WEBVTT 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.179 Hey guys, it's Jen. Welcome back to Student Stories. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.179 Hope that you're doing well. Finals are next 00:00:17.179 --> 00:00:20.160 week, so hope that your studies and your projects 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:23.039 are all going well. Today I am joined in the 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.059 studio by a new friend, Nick Fisher. Nick, please 00:00:26.059 --> 00:00:29.199 introduce yourself to our listeners. Hi, never 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:33.729 done this before. My name is Nick Fisher. Grew 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.109 up in Overland Park, been at JCCC for about, 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:38.869 this will be my second semester, so almost through 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:42.390 my first year of schooling here. Grew up in Overland 00:00:42.390 --> 00:00:44.829 Park, went to a late East high school, graduated 00:00:44.829 --> 00:00:50.670 there in 2024. And yeah, just got here, was invited 00:00:50.670 --> 00:00:54.130 on this podcast since I had a showcase, did pretty 00:00:54.130 --> 00:00:56.450 well in it. And I'm here to try and share my 00:00:56.450 --> 00:00:58.490 story. pretty much all you need to know about 00:00:58.490 --> 00:01:00.770 me for now. Yeah. So that's actually a perfect 00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:03.909 lead in to my next question. When we met and 00:01:03.909 --> 00:01:06.250 we were talking offline, you shared your incredible 00:01:06.250 --> 00:01:10.090 story with us. And I will have you share that 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:12.530 with our listeners in just a moment. But before 00:01:12.530 --> 00:01:14.909 we do so, tell us a little bit about what you're 00:01:14.909 --> 00:01:17.769 studying here at JCCC, when you think you might 00:01:17.769 --> 00:01:20.329 be graduating, maybe if you've had a favorite 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:22.829 class or two that you've taken here. Yeah. Yeah. 00:01:23.329 --> 00:01:28.219 So I got here around or I started right after 00:01:28.219 --> 00:01:30.799 graduating high school. So this last August of 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.920 2024, I started. I originally I wasn't supposed 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.140 to be here. I was training to be a pilot pilot 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:38.939 and I had been working towards what's called 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:41.359 the private pilot license, which is basically 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:43.120 the driver's license for flying an airplane. 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:46.280 And I was right there. I was about to take my 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:48.760 test. the first the test just didn't go so well 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:51.459 and it was at that end it was about like that 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:53.819 due date of when i needed to have it done to 00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:56.099 where i could go into i was going to end up going 00:01:56.099 --> 00:01:58.739 to k -state salina uh their aerospace program 00:01:58.739 --> 00:02:02.200 great program by the way um i was originally 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:03.959 going to go there but i was going to be a year 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:05.500 ahead since i had already completed my private 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.840 pilot and i didn't feel like going there and 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.180 redoing everything that i had already done for 00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:14.340 the past about, I would say about a year going 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:16.740 into that. And so I would, my plan was to be 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:19.000 here, get a couple of classes out of the way. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:25.080 All I took was macroeconomics and I was, I had 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:27.979 to take algebra, college algebra, which I had 00:02:27.979 --> 00:02:29.400 already done pre -calc in high school, but didn't 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:30.699 have the college credit for. So that was fun. 00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:33.719 Yeah. I took that class way too lightly and it 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.479 didn't reflect well on my grade because I didn't 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.000 think it was going to move so fast, but it did. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:41.680 A good first semester, but it wasn't really meant 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.139 to be a forever thing here. And I was meant to 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:45.780 just kind of finish my private pilot. Then I 00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:47.939 was going to be in KZ Salon this year or this 00:02:47.939 --> 00:02:51.080 semester and ended up really liking it here. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:53.060 And I've always been a huge mental health advocate, 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.139 which we'll get to with my story and everything 00:02:55.139 --> 00:02:58.759 like that. But really found a liking for it here 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.080 and decided I was going to start going into the 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:03.319 psychology area of things and social sciences. 00:03:03.379 --> 00:03:07.099 And my goal right now is to get some prerequisites 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:12.110 done. and um go into nursing and then take that 00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:14.629 nursing step a step further and become a psychiatric 00:03:14.629 --> 00:03:16.830 nurse that works in mental health that practices 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:19.349 mental health so mental health hospitals mental 00:03:19.349 --> 00:03:21.030 health floors and regular hospitals anything 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:23.719 like that I love working with people that – I 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:25.860 love mental health. I'm a huge advocate for it. 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:27.379 But that's pretty much my thing, yeah. That's 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:29.120 perfect. And that's, again, another lead -in 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.520 to my next question. So I came to know you because 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:36.580 of a recent on -campus competition. And your 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:38.580 story is pretty incredible. You had a pretty 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:41.319 incredible journey that led you to that moment. 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.020 Will you share that story with our listeners? 00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:48.280 Yeah. I'll just start from the beginning. I'll 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:50.939 just lead right into it. I was 16 years old. 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:56.060 When I was 16 on October 23rd of 2022, so almost 00:03:56.060 --> 00:03:57.759 pretty much about two and a half years ago now, 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:02.879 my dad took his life and caught me and my family 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.939 by surprise. I'll head back even a little bit 00:04:05.939 --> 00:04:09.699 further. My dad struggled with alcoholism throughout 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:11.500 my life. He never took it out on anyone. He was 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:14.180 never like an angry drunk parent or anything 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.990 like that. He just. He could never release his 00:04:16.990 --> 00:04:19.529 emotions. So he kept them all very hidden. And 00:04:19.529 --> 00:04:22.290 for a year and a half, he went to rehab and he 00:04:22.290 --> 00:04:24.009 actually got very he was very good for a year 00:04:24.009 --> 00:04:26.529 and a half after his four month retreat. I mean, 00:04:26.550 --> 00:04:30.430 I had some very great memories with my dad. I 00:04:30.430 --> 00:04:32.269 could share a few, but we'll we'll keep going 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:36.850 here. And he had a lot of medications in about 00:04:36.850 --> 00:04:39.579 the beginning of October. Without telling anyone, 00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:41.579 he went cold turkey off of every medication he 00:04:41.579 --> 00:04:43.579 had, which is very, very detrimental to mental 00:04:43.579 --> 00:04:46.060 health. It puts you into a very manic, maybe 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:48.240 not so much manic. Manic is usually euphoria, 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:50.100 but very depressed state. Very, very heavily 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:55.620 depressed state. Yeah. And it got to him. And 00:04:55.620 --> 00:04:58.000 I was coming home from a friend's house one morning. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:01.060 I actually saw him that morning that he ended 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:03.649 up taking his life. And I went upstairs, went 00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:05.050 back to bed because I'd been out with my friends 00:05:05.050 --> 00:05:06.870 late and I'd woke up early. So I was just asleep. 00:05:07.069 --> 00:05:09.670 My brother woke me up, asked me why cop cars 00:05:09.670 --> 00:05:12.189 were outside. I walked downstairs. My mom's outside 00:05:12.189 --> 00:05:14.250 the front door. Police are surrounding her. I 00:05:14.250 --> 00:05:17.769 thought I did something. I mean, I've had dumb 00:05:17.769 --> 00:05:19.509 teenager moments like every teenager does. So 00:05:19.509 --> 00:05:20.769 I thought maybe the police were there for me. 