.

Never doing that.

Going to avoid that.

Okay, need to focus on this.

I'm gonna start working on this.

So you're getting to learn a whole different perspective of life from adults that have been in the trenches versus sitting in a classroom of your peers that are bringing everything that's going wrong in their life to the classroom and then putting it on to everybody else or the, you know, the negative that goes on in life.

So you have, I.

You have listened to a life of stories already.

And then the just.

I'm sure there's so many little things that you pick up on, like when you're just out in town or listening and being aware and listening to guys that have been in the military and hunted dudes all over the world, and you get to see how predators work and how their mind is trying to figure things out and how to get in.

I mean, it's just you've been able to pick up on so many different skills and just knowledge from sitting behind a computer.

I have people ask me when they ask what I do, right?

What do you do for work?

I'm like, well, I'm a podcast editor and producer.

You know, you're not a podcast editor.

I said it wrong.

I said backwards.

I'm a podcast producer and editor for the Wildcats podcast.

And they always look it up and people, like, go and follow.

And I'm like, we're on platforms.

This, this, this, this.

And it's just so cool because people ask me, like, one of the questions like, what's it about?

And I was like, it is an ordinary podcast with extraordinary people.

I go, they just say we give people the opportunity and the voice to talk about their life story.

Yeah.

And it doesn't have to be fancy and it doesn't have to be super crazy ever.

But then we think about, like, even the people that feel like they're like, oh, I don't feel like mine's crazy enough to come on.

Like, my story's crazy enough to come on.

Even those people have something where I'm like, what?

You didn't think that was cool enough?

Like, everyone's life has something to offer.

People have a purpose.

So everyone has something cool, interesting, educating, fascinating, fun, like vulnerable, sad, intentional, any word you can think of.

People just bring it.

They bring it.

It's hard.

Yeah.

It's hard to explain.

Wild chaos.

It's hard because we don't have a genre or a demographic or a niche.

It's just giving people is having no niche.

That's our niche.

That's what I say.

If that makes sense.

I don't know if our niche is

not having a niche.

Yeah.

Because I mean, we go such polar opposites.

There's no set direction of where this episode or where podcasts go and that.

I feel like that's the best part.

That's the best part.

That's like I said, what.

That's what makes it genuine.

Yes.

You could just literally just have a, like, continue on a conversation not knowing which direction it's going to go into.

What do you want to talk about?

So much fun with this.

Actually, guys, this is fun.

Are you.

Is this how everyone feels it or is it kind of nerve wracking?

First?

I used to be like, guys, people coming in because I'm over there.

I'm like, guys, listen.

Just conversation.

Like, calm down.

Why you want calm down?

Go get some water.

I get you some water.

Use the restroom real fast.

We'll open the window.

Like, you'll be good until you sit down.

You're like, out.

Hi, my name's Chris.

Like, it's just.

You want.

I almost, like, I almost completely stuttered my entire name.

And where I'm from.

I forgot where I was from for a second.

Like, it's just one of those things.

But then you get.

You start to get more comfortable with it.

Yeah.

And since, like you said, it's a gradual flow of conversation, it's not scripted.

So I'm not like, having to perform a certain way.

No.

I didn't want to have a scripted, like, these questionnaires for you because I feel that's not how we do things.

Oh.

And you and I, our conversations are every which way.

What do you want to talk about?

Taekwondo.

Taekwondo was a huge chapter in our life.

You guys went really hard.

We went really hard as a family.

We didn't know we were metal chasers.

But once you found.

Once you won your first.

Once you get a taste.

And those medals were legit, legit.

Like hefty.

Like kill somebody.

Like cowbell.

Like, I feel like they shit on, like, the Olympic medals.

I mean, some of these things are freaking dad.

Got chunks.

Like, they almost look like targets, like plates that you'd put out on the range.

So once we got a taste of what those were from a tournament, I think a switch switched in all of

us without us knowing.

No.

And then we were like, we need more of these.

So let's talk about.

Let's talk about Taekwondo because it was a great chapter.

You.

There were so many.

So much lessons that were learned.

And so when we started Taekwondo, when we put you in Taekwondo, you used to be this very shy, mousy, almost, like, shut off.

You would be closed up.

Like, you were very.

I don't want to say awkward.

Please say it all.

I was shy.

Like, very shy.

Very timid, I guess would be the word that I would use.

And so we started you in Taekwondo, and it just bloomed you into.

At least helped propel you into the woman that you are today by bringing out this level of confidence that I've been put a ton of credit toward.

Being in a martial arts and then competing at a top level of martial arts to eventually winning three world titles in all within three years.

Three years.

So let's get into that.

What was.

What was it like training to become a world champion?

It doesn't matter if you feel like training that day, you're gonna train.

Doesn't matter if it's raining outside.

We're gonna train.

Snowing, we're gonna train.

If we can't make it to the gym, we're training up here.

And not a lot of people know this, but when we did martial arts, this upstairs, right?

Because people only see a little bit of this.

This was.

This turned into our gym.

This is our dojo.

This was our dojo.

And it's crazy because I forget about that now because I'm so used to doing this.

Yeah.

We use this small space, which was actually pretty nice up here.

No mats.

We use no mats.

