Barbell Shrugged - Building a Badass — She’ll Need to Wear a Cup: My First Political Stand — 1

Episode Date: August 31, 2018

Building A Badass is a show where I tell my story through the greatest eight events of my life through eight podcasts. Building A Badass is about my personal experiences that shaped my mindset, personal growth, success and failures, and how I became the badass that I am known for to this day.   Through these intimate stories of my personal struggles or celebrations I share my take away lessons and even emotional baggage, how that shaped me for good or bad, and how I came out of all of it at the end. Most of you know some of the highlights but this will dig a bit deeper into more of me, who I am, and how I became that.   I hope you enjoy it or at least take away your own lesson from my experience. That’s exactly WHY I share so much of my past both good and bad, so that people can see it’s possible to become what you believe no matter what cards you’re dealt. This is why I have the mantra: Everyday you wake up with the opportunity to change your life.   In the first episode, I tell the story of how I wanted to play baseball for no other reason than it was what I preferred. I go into how I watched my mother take a positive stand against sexism and I was in awe. How that time I didn’t understand the impact that watching her handle that situation would do for my ability to take a stand for myself, and that I also didn’t realize what I was doing for myself, which was learning how to follow my passions, regardless of what people thought, how I was mistreated, and what the established rules were.   Stay Relentless, Christmas --------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bab_firstpoliticalstand ----------------------------------------------------------------   ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Hi everybody, this is Christmas Abbott, and on this show, Building a Badass, Christmas Abbott, I'm going to take a deep dive into the eclectic mix of my experiences that have really kind of built me to where I am today. And for you to kind of understand that, I'm going to go ahead and put each major experience into its own story per podcast, so per episode. And along with that, I'm going to really explore what my experience was, what I took away from it, my mindset going into it, and ultimately how it was an influence on my character, the way that I think, the way that I approach things, how I changed the lessons learned, many, many lessons learned, and ultimately how I leveraged each one of these experiences

to come out of a burning push or crazy situation or take advantage of an opportunity and run with it and make it my own. So there's an exciting mix to reflect as far back as when I was eight to current day where I'm sitting here talking into a microphone to you pregnant and getting ready to not just enter a new chapter, but just a new life. It changes everything. You might know me for one or multiple reasons, right? There is a slew of things that I've been fortunate enough to do or try or experience or just have forged myself into or said yes to. And with that, I honestly didn't start out being a badass. I didn't jump out of the womb doing muscle-ups with abs just like everybody may think that I did. But that is absolutely the complete opposite of where I got started.

And I'm proud of where I've come from. I'm proud of how far I've come. And I'm really excited about where I'm going to go. And, you know, people think that because I have a success of athletics and pictures and all these things, you know, they look at the surface level, all the sparkles. They look at that and say, man, she must've had it easy. That is so not true. Everything that I have, I have really, uh, built for myself in the sense of just taking every opportunity that I could. And that's because I wasn't given a lot of opportunity when I was younger. And that wasn't like a reflection upon my parents.

We just, I was not born into privilege. You know, I was not born into a family structure that, you know, we had Saturday picnics and, you know, something that would foster a healthy lifestyle that I'm reflecting now. You know, social media has been an amazing platform for me, and I love social media. When I got started on social media, my friend just told me to post what I love, and I still do. Some of it is with a little strategy, but I really just love the life that I'm given. And I have what you call life ADD. And so I've learned how to make that work for me. And I'm very fortunate to have that understanding and knowledge.

And through some of these great eight experiences that you're going to hear about, I've understood the discipline that it required in order to be successful with ADD, but also with just making your own path in life. that I'm really, really excited to share with you. Some of them are in my two books, The Baddest Body Diet, a little bit of that is in there. Also, The Baddest Life. So you can look into that. But I love that I get to have a candid say in this experience. And I don't have to worry about grammar. I don't have to worry about an editor. This is just me telling you my story. And I'm

