Mick Unplugged - Roy Juarez Jr.: If You Can Hate For No Reason, You Can Love For No Reason

Episode Date: April 12, 2025

Roy Juarez Jr. is a relentless force of positivity and change, celebrated as a motivational speaker and advocate dedicated to transforming lives. With a history of overcoming significant personal challenges, including homelessness as a teenager, Roy has emerged as a beacon of hope for youth and communities nationwide. His compelling story of resilience and love, interwoven with his mission to empower young minds, has inspired countless individuals to redefine their potential and pursue an unwavering path of growth and self-discovery. Roy continues to influence lives through Impact Truth, his platform aimed at uplifting the next generation. Takeaways: Overcoming Adversity: Roy’s journey from homelessness to motivational speaking embodies the power of resilience and determination to overcome life’s toughest challenges. Importance of Education: Roy emphasizes that combining life experiences with education can redefine one’s future, turning past hardships into strengths. Unconditional Love and Mentorship: Roy’s story reminds us that love and guidance, often found through mentors, can transform lives and create lasting change. Sound Bites: "Education will not only change your life, but it will change the entire fabric of your family." "If people can hate for no reason in this world, I can love for no reason." "Kids never stop loving their parents. They only stop loving themselves."   Quote by Mick (host): I believe in mentorship, right? Like, if you're trying to grow, mentors are the way to get there."   Connect & Discover Roy: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royjuarezjr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royjuarezjr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyJuarezJr YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@royjuarezjr Book: Homeless By Choice: A Memoir of Love, Hate, and Foregiveness   FOLLOW MICK ON:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mickunplugged  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.com                                                              Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I think that when you grow up with a tough life, you learn lessons that can never be taught in a book. But if you can take your education and define those lessons, then there's no stopping you. Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters,

just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged and today's guest is an exceptional motivational speaker and advocate who has dedicated his life to empowering youth and communities.

Overcoming significant challenges in his own life, he has become a voice of hope and inspiration for many. Please join me in welcoming my good friend, Southern California's finest, Mr. Roy Juarez Jr. Jr. Jr. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm very honored.

I am the honored one, man. I tell you every time I feel like when I introduce you, like this boxer is about to come out, you've got like the greatest boxing name in the history of boxing, man. It's very close to Roy Jones Jr. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's where it stops. Man, Roy. So one again, honored to have to have you here. Man, your story is more than inspirational. Your story is so powerful. And I want to go there, man, because you know, on the

show, we talk about your because that thing that really pushes you. And again, I know you personally, so I don't even want to go there, man. So I'm going to let Roy, Roy as Jr. Jr. Jr. tell his because man, what's your because brother? I really think my because is my siblings. That's it. Like they they're the reasons why I fight as hard as I do. I do. But when I when I started to fight for them and I started working with kids across the nation, I started to see all the other kids that reminded me of my siblings and my little brother and my little sister especially. And I was like you know what who's fighting for them? I gotta fight for them too. And they're the reason why I kept fighting. I love that, dude.

I love that. I know we share some very similar passions, especially around youth. And I wanna kind of start with your story growing up. I tell people all the time, I hate impossible absolutes. Meaning I hate when people ask me, Mick, if you could go back and talk to your 10 year old self, what would you say?

If you could talk to the 16 year old version of you, what would you say? And I hate those questions because I can go talk to 10 year olds today. I can go talk to 16 year olds today. So I don't need to go talk to myself when I can go impact and give wisdom to others, man. And I know that you believe that same thing,

but let's go back to the 10 year old Roy, man. And I know that you believe that same thing, but let's go back to the 10 year old Roy, man. Like, let's go back to how this started and what growing up was like for you and talking to the audience about that journey, not to talk to yourself, but to tell that story. Right, well, it's interesting, Ro, because if I may, I actually had that moment. I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a conference that I had snuck into when I was a homeless teenager.