We taped off.

What was it like painters tape.

We painters taped off the flooring and with the carpet.

And so it's like we.

To make sure not to, like, go over the tape.

And so we made it the size of, like, what our usual ring would be.

Yep.

I remember it is such a different mindset.

You have to get into to fight someone, and it's different.

And I can't.

Let's touch on that.

Let's.

What's it like?

Okay, we'll go.

We're just gonna start in the early days.

Early days.

Gotcha.

What was it like being this young girl?

Okay.

Showing up to a tournament and no other girls would show up, and you ended up having to fight boys or chose to fight boys.

Okay.

So fighting boys.

I give so much of my experience and speed and just kind of the way I would fight, I would say.

I don't want to say swag.

I don't really know the exact word.

I had a difference style of fighting that I like.

It got brought out of me for some reason that I.

Not a lot of people were used to.

And they were like, well, who'd she trained with?

Type of thing.

And obviously dad would tell me, if I can fight him, I could fight anyone.

You are a giant dude to fight up against, and it's really scary.

And he did not.

That is.

That's very true.

Just because we're his daughters does not mean he took it easy on us.

Like, we collided shins more times.

I didn't realize the importance.

Let me just say real fast, the importance of shin guards.

Because when you're going up against, like, you're a new fighter and you're in.

You're sparring, and you're like, just kind of like, lightly kicking each other.

It's when Dad's like, okay, we're gonna train these legs.

We're gonna make machines out of these girls.

We're gonna kick hard, kick through these people.

Like, kick, kick through these kids, you know, through them colliding shins with dad, there's not.

See?

Jesus.

Oh, there's.

I. I, like, I was like, I'm done.

Cut the show.

I'm done.

We're not doing this anymore.

Like, no, like, it's one of those moments where it makes you like, oh, my gosh, like, the importance of shin

guards are so important after that, how does that transfer?

Fighting me, fighting these boys?

What's.

What's it like showing up to the tournament and then there's no.

There's no.

There's no boy.

There's no girls to fight.

Well, you show up to a tournament and you're expecting.

You're preparing mentally preparing yourself to fight.

And we drive to these tournaments.

So we're going there for a reason.

We're, like, putting our resources out there for a reason.

We're here for a reason.

Regardless of if there's girls here to fight or not, I have to fight.

I've already prepared myself to do that.

And it's been.

It's been a minute, so I'm trying to, like, bring myself back into the mindset that I had at that time.

Because that those were the early days.

Like, these were the early days where I had to start fighting boys.

But it there.

I don't care what anyone says.

Boys are faster, stronger.

I don't care how that sounds.

I will stand firm on that.

On that hill.

They are faster, stronger, and they will help better you.

I. I don't know if some took it easy on me.

I'm sure some did, you know, because I don't know, they don't want to, like, hurt me or anything, but I really made sure I was like, no, if we're gonna train, like, don't go easy on me type of thing, you know?

Like, I wanna.

You don't better yourself.

I.

How do I.

How is this a challenge?

How do I better myself?

Unless you, like, go unleash on me.

Unleash on me, you know?

And so I would get.

I would get beat up pretty good amount of times learning it with boys, you know, because I'm like, oh, like, this is.

Oh, this.

This sucks.

Like, I'm not.

Slowly, I would gradually pick up and, like, learn to.

To defend myself and to, like, psych them out.

I would learn my speed, increased my strength.

Like, just the way that I would hit.

It would never be as hard as the boys would hit, but my speed and just like, the sound.

But it was harder than every girl hit.

It was.

I don't want to, like, say that, but maybe you guys heard it more than I.

You guys, you.

I mean, just the photos alone, like, your weapons would be wrapped over these kids candy cane.

We call it candy caning.

Because I'd watch a lot of girls, they'd come in and Just, they're just striking, they're just tapping.

You were cutting through or you were kicking through these kids, which brought power because these girls, I don't think we're used to training with no boys.

And so you were used to taking shots, right, for me, from your training partner.

You had an incredible training partner the whole entire time that was your same age.

And he fought on the male side.

So you guys just fought each other 24, seven, which elevated each other because you were, how fast you were.

I was flexible, so it gave him a challenge on how to get around me.

But he was the strength and the speed.

Like we both bettered each other so much for sure.

And I give him so, so much credit too, because he was the one I trained with basically.

Not a daily, was it a daily basis?

No, it was definitely weekly.

Like we would, you know, we would, he'd come over and stuff all the time, but it was just the amount of training and repetitions that you have to do.

Remember you were like.

And dad, dad would always tell me, make it count.

So strike, like, hit through these people, kick through these people, punch through these people, make it count.

So that there's no doubt in these judges minds when you're fighting these kids that, oh, she made contact.

What was one of the biggest lessons that you learned from fighting competitively?

One of the biggest lessons I learned fighting competitive Taekwondo, I would say, is that it's good.

It is so good, if not great to be the underdog.

Why were you the underdog?

Well, for starters, when we started Taekwondo, I was probably 13, 13 years old, remember when I started it, brand new white belt, and I had to work my ranks up to become a first degree black belt.

And that took time.

I don't even know how long that took, but it just took some time.

And when we'd be at the gym fighting other kids, it was like a daily.