truly, truly excited because through these experiences, I was able to discover what I wanted to leave for my legacy. I was able to discover myself and who I am. And that is always changing and it's not drastic changes but I feel truly connected to the part of life where we have to we have to maintain our own gardens just because we plant something and water it occasionally doesn't mean that it's always going to grow the way that we want to and that is ourselves that is accountability for who we are and what we do. That is our personalities. That is the relationships that we foster, the relationships that we let go. And, you know, if you're not constantly understanding where you are in life, then you're probably getting off track. And it happens very quickly where you get off track and then you look around and you

have no idea how you got there. Guess what? I have a couple of those stories in here for you too. So, and that's okay. And through this, I'm hoping that maybe you listening out there, you'll take one, two, God, if I can give you three little morsels of information that help you either connect to yourself a little better, understand your life a little bit more, inspire you, or just kind of change or shift your perspective a little bit to empower you, then I have done my job and it's been all worth it. So one of the things that I have in my core values is that I want to empower people.

And my conduit for that is fitness, health, and wellness. That is my tool. But the message, the delivery, the package is for you to find your own empowerment within you. And through that, um, you get to decide how your life is and how it unfolds. And you get to be the dictator of that. You get to live the life that you love through your own choices. And when bad stuff happens, cause it will listen, just because because you get on track doesn't mean that everything is going to be good. Okay. But when you really embrace that and ownership of yourself and your life and your

passions, you really have just a happier, healthier life. And for a long time, I was a victim of my circumstances. And that is another story in this sequence that I want to share with you. But ultimately, I want people to know that no matter where they are in their life, no matter how old they are, how young, how damaged they think they are, or broken, or pieces of, or whole, it doesn't matter. You get to change your life. You get to make that decision. Every day you wake up as an opportunity to change your life. And only you can grab that and run with it. So with this, I'm really excited to tell you my first story of when I was about 10 years old. And when I saw my mother stand up for me to defend something that I was passionate about, and it was in a positive way. And because I watched her do that, I actually saw a glimpse,

and not knowing at the moment, that I was going to be able to do the same thing for somebody else one day. I was also going to do the same thing for myself one day, and that was to take a stand when a stand needed to be made because the rules were wrong. So with that, I'm going to share with you and kick off my very first story of she'll need to wear a cup. My first political stand. So I was living in central Virginia, Forest, Virginia, actually. And my family moved around a lot growing up. So we were kind of a gypsy family, nomads, whatever you want to call it. Actually, I was not a military brat. I was a construction baby. So my dad worked construction and every year and a half to two years we would relocate,

which meant by the time I was 10, we had lived in like 13 different places. I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and my mother claims that's where I get my little voodoo magic. And we'll get into my mother's opinion of me a little bit later on but you know we we just we were nomads we moved and you jumped in or you didn't get involved and my personality is a jump in kind of personality. So we were living in Forest, Virginia. My sister, who is three years older, my brother, who is six years younger than me, and my parents, who were these kind of rebel biker hippies that started a family and we're just slowly merging into this more domestic lifestyle. It took a little while, but it, it stuck. And, and we didn't have school sports. It was more,

it was summertime. So it was a recreational sport. So the County, you signed up with the County on what sport you wanted to play. And they pass out these flyers at school and then you take them home, you fill them out and you send them back. And I had filled out that I wanted to play baseball. And, you know, for me, there was no other choice. That was just it. That's what I knew. That's what I wanted to do. And I didn't know there was any restrictions at this time. So my mom filled out the form. She signed it for me to play baseball. Also not really thinking that there was anything different about this at all. You know, it's minor league, little league, 10-year-old kids playing with a uniform. So one day after school, my mom received a phone call and it was the reception lady or coordinator lady that worked

for the county and she was assigning all the kids to different teams in whatever league that they had signed up with. And my mom answered the phone and this lady informed her that I had signed up for the Little League and that she was going to reassign me to the Pony League. I know, like no big deal, right? I'm 10 years old. What's the big deal between softball and baseball? Well, to me, everything. And so my mom said, um, she nonchalantly kind of said, she's like, well, you know, my daughter picked baseball. So I would like her to play baseball because that's what she chose. This was her decision. And my mom's real Southern. Let me go ahead and tell you about my mom.