And I snuck into that conference to steal a meal. And I remember when I was at the keynote, they invited me on stage. I'm standing at the podium and I remember glancing back to the very back of the room where I had sat as a homeless kid. And I'm not supposed to be there. And I said, man, if I could have just run to him, meaning my younger self, and tell him, don't give up, life will get better, but you have to be here to see it. You're not gonna believe that you're eventually gonna be close to your mom again,

that you're gonna have nieces and nephews that you absolutely love, that you're gonna see the things that you have seen, right? And I share that with kids because I also want them to know that what they're going through at that moment, there is a future. They have a future that belongs to them, not to their situation, that belongs to them, not to their family environment, not to their social economic environment.

It belongs to them, but they have to put in the work to get there, but they don't have to do it alone because there are people who believe in them and people want to help them get there. I love that dude. So that 10-year-old you, man, that, or not even the 10-year-old, the young Roy, right? That you've talked about the relationship with your mom. You've talked about being homeless. Tell the listeners and viewers that story, man. Like let's go back to those. I became homeless at the officially at the age of 14. And I say officially because it all started when I was about 12. My parents were going through a very violent divorce, but one week my mom would take them back the next week he would have to be gone. And so

it got to the point that I started to defend my mother physically whenever she, I was always with her, always protecting her, always trying to be there to support her. So when my dad came home, I remember one time he said to her, you need to make a choice. Do you want your son or do you want me? Right? And I mean, that hurt, right? Because I'm Roy Waters Jr. I carry his name. Right.

And I said, you know what, mom? I said, you don't have to make a choice. I'll leave. And I remember that, and that one instant calling this, this woman from the church and I said, well, please come get me, please come get me, please come get me. It was Easter. And she's like, okay, I'll come get you. So she comes and gets me and I spend Easter with them. But what breaks my heart is when I think about my mom, I'm sure he left too So she literally spent Easter alone. I Left he left and so it was a constant going back and forth until one day and my mom finally just said you know What enough's enough? I want you out get out get out

But at that point my dad was like if I can't have you no one's gonna have you So we had to go into hiding. And we started moving from home to home to home. And every time he would find us, we would have to take the sheets off our bed, put them on the floor, put our clothes in the middle, and we were gone. Every single time he found us. And around 14 years old is when I finally became homeless on my own. My mom had met a man who was helping her, and he said, I'll help you come live with

me, but the only catch was that he didn't want kids. And for the longest time, Mick, I thought that that she just left us because she didn't want us. Okay. Well, fast forward many years later after I'm an activist crossing the country, working all over the nation. I invite my mom to come with me to upstate New York. And she's with me. We're in the juvenile hall in upstate New York. And where I speak, I tell our story. And afterwards, we're all talking of me, the students, the probation officers, and one woman is talking to my mom behind me. And she's, I can hear her talking and I'm talking to a young girl, but I want to hear what's what's happening to my mom,

make sure she's safe. And the lady said, how could you leave them? Why would you do that? And I listened in, and she said something that kind of shifted everything on my perspective. She told that lady, you don't get it. You don't get it, he wanted me dead. If he would have found us, he might have killed all of us. If he

would just find me, he's only going to kill me. So in her brokenness, her thought was getting rid of us was technically saving us. Saving you. And that has changed everything. You know, parents are human. They make mistakes. They're growing up just as way. They have the same pains and fears and anxiety that even I have to this day. I personally don't have children. I can't even imagine what my mom was going through, knowing that her high school sweetheart wanted her dead,

and now she's having to care for five kids and can't do it. And then he gets her fire from her job. She now can't do it financially. Like, my her fire from her job. She now can't do it financially. Like my mom is a strong woman. She was just broken and she made mistakes. Man, so knowing you like I know you Roy, man, let's talk about that emotion. So the emotion before you knew the real reason, right?

The real because your mother's because was saving real reason, right? The real because, your mother's because was saving your life, right? Absolutely. But 14-year-old Roy didn't know that. Oh, 14-year-old Roy was lost. Right, right. Yeah, he thought he was the common denominator because his grandparents didn't take him.

They took his little sister, but they didn't take him. His aunts and uncles wouldn't take him. All the families that he lived in he can only stay for a short while, whether it be a month in some lucky cases, whether it be a night and others. So I got to the point that I was like, you know what, the only common denominator is me. I must be bad. Something must be wrong with me because nobody wants me. And the sad thing is that this happens

in a lot of our youth across the nation. And I have seen it firsthand, over a million kids since. And I have seen that, and I've learned that kids never stop loving their parents. It was never my parents' fault as a kid. It was me. Kids only stop loving themselves.. It was never my parents' fault as a kid. It was me. Kids only stop loving themselves. And that's what's really sad.