We had to go there basically.

Like I think we had four or five days a week is when we would go there every, every day almost, and just constantly trying to better ourselves.

I'd be fighting different kids.

We'd have new kids coming in, reoccurring kids.

Right.

And so everyone was at a different level of how good they were, how much practice they've had.

Right.

And I'm coming into this brand new fighting, trying to learn techniques and skills, fighting kids that were better than me.

And it's weird because they were doing Taekwondo far longer than I was doing it.

Yeah.

And it would make some kids mad when I would, because I don't want to say I'm a fast learner, but I, I think I excelled pretty quick.

I think I picked it up pretty fast.

And just from practicing with you, even when we weren't practicing at the gym and then going to the gym like we non stop trained together.

And I give you all the credit for that too.

And so dad's making me better and training me on this.

And so when I'd go and I'd fight with the kids my own age, I'm excelling in the levels and just trying to better myself.

Like, I wanted it.

That was the difference as like, I wanted it, but I wasn't there to make friends, so I was kind to everyone.

There was a difference.

I was kind.

I would talk with you, but I kept to myself.

And I wanted to work, so I was there to be kind.

Smile.

But work.

And so, like, I just wanted to be better.

And I feel there was.

There's obviously clicks in every, every sport, right?

And there were clicks.

And I made sure I didn't want to be a part of any.

In any clique.

I was kind, but I didn't want to be a part of any group.

And I think that was frowned upon, not kind of joining or trying to be liked.

I wasn't trying to look to be liked.

Well, you got, you're trying to be nice about it.

I'm trying to be nice about it.

Okay.

You got into this sport, you excelled really quick and you caught up to these black belts at a, at a color belt level, and then you started whooping their ass.

And then there was a girl in this gym that completely.

She was an instructor, right.

And she's a paid staff there.

And you beat the out of her in a tournament.

I think the whole match lasted like 15 seconds before you scored out.

And that turned everything in this gym, in the dynamic of our gym.

And this girl started bullying you bad.

She had other staff members, boys, older boys, trying to hurt you, tell them to fight you, and they were trying to hurt you.

And it wasn't.

I was oblivious.

I didn't even know.

Well, yeah, you had no idea.

Mom and I are watching all of it.

And then this girl starts trashing you.

She was talking to the other people.

So, yeah, now you're dealing with almost high school drama in this martial arts world.

Yep, that's where I was getting my drama from.

And that's where a lot of people are like, oh, kids don't socialize.

But this was a huge thing of being able to socialize.

Kids in homeschool was being in martial arts.

And so you went through a really kind of a stretch of bullying where mom and I had to let you figure it out because we're not going to always be there for you.

And those was a lesson for you.

But instead of you going at it verbally, you just proved yourself on the mat every time by whooping this kid's ass and putting her foot in her mouth till eventually she ended up leaving the sport because she could just never catch you.

And then even in other gyms, other tournaments and stuff like that, you were always kind of like the underdog because we were the only ones from our gym that competed.

So nobody know who we were when he'd show up, but they always knew who we were when we left.

And it was a really great experience, I think, for you to be able to deal with bullying on that level of just hate because of not for something that you did, but for who you just were as far as working harder than others, excelling past others, and then obviously showing them that hard work, you know, will surpass anything that they're doing.

And it was a huge lesson for you because you.

You were able to overcome this.

And instead of quitting and like having paid staff at this local gym that we're supposed to be representing on the road, that there's.

Their paid staff, employees are bully children in there and literally running people out, it didn't help that the owners of the gym were also absolutely batshit crazy tyrants themselves.

It was an incredible lesson for you because you had to traverse this.

You had to.

We weren't gonna let you quit because of some shitty instructor.

And I didn't want to staff member.

Yeah, we were excelling.

And you're running through ranks and going blowing through tournaments.

And so it was one of these things where as mom and I had to sit here and watch you, in a way, be bullied, but also learn how to overcome it, learn how to take care of these problems.

And you always.

You just proved it every single time on the mat.

And that's how you eventually became.

Got out of this.

And it was hard.

There were some stretches where there for a bit, we were like, what the hell's going on?

It was.

It was insane.

The amount of just hate that came from your own peers there, all out of just pure jealousy because you weren't.

You weren't clicked up.

You weren't talking shit to anybody.

You'd go in there, you'd train, you'd whoop ass, you'd leave.

Like, that was.

That was our Mission.

And the hustle didn't stop.

That's the thing.

Even no matter the support that you have.

And the only support I needed was from my parents and the people that were truly close to me.

And I had some great instructors there, too.

Like, I just want to point that out.

There were a few great instructors that I really did have that really poured into me, and they wanted to watch me succeed.

That was all I needed.

Yep.

I didn't need a crowd of people.

I just needed the people that I cared about the most by there just watching me.

Yeah.

But the hustle doesn't stop no matter who's cheering for you and who's not you.

I hear this all the time from athletes, and they're like, well, does talent beat hard work?

Like, which one is it talent or is it hard work?

Right.

And you can have all the talent I feel until that gets in your head and your ego is bigger than kind of your actions and what you're able to do.

When you let your ego get bigger than your own self, you forget who you are.

Yeah.