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:26.730 And my mom comes in and gave me a hug. I still 00:05:26.730 --> 00:05:29.740 remember. The moment she said it and how my brother 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:31.620 reacted, my brother was the most painful part 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:34.100 of that experience. He, you know, crying. He's 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:36.879 like, my dad's dead and all that stuff. And very, 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:39.519 very, very hard moment. And for the past two 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.199 years, I have been doing therapy. I was doing 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:45.740 therapy before that, but even more extensive 00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:49.370 therapy with the grieving process. I'm now at 00:05:49.370 --> 00:05:51.230 the point where I really want to use my story 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:53.850 to help other people, especially from a youth 00:05:53.850 --> 00:05:55.410 perspective, because I feel like youth isn't 00:05:55.410 --> 00:05:58.189 something that's shown a lot in today's age. 00:05:58.250 --> 00:05:59.870 I think you can always look at doctors and you 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.310 can look at, you know, you can use whatever you 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:04.449 want to use to research mental health. But you 00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:06.769 hardly ever get that personal experience, especially 00:06:06.769 --> 00:06:08.430 from somebody from a kid who's been through something 00:06:08.430 --> 00:06:10.870 like that. It's very hard for an adult to tell 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:12.810 you that they know what you're feeling when you're 00:06:12.810 --> 00:06:15.009 so young and you're not ready for that. No, no 00:06:15.009 --> 00:06:17.009 kid is ready for something like I went through. 00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:20.019 And I sympathize with everyone who has been through 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:25.519 something similar to that. And my speech, like 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.720 you said, like you mentioned, I gave a speech 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:31.639 pretty much on a quote that my dad said to me 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:34.220 a week before he died. It's learn to love the 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:36.379 sunshine and the clouds equally. I have it tattooed 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:39.839 on my arm for about a year now. And that quote 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.819 pretty much symbolizes the fact that you need 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:44.899 to love the clouds of your life because if you 00:06:44.899 --> 00:06:47.100 don't love them, you can't just throw them away. 00:06:47.610 --> 00:06:48.889 So they're always going to be there if you don't 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:52.490 nurture them and help them move on. And that 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:54.089 was one of the big points of my speech was you 00:06:54.089 --> 00:06:55.790 got to nurture the clouds. The second one is 00:06:55.790 --> 00:06:57.110 you got to let the emotions that you don't like 00:06:57.110 --> 00:06:59.129 out. And the third one, and I think one of the 00:06:59.129 --> 00:07:01.709 biggest ones, is that love and grief are the 00:07:01.709 --> 00:07:03.370 exact same thing. They're the two sides of the 00:07:03.370 --> 00:07:05.829 same coin. Absolutely. To grieve something, you 00:07:05.829 --> 00:07:08.889 got to lose something. And to grieve something, 00:07:08.990 --> 00:07:10.610 you must have loved something. And to love something, 00:07:10.629 --> 00:07:12.029 you must know that you will grieve it eventually. 00:07:12.230 --> 00:07:13.649 Absolutely. Because nothing in this life lasts 00:07:13.649 --> 00:07:16.870 forever. So that's, yeah. I'm sorry. When I lost 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:18.850 my father a few years ago, that's what I said 00:07:18.850 --> 00:07:20.970 as well. You know that grief is a gift because 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:22.810 you wouldn't feel the grief but for the love 00:07:22.810 --> 00:07:26.089 that you had. Thank you for sharing that story 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:29.600 with us. I know that that was very painful, but 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.699 I'm very, very grateful that you shared that 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:34.800 with us. When we were off the air, you and I 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:36.680 talked a lot about the importance of connection 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:39.240 and the importance of helping others and the 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:41.220 importance of not feeling alone. And I think 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:43.399 you spoke to that beautifully when you said a 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:45.540 lot of people will say, oh, I know how you feel. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.000 No, you don't. You're not a young person going 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.600 through this. You might have a perspective, but 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:53.459 you don't have my perspective. So I think that 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:55.420 what you said is very, very powerful. There is 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:59.360 a lot of power in community. Can you talk a little 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.399 bit more about that, about the power of community 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:04.720 and the power of connection? It's one of the 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.220 biggest things I harp on anytime. And I told 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:10.240 you this on the call, and I want to make sure 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.220 that anyone who does listen to this knows I'm 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:14.579 not a licensed therapist. I have only taken one 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:17.480 psychology class. I love it. But I have been 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.459 doing therapy for— about five years now, about 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:22.680 maybe even six now that I'm thinking about it. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.040 But I've been doing therapy for quite a long 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.839 time and I have learned coping mechanisms. So 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.720 I do understand things that work for me. But 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:32.259 the thing is, is that my story and my process 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:34.500 of grieving is different from every single other 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.980 person out there. When people would always tell 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:40.500 me, I know how you feel or I know what you're 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:43.879 going through. It almost felt like pettiness. 00:08:44.350 --> 00:08:46.850 at times. Not that I ever held it against them. 00:08:46.889 --> 00:08:48.529 I knew that they didn't mean it in a bad way, 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:50.269 but when that comes across to somebody who's 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:53.129 in such a bad place, you get very defensive because 00:08:53.129 --> 00:08:55.409 the truth is no one knows how you feel. And I 00:08:55.409 --> 00:08:57.769 have plenty of friends who I talk to and I've 00:08:57.769 --> 00:08:59.529 had friends come to me with bad times and stuff 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:02.129 like that. And I'll always say, I don't know 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:04.549 how you're feeling, but I can sympathize with 00:09:04.549 --> 00:09:07.549 it because while not every feeling is the same, 00:09:07.669 --> 00:09:12.210 there is some things that are very similar. Like 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:14.190 with grieving, I think everyone can sympathize 00:09:14.190 --> 00:09:16.309 with that grieving sucks and that you can feel 00:09:16.309 --> 00:09:19.289 it's that whole of somebody that you loved is 00:09:19.289 --> 00:09:21.730 no longer there or something that you loved is 00:09:21.730 --> 00:09:24.710 no longer there. And I think everyone can sympathize 00:09:24.710 --> 00:09:26.549 with that feeling. It's different for everyone, 00:09:26.649 --> 00:09:28.950 but it is something that can be a connection 00:09:28.950 --> 00:09:33.289 between two people. And it's, I guess just going 00:09:33.289 --> 00:09:37.470 back to it, you got to treat everyone differently. 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:39.429 Everyone goes through everything differently. 00:09:39.649 --> 00:09:42.370 Somebody's worst day, never. I'll go back. Never 00:09:42.370 --> 00:09:47.289 compare emotions. They're different for everyone 00:09:47.289 --> 00:09:50.190 because my worst day could be when my dad died. 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:51.669 Another person's worst day, a five -year -old's 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:53.230 worst day is when they lost their toy. Sure. 00:09:53.409 --> 00:09:56.029 Those emotions can be felt at the same level. 00:09:56.190 --> 00:09:58.389 They may not be the same circumstance. And one, 00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:01.769 yes, on a scale, however you want to put it, 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:06.370 is maybe higher in how bad it is. But the emotions 00:10:06.370 --> 00:10:09.190 are the same. Right. And they're equally as important. 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:11.289 You know, I've heard people say that, you know, 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:13.389 well, gosh, my life isn't as bad as so and so. 