Because then they grow up with this idea that I'm not good enough, I don't deserve. Why should I even try hard? That future, that college isn't for kids like me. Because they don't believe in themselves nor do they love themselves. And what was that like as a kid trying to create bonds of friendship with other kids?

Or was it like you didn't want to attach to people because you never knew what stability was? For me, I think it was the opposite. I was so hungry for someone to love me that I attached to everyone. And I became what everyone wanted me or needed me to be at that moment. So if I went to a new home, I now say that I like looked in an imaginary bag and asked, well, who do they want me to be? Because if I could become whoever or whatever

in some cases, which is not good, what they want me to be, then that meant that I had a place to sleep one more night. I had food to eat one more day. If my baby brother or my baby sister wanted to see me and this family would let them, I at least got to see my brother and sister for like one more night. And so I lost myself in this homelessness, in this process, in this bag full of different roys to survive.

That is so deep, man. That is so deep and so uncommon, but common at the same time. And what I mean by that is uncommon because we don't get to hear these stories. And a lot of times when you're speaking to youth, they're not gonna tell you everything that's really going on. But the common part is,

this is what's going on today still, right? And as leaders, as adults, as leader of people and leaders of communities, it's our job to have those conversations to let people know that there are safe outlets. And so I applaud you for creating those safe outlets, brother. Thank you. And I think that you touched on a really good point.

Kids want to share But they're scared to share and the reason I say that is I love my mom and I didn't want my mom to get in trouble And I knew that if I would have spoken up She probably would go to court and my brain was like she's gonna go to jail And so my loyalty was still to my mother. I wasn't gonna say anything Yeah, it's not until you find a trusted adult that youth like myself will let you in to even help. That's great, dude. So let's go to the hotel

that you were sneaking into to get meals. So let's talk about that journey and the humbling of that, right? Like, continental breakfast, all right. I can go in here today. If I come in tomorrow, they may not know that I'm here or that I'm actually staying here. So walk us through that survival, dude.

Absolutely, yeah. And thank you for those words, actually, survival. I think that when you grow up with a tough life, you learn lessons that can never be taught in a book. But if you can take your education and define those lessons, then there's no stopping you. Because education will not only change your life, but it will change the entire fabric of your family. And that's why education is so powerful.

And at this point, I was very street smart. And so I saw this huge hotel in downtown Dallas, Texas. It's the Omni Hotel. And I thought, man, they got gotta have food in there, right? It's a beautiful, big, big hotel. So I walk in and I'm looking around and sure enough, I saw this line of women about to go into this room and I figured they're gonna probably have

some type of meeting, there's gotta be food in there. So I hid my bag because I learned as a homeless kid, if I was invisible, I got to stay longer. I couldn't make any waves. If I was living in a home, I'm going to wash my dish, I'm going to clean your dishes, I'm going to cut your yard. Because the happier you are with me there, the longer you'll let me stay.

Kids become invisible, but no child, no kid should ever have to be invisible. They have a voice and their voice matters and they have to learn how to use that voice. And it's up to us as the adults to help them learn how to use it effectively. And so I go in, I hide my bag and sure enough, they open up these doors and all these women start

to walk in and I walk right in there with them. And I go sit in the very far back corner so that no one would notice me. And as I sit there, some lady comes and she serves me and I thank her and I start to eat. Well, this woman comes out on stage and I don't really care what she has to say. Like I'm gonna eat my meal and I'm gonna leave.

But when she's talking, her words, like I'm really listening to what she's saying and she's talking about the way she grew up on the last street in Laredo, Texas to the border and she grew up as an immigrant. Her parents were immigrants and how she was told that girls like her don't make it. But this woman grew to be the highest ranking Latina woman in the combat support field, the United States Army. She broke all kinds of records because her father taught her to ask, why not you? He said, why not you? You go ask that counselor who said you can't make it,

go ask her why can't you make it? And as I sat there, I had my plate in front of me. And even though I was hungry, I wasn't even eating because I had a bigger hunger. And in my mind, I was like, well, why not me? Because I used to dream. Like, why, why can't I have my dreams? And so after that woman spoke, I walked up to her, to her table, I grabbed her card, went back out, grabbed my bag, made my way back to San Antonio, because this was in Dallas, and I went back to San Antonio where I'm from,

and went straight to my best friend's aunt's house, a woman who had my baby brother. And I said, I need my baby brother back, because I thought I had a plan. And I said, I need my baby brother back, because I thought I had a plan. So I'm intrigued by the story because I know it. So what happens next? You thought you had a plan.