And you think that you don't need to work as hard.

Yeah.

And that's where I feel like hard work and dedication is what I had to do.

That's what I had to do to succeed and to have those voices be louder than.

And block out all the negative noise.

I just.

The hard work.

I don't even want to sit here and say, like, I had the talent in that, you know, But.

And I never thought I was better than anyone.

That's one of the things.

That's where I'm like, you gotta come into it.

You have to be a humble fighter.

You have to be a humble fighter.

And you could.

You could be like, oh, I did super good.

That was a great move.

You know what I mean?

You have people.

People supporting you and giving you compliments.

You cannot allow that to boost your ego.

Yep.

You gotta ground yourself and be okay.

This doesn't stop just because this comp.

This tournament went well.

I gotta.

I gotta grind even harder.

I gotta hustle even harder so I can make sure to show up next time.

And I feel like your hu.

Your humility as a fighter speaks louder than you.

Going in trying to prove something and trying to show other people.

Because I didn't go in there proving to people that I could fight.

I just wanted to be better.

And so it's like, how bad do you want something?

And that is one thing that you and mom have raised me to.

You've instilled that in me.

Since I was little is how bad do you want something in life?

And so when we'd be training some days were super hard like where I fought you and I did not want to train.

But it was so worth it because even when you.

You have to discipline your mind to where the days that you don't feel like doing something do it anyway.

So everything that you've gone through being a competitive fighter and winning world three world titles.

Would you recommend kids, parents to put their kids in a martial arts?

110 I would 110 recommend parents please put your kids in a martial art at an early age.

The earliest age you could think of.

Because when I was in martial arts I started at 13.

I wish.

I wish we kind of like knew about it more when I and I could have started when I was like five or something.

Just younger.

You know what I mean?

Please put your kids in a martial arts because I promise you it instills.

It develops their character at a younger age.

It instills confidence.

I would say that is the most important.

Number one aspect that it gave me was confidence in myself and in your abilities.

Confidence in yourself and in your own abilities.

I would say it gave self discipline.

It makes you work hard for things and hustle and grind and just if you.

How bad you want something, work for it if you want it bad enough.

The amount of lessons and you just named a ton of good ones.

But they're so many lessons that being in a individual sport.

And it was.

It was weird for me because I grew up team sports, football, everything was.

I was hardcore team sport guy growing

up and I never did that and

I now I'm 100 against it because I feel that especially for kids that are kind of closed off why martial arts is at least a competitive side of martial arts was such a great sport for you guys is because it all depends on you.

There's.

You don't have a team to like fall back on.

You're not putting the blame on other people every single time you stepped on that mat at all.

You are the only one that can dictate the.

The outcome of that tournament.

And it puts this incredible amount of responsibility of growth maturing everything that happens during that time to be able to step onto a mat and fight other.

It's not the man like we're not even like haven't talked about what it takes is this young little girl that's closed off kind of insecure and timid.

Very insecure to now like hey you

gotta go fist fight this kid.

This Boy, Yeah, or boys in the

beginning area at times to, you know, to learning to overcome these fears.

I mean, we'd show up at tournaments and there wouldn't even be any color belts.

And you ended up fighting black belt.

You ended up fighting a tournament full of boys.

You fought four boys in a tournament and beat all the boys and every cat and won the whole tournament against the.

Because you were the only girl that showed up.

And then there was tournaments where there was no color belts, and you ended up fighting up into the black belt division and ended up beating a couple of them in a couple of the rings.

And it was.

And so those little wins and showing you the confidence of who you were inside, I think really helped you bloom and blossom into this machine of a fighter where it was almost unstoppable.

And then it was just this rampage we went on.

And so what was one of the best things you took or you were able to get from being in martial arts?

One of the best things.

Yeah,

that's a hard question, actually.

That's really hard.

I attained so many valuable things from being in a martial arts.

It's.

I learned how to have confidence in myself.

I learned work ethic, I learned how to defend myself, which I feel like more women need to know how to do.

Not saying you got to go around proving something and just fighting people on the streets, but it's something to where if you are target in any type of case scenario, you know that you are going to fight for your entire life to get back home.

And it kills me when.

And obviously things are.

Things happen unannounced.

You have no idea when something could happen, but it's just being prepared if so.

And Taekwondo, I would say, was a great starter, like begin.

Like if you want to put your kids into something and.

And see if they enjoy it or see if, like, it's something that they're willing to, like, progress in because you want them to have that fire, like you want to show them something.

And there's a bunch of different martial arts.

That's the best part.

Yeah, that's the best part.

And I remember when we started it too, I wanted.

And when I was really picking up and we started competing, I was like, I want to be a mixed martial artist.

And it just makes you want to add more into like your tool belt, you know, and you just want to have more under.

And so it's like there's what the.

Let's name some.

There's Muay Thai, there's Taekwondo, there's jiu jitsu.

There's a bunch of great.

I don't.

I don't think.

I think Taekwondo is a great entry level.

I agree.

I.

In Jiu jitsu is an incredible sport too.

I think jiu jitsu, though, is.

Is almost like cultish.

It's like CrossFit.

You know, people get so sucked into it and then I.