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:15.590 So maybe I shouldn't complain. No, what you're 00:10:15.590 --> 00:10:17.490 going through is valid. The pain that you feel 00:10:17.490 --> 00:10:20.009 is valid. And I love what you said about don't 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:24.769 compare pain. Pain is pain. Hurt is hurt. If 00:10:24.769 --> 00:10:27.909 any of our listeners should need help, what are 00:10:27.909 --> 00:10:30.090 some resources that they can check out? Have 00:10:30.090 --> 00:10:32.289 you utilized any of the resources here on campus, 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:34.070 any of the mental health counseling resources? 00:10:35.309 --> 00:10:38.740 Well, I. Had my own therapy process. Luckily, 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:41.879 I do come from a place where my family was able 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:44.720 to afford paying for personal therapy, which 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.279 my first step, anytime you're going through something, 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:49.500 I always recommend therapy. The hardest part 00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:53.779 about therapy is learning to talk because it's 00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:55.419 really hard to share your worst thoughts. And 00:10:55.419 --> 00:10:57.000 it's really hard to share what you don't want 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.159 to share with anyone else. But I promise you 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:03.230 when I say I used to be a person who would. never 00:11:03.230 --> 00:11:04.950 open up about anything. I buried everything deep 00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:07.850 inside. Everyone says you just bottle it, shove 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:09.970 it, shove it down as hard as, just as much as 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:11.669 you can. You just shove it down into your gut 00:11:11.669 --> 00:11:13.970 and it'll never bother you. That isn't true. 00:11:14.110 --> 00:11:16.490 It will come to bite you at some point. And if 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:19.230 it doesn't come to bite you, you're not realizing 00:11:19.230 --> 00:11:21.710 that it is. Or you'll get sick. Like it'll manifest 00:11:21.710 --> 00:11:26.049 itself in some other way. So my first thing I 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:29.830 always want to say is therapy. Schools, especially 00:11:29.830 --> 00:11:31.850 if you are going to JCCC or if you go to school, 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.370 they usually have free programs and they have 00:11:34.370 --> 00:11:36.710 free counselors. I do think those are great. 00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:40.149 My step, I think that a step further is personal 00:11:40.149 --> 00:11:41.909 therapy, somebody who's trained. Because while 00:11:41.909 --> 00:11:44.629 school therapists, I believe, are great people 00:11:44.629 --> 00:11:48.450 and I do truly respect them, I think that it 00:11:48.450 --> 00:11:51.090 is sometimes great to have one person who is 00:11:51.090 --> 00:11:53.309 trained in a specific area, especially if it's 00:11:53.309 --> 00:11:54.629 something like grieving. If it's something like 00:11:54.629 --> 00:11:56.450 grieving, there are therapists who specialize 00:11:56.450 --> 00:12:01.039 in that. If it is something like addiction, there's 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.679 therapists who specialize in that and they can 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:06.360 talk to you in ways that a school therapist might 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:09.980 not be able to. So I would always say, if it's 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:12.700 something that you can't afford, 100%, just talk 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:15.960 to somebody. And I will throw myself into this. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:19.600 Anyone is welcome to message me. My goal through 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.639 this whole process of talking about this on the 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:23.179 podcast and just talking about it through my 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:26.899 speech, I'm never in it for... the money. I'm 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:31.360 never in it for the stature of somebody that 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.919 does this. I really, truly think that everyone 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:35.820 deserves to be heard. And I believe that in a 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.200 world that is so filtered with technology and 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:39.759 how everyone sees something through a specific 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:43.759 lens of this perfectness, this everything around 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.700 you, everyone else around you is doing so great 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:47.179 because everything on their Instagram, everything 00:12:47.179 --> 00:12:49.700 on their Facebook, whatever you use, TikTok, 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:52.679 whatever. It's all filtered to look great. Right. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.899 Shiny and perfect. And it's not. The world isn't 00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:57.500 that way. Right. Exactly. And it makes you feel 00:12:57.500 --> 00:12:59.759 alone because you're looking at all that stuff. 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:01.039 It makes you feel like you're the only one going 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:03.720 through that. Right. So I would love to just 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:09.139 say, please reach out to me. We can plug Instagram 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:11.480 and everything in that later. But I truly, I 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.379 would love to meet anyone and talk to anyone. 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:16.899 I can be a friend. I would love to hear anyone's 00:13:16.899 --> 00:13:19.279 story. Thank you for that. And that's a perfect 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:22.360 lead in. When we were offline, Nick gave me permission 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.500 to say this to you. So I'm going to share this 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:26.480 with our listening public. If you would like 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.779 to get in touch with him, please reach out to 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:32.090 me. I am on Instagram at... uncovering Jennifer. 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:35.429 You are welcome to DM me, message me anytime. 00:13:36.129 --> 00:13:38.750 And I'm happy to get your information along to 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:40.669 Nick. Also, selfishly, I love to get to know 00:13:40.669 --> 00:13:43.070 people here on campus. So I would love to meet 00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:44.950 some new friends here on campus as well. But 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:47.970 I will absolutely pass your information along 00:13:47.970 --> 00:13:50.830 to Nick. I do want to speak just slightly for 00:13:50.830 --> 00:13:53.029 a moment to some of the mental health resources 00:13:53.029 --> 00:13:55.870 here on campus. Again, I am not an expert, but 00:13:55.870 --> 00:13:58.450 I will say that there is a counseling center 00:13:58.450 --> 00:14:00.960 here on campus and you get, I think, think six, 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:04.879 I think, free sessions with counselors through 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.460 Johnson County Mental Health. There are some 00:14:07.460 --> 00:14:09.620 counselors here on campus, some social work, 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.700 I'm not social workers, forgive me, psychologists 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:14.460 here through Johnson County Mental Health. So 00:14:14.460 --> 00:14:17.659 go to jccc .edu and hit that search bar and take 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:20.220 a look at it. Or of course, you can just message 00:14:20.220 --> 00:14:23.019 me on Instagram and I will happily send you a 00:14:23.019 --> 00:14:26.759 link. If you could leave our listeners with any 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:30.039 one thing from your experience. And that's probably 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:31.820 going to be hard to say since there's such a 00:14:31.820 --> 00:14:35.740 wealth of journey and a wealth of learning and 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:38.700 knowledge and feeling in your journey. What would 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:40.940 it be that you would leave our friends with? 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:44.360 Yeah. So real quick, I'll plug my Instagram as 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:46.980 well since you had yours. I'm just going to say 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:48.860 mine. If you want to message me specifically 00:14:48.860 --> 00:14:51.279 and you want to get in touch with me, mine is 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:56.559 at NickFisher2005, N -I -C -K, no space, F -I 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:01.279 -S -H -E -R. 2005. So Fisher is like the animal 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.100 fish, not the F -I -C -H. Not Jenna Fisher, right? 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:08.980 Go ahead and message me. My goal, something that 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:10.480 I would love to do is I would love to speak to 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.440 students. I would love to speak at schools. So 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:15.620 I will just say that if you know anyone that 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:17.659 works in the school districts or anyone that 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:19.679 works with a public speaking area of things, 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:22.379 reach out to me. I would truly love the experience 00:15:22.379 --> 00:15:25.190 to talk to the youth. from the youth perspective. 