So what happens next, man? So my plan was, I would, by the time I made it back to Ms. Carmen's house to get baby Ray, the idea of me being able to have my future was gone. It was a little bit of hope from what I heard. And then it was gone. But I thought he will have his my baby brother will have his entire future, I'm going to give up my entire life, I will work 123 jobs, I'm going to put him on a bus, he's going to go to school and all his dreams will come true. And so we had no I mean, I'm a teenager, so we have nowhere to live.

But my plan was, if I take him to this church I knew about when I was a kid that I attended with my mom, then maybe they'll help us and maybe they'll let us live in there. So we literally went, took the bus as far as it could. We walked the rest of the way. We sat on the front porch of that church and just waited for someone to show up. Because I knew it was Wednesday, they were gonna have service. And sure enough, the lead pastor shows up.

And she gets out and she recognizes me. She goes, Roy? I was like, hi Pastor Doris. I said, can I talk to you? And she goes like, yeah, let me open the church. So we go inside the church and I plead my case. We have nowhere to live. I just need a place to live with my baby brother. I promise you, I will take care of everything. I will do the yard. I will clean it. It'll

be ready for all your services. I just need a place to live. And she says, for you can't live here. You can't live in this church. And for a second, I thought I had made the biggest mistake because baby Ray had a roof over his head. And now he would be living with me on this tree. Yeah. And then what happened to you and Baby Ray? Well, she said, you will live with us under one condition. And I was scared because everyone had a condition.

Sometimes they were good, sometimes it wasn't good. And so with all this anger, I was like, what do you want? And she says, Roy, calm down, calm down. She says, all we want is that you go back to school. You can live in our home, but you will go back to school. And that's how I went back to high school. And then from high school, I graduated and took off to school. And that's how I went back to that to high school. And then high school, I graduated and took up to college. Yes, for four years. The only reason why I moved out of their house was because I decided to leave. So they

are my parents. They didn't legally adopt me. But they're my parents. So I have more more than one set of parents. That's okay, because family's just not the love in your veins. Family is the love that's in your heart. That's family. We can choose family as well. Yeah. So amazing, man. So amazing. And I know that the story of the speaker also comes full circle because you met her later in life, right? Absolutely. So tell us that that I'm in community college. I'm struggling. I know I'm not doing very well. Uh, I didn't have a good high school foundation, right? So, um, if I'm going to be honest, one counselor said, I know what she was,

she was trying to help me, but she said, Roy, did you take algebra? I was like, nah, miss, like I, I've never me, but she said, Roy, did you take algebra? I was like, nah, miss, like I've never had it. She said, Roy, did you take algebra? And I was like, no, miss, I didn't. And she was, okay, good. And so I get to college, I don't know anything. So I ended up taking college algebra five times before I passed it, right?

So I'm having to relearn everything. So I'm in community college and I'm working for the activities department on campus as a work study. And so the dean knows who I am, so she comes and she finds me and she goes, Roy, Roy are you coming to our event tonight? I was like, no, miss, I'm not gonna come, right? I'm walking away and she's like, Roy, we have food. I'm like, ah, miss, I'm not gonna come, right? And I'm walking away and she's like, Roy, we have food.

I'm like, ah, miss, I'm just joking. I'm gonna be there, right? Like, offer me food, I'm there, right? And so I come, she goes, good. She goes, Roy, I want you to introduce our guest speaker. I'm like, yeah, who is it? And she said, her name is retired Lieutenant Colonel Consuelo Castillo Kickbush, which was the same woman

who had seven years earlier speaking in that hotel. Nobody knew my story because I was taught to be silent. You know, a lot of times we teach our kids to be silent without even realizing that's what we're doing. And it looks like, what are your grandparents gonna think? What's the family gonna think? That's a way to silence our kids.