She is a true Southern woman where she is always going to be super kind. She has a real Southern accent. And we call her, well, people call her Barbara. That's how she says her name. Barbara. And when I say Southern, I mean like sweet tea on the front porch. We, you come over, we feed you if we like you. And if you don't eat, we're highly offended. But if we don't like you, we don't feed you and we don't ask you back. So, and she always, you know, has taught me to kill them with kindness.

And bless your little heart is the southern fuck you. So, if you, for the most part, you know, sometimes it can really be bless your little heart. But normally it's a real polite, with a smile, fuck you to your face. And I could tell my mom's demeanor is changing because this lady called and basically said that I couldn't do what I wanted and hadn't given a reason yet so my mom said okay um she'll call her back and she sat me down after she had talked to this lady the coordinator and she said you know the county called they want to put you on the pony league and I just wanted to to let you know that that's what what's happening and I asked her why um and I and I remember not even really asking her why just telling her like hey mom but I wanted to play

baseball and and so I remember like her sitting we were sitting at the dining room table. And the dining room table for us, my family, was the catch-all. That's where you came together as a family no matter what. Every night we had dinner, even if it was leftovers. Every Thursday we had leftovers for some reason. And so we would take all the food and put it on the table. And if you got the last of it, then you were lucky. And regardless of what was going on with our family, we came to the table and we had dinner as a family. That's also where we had awkward conversations. There was no subject

that was sacred. We talked about religion. We talked about relationships. We talked about sex. We talked about awkward sex. We talked about family, what was going on. You know, every family has secrets. We also have secrets, you know, but for the most part, we tend to air them with each other. You know, if our family has secrets, it's our secret. And it taught me a lot about communication and quality time spent with one another. So here we are basically at the, in the principal's office, aka the table, because not all good things happened at the table. Bad things happened at the table bad things happened at the table you got called to the table when you were in trouble and when you were rewarded so you never knew what you were getting called to the table for but if if you had uh played it correctly hopefully

it was only good things and my mom asked me she's like like, you know, they want to put you in the pony league. That's a softball league. And they don't want to put you in the baseball league. And, you know, what are your thoughts on that? And as 10 years old, I'm not saying that you do this when your kid is four. But at 10 years old, she valued my opinion. She really was curious on why I wanted to do what I was doing. And even though this reflection wasn't apparent to me then, it became apparent to me later on in my life. And she asked why, and I looked at her, and in a super matter-of-fact way, like a, duh, I looked at her, and I told her that the ball was smaller and that it fit my hand. And I could throw it further and hit it harder than the softball.

So I wanted to play in the sport that I preferred out of comfort, but also out of the ability to do better. And really my answer was the ball's smaller. It fits in my hand, mom. I think that was my answer. And the look on her face was, I mean, she didn't look surprised. She didn't hesitate. She didn't do anything. She just gave me a little nod and picked up the phone. So I'm sitting there and I'm, and at this point, I'm a little confused. You know, here I am 10 years old. I got called to the table, got asked why I wanted to play baseball. And, you know, now she's not responding to me in a positive or negative way. And I'm just like, ah, what's happening? So she picks up the phone and she calls the clerk back. And I hear my mom have a pause and she's like, you know, this is Bob

Rabbit, real, real Southern way. And she goes, I'm Joy's mother. And they, you know, my parents called me Joy growing up. She, I mean, literally that's all. I'm Joy's mother. And she's like, I've talked to my daughter and my daughter said that she would prefer to play baseball. And so I would appreciate it if you put her on the little league and not the pony league. And then the lady did something kind of dumb. So dumb. She continued to argue with my mother. And listen, I know that I'm known for being really just headstrong and it is an amazing feature, but it can also kind of roadblock me occasionally. I'm self-aware that it can be a problem for me at times. But my mom, all the women in my family are just really strong beings and they are just relentless and unstoppable and compassionate and loving. So I watched my mother kind of roll her shoulders back and let this lady

know that it was my choice to play baseball and that there were no rules in the guide or the rule book that I couldn't play. There was nothing to identify gender. And she, the lady started to argue. And basically she started to, the clerk started to argue and give my mother a list of excuses that that's just the way that it was. Hey, guess what? Times change. Um, to that, the, that it was safer for me to play softball. Um, and ultimately what she said before I heard my mom get real Southern on her is that she told my mother that I would, I would, it was a requirement that I wear a cup, that I had to wear a steel or plastic cup. And I remember looking at my mom and she's on the phone. And at this point, she's gotten kind of wound up, you know, my mom gets kind of tight when she gets pissed off and she's not ready, you know, it's kind of like a snake coiling back. You know, you're going to be in a world of trouble real soon. If you don't, you know, just step back or diffuse the situation,