And then, you know, you see all these guys, and then as soon as two jiu jitsu guys get in a fistfight, they stand up and start fist fighting each other.

So I think jiu jitsu is a great skill to have, but also I think people need striking skills as well, and that's because not every fight's going to go to the ground.

You're not going to be sitting there trying to, like, feel each other out, get this movement, defend yourself, Just be able to defend yourself.

And so, yeah, it's.

There's so many incredible sports out there.

You ended up getting your best friend out of that sport.

I ended up getting my very best friend.

I'm gonna say her name.

Yeah, Amy.

Amy, if you're watching, because I know she'll probably listen.

She'll listen to this one for me.

She supports me like that.

She's my best friend.

And I think we're coming up on being best friends for seven years now.

Or it's a.

When we first started taekwondo, we met through there and we did like black belt.

Black belt class together.

And we even.

She came with us competing.

When we traveled a little bit, she came with us.

I think one time I coached her a few times.

You coached her a few times.

Like it.

And we've been best friends ever since.

So it's like you can create such good friends and community from martial arts.

I feel too, especially the competing side,

because you guys are almost trauma bonded because of the.

Everything that goes on there inside the gym.

The drama, the wins, the losses.

And you guys get to experience that together.

But not just in, like a school aspect where you're just like, hey, hey, yeah, how's your boyfriend?

Cool, great.

But instead you're like, okay, this is the lineup I got.

I gotta fight Kovanovsky.

I gotta.

You know, you girls are like going back and forth and then you all are rooting each other on.

Yes.

You'd finish a match and you're running over to her ring to watch her compete.

That's what we were talking about.

It was not.

The, like, boys weren't even on our radar at that time.

Like, that wasn't the most stressful thing to think about.

We were literally Thinking about, like, oh, my gosh, what could I have done better?

Was that good?

Good?

Like, let's go cheer on for our friend over here.

Let's go, Amy.

Let's not screaming.

Like, you're screaming and you're just supporting.

And so there's so many good things that come out of it.

And I just feel like just for your.

Who you are as an individual, it just helps you grow and confidence.

There's a difference of arrogance and confidence for sure.

And having a humble confidence is.

Is so important.

And I feel.

It gave me that.

I feel fighting gave me that.

That.

Stand up tall, like, no slouching, keep your chin up, smile.

Don't, like, don't be rude, don't be mean, but just let.

Let who you are shine through.

Let your actions shine through.

You know what I mean?

It's that simple definition of, like, how I would fight was like, actions over words.

Like, I'm not gonna talk the talk.

We're gonna go do this on the mat.

So just like I said in the beginning, being the underdog is.

It's.

Everyone makes that sound like it's such a.

Such a bad thing to be.

Own it.

Own it.

Oh, yeah.

The mama mentality was it.

They don't hate.

They don't hate the good ones, they hate the great ones.

And so it's like you're gonna.

If you have haters, you're doing a good thing.

You're doing a good thing if you have haters by just.

If you're just being.

If you're keeping to yourself and you have pure intentions and you're just hustling and you're.

And you're keeping yourself and you're just.

You're being kind, but, you know, just confident.

And you have haters for that.

You're doing something right every time.

Keep.

Do not let them get to you.

You can't.

You can't.

Their voices cannot be the loudest thing in your mind.

What was it like winning your first world title after all the hard work?

So after all the hard work, after all the rounds that you and I.

And I'd fight you and I would.

Would not take it easy on.

It hit you as if anybody else would hit you.

The training, the drama, the bullying, the fails.

Driving 15 hours to Colorado to fight in a tournament, to lose the whole tournament, to drive 15 hours home empty handed, what did it.

It feel like?

I remember that when you won your

first world title, I think I was more in shock.

Like, did this just happen?

Because I've been working every Year to try to gain enough points to even be eligible to compete in this comp.

In this entire competition.

And I just won it on in my ranking.

Like, I just.

In my ranks, I. I won that out of 12 girls that were here.

And they're all great fighters.

Oh, yeah.

Like, we're going against the best of the best people.

The top 12.

Top 12.

You are top 10.

It's top 10.

And so I just remember, like, I didn't even have enough time to cry and get really emotional about that because we had our moment.

Dad and I had our moment after because I still had more competitions after that to continue on to.

You know what I mean?

So I couldn't exactly leave the mindset that I was in.

I call it the zone.

I was in the zone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, that you can't take me out of during competitions.

You couldn't make me eat.

Could make me.

Like, you guys would be like, you guys want, like, a chocolate chip?

Or like, I had to eat some fruit because I was just so nervous and couldn't eat.

But it was one of those moments of, wow.

Like, we made it.

I made it.

We made it.

I looked at you.

I remember the only voice I would hear on the mat was you.

Out of everyone.

Like, no offense, mom, but mom would be cheering for me, too.

But it's just, you were my coach, and so all I cared about was what you had to say.

And it was the longest match of my life.

Do you remember that?

We went up against this really good Taekwondo fighter, and her name's Grace.

Grace is a stud.

She was a stud.

She was.

I was like, okay, this is going to be a challenge.

Like, she's a great competitor to go up against.

And so we fought like two giraffes is.

Because we're both kind of tall.

So we were both just, like, going at it.

And judges weren't calling it.