Or what happens at home stays at home. That is a lesson that teaches our kids to be silent and not communicate. And so I was taught, you know, don't talk about what happens. So nobody knew in my campus. And so that day I broke tradition and as I stood there, Miss Kickbush to my left, my Dean was in there, my colleagues, my professors, other students, and I looked at her and I said, Miss, you don't know me, Miss, but I know you. And then I told the story. And so she was crying, I was crying. Two weeks later, I got invited to speak at her book signing.

And then two weeks after that, they got hired in her company. It was supposed to be a two-month internship and it lasted for two years and that's amazing. My life continued to change. Yeah. Because she mentored me. I started traveling with her and she was just peeling layers like an onion to try to get to some of the core issues because I had a lot of street inside of me. Yeah. But you use that man. Absolutely. It fuels you. Absolutely.

It fuels you and now we have impact truth. If we don't invest in our kids, what I had is going to come out regardless. The difference is, is it going to come out regardless. The difference is, is it gonna come out in something that's gonna be productive, that's gonna add to our communities? Is it gonna add to our nation? Or is it gonna be something that's become destructive? Yeah.

And so we want to help our kids see their value, understand, process, and heal from what they've gone through so they can be contributing members of society. Amen to that. Amen to that. So impact truth, right? So impact truth. You're empowering youth now. Yes.

And so talk to us about starting that. Well. And then obviously what it is and what you're doing. Absolutely. Thank you. obviously what it is and what you're doing. Absolutely. Thank you. My intention was I am going to get my degree,

I'm gonna go work in corporate America, I'm gonna make a lot of money and I'm never gonna be homeless again, ever. I never wanted to have this life again. But I started taking a lot of psychology classes. And my psychology classes were mainly for me, not to learn it, but trying to figure out what the heck happened to me, what the heck happened to my family.

It really taught me to separate the illness from the person. I love the person. I can help her with the illness, and that was my mom for me. It's on my one-day driving through the middle of the night before classes, it was like three o'clock in the morning, and I'm driving back to San Antonio from Abilene, Texas. And I wanna get to her house before she leaves for work.

And I leave her a rose on her car with a note. I turn around and I'm driving back to campus. When my phone rings and I look at it, and it's my mom. And I answer it and she can barely speak cause she's crying. And she's crying and she's crying and she says, how? She says, how can you love me? She said, after everything I have done to you,

how do you love me? And I said, mom, you're my mom. You will always be my mom. See life gets better if we choose to be the change. So when I'm graduating college, this is my thought process now of, I want to be better and not bitter. You know, I want to show my siblings

that there's a better way, that we can undo some of the lessons we learned in our childhood and not pass them on to the next generation. But so as I start to cross the stage, I start thinking, why me? Why do I get to make it? Why do I start to cross the stage, I start thinking, why me? Why do I get to make it? Why do I get to cross the stage when there's a 1.6 million kids just like me at that time? Now there's 2.1 million kids like me.

We went in the wrong direction. I can't even tell you how, and that is horrible. But at that time I was like, why do I get this opportunity? So I said, you know what? Before I use my business degree and go work in corporate America and be rich in my mind, I need to give back. I need to give back in honor of every person

who had ever fed me, who had ever housed me, who had ever clothed me, and I'll do it for six months. And I'm going to live out of my car and I'm gonna drive from LA to Jacksonville, Florida, and I'm gonna speak for free at any shelter organization, any place who would open up their doors. I'm gonna drive from LA to Jacksonville, Florida, and I'm gonna speak for free at any shelter organization, any place that would open up their doors. I'm gonna find the kids. I'm gonna tell them, don't give up.

Life gets better, but you have to be here to see it. And so I started this journey, and I dubbed it the Homeless by Choice Tour because I was homeless again, but this time it was my choice, not my situation, not my parents, it was my choice. So I started this Homeless by Choice tour and three months into it, I saw America through a lens that not very many people get to see. I saw how broken we are. And I said, I have to do more. I have to do more, I have to do more.