00:15:25.429 --> 00:15:26.950 Like I said, that's something that I think is 00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:29.809 very big in today's age is that there's not a 00:15:29.809 --> 00:15:32.730 lot of young people advocating for it. And if 00:15:32.730 --> 00:15:36.860 they are, it's not very seen. Have you reached 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:38.960 out to maybe the student government here on campus 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.899 or the honors office or any other potential pipelines 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:44.440 for student connections? I haven't yet. Like 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:46.840 I said, it's my second semester. I'm not super 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.519 familiar with everything here. And I think it's 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:52.220 great that JCCC offers six free sessions. That's 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:53.899 something I actually didn't know. I think it's 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:55.759 six. Don't quote me on it, but close to -ish, 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:58.159 six -ish. Either way, free sessions is great. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.379 Sure, absolutely. And so your question was if 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:04.460 there's one big thing? Yes, that you could leave 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:09.320 our listeners with. Yeah. Well, it depends on 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:11.500 the subject. I think if we're going, I can give 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:14.179 like one thing per thing about my life. I would 00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:19.320 say that if you're dealing with grieving, I think 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:23.620 the biggest thing is to truly, I'm going to figure 00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:27.759 out how I want to say this, let everything out. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:33.029 Don't hold anything in. My biggest thing was 00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:34.629 anger, and I actually talked about it in my speech. 00:16:34.809 --> 00:16:36.570 I held my anger in for eight months. I never 00:16:36.570 --> 00:16:39.470 once got mad at my dad, even though people would 00:16:39.470 --> 00:16:41.750 be like, you know, but he chose to leave you. 00:16:41.809 --> 00:16:45.730 Like, it was his choice, and it was. But it was 00:16:45.730 --> 00:16:47.870 also something that I could sympathize with because 00:16:47.870 --> 00:16:51.350 when you're in a suicidal mindset, which I have 00:16:51.350 --> 00:16:54.509 been in my past, when I was 16, actually before 00:16:54.509 --> 00:16:56.509 my dad passed away, and after my dad got much 00:16:56.509 --> 00:17:00.850 worse, I had suicidal thoughts, and it was very 00:17:00.850 --> 00:17:03.570 hard. There was nights where I would sit outside 00:17:03.570 --> 00:17:06.230 on a swing set in this park that's by my house, 00:17:06.309 --> 00:17:07.569 and I would look out at the road, and I would 00:17:07.569 --> 00:17:08.950 just wonder what it would be like just to walk 00:17:08.950 --> 00:17:11.349 out there. And it was very hard. And I know that's 00:17:11.349 --> 00:17:13.190 – and to anyone who's listening, that's very 00:17:13.190 --> 00:17:15.769 hard to hear for. I'm very sorry. I'm just trying 00:17:15.769 --> 00:17:17.509 to give a very – I'm just trying to make sure 00:17:17.509 --> 00:17:20.349 this sits in. When you're in that thought process, 00:17:20.690 --> 00:17:23.849 you're not really yourself. It's almost like 00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:25.569 how that consciousness that's in the back of 00:17:25.569 --> 00:17:27.829 your head that everyone always feels, it's almost 00:17:27.829 --> 00:17:30.569 like you're that consciousness. And the bad thoughts 00:17:30.569 --> 00:17:33.480 – are now in control. And you don't really feel 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:35.099 like you can control them because you're that 00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:36.500 voice in the back and it feels like you're just 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:39.579 watching yourself consistently feel sad and you 00:17:39.579 --> 00:17:43.200 don't know what to do. In those moments, that's 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.279 the biggest moment to get help. And I mean that 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:48.460 by whatever you can do. And talk to somebody. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.299 If your parents aren't somebody you want to talk 00:17:50.299 --> 00:17:53.660 to, talk to a friend. My biggest point, find 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:55.799 a therapist. Like JCCC has the free counseling 00:17:55.799 --> 00:17:58.359 sessions. Just find somebody to tell that to. 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:00.670 And know that if you tell it to a therapist, 00:18:00.769 --> 00:18:03.250 they are legally obligated not to tell anyone. 00:18:03.410 --> 00:18:06.410 So you have that confidentiality. No one will 00:18:06.410 --> 00:18:08.789 ever know. But that is the biggest point to get 00:18:08.789 --> 00:18:12.849 help. I will also say that from a perspective 00:18:12.849 --> 00:18:17.950 of grieving, let everything out. Don't bottle 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:21.210 it all in. Like I said with the anger, I held 00:18:21.210 --> 00:18:24.880 it in for eight months. There was this one day 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.220 where I was in my mom's room alone. I've talked 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:29.779 about it in my speech, but I was in my mom's 00:18:29.779 --> 00:18:31.900 room alone. And I looked behind me at a picture 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:33.940 of my dad that she had on his old nightstand. 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:37.160 And then in that moment, I felt this rage, like 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:40.930 this just bottled up, just like I knew it. I 00:18:40.930 --> 00:18:42.769 couldn't hold it any longer. And I mean, for 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:44.730 45 minutes straight, just words like, I mean, 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:46.250 like it was all one picture of him. It was just 00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:48.049 this little, it was like this cardboard cutout 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:49.549 of his face, almost like the basketball games 00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:51.529 where they have like the posters and they're 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:53.069 holding up like a player's face, like something 00:18:53.069 --> 00:18:56.150 like that. It was this little cutout of him that 00:18:56.150 --> 00:18:57.670 my mom had. It was really big. And I was just 00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:00.130 like. you know, I was saying stuff that I'm not 00:19:00.130 --> 00:19:01.990 going to repeat on the words. Like I was saying, 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:04.970 you know, F you, how could you do this? You know, 00:19:04.970 --> 00:19:07.250 like, why, why would you leave us? Why would, 00:19:07.289 --> 00:19:09.130 why did you, why'd you do this to us? What made 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:11.130 you like, was I not good enough? Like all these 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:14.869 anger things just piled into one just spur for 00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:17.069 45 minutes. I mean, 45 minutes to an hour. I 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:20.690 was tears, shambles, everything that you can 00:19:20.690 --> 00:19:23.329 mention about that moment. But after it, that 00:19:23.329 --> 00:19:26.450 moment after it, I realized how good it felt 00:19:26.450 --> 00:19:30.920 and how. in how impactful that moment was. I 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.099 mean, I remember that moment so clearly. I remember 00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:37.680 every vivid detail from it. I just, I just let 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.200 it all out. And, you know, you said you held 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:42.079 that for eight months. Let's say you held it 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.400 for 16. Let's say you held it for five years. 00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:46.480 You know what I mean? Think about the magnitude 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:49.259 of the release that would be in that moment. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.599 And unfortunately, that's something that a lot 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:54.420 of people. Of course, my experience is different, 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:55.859 but there's a lot of people who have that. They 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:58.279 can never be mad at somebody. And there's also 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:00.819 people who are too mad and they don't let the 00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:05.400 other emotions out. Their sadness manifests itself 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:08.079 into anger or they don't ever take the time to 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.579 cry because men shouldn't cry or you shouldn't 00:20:10.579 --> 00:20:13.920 cry. People are doing worse things. Crying is 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.660 the best thing. You feel so good after crying. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:18.940 Same thing with the anger. It's like that feeling 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:21.690 when you just cry everything out. After the fact, 00:20:21.690 --> 00:20:23.309 that release that you just let all those emotions 00:20:23.309 --> 00:20:25.809 out very much helps your brain and it's scientific 00:20:25.809 --> 00:20:28.029 as well that crying and letting all those emotions 00:20:28.029 --> 00:20:31.289 out, it helps the brain have a reset moment. 