something's going to happen. And I just remember her talking into the phone. We have, you know, home phones then. Kids, look it up. It's quite interesting. She has a home phone and she's talking into the mouthpiece with the earpiece away from her. I'm thinking, oh man, what has happened? And she goes, I'll buy her a plastic bra. And you know, my mom's voice got deep and low and I knew that this lady had done something wrong, but it wasn't me. And I was just so grateful to not be in the hot seat and this lady was so she told you know my mom told her that she was going to buy me a plastic bra because this lady's excuse was so lame and again you know the lady continued to try and argue with her and then

finally my mother just stopped she goes you know you can either present a rule that limits her from playing baseball with a legitimate reason, or you can explain to the media Monday morning why you're refusing my daughter to play a sport that she chose to play. The other side of that phone got quiet. And, you know, this was before social media. This was before anything. You had to read the newspaper to get the news. Okay. So that was, that was a pretty big deal in order for a small town to have some sort of, um, drama or something like that, uh, in it. And so they really weren't interested in explaining because they had no, nothing to stand on. They really, it was just a sexist decision. And at 10 years old, I was making a pretty big gender stand without even knowing

that I was doing that. And I identify this because every single thing that I've done in my life, you know, baseball, NASCAR, CrossFit, it was never about gender identity or women's rights or anything of that sort that you can easily attach, right, a political agenda to. But really it has been, and I say this selfishly, right, owning my selfish ways is that it was because I found interest in it and I wanted to do that. And that's it. Like that's it. I found it fascinating. I didn't even know that there weren't any girls on the baseball league. It didn't make sense to me. The boys got the smaller ball with the bigger hands. The girls got the bigger ball with the smaller hands. And guess

what, guys? Softball are not soft. They're hard. They hurt just as much as a baseball. So if I'm going to get hit with a ball, at least I'm going to be able to turn around and throw it right back at you a little bit harder. So I've never intentionally gone in at anything with an agenda other than I was interested in it and I wanted to try it. Now, a couple of things that I've done in my life have broke down barriers because of that, this included. So this is, you know, one of the first things that I actually got to take a political stand on without ever really taking a political stand. And I loved having that experience. And I didn't know at the time what I was witnessing. But reflecting back, I got to see a strong woman take action for her child

for something that was right, that was that somebody else was trying to continue to keep wrong. And, you know, watching the way that she handled it with a calm demeanor, giving the reasons why and executing it in such a way, it really formed the way that I approached conflict later on. And also, more so importantly, it really formed the fact that, hey, look, there are rules in place, but it doesn't matter because some rules are meant to be broken. Some rules are meant to be changed. Some rules are, were meant to never even exist. And as we evolve as people, as a human race, you know, these,

these laws that we have in place, these rules that we set upon ourselves and each other, they need to be constantly looked at and evaluated and see if it is really pushing for humanity in its whole, not just somebody's personal fear or preference or whatever it may be. So I got to watch my mother take a stand and it allowed me to later on, even then, but later on, have the confidence that when something was not right to take a stand for it and when I wanted to do something to disregard how it had been done in the past,

because that's not to say that it's supposed to be done that way in the future. And I get to have a say in that and how I conduct myself. So now I got into the little league. I was 10 years old playing baseball. I loved it. And I will tell you, it was an amazing experience for me, an awful experience for my mother. I'll tell you why in just a minute. Um, and I was the first girl to play on the Little League with the boys ever. And that's pretty cool. But really, I was just excited to play baseball. And, you know, one of my favorite pastimes with my father was throwing the ball. And he taught me a lot about baseball.