They kept saying, like, no points, no points.

And we're like.

Like, we're.

We're hitting each other out of breath.

Two minutes.

Was it two minutes each match?

What was it again?

Yeah, I think each round.

Each round was 2 minutes, 2 or 3 minutes.

No one talks about how long 2

minutes feels when you're fighting somebody.

I know you know that.

I know you know that.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

Especially in your gear, you feel like a marshmallow.

And it's so easy to slide in your footies.

Yeah.

So it's like, the balance has to be on point.

Like, you have to.

You're basically on one leg.

The Whole time.

Because us girls really kick.

We kind of rely on our kicks a lot.

But what I did as me being my own personal fighter and what I taught myself, I was like, okay, we're gonna kick hard.

I don't want to hurt people, but we're gonna make contact, so we're gonna push through these people.

And so that's every time.

And dad, Dad's like, what would you say?

What was.

You would tell me you had a few lines, like dad's vocal stims.

Like you had stims that you would tell me.

I don't know.

You would say, I don't remember.

Yeah.

What are some of the things that.

Oh, yeah.

You would go.

He goes, she doesn't want to fight you.

She'd look at her, look at her.

You could see their eyes.

I could see it in those kids eyes.

It honestly helped me though.

I.

Okay, okay.

It would be like bouncing around.

It's like you're just out of breath.

And dad would pull me back and he'd like whisper in my ear.

And so it's like, if I didn't have you by my side, dad was an extra pair of eyes.

And so I thank you for that.

Like, you helped me.

I just remember our moment at the end, like you like pulled me in because it was non stop sweating tears.

Like, I'm not gonna lie.

Our training days, I'd cry.

We would cry.

And you're like, you're really gonna cry right now.

Like, how bad do you want this?

You know?

And I'm like, like, you're right.

Like, you're right.

It was just so.

Because he's like, more, give me more, give me more.

And it was for that exact situation, repetitions matter.

They offer that you had a pretty good trainer partner.

The Satterfields.

Oh, they were.

They were hella competitors.

Hell of competitors.

They.

That was a great family.

That was, that was the only like the, you know, obviously besides your training partner here and becoming close with their.

His parents.

But the Satterfields were the one family that I.

The only family we, we ever connected with out of.

Out of Vegas.

And the dad was just another replica of me, but for his own family and all the kids they have, that was.

They were really cool people.

And he, man, his kids could find.

They really looked up.

There was a lot of kids that looked up to you just by how you conducted yourself and held yourself in those competitions.

You never had any ego.

You were always cheering for everybody and helping and encourage and all that stuff.

And so, yeah, it was really Cool.

That was a really cool family to.

To.

To be able to go to the tournaments with and have somebody.

We grew with them.

Yeah, we all got into it, like, kind of together, and then we ended up actually fighting out of their gym and out of Vegas and representing them for a little bit towards the.

That's where.

I mean, you got your world title out of there, out of that gym.

And so it was.

It's cool supporting each other, like, being there every competition to support each other.

They're really good people.

Shout out Centerfield.

Yeah.

Shout out to the Satterfield family.

There were.

It was cool to be able to share those experiences because their were really good, but not.

She would you.

Would.

You ended up fighting the oldest.

Yes.

And in the last season.

Give me a run for my money.

Yeah, she was.

She's really good.

She was so young, too, but her talents.

At that point, I would.

I would love to see you guys go at it now.

Yeah, it would be fun.

I'd like to see you step back into the ring and fight some girls again.

I would.

I would.

Again.

It was one of those things.

I want to start up.

I want to do something.

I want to do something new again.

All right.

I feel it.

I feel that fire.

It was.

It was a poll.

No, I'm saying it.

Keep me accountable.

Yeah.

I want to do it again.

I miss kicking.

Like, that was my thing.

You and little sis got your world titles.

We.

Every two weeks.

Yeah, we did.

Every two weeks, we'd have a competition.

God, dude, how many medals do you have in your room?

There's got to be a hundred metals in there.

I remember one thing that was really, really cool.

It's like a little tradition that we would do.

I don't think you realize that it's made like, it made an impact on me, is you and I would, like, talk beforehand.

Like, you'd pull me over, and we kind of.

You just, like, fill me up and be like, you got this.

Like, you tell me your own little message that you'd give to me.

I think we'd pray, too.

Mom would also tell me.

She's like, I can do all things.

And I'd be like, through Christ who strengthens me.

So, so many things stuck with me.

But you would show me the met, like, where the metals were beforehand, and you'd be like, look how cool these are.

Like, look at that.

And it's.

It gave me something to work towards, too.

And the main thing I really wanted to work towards was making you proud because you were my coach.

So like that was the number one thing.

I could get the medal at the end.

Like, my medals are super cool, but like you being.

I'd look over when I win and dad would give me a smile like that.

I could see your eyes glossy.

And I'm like, I did good.

Like a little puppy.

I was always proud of you.

I loved that, dad.

That was.

I'd also bonded us.

We had something to bond over for sure.

Trauma bonded us for sure.

We did that.

I. I definitely would say advice to parents.

Put your kids in a martial arts.

Even if it's.

Even if you don't have super young kids, you have a. Teenagers, have them test it out, do it with them.