00:20:31.369 --> 00:20:34.269 It helps the brain feel like it's pushed, pushed, 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:36.589 pushed to where it's just tired and it wants 00:20:36.589 --> 00:20:38.390 to just go to sleep and you can take a nice nap 00:20:38.390 --> 00:20:42.430 afterwards and it's all good. I think a lot of 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:44.670 people, and I'm one of those people, tend to 00:20:44.670 --> 00:20:47.460 hide things. They're not perfect. I want everybody 00:20:47.460 --> 00:20:49.359 to think I'm together. I'm the with it girl. 00:20:49.579 --> 00:20:51.519 You know, like, look at my Instagram. Everything 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.539 is great. You know, that's the world that we 00:20:54.539 --> 00:20:56.420 live in. I think a lot of people are like that. 00:20:56.500 --> 00:20:59.859 And so we tend to shove those things down because 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:01.960 we don't want to be a burden to anyone. Right. 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.819 You're not a burden. You are loved. Yeah. You 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:06.900 are loved. And the world is a better place for 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:09.119 you in it. It's for you. It's a better place 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:10.819 for you. And it's a better place because. And 00:21:10.819 --> 00:21:13.799 it's really hard to hear that. I will say that 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:17.910 it is. It's so hard to hear that because you 00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:20.410 almost feel, I guess another thing, I didn't 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:21.809 mention this in my speech, but something that 00:21:21.809 --> 00:21:26.990 has come to my attention is that the world doesn't 00:21:26.990 --> 00:21:28.930 stop. And that's something that I think a lot 00:21:28.930 --> 00:21:31.089 of people use as an excuse not to let their emotions 00:21:31.089 --> 00:21:32.789 out because the world doesn't stop for anyone. 00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:36.509 Can you elaborate on that? When you're feeling 00:21:36.509 --> 00:21:39.809 it, I'll go to my experience, but I think other 00:21:39.809 --> 00:21:41.269 people can feel this in their own sort of way. 00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:43.789 When you're feeling sad and you really want a 00:21:43.789 --> 00:21:46.009 day off. It almost feels like you can't because 00:21:46.009 --> 00:21:48.890 you either have a deadline due or you have work. 00:21:49.769 --> 00:21:51.230 You have stuff that you need to do for other 00:21:51.230 --> 00:21:56.509 people. Trust me. It is okay to take a day off. 00:21:57.069 --> 00:21:59.789 Mental health days are not a day to be. You're 00:21:59.789 --> 00:22:03.670 not being lazy. You're not failing a day. You 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:06.369 have plenty of time on this earth. Take a day. 00:22:06.730 --> 00:22:09.869 Do what you need to do to feel okay. Now, obviously, 00:22:10.069 --> 00:22:12.619 if you need a week. There are some people who 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:13.980 need a week. That needs to be something that's 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:17.519 communicated. But I think it's great if on a 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:21.680 Saturday or a Sunday, you cancel all plans, you 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:25.400 take the day and you do nothing. Or you do a 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:29.279 puzzle or you just whatever you need to do. I 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:32.400 mean, truly, it's up to you. But whatever makes 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.779 you feel happy. I talk about it. Nurturing those 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:37.759 clouds, loving those clouds, loving the bad parts 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.319 of your life doesn't mean you have to sit with 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:42.980 them and be sad about them. You can do things 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:45.079 that make you feel a purpose or make you feel 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:48.759 helpful or happy. Whatever that is, that helps 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.140 those dark clouds because it gives you that sense 00:22:51.140 --> 00:22:53.279 of self again, and it gives you that sense of 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:54.779 control, which is something I think a lot of 00:22:54.779 --> 00:22:58.259 people... who are having a hard time don't feel. 00:22:58.339 --> 00:23:00.720 They don't feel like they're out of control of 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:02.859 their life. Like I said, with the whole being 00:23:02.859 --> 00:23:05.019 in the back of the head when you're having suicidal 00:23:05.019 --> 00:23:06.380 thoughts or whatever thoughts you're having, 00:23:06.539 --> 00:23:08.099 you don't feel like you're in control of yourself. 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.279 So you need something to feel control. And for 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:12.500 some people, they do that in very detrimental 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:14.619 ways, self -harm, all that stuff. It can be very, 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:20.660 that's a very, very hurtful, but very strong 00:23:20.660 --> 00:23:23.359 reach for that sense of connection to yourself 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:30.670 and worth. and just control. But yeah, I... Go 00:23:30.670 --> 00:23:33.130 ahead. Honestly, I don't know where I'm going 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:35.569 to go from that. No, you're fine. When my daughter's 00:23:35.569 --> 00:23:38.430 23, when she was growing up and then in our family, 00:23:38.470 --> 00:23:40.869 we have this phrase and we use it for everything. 00:23:41.329 --> 00:23:44.069 It's take your power where you have it. You know, 00:23:44.089 --> 00:23:46.210 you may feel like, you know, this is awful and 00:23:46.210 --> 00:23:47.930 this is terrible. This is happening to me. Well, 00:23:48.069 --> 00:23:50.670 yes, maybe something outside your control is 00:23:50.670 --> 00:23:52.349 happening. You have cancer. I had cancer last 00:23:52.349 --> 00:23:54.809 year. You know, that was not a great moment. 00:23:54.970 --> 00:23:57.109 But I took my power where I had it, you know, 00:23:57.109 --> 00:23:59.670 in education, in loving my family, in my attitude. 00:23:59.849 --> 00:24:02.210 You know, that sort of thing. You took your power 00:24:02.210 --> 00:24:04.769 where you had it multiple times throughout your 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:08.289 journey. And I think what you said is genius 00:24:08.289 --> 00:24:10.349 and it's spot on. People think that when bad 00:24:10.349 --> 00:24:13.420 things happen to them, they have no power. Oh, 00:24:13.460 --> 00:24:15.279 yes, you do. It might not be as easy to find. 00:24:15.339 --> 00:24:16.680 You might have to think about it. It's a challenge. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.180 It is a challenge. Yes, but you are worth it. 00:24:19.819 --> 00:24:22.279 I saw this great interview with Anderson Cooper 00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:25.000 and Stephen Colbert, who I love both of them 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.799 dearly. And Anderson has some pretty sad tragedy 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:31.680 in his life. Suicide has affected his family 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:33.680 as well. And he actually broke down during this 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.339 interview, which, of course, made me cry because 00:24:35.339 --> 00:24:38.579 nobody cries alone in my presence. I'm that kind 00:24:38.579 --> 00:24:42.220 of girl. And Stephen said something to the effect 00:24:42.220 --> 00:24:44.750 of it. And shame on me for not remembering. Learn 00:24:44.750 --> 00:24:47.410 to love the things that hurt you the most. And 00:24:47.410 --> 00:24:50.269 it's so similar to what your dad said. Because 00:24:50.269 --> 00:24:52.690 those things that hurt you the most are going 00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:55.609 to have some of the greatest impacts on your 00:24:55.609 --> 00:24:57.849 life. Learn to love them, like your dad said, 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:00.130 because that's going to help you to grow from 00:25:00.130 --> 00:25:03.069 those experiences. And I guess I will go off 00:25:03.069 --> 00:25:04.829 that. I mean, let's just stay on this topic. 00:25:05.009 --> 00:25:09.890 I like where we're at here. So my final day with 00:25:09.890 --> 00:25:12.000 my dad was... Honestly, one of the best days 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:13.539 I've had, one of the best days I've actually 00:25:13.539 --> 00:25:15.380 had with my dad was that final day before he 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:17.920 passed away. And I don't think it was a plan 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.779 in his mind to take his life the next day. I 00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:22.079 don't. I think that it was, he was not a good 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:23.980 sleeper. He had very hard time sleeping. I would 00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:26.079 hear him up at 4 a .m. in the morning. And I 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.700 think that it was a combination of one medication, 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:30.779 all that stuff that took his life. But that's, 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:33.180 we're past that point. That final day with my 00:25:33.180 --> 00:25:37.339 dad, we went, we got food. We went and got, we 00:25:37.339 --> 00:25:40.200 went and. Watched a movie. It was Smile, that 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.079 one horror movie where all the characters smile. 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:43.279 I don't know if you've seen it. It's a good movie. 