And that's what I wanted to keep. And even though my parents were still together at the time, they didn't get divorced until I was 22. You know, they were still together at the time and my dad was always busy. He was always working. He was always doing this or that. So, you know, this was something that I had of his. And so I started to play, went to practice. I remember day one of practice. I walked on the field and I have my glove. My daddy got me a new glove, showed me how to break it in. I have my baseball and we're all in the outfield and we're just throwing the ball back and forth. We're getting a little bit further away and a little bit further away from each other. And then we're

all supposed to like throw the ball. We line up to throw the ball as far as we can because the coach is testing us to see where we are. We're doing drills and where we should be with our positioning. And I tell you what, I remember I threw the ball as hard as I possibly could. And it went further than almost everybody's. I think there was one or two boys that threw a little bit further than me. And it's so funny because they all just stopped and did the slow turn. And I could hear some whispers. And I was just like, I mean, even the coach was like, huh?

I'm looking around and I got a little embarrassed because I didn't know why they were looking at me. I thought, oh man, like that was the first thing I was aware of. I was like, oh, are they looking at me because I didn't throw it the furthest? I didn't understand. But a little bit later in the season or in the couple of practices later, I realized that it was because I had a good arm and my coach told me so. So then we start batting and, you know, doing sprints and come to find out, you know what? I was a hell of a player. I got drafted for second base and shortstop, and I could hit further than the guys. I would always hit, you know, down the middle or to center field or, I mean, I hit hard.

And I was also, I ran faster than the guys. I could, I stole bases. Oh, my gosh. I loved stealing bases. If I got on base, you know, I was taking the next one when I could. And the guys just constantly were like, what the hell looking at me? One of my favorite memories is when one of the first times I was up to bat, uh, the first time I went up to bat, I batted right-handed and I can't remember if I got on

base or I got hit which is a whole nother little tidbit of the story and then the next time I went up to bat I looked over and I was like should I hit the other way and my coach was like he had no idea what to tell me uh in my I can't remember if it was my dad or my mom, but somebody was there and they were like, yeah, do it. And so I went up and I switched it. I went to go hit left-handed. And again, there was a pause among the whole field. They were looking around and they weren't sure if I was doing it to psych them out or if I was really a switch hitter and pitch came, I hit the ball, got the first base, and they were all just like, what the hell? They didn't know what to do. And for me, you know,

my mom's left-handed, my dad's right-handed. Growing up as a child, I was always just kind of not intentionally taught to use both hands, but that's what happened. You know, my dad would challenge me when we would go to the batting cages, right-handed, okay, other side now. And, um, you know, whatever his reasoning for that was, I'm grateful for because the look on their faces was awesome. So now here I am, um, I'm playing, I'm having a good time but I'm not playing like they never started me they would only play me in the last two innings and that was because my mom threw a fit about and my dad threw a fit about how often I got to play but to be honest for the majority of that game and every game I would sit the bench and I was just so excited to

be there. I would study everybody else's. I mean, I got frustrated occasionally, you know, I'll be honest, but I got to play. And when I played, I played better than anybody else. And that was enough for me. So fun fact is that, um, there's no official, um,'s no official accountability to this, but I got hit 11 times in season. 11 times I got hit, either up to bat. I think most of them were up to, like when I was up to bat or when I was trying to, when I was getting on base. And, you know, nobody else got hit the way that I did.

Like if somebody, like maybe a small handful of people got hit once. But there was this unspoken agreement among the coaches to encourage the pitcher or whoever was trying to throw the ball to hit me, to discourage me. I mean, maybe I was privy to it at the time because I knew that I got hit all the time more than anybody else. But I was also playing and I would get hit and I wouldn't quit. They hit me, I get to take first base. If I took first base, I was also playing and I would get hit and I wouldn't quit. They hit me. I get to take first

base. If I took first base, I was stealing another base. So really I was just like taking one for the team, you know, like truly taking one for the team. Um, even though my, my coach probably permitted it because he never, um, fought for me. And even though like you can argue that I didn't get a fair chance, but the chance that I did get, I excelled at, I took it and ran with it, literally stealing home. I remember I knocked that little boy over. I was a freight train coming in and I did not get out. So I didn't care. So whenever I had the opportunity, I just made the best of it. And I didn't think about the bullshit that I had to put up with or getting, or the potential of getting hit. You know, I mean, after 11 times, you're just like,

well, this is just part of the process. This is, this is a more of a contact sport than I knew. And I loved it. And what I love even more is the next year, I played again. I was on a different team. And I actually had a coach that encouraged me because he watched me relentlessly endure the bullshit but always step up. And whenever I had the chance, I would excel. I would go above and beyond. And he encouraged me. So the next year, there were four other girls playing baseball. And that's cool to me because I know that those girls were good.