I'm glad we did.

You were in gymnastics and I pulled you out.

I was like, okay, thank you.

Lame.

I hated going to the gymnastics gyms and sitting there and just listening all of freaking Karen's just.

And complaining.

I was like, we're out of here.

This is.

This is stupid.

And that's.

I was like, let's go try martial arts.

And then here we are.

He won three world titles.

And I'm glad you stuck it out because you didn't like it at first.

I didn't and I made.

It was uncomfortable.

Yeah.

Told you to give me 30 days or two months.

He said 30 days?

Yeah, give me 30 days and if you hate it, well, we're gonna find something else.

But yeah, I fell for it.

I fell for it.

And like I said, it's.

You choose to become the type of fighter that you are, and that makes all the difference.

I'd say stand tall, keep your head up high.

You have nothing to prove.

Just show it on the mat, show it in the.

In the cage, whatever you're doing in your sport.

And I couldn't relate with other kids my age too, because everyone's in a team sport.

And I've never.

I don't think I've ever done a team sport before.

And I can't fully talk on like, talk.

I don't want to say anything bad or negative about team sports because I haven't really experienced that.

That.

But doing an individual sport is like my thing.

It's not something.

Yeah.

I think I could go into a team sport to do because I keep myself accountable, you know, if I lose, it's because of me.

It's way.

I feel like it's way more of an accomplishment.

Obviously, I grew up t sports and it was incredible.

Winning games and catching touchdowns and all that.

But like, when it's all the weights on you and the stress, that was a huge part where the stress that we put on you, the training, the.

Just the pressure of seeing the medals.

And we were metal chasers 100%.

We didn't know we were even that family until we, we discovered that.

But then it was like, okay.

And you know, and did to train our asses off.

Show up at these tournaments.

Kids we've never seen before.

All these different states, good kids.

And then to roll into this all by yourself.

Nobody else from your gym in most of these competitions besides your best friend.

She.

You.

They'd compete at close ones but you know, we would travel pretty far.

No one's fighting for you.

No, you're doing it yourself.

You gotta.

It's.

And if you walk out of that ring with an empty handed.

I mean it's.

It all depends on you.

It's a mental.

It is a mental just as much as it is physical.

It is mental.

Yeah.

Let's shift gears.

Okay.

Let's talk about what's it like having me as a dad?

I have nothing but like amazing things to tell people when I explain you.

And I bring you up in almost like every conversation if I.

Even if I first meet someone or if they're my friends.

Like, I don't think many people realize how valuable and important it is to have like a.

An involved good dad in a girl's life.

And especially you.

Like, you're not like anyone I've ever met or any other dad I've come in contact with.

And I'm so grateful that you're mine because I like want to keep you to myself.

Like, I don't want anyone else.

Like, I want people to experience the type of like love and protectiveness that you give me.

It's not that.

It's not a controlling.

And I know it seems like it to the outsiders because you just want to protect your little flower, but I know why you do.

And it just means you just show how much you care by like how much you want to protect me from the world.

And you just like you want to protect my innocence and you want to protect the goodness of who I am and who I'm becoming.

And you just.

You're like the biggest shield that I could.

I just.

I would not be who I am without you.

Dad.

You've inspired me in so many different ways.

You've molded me.

That's the one word I use.

Like all your birthday cards or like Christmas cards, I say mold.

Like you've shaped me.

I think of like a lump of clay.

Yeah.

And you like, tweak things and you like, reshape and you show me things and you're the, you're the standard.

Everything about you is the standard.

This is such a loaded question because there's years of birthday and Christmas cards of things that I can come up with to just come up with the type of guy that you are, dad.

And it's you.

You are the standard.

And I just wish more people knew, like, saw you the way that I see you.

Because, like, no one hugs like you do.

You're like this warm, safe, like safety blanket.

Like no one's given me that before.

I haven't experienced that with anyone.

And it's like, it's so hard because I know how much and I know not.

There's never any perfect moments.

Like we've had our times where we fought and we've argued and like, I can't imagine not talking with you or being close with you because that would like, kill me because of how close we are and how I've been raised.

And you've just always been there.

That's one thing I have to say about this man is he's never not been there.

No matter what he's battling on his own, you've always been there to pick me back up.

And even if I'm not doing something exactly that you agree with or want me to do, you're still there.

And one thing I do give you is the mental load, dad, that you carry on your own.

And I'm aware of it.

The things that you don't talk about that you probably go through as a man.

Even if you don't handle a certain situation perfectly, you always do self reflection and you take accountability and you come and you speak to me on your own and you sit in my room, sit on my bed and you either like cry it out with me or you talk it out with me and you show me why you might have like reacted or held on super tight for a certain reason.

And it changes, it changes my perspective on everything.

On just like dads are like a girl's biggest protector and just admire, like, you're my biggest admirer.

And I could, I could go on.

I could go on.

There's so many things about you, dad, that I like, adore about you.

And you, you're everything.

You're my hunting buddy, you're my business partner.

You're like one of my best friends.

I. I just, I couldn't do this life without you, Dad.

I know that you view me as like this flower.

So instead of getting Mad at you Sometimes.

Sometimes I. I struggle because I'm like, why doesn't he let me do this?