00:25:43.380 --> 00:25:45.720 I can't go see the second one because I want 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.140 to. It looks good. I didn't go see the second 00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:50.259 one just because I don't. It's a little too close 00:25:50.259 --> 00:25:57.579 to home for me. But I remember I could see the 00:25:57.579 --> 00:26:02.079 whole day that he was not fully there. He was 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:05.819 trying so hard to be. To be what he wanted to 00:26:05.819 --> 00:26:07.339 be for me, but I could see it wasn't fully there. 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:11.240 And I remember he goes. He told me that actually 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.039 the day before he didn't say his exact quote, 00:26:13.099 --> 00:26:15.319 but he was like, you got to learn to love the 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:18.119 sunshine. And I was like, what? And he's like, 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:19.559 find a job that makes you feel like you're in 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.220 the sunshine. He's like, he's like, find a job. 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:23.819 And I think and I was like, OK, I was I fully 00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:25.079 didn't didn't fully understand what he meant 00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:28.710 by that yet. And he's like. And I was like, are 00:26:28.710 --> 00:26:30.170 you okay? And he's like, I just got some clouds 00:26:30.170 --> 00:26:31.950 hanging over me. He's like, but I'll be okay. 00:26:32.109 --> 00:26:34.529 And that night, went to a friend's house. Like 00:26:34.529 --> 00:26:37.809 I said, he texted me that he loved me. Good night. 00:26:37.950 --> 00:26:40.750 Next morning, I woke up. I believe I saw him. 00:26:40.809 --> 00:26:42.450 That could be a thing in my imagination. That 00:26:42.450 --> 00:26:45.109 morning is very fuzzy sometimes. So maybe I did 00:26:45.109 --> 00:26:47.730 see him. Maybe I didn't. But I believe I did. 00:26:48.490 --> 00:26:54.990 And yeah, I think that. the idea where he would 00:26:54.990 --> 00:26:57.569 just, just where he was, it was a point where 00:26:57.569 --> 00:27:00.170 he just couldn't go get help. And like, it was 00:27:00.170 --> 00:27:02.549 just, he wasn't there. Like he just wasn't all 00:27:02.549 --> 00:27:04.089 the way there. Like you could tell, I could see 00:27:04.089 --> 00:27:06.869 how hard he was trying to. And that's a, I want 00:27:06.869 --> 00:27:09.410 to go off the whole medication thing. If you're 00:27:09.410 --> 00:27:12.710 ever prescribed an anti psychotic, anti depressant, 00:27:12.710 --> 00:27:15.329 whatever, anti blah, blah, blah, anything that's 00:27:15.329 --> 00:27:17.690 supposed to help you feel better. It does change 00:27:17.690 --> 00:27:20.470 your brain. Don't take it sporadically. And if 00:27:20.470 --> 00:27:22.559 you take it consistently. Talk to your doctor 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.599 before going off of it because it is true that 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.480 antidepressants can make you feel worse than 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:32.119 you did before. But it's even worse if you go 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:37.839 off of it. So, yeah, I will just say that I guess 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.279 the question that we started this all off with 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:43.500 was what's my biggest point? And it truly is 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:45.259 to learn to love the sunshine and the clouds 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:46.680 equally, just like you said with the Anderson 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.619 Cooper quote. It's the hardest thing to do. But 00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:52.359 you really got to take care of yourself in those 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:54.500 moments. And especially when you're dealing with 00:27:54.500 --> 00:27:58.220 medication, don't go off it or don't go off it 00:27:58.220 --> 00:28:00.680 quickly. If it throws your brain into a spiral, 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.740 every doctor will tell you that. Go to your doctor. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.880 Ask to help them tip you off. And then if you 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.420 don't like medication, don't do medication. Medication 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:11.880 doesn't work for everyone. Therapy is the one 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:13.740 thing that I will say I think is a universal 00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:16.380 thing. Talking to somebody truly helps. And there's 00:28:16.380 --> 00:28:19.579 a lot of study to back that up. But teach their 00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:22.130 own. handle it the way that you feel healthy 00:28:22.130 --> 00:28:24.779 about it. Lucky I still live in this day and 00:28:24.779 --> 00:28:27.180 age with access to science and technology. You 00:28:27.180 --> 00:28:31.099 know what I mean? And workplaces that support 00:28:31.099 --> 00:28:33.799 employee assistance programs and mental health. 00:28:34.339 --> 00:28:38.259 If you are working, I encourage you to speak 00:28:38.259 --> 00:28:40.000 with your human resources office, look on your 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.319 company's webpage to see what kind of mental 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:45.420 health services are available to you. I work 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:48.299 for an agency where they are also available to 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:51.099 my family that live with me. So again, every 00:28:51.099 --> 00:28:52.640 company is different. Of course, every school. 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:56.019 School is different. We hope that this podcast 00:28:56.019 --> 00:28:59.240 is reaching a really large audience. Hopefully 00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:01.839 not too large. Hopefully not too large of an 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:04.240 audience. I don't think like Albuquerque or anything 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.920 like that. Well, I mean, I hope it's not hitting 00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:09.759 everyone's heart. I hope for the most part everyone 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:11.119 goes through a life where they don't have to 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:13.220 suffer such things. Right. We live in an unfortunate 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.519 world. Right. No, what I meant was like space 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.420 -wise. But so I just encourage you to avail yourself 00:29:18.420 --> 00:29:20.680 of any services that are available to you, either 00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:22.059 through your job, through your church, through 00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:24.299 your community, through your friends. And then, 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.640 of course, here at JCCC or wherever you may be 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:30.359 a student. Is there a place that our listeners 00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:32.539 can go to listen to your speech if they weren't 00:29:32.539 --> 00:29:36.440 able to hear it the first time? So my Instagram 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:39.779 will be a place where my speech is. The YouTube 00:29:39.779 --> 00:29:44.339 link, I believe, is a protected link by JCCC 00:29:44.339 --> 00:29:47.029 because it's a school thing. I don't think they're 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:48.490 allowed to do it fully public. I haven't been 00:29:48.490 --> 00:29:50.150 able to find any other speeches from the signed 00:29:50.150 --> 00:29:51.910 showcase. Like I looked it up on YouTube beforehand. 00:29:52.130 --> 00:29:53.750 I'm pretty sure they're all on GCC specific, 00:29:54.150 --> 00:29:57.009 like hidden private page. Right. So my Instagram, 00:29:57.089 --> 00:29:59.789 like I said, at Nick Fisher, no space in between 00:29:59.789 --> 00:30:02.769 those two, at Nick Fisher, N -I -C -K -F -I -S 00:30:02.769 --> 00:30:07.430 -H -E -R -2 -0 -0 -5. That's my Instagram. It's 00:30:07.430 --> 00:30:09.170 a public Instagram. You're welcome to look at 00:30:09.170 --> 00:30:11.829 it. I'm thinking about if I do get the opportunity, 00:30:12.029 --> 00:30:16.559 I will most likely make a speaking. Instagram 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:18.140 page. And then at that moment, I'll link it on 00:30:18.140 --> 00:30:21.059 my actual, on my main page, because I would love 00:30:21.059 --> 00:30:24.500 to truly, I truly would love to grow this. I, 00:30:24.579 --> 00:30:26.359 if I could pick a job, I told you this yesterday 00:30:26.359 --> 00:30:28.680 on the phone, if I could pick a job in the world, 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:32.480 it would be to just talk. It would be to talk 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.619 and it would be to, and I actually second talk 00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:38.759 first would be to listen. I want to hear people's 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:42.700 stories. I am so interested in. everyone's story. 00:30:42.779 --> 00:30:45.500 I'm interested in how everybody's brain works. 