So I decided that instead of crossing the country for six months, I would live out of my car and I would circle the entire nation. And I was going to give myself a goal to reach at least 100,000 kids. I ended up living out of my car for two and a half years. No grants, no funders, a tour that ran me over $200,000, a money that I had to raise along the way, but I was able to reach over 108,000 kids. And then my phone has never stopped ringing.

Look at that. Perseverance, the power to keep going, but more importantly, the power to make an impact. That's right. And to me, that's who you are. And another pillar, another core value that I know that you believe in as well as me is the power of mentorship.

And I believe for me, that's my purpose now, is to mentor because I've had amazing mentors. I believe in mentorship. If you're trying to grow mentors or the way to get there for you personally, talk to us about what mentorship means to you. So two things pop in my head. One, mentors, if you're gonna be a mentor, whoever's listening, it's about them, not about you. And you're not there to be their friend.

You're there to help guide them and direct them. You can, sometimes you'll say it in love and sometimes you gotta be a little tougher. I know that my mentor one time, just to bring a little humor, she said, Roy, out of all my mentees, I have invested more time, more energy and more money and have got the littlest results, right?

So, oh my gosh. But she never gave up on me. So this is gonna be something that's long-term. This is gonna be something that's gonna be, you're gonna struggle with your mentee, especially if you find a kid like me. I'm gonna push and push and push. Why?

Because every person I have trusted has failed me. Every person. So I need to make sure that you're real. I need to make sure that when you your when you tell me you love me You're not just saying it because you say to all the kids you work with You're not telling me that you're gonna be there for me I need to make sure you're really gonna be there for me and the moment that I believe you I Never want to let you go

Why I? was so scared to When when I got myself fired So I'm gonna state it that way when I got myself fired, so I'm gonna state it that way, when I got myself fired from my mentor's company, I was so devastated that I did everything I needed to get to try to get back to into her company. So she raised the bar even higher and I met it because as the broken kid I thought, will anyone ever love me again? Because I honestly felt that she did love me.

And so it cost me to work harder. Now as a mentee, I think that it's our responsibility to honor our mentors' time, their energy, their wisdom, and it took them to learn it as well. And so it's a growing process, and not everyone you meet is meant to be your mentor. You have to connect and click with that person. So that mentorship will shave years off of hard work

that you would have to do in your life to get you to the next level. But then you cannot forget once you get there to turn around and help the next generation up. We have to help each other. That's what it's all about for me, man. Like the insights that I get from mentors, I make sure that I'm always passing through.

Because I never want my legacy to end with me, right? Like it would be very selfish of me to take the wisdom that I get from the Damon John and Robert Irvine and Roy Juarez Jr. It would be very selfish for me to take the wisdom that you give me and let it sit right here. It's all about the power of being able to take what Roy gives me and now help five, six,

7,000 other kids or youths that went through what Roy and I went through. But now we can show them, dude, there is a path. Absolutely. Well, my thought is, what would have happened to me if my parents had mentors? If my dad had a mentor and to show him how to deal with what he went through as a kid, to process it,

to how to healthily release things, what would my mom have gone through? What would that situation have been like? You know, they're both great people. They were just broken. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing, man. So we're about to go rapid fire. I wrote a few rapid fire questions out. Okay. So we're going rapid fire. Oh, here we go. Yep. So the best stage moment you've had as a speaker? Being at the few, few conference and speaking on the stage that I snuck into and heard, and by chance, or higher power, whatever you believe, mine is a higher power. My mentor, by chance was

speaking at a conference in the same city the day before, so this time she sat in the audience as I spoke. Okay, I love it. The viewer listener right now that is like, I'm inspired because of Roy's conversation with Mick to reach out to a youth organization. What's the best way for someone to give back to youths today?

I would look into their local community, find kids who need someone in their life. There are a lot of kids who may have houses, but we don't have homes. So how many homeless kids do we have in our cities? For the parent that's listening right now, that's like, I'm Roy's mother, right? How do they have that conversation with their kid?