Or like, why is he.

You know what I mean?

Look, we all do, but I change my perspective on it.

And I'm like, I know why he does the things that he does.

I love that.

I love you.

I know how this guy.

I love you more.

I know it's kind of all over the place, but there's so much.

There is.

It's like trying to condense everything I feel about you into one question.

Yeah.

If people were to ask me if you guys were strict or not.

Right.

Like, are your parents strict?

I've had people ask me that before.

It's such an odd question because certain things you guys are, but you're not.

Okay, how do I explain this better?

Like, you just.

I can't explain that for you.

I'm the rule setter, so.

I know, but it's not like you guys could be a whole lot more strict.

Maybe it's because the rules that we have in place, we've made them make sense.

Yeah, that's.

That's the best way of putting it.

Honestly.

Honestly.

And it's not that it's like a trust thing on you.

Oh, I know.

Yeah.

You just don't trust other people.

It's the world.

Yeah.

And that's why, like, when you're always like, I'm like, tell me one good thing that happens past 10.

There's that.

Tell me one good thing.

One.

Tell me one positive thing that happens past 10 o' clock at night.

And I can't.

That's.

I'm not trying to say be like, I'm emotionally mature, but, like, the emotional mature part of it and how you guys have raised us is like, okay, he's got a point.

I can't name something, you know, because

you've been able to experience.

You've traveled.

Like, I. I think thing that helps with that is.

Is who I am and my past history of, you know, the world that I used to live with, the military and private security and everything.

Right.

I observe everything.

And so I'm always pointing that out to you girls.

Hey, you see this?

Do you see how this is unfolding?

Right.

Do you see how this guy's parked here?

Do you see how this woman parks so far?

Like.

And I've always laid out scenarios for you.

Head on a swivel.

Be aware.

Get in your truck.

Truck.

First thing you do when you get in your truck, lock your door.

But it's that type of stuff that I've explained to you not, oh, you got to be home at this time.

Because I said so.

Yeah, you never.

That's.

That's okay.

That's a big one.

I should have said that.

I should have brought that up.

You never say, well, because I said.

Or like, you can't ask questions.

You guys always allow us to kind of ask.

We never ask, like, why like that.

But you.

We.

We go.

I'm just curious.

Yeah.

How come?

You know, like.

But I think that's healthy.

That's a mature question from your point of view.

Because, you know, and as a parent, you can't just be.

Because I said so.

Gotta give us context.

100.

Because I want you thinking, okay, well, if I can't do this, I don't want.

Well, my dad's an.

He just said no, which I feel a lot of.

That's the majority of parents, right?

As I said, so.

No, because they don't want to deal with it.

It's lazy parents.

They don't want to deal with it.

Now it's okay, cool.

You're gonna be an adult one day and make your own decisions.

But, like, this time, it's like, okay, if I can preserve just something of that nature, like.

Like, do I want my daughter to be the next statistic where I'm talking about it?

Right.

It's like, that's how I look at it.

There's gonna be some times that you're probably gonna be like.

Like, I just want to be out an extra hour or two.

There's times I've had those times.

Trust me, for sure.

It sucks for me as your dad.

It sucks for me because I wanted you to be able to go and experience that.

But, like, things are so crazy in this world these days.

It's terrifying.

But also, at the same time, you need to experience this stuff because that's how you grow the street smarts to see scenarios that are unfolding or being able to pick out somebody that's weird or standing out.

You make this decision, what do you want to do?

You give me the tools.

That's one thing that my parents are extremely amazing at is they listen to me.

They let me talk, but they give me the tools and their opinions.

They're very opinionated people, but they give me.

I wouldn't change it for the world.

Like, I really do love that about you guys, but you guys give me the tools to make decisions and mistakes on my own.

That's how you learn.

Yeah.

And so I know it's hard for you guys too, because that even explaining it's probably hard, you know, that's why it's hard for me to explain it to people.

Because not a lot like, friends, people around, they're like, why can't you do this?

And I'm like.

And I'm able to explain it not because, like, all my parents won't tell me or anything.

It honestly, it's like a mutual respect.

I have mute.

Like, a respect for you guys and why you do what you do.

And you guys give me you trust.

You're like, okay, I'm trusting you that you'll make the right decision.

You know what I mean?

Well, because you've never given us a decision to not trust you.

Right.

Feel that's where a lot of, like, the conflict and butting heads comes in to play with teenage.

And I'm just speaking for teenagers, because I'm a teenager, but teenagers and just kids with their parents is like, they want to know why?

And I feel if some parents just kind of, like, took a breath and a step back, and we're like, okay, can we just tell you, like, how this kind of scares us in the situation that you might be putting yourself into?

Maybe it'll make the.

The kid understood.

Sit back and be like, oh, they just.

They come from a good place.

They come from a good place.

And that saved me a lot.

I'm like, I know why my parents do what they do.

It's from a good place.

Even.

You guys have even given me the freedom to do something like, oh, you got.

It's up to you if you want to do that.

And I've done it, right?

Because I'm like, well, I get to do it, you know, And I've done it, like, and I didn't like it.

You know, it's like, okay, I see why they did that now.

Or I'm like, nope.