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:47.279 That's why I'm going into this whole nursing 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.359 with psychiatric stuff. I just love the way, 00:30:49.420 --> 00:30:51.799 I think the brain is so diverse. And I think 00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:54.980 that we know maybe 10 % or 20 % of what the brain 00:30:54.980 --> 00:30:57.980 truly works like. It is a complicated matter 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:01.039 and it is something that I truly just want to 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.460 meet everyone. And I think that, well, again, 00:31:03.539 --> 00:31:06.490 I'm not a licensed psychiatrist. eventually I 00:31:06.490 --> 00:31:08.309 hope to be a nurse practitioner in that type 00:31:08.309 --> 00:31:10.970 of area. So I will have that studies done. But 00:31:10.970 --> 00:31:14.450 if I didn't, if I had a choice, I would just 00:31:14.450 --> 00:31:17.529 go around, speak at schools, talk to students, 00:31:17.710 --> 00:31:19.930 you know, have like an open, like just be a person 00:31:19.930 --> 00:31:22.549 to where I can go to different schools. And if 00:31:22.549 --> 00:31:24.089 there's a student that's having those problems, 00:31:24.130 --> 00:31:26.569 they can talk to me because like I said, I went 00:31:26.569 --> 00:31:29.900 through my own suicidal process and. One thing 00:31:29.900 --> 00:31:31.880 that helped me was exercise. I found a love for 00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:33.700 the sport of swimming. And if there's any swimmers 00:31:33.700 --> 00:31:36.660 out there, I can connect with that. Swimming 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:38.519 is a hard sport. Swimming actually teaches you 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:40.980 a lot about, I think, is a very hidden sport 00:31:40.980 --> 00:31:42.720 for the mental health community. It's a sport 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:44.720 where you have to tell yourself to push. You 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:47.059 got to tell yourself that you can do something 00:31:47.059 --> 00:31:49.660 because there's moments in races and it's just 00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:52.859 like track where if you're running 200 or anyone 00:31:52.859 --> 00:31:54.980 that runs like the 200 or 400 in track knows 00:31:54.980 --> 00:31:57.720 this as well. on that last 100, on that last 00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:00.299 100, or if you're in the 100 or 200 and swimming 00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:03.700 on that last, like 25 % of it, you are gassed. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:05.640 It is an all out sprint. You are gassed. And 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:08.180 you have to tell yourself. For swimming, you 00:32:08.180 --> 00:32:10.099 have to tell yourself, don't breathe. You have 00:32:10.099 --> 00:32:13.240 to tell yourself not to breathe. You got to push 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:14.400 as hard as you can because when you breathe, 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:16.019 you lose speed. So you got to keep going faster. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.319 And in practices, it's the same thing. You got 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:20.619 to push, push, push because you want to consist. 00:32:20.779 --> 00:32:22.160 You're racing against yourself. You're racing 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:24.339 your time. So you have to drop that time. And 00:32:24.339 --> 00:32:26.019 it's one of those sports where I truly love it 00:32:26.019 --> 00:32:28.720 for that. And it was great for me. And it really 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:30.759 helped me. I think that swimming is a sport where 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:33.039 anyone can get into it. And I guess I'm just 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:34.579 kind of going off tangent here. No, you're fine. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:39.029 I love... if there's a sport and you don't know 00:32:39.029 --> 00:32:40.289 what you want to do, but you want to get into 00:32:40.289 --> 00:32:42.250 really good shape and you also want something 00:32:42.250 --> 00:32:44.029 that really releases those endorphins and you 00:32:44.029 --> 00:32:46.630 feel really good afterwards, swim is a sport. 00:32:46.750 --> 00:32:49.470 Trust me, it's going to suck. And I'm not going 00:32:49.470 --> 00:32:53.769 to hide that. It's going to hurt. But my process 00:32:53.769 --> 00:32:57.349 of grieving with my dad, I was 220 pounds when 00:32:57.349 --> 00:32:59.410 my dad passed away. I was very overweight for 00:32:59.410 --> 00:33:03.130 my age. I was 16, like I said, so junior in high 00:33:03.130 --> 00:33:06.740 school. And that was... That was not good. And 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:13.960 I lost 60 pounds and I was, that year of swimming, 00:33:14.099 --> 00:33:16.539 I was, for junior year of swimming, I was about 00:33:16.539 --> 00:33:19.380 five seconds. I was like, five seconds is a lot 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:20.859 in swimming. I was like five seconds off of making, 00:33:20.940 --> 00:33:25.160 even close to making state. I lost 60 pounds 00:33:25.160 --> 00:33:28.059 and I dropped a lot of time in swim. And after 00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:29.720 eight months, I made state in swimming. That 00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:32.099 was my accomplishment. That was my goal. I also 00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:33.220 think that's something important to set. Set 00:33:33.220 --> 00:33:35.460 a goal. Set something that you really want and 00:33:35.460 --> 00:33:37.140 really just focus on it. Because when you focus 00:33:37.140 --> 00:33:39.819 on something that makes you happy and makes you 00:33:39.819 --> 00:33:43.059 something you really want, that purpose and that 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:45.700 control starts to come back in a very healthy 00:33:45.700 --> 00:33:49.779 way. And I will also say that I'm just going 00:33:49.779 --> 00:33:52.019 to keep going here. In that process of grieving, 00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:54.519 there will be people who won't understand it. 00:33:54.900 --> 00:33:58.279 You will have to face that fact. There is, and 00:33:58.279 --> 00:33:59.680 I think everyone can sympathize with that, is 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:01.180 that sometimes you're going through a hard time. 00:34:01.579 --> 00:34:03.799 But you're going to meet somebody who does not 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:06.259 care. I had teachers. I had teachers who, I mean, 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.079 I had a math teacher. And again, nothing against 00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.539 her. She's a nice person. But she wasn't super 00:34:10.539 --> 00:34:13.920 into the whole mental health thing. And so she 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:16.159 kind of had, she piled me up with schoolwork 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:18.039 that I wasn't, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't, 00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:21.800 she didn't handle it well. And you're going to 00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:23.840 have those people in life. But you also have 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:25.860 to understand that they're not doing it really 00:34:25.860 --> 00:34:28.099 against you. They might act like it, but they 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:30.000 also just don't fully understand. And that's 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:31.699 something that. just kind of is going to happen 00:34:31.699 --> 00:34:34.739 in life so it's one of those things where just 00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:38.579 everybody's process is different everybody around 00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:40.960 you is going to be different but there is always 00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.980 and i mean always somebody who will be there 00:34:42.980 --> 00:34:45.380 to talk to and if you have no one like i said 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:49.400 truly truly please reach out to me i i want to 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:51.360 hear stories and i want to talk to you and i 00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:53.300 will be your friend and if we're and if we're 00:34:53.300 --> 00:34:55.519 close you know if you need if you need to go 00:34:56.090 --> 00:34:58.210 I play basketball. I play sports. I play basketball. 00:34:58.369 --> 00:35:00.630 I throw football. I played football. I swam. 00:35:00.630 --> 00:35:02.989 If you need somebody to do something, I will 00:35:02.989 --> 00:35:04.889 throw my, I will put myself out there. I understand 00:35:04.889 --> 00:35:07.489 that I might be talking to a lot of people and 00:35:07.489 --> 00:35:09.409 that I might get too many of those messages. 00:35:09.429 --> 00:35:12.510 Your box is going to blow up. I might have too 00:35:12.510 --> 00:35:15.429 many people asking for that, but I will say it 00:35:15.429 --> 00:35:18.150 would be my goal when I can and when I'm able 00:35:18.150 --> 00:35:21.969 to, to truly talk to everyone. And like I said, 00:35:22.030 --> 00:35:26.329 just don't be afraid to reach out. Yeah. I want 00:35:26.329 --> 00:35:27.909 to circle back to something that you said. And 00:35:27.909 --> 00:35:29.769 it's something that, I mean, I'm a non -traditional 00:35:29.769 --> 00:35:31.510 student. I'm an older student. And I'm still 00:35:31.510 --> 00:35:33.989 learning this at my age. You said something that 00:35:33.989 --> 00:35:36.789 was so perfect. We have to meet people where 00:35:36.789 --> 00:35:39.989 they are. You know, when we're going through 00:35:39.989 --> 00:35:41.769 something and we're hurting and we're feeling 00:35:41.769 --> 00:35:45.010 this and someone does not respond in the way 00:35:45.010 --> 00:35:46.570 that we think they should, right? Like your math 00:35:46.570 --> 00:35:48.789 teacher. You said it beautifully. It's no slight 00:35:48.789 --> 00:35:50.590 against her. It doesn't mean she's a terrible 00:35:50.590 --> 00:35:52.829 person. It just means that maybe there's other 00:35:52.829 --> 00:35:54.929 stuff going on in her life that's preventing 00:35:54.929 --> 00:35:57.550 it. her maybe. Or maybe she just lost someone 00:35:57.550 --> 00:35:59.590 to suicide as well. Or maybe she has cancer. 00:35:59.610 --> 00:36:01.289 Maybe she didn't get any sleep last night. We 00:36:01.289 --> 00:36:04.329 don't know. So there is a lot of power in grace 00:36:04.329 --> 00:36:06.750 and showing grace to other people and also to 00:36:06.750 --> 00:36:10.429 yourself. And that's difficult for me. I don't 00:36:10.429 --> 00:36:12.369 know about you guys in the room here with us 00:36:12.369 --> 00:36:15.210 or our listeners, but it's very easy to be kind 00:36:15.210 --> 00:36:17.550 to and supportive of other people. But then when 00:36:17.550 --> 00:36:20.570 it's me, it's not so easy. So it's a learned 00:36:20.570 --> 00:36:22.929 behavior. It's a hard thing to say, but it's 00:36:22.929 --> 00:36:25.800 also a good thing. It's okay to be selfish sometimes. 