What's some advice you'd give to that parent? Kids don't care if you're perfect. They just want you there and they want you to love them, let them know you love them. And at the same time, get plugged into a school where they may be having a parent program or something so that you can learn from other parents to be better. And Roy, it's funny I had this written down. You talk about food and how much you love food. What is Roy's go-to meal right now? Oh my god, if you are anywhere near Texas or now they know there's one on the strip Las Vegas. Whataburger is

my favorite burger place. That's food. We're ending that conversation. Because I'm gonna tell you what a burger and in and out are trash. Give me five guys. If we're going burgers, give me five guys. It's not like a drive through fat. I love five guys. But if I going burgers, give me five guys all day long. Well, five guys is not like a drive through fat. I love five guys, but if I'm gonna drive through, especially since I'm on the road a lot, if there's a Whataburger and it's 30 minutes away, I'm gonna drive out of my way to go through Whataburger,

get the number five, add some jalapenos, and it's a done deal. But I will say, if I can see this one last thing, Nick, before we disconnect. My dad is back in my life, my biological dad. It took 20 years to get him back in my life. I think that we're all chasers in life. We're all chasing something, a nicer title, a bigger house, you know, partner, whatever we're chasing. My chase had always been to bring my family back together. Not my parents married, separate,

they're better. But I wanted to be able to be in a room with my family back together. Not my parents married, separate, they're better. But I wanted to be able to be in a room with my family. And so when I wrote my book, Homeless by Choice, I put a dedication page to each person, including my biological father. And I said to my biological dad, actually, forgive me, I put to my dad, I hope we can build a healthy relationship

before it's too late. I read the entire page, do it on social media, his girlfriend saw it, showed him, he calls me. At the time you call my business line, it would go to my cell phone, right? Not anymore, but at that time. And I answered it and it was him. And I said, you dad? And he goes, he asked me, I said, what do you want? He goes, I heard you wrote a book. I said, I did. He goes, I heard you put me in it. I said, I did, but like I changed your name so you can't sue me, right? Just in case, because like we don't wrote a book. I said, I did. He goes, I heard you put me in it. I said, I did, but like I changed your name so you can't sue me, right? Just in case, cause like we don't have a relationship.

He goes, that's not why I'm calling. So why are you calling? He goes, if you're serious about what you said, he goes, I'm ready. He goes, I'm so sorry. I will take the blame for everything. And I said, dad, I don't want you to take the blame dad. I just wanted you to acknowledge what happened.

I said, if you're serious, come to my book launch. It's next week in San Antonio. He showed up. So for the first time in over 20 something years I'm on stage and I invited my siblings up first and then my mom and my stepdad and I said if he's willing my biological dad join us and he comes on stage and for the first time I have this picture of my entire family. It would not have been possible if it wasn't for my mentors, if it wasn't for education, if it wasn't for my faith, if it wasn't for forgiveness. You know, here's the final thought and something that I adopted and I own.

If people can hate for no reason in this world, I can love for no reason. And I love the kids that I serve. I love my family. I love what I do. I don't have to even know these kids for us to love them. So as a community, we need to love more than hate. And I think that's desperately needed right now in this world. You can love for no reason. Dude, you always give me something. And that right there was extremely powerful. So I'm going to restate that or re-say that.

If you can hate for no reason, then you can love for no reason at all too. Roy. Roy. That, that was it right there. That was it. Like. That was it. We're going to title the episode that too. That right there, dude. I'm telling you.

We need it. People hate for no reason. And it's stupid. We got to love for no reason. Let's switch it. Let's love for no reason. I think I needed that today, bro. I personally needed that think I needed that today, bro.

I personally needed that. I needed that. So I love you for that. And I mean that. Thank you. So speaking of the book, speaking of you, where can people find the book first and foremost? You can go two places. My name, RoyWattisJr.com or ImpactTruth.com, which is the name of my company.

It's both our core values, impact and truth together. ImpactTruth.com. Perfect. Roy, love you like a brother. Appreciate you. The words of wisdom, the mentorship that you're always providing. Most importantly, leading by example, man. Like I appreciate you for just being present. Thank you. I do my best. I'm human, but I do my best.

You got it. And for all the viewers and Thank you. I do my best. I'm human, but I do my best. You got it. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this with someone who needs it. you're going to be. If it really hits you hard, then

imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe rate and share this with someone who needs it and most of all make a plan and take action because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a question or insight to share. Send us an

email to hello at Mc unplugged.com. Until next time.