You want to talk about, dang, man, they were better than me for sure. And it just made me excited because I was like, wow, you know, I have somebody else like me on the league. I didn't even, I didn't really think about like them being girls versus girls and boys. But it was just really exciting that I had done something that allowed them to be able to play and play well. I mean, at 10 years old, I think that we absolutely can be aware of gender separation, race separation, prejudice and isolation, bullying. Oh man, there was a different level of bullying then. And we can be aware of it, but I wasn't aware that I was actually making this stand and this statement at the time. But I'm glad that I did.

I'm glad, most of all I'm glad most of all that my mom sat me down to listen to my reason and didn't conform to what had been set previously and believed in me. Even, you know, I don't know to this day, I don't know if she wanted me to play baseball or not. It didn't matter. What mattered was that I was telling her something that I was passionate about. And she fought for that. It wasn't her job to dictate my passion and try and maneuver into something that was in my lane, quote unquote. But she let me run wild with it.

And, you know, she never encouraged me to switch or to quit. Um, they were always supportive, even when it broke their heart, uh, because they saw the way that I got treated. And they're much more keen to how I was being treated than I was. And honestly, this showed me a couple things. Reflecting on this story and this experience, one, passion has no rules, no guidelines, no separation. Passion's passion, man. It knows no difference. And if you find something that you're passionate about, feed that motherfucker. Find any way possible, because it will define your legacy. It will define you. It will define your purpose, your character,

everything that matters in life. And no, I don't play baseball. I played it for two years and that was that. And that's the next story about why I don't play baseball or didn't continue to play baseball. However, you know, it's, it set me on fire. And that was the first time that I've ever been set on fire and love something so much. And I still get excited about it. I still love putting on a glove. And I'm really excited to one day let my son listen to this podcast. And I have been able to teach him how to play, throw, steal a base,

run over a pitcher or a catcher. And I hope that he appreciates the time that we have together. So, you know, fuel your passion, find it and run with it, find a way to make it work. Um, but it also helped me understand, you know, standing up for myself and tenacity, mental tenacity to not let somebody else dictate what you should or shouldn't do through your passion. And that is another story when I get into the CrossFit games and becoming an actual athlete as an adult. And honestly, like this could have been a pretty devastating experience in the sense of had my mom just taken what they said for face value and said,

no Christmas, you cannot play baseball. What would that have done to my mental tenacity to challenge things that truly need to be challenged. What would that have done to Christmas Abbott, the badass, but only within the rules? It doesn't make sense. And I'm really grateful that she showed me that you can fight for something that you're passionate about and love it in a positive way and really make some changes but it doesn't come without hard work and you know wrapping it up to think about that woman that clerk that was making the decision for me on my passion and my future and my ability, you know, she didn't know that what my story was. She didn't know who I was going to become. And I want to encourage you that whatever passion you find, whatever dream you want to dream, it's your responsibility to execute it.

And people are going to tell you no. Friends, strangers, family, especially family. They're going to tell you that that's silly or that's just never been done. Why you? Well, you can be the exception if you want to be. But nobody's going to do it but you. You have to do the work. You have to do the leg work.

You have to do the prep. You have to do it all. And it's not going to get handed to you. And you can have the best idea in the world and passion for it, but without the willingness to work for it and to get it done, it's not going to come to fruition. So I always challenge people. I'm like, look, if somebody tells you no, just believe they're a liar. They don't know you. They don't know what you're truly capable of. They don't know what change you're going to have for the world. And so just smile quietly or do whatever you want.

But for me, I just said, okay, watch and wait. And I've had a good run of proving a lot of people wrong. And this was one of the first big experiences for me. So I hope that you took a little piece of this, but also understood at 10 years old, how different my life could have been had my mom just said, no, we have to play within the rules. But she showed me how to break them properly.