00:36:25.940 --> 00:36:29.679 You have to be. Selfishness is not inherently 00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:33.480 bad. You got to be selfish sometimes when you 00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:36.460 need a day. If you need a day, take it. Just 00:36:36.460 --> 00:36:39.079 take it. It might hurt somebody else's work life 00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:42.400 or whatever. It's one day. It'll be okay. Especially 00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:45.699 if you communicate it. If you just say, hey, 00:36:45.780 --> 00:36:47.900 there is no way I'm okay to make it into work 00:36:47.900 --> 00:36:50.400 today. Or, hey, I don't think I can do my schoolwork. 00:36:51.630 --> 00:36:53.389 I won't have this done by the test or I won't 00:36:53.389 --> 00:36:56.289 be ready for the test by this day. They might 00:36:56.289 --> 00:36:59.269 say they might be okay with it. They might not. 00:36:59.349 --> 00:37:01.429 But if you truly know that in your heart and 00:37:01.429 --> 00:37:04.429 you truly have your own plan to make sure that 00:37:04.429 --> 00:37:06.989 you get it done eventually and in a healthy way 00:37:06.989 --> 00:37:08.630 where you're prepared for something, be selfish. 00:37:08.849 --> 00:37:10.909 Take a day. Take your power where you have it. 00:37:10.929 --> 00:37:12.869 It's okay. Take your power where you have it. 00:37:12.969 --> 00:37:16.309 Absolutely. Um, you have shared a lot of really 00:37:16.309 --> 00:37:18.670 intimate, really personal details with us today. 00:37:18.909 --> 00:37:21.329 And you've also opened your heart to our listeners. 00:37:21.710 --> 00:37:24.050 That was huge. And we thank you for that very, 00:37:24.090 --> 00:37:26.590 very much. I'm going to just pivot for just two 00:37:26.590 --> 00:37:29.010 quick seconds. The competition that you entered, 00:37:29.190 --> 00:37:31.230 can you tell us a little bit about it? And is 00:37:31.230 --> 00:37:33.030 this something that is a recurring competition 00:37:33.030 --> 00:37:35.969 here at JCCC? OK, yeah, share that with us, please. 00:37:36.130 --> 00:37:41.670 So I had no idea about it. I was. When I talk 00:37:41.670 --> 00:37:44.409 to my academic person for the credits that I 00:37:44.409 --> 00:37:46.070 need, I need to do a public speaking class. So 00:37:46.070 --> 00:37:48.550 I did public speaking. My professor here at JCCC 00:37:48.550 --> 00:37:52.150 is Justin Stanley. And one thing real quick I 00:37:52.150 --> 00:37:54.769 will say on him is he's what a teacher should 00:37:54.769 --> 00:37:56.989 be. He is exactly what a teacher should be. You 00:37:56.989 --> 00:38:00.769 can tell how passionate he is about it. You can 00:38:00.769 --> 00:38:04.480 tell how much he cares for the subject. truly 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:06.880 understands you. He tries to understand every 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:08.519 student in their individual way. And that's something 00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:10.579 that I just truly am so grateful for. That's 00:38:10.579 --> 00:38:13.079 awesome. That's awesome. But our first assignment 00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:16.480 was an informative speech. And I gave the speech 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:19.719 about my dad and about loving this. And but it 00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:21.820 was more I was trying to inform about what suicide 00:38:21.820 --> 00:38:23.360 is in that speech. And it was almost a tribute 00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:25.699 speech. It did well in my class. It had that 00:38:25.699 --> 00:38:29.500 impact. And I actually got nominated through 00:38:29.500 --> 00:38:31.800 my class to go to the science speaking showcase, 00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:34.300 which is something I believe. I don't want to 00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:37.340 mess this up, but I believe something Stein. 00:38:38.039 --> 00:38:41.480 Is it S -T -I -N -E? S -T -E -I -N, I believe. 00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:43.340 S -T -E -I -N, okay. And then it might be an 00:38:43.340 --> 00:38:45.500 E at the end. I'm not 100 % sure on it. We'll 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:47.360 clarify that. Can we clarify that in the write 00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:49.880 -up for the show, Zach? Awesome. We'll make sure 00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:53.510 that that's correct. I got nominated for that 00:38:53.510 --> 00:38:55.610 showcase. And I believe there's a lot of public 00:38:55.610 --> 00:38:57.269 speaking classes and there's a ton of public 00:38:57.269 --> 00:38:59.889 speaking teachers. And so they get together and 00:38:59.889 --> 00:39:03.489 each class nominates one student. There's 15 00:39:03.489 --> 00:39:06.150 students. So there's 15 classes. I believe it's 00:39:06.150 --> 00:39:10.690 around 150 to 170 kids. I was a top 15 prospect. 00:39:10.769 --> 00:39:13.929 I got nominated for my class. And we went through 00:39:13.929 --> 00:39:15.929 two rounds of semifinals. So that's where I went 00:39:15.929 --> 00:39:17.869 to one room, did my speech in front of judges. 00:39:18.809 --> 00:39:20.610 Before that, I tweaked my speech to be what it 00:39:20.610 --> 00:39:22.269 is now, which is an informative speech about 00:39:22.269 --> 00:39:24.349 loving the sunshine and the clouds equally. Wow. 00:39:27.409 --> 00:39:29.130 Worked with my professor a ton. Like I said, 00:39:29.190 --> 00:39:32.269 Professor Stanley, just great. He was so excited 00:39:32.269 --> 00:39:35.610 about the speech. And he's over here like, I 00:39:35.610 --> 00:39:37.269 think you could win. And he's like, I don't want 00:39:37.269 --> 00:39:39.030 you to get your hopes up too high, but my hopes 00:39:39.030 --> 00:39:41.010 are high. And I was like, you'll be my emotion. 00:39:41.110 --> 00:39:43.250 I'll go into this series. You can be the one 00:39:43.250 --> 00:39:45.610 hoping. You'll be my behind -the -scenes wingman. 00:39:47.449 --> 00:39:50.550 Selected into the top five. And that's the final 00:39:50.550 --> 00:39:52.570 round. That's where I gave it in the auditorium, 00:39:52.570 --> 00:39:54.889 Hudson Auditorium, I believe it's called. Gave 00:39:54.889 --> 00:39:58.730 my final speech there. And I don't know what 00:39:58.730 --> 00:40:00.650 it was about it. I think that that nervousness 00:40:00.650 --> 00:40:02.849 that I had about speaking in front of more people 00:40:02.849 --> 00:40:06.110 than I ever have, I gave the clearest, best speech 00:40:06.110 --> 00:40:09.170 that I've ever given on that topic. And I ended 00:40:09.170 --> 00:40:13.949 up winning first. And I didn't even know that. 00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.179 there was a prize involved until I got to the 00:40:17.179 --> 00:40:20.460 final round. I don't, and I will just say, I 00:40:20.460 --> 00:40:23.059 don't, I don't care about, I didn't care about 00:40:23.059 --> 00:40:25.199 the prize. I was really, really, I only wanted 00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:28.019 to make finals strictly due to the fact that 00:40:28.019 --> 00:40:29.739 I knew I could at least share this story with 00:40:29.739 --> 00:40:31.440 the few people who were in that room. And I, 00:40:31.539 --> 00:40:34.599 like I said, again, I keep harping on it. I want 00:40:34.599 --> 00:40:36.800 to keep doing this. I really, really do. I'm 00:40:36.800 --> 00:40:38.619 really happy to be here on this podcast and I 00:40:38.619 --> 00:40:41.179 really hope it reaches somebody else that wants. 00:40:42.070 --> 00:40:44.530 that knows somebody or is in the school district 00:40:44.530 --> 00:40:47.570 that can just say, let's get you here or let's 00:40:47.570 --> 00:40:50.789 have you come talk to some kids. Thank you for 00:40:50.789 --> 00:40:52.969 sharing your story with us. Any parting words 00:40:52.969 --> 00:40:54.989 for our friends before we bid them farewell? 00:40:55.510 --> 00:40:59.690 Oh, we're heading out? Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. 00:41:00.969 --> 00:41:04.550 I guess I'll just leave you with the quote, learn 00:41:04.550 --> 00:41:06.289 to love the sunshine and the clouds equally. 00:41:06.550 --> 00:41:09.949 And by that, like I've said before. Nurture the 00:41:09.949 --> 00:41:12.269 clouds. Take a mental health day. Exercise. Sleep. 00:41:12.710 --> 00:41:14.869 Sleep can be hard sometimes, but try and get 00:41:14.869 --> 00:41:18.349 it in when you can. Let the emotions out that 00:41:18.349 --> 00:41:22.690 you don't like and know that grieving and loving 00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:25.489 are two very strong emotions and you got to treat 00:41:25.489 --> 00:41:27.849 them both with a ton of respect because they 00:41:27.849 --> 00:41:30.429 can make you feel a very certain way in different 00:41:30.429 --> 00:41:34.090 circumstances. Love them. Love every part of 00:41:34.090 --> 00:41:36.550 it. Life can't be lived if you don't love both 00:41:36.550 --> 00:41:40.469 parts of it. So that's my final words. Yeah, 00:41:40.570 --> 00:41:42.269 learn to love the sunshine and the clouds equally. 00:41:42.530 --> 00:41:45.170 Learn to love the sunshine and the clouds equally. 00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:51.110 At Nick Fisher, F -I -S -H -E -R 2005, is our 00:41:51.110 --> 00:41:53.369 guest, Nick Fisher. Thank you again for being 00:41:53.369 --> 00:41:54.710 here with us today. Thank you so much for having 00:41:54.710 --> 00:41:57.630 me. For opening your heart to our students. Friends, 00:41:57.750 --> 00:42:01.130 I am also at Uncovering Jennifer, J -E -N -N 00:42:01.130 --> 00:42:04.710 -I -F -E -R. I am also happy to talk to you as 00:42:04.710 --> 00:42:08.880 well and to connect you to Nick. We are with 00:42:08.880 --> 00:42:10.739 you. We are thinking about all of you as you're 00:42:10.739 --> 00:42:12.920 putting the final touches on your finishing projects 00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:17.380 and your finals next week. We are hoping that 00:42:17.380 --> 00:42:19.400 whenever you're listening to this, the day is 00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:22.059 sunny as it is today. We are thinking of you 00:42:22.059 --> 00:42:24.539 and sending you good juju and good, good luck 00:42:24.539 --> 00:42:27.280 for your finals. With that, we will say goodbye. 00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:30.900 Jen, Nick and Zach, our podcast editors, signing 00:42:30.900 --> 00:42:31.820 out. Bye.