Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm starting to notice that I'm not easily categorized by people.
[00:00:09] Excuse me. And it's uncomfortable for them.
[00:00:16] And before and even now, every now and then it creeps in my head like I want them to be comfortable because I want, because I'm a part of society and I want to be liked by people. Right?
[00:00:38] We've, if you live like that for a long time. I live like that for a long time. Eventually it gets to the point where I decided for myself to not please those people because for me personally, being a person of having ADD adhd, it's difficult to maintain or have relationships with people because I'm socially awkward, I don't get social cues and I can be excommunicated or like excluded from social situations, excluded from parties, excluded from these things, from being invited out simply because I don't, I'm, I'm just weird. I, I, I, some I, I remember I would say things out loud, I would laugh out loud, like literally laugh loudly to where people would be like, oh, you're laughing too loud.
[00:01:45] And you know, and I just, I'm living life cool thinking that it's just normal to be like that, you know.
[00:01:53] And you know, thank thanks to my parents and you know, my father and my stepmother for just letting me be me.
[00:02:04] And I say I've lost a lot of, or lost a lot of opportunities with being hanging out with friends and stuff like that.
[00:02:15] And yeah, I mean it's still hap, I think it still happens to this day where I'm just, it's just, it's isolating but at, but in a sense it's okay for me. I've learned in being isolated to entertain myself, learning how to podcast. When I was younger, I learned how to play the guitar. It was a lot of hours spent by myself.
[00:02:43] Play games. Nintendo, I used to play Nintendo. I'm 40 years old.
[00:02:51] So it's kind of like a double edged sword. Like you'll learn stuff on your own and eventually you want to take the, that stuff, your creativity and show to the world, show it to people.
[00:03:02] And that means you, that means that we have to, that I have to go out in public.
[00:03:09] And I wouldn't say that I'm, I'm, I've, I've been afraid of going out in public or, or have not wanted to go out in public because people are there.
[00:03:20] But at the same time I don't want to go out in public because people are there.
[00:03:24] So. And that's always the constant thing for people with add. Like there's there's always positive and a negative charge that are. That are fighting against each other. The reason why I say that I don't want to be around people, but I do want to be around people because I like to be social, I like to talk to people, I like to make people laugh.
[00:03:46] And mix that with not wanting to be around the people that are rude to me because I'm a certain way. Like, you know that I'm a certain way from a mile away. You can see it.
[00:04:02] And I see that in people. They see it for me from a mile away. And so, like, if I see people in public, I automatically look at them, at their face to let them know, like, I'm not one to be bullied.
[00:04:14] Right? Because we get bullied with people, people with add adhd. We get bullied from elementary school all the way to high school.
[00:04:23] And a lot of times we'll get bullied and we won't even know that we're being bullied or made fun of until later on after the fact.
[00:04:32] So though. So those two.
[00:04:35] I want to be social, but I don't want to be social are always fighting against each other. And I think I found the happy medium with podcasting in my other podcast, the Corpus Christi Originals podcast. Because I get to talk to people.
[00:04:50] I get to talk to people for an hour and then after that I'm done. Yeah, that's all my social battery can stand. I'm gonna go back home to my kids, my family, and not be social until the next hour next week.
[00:05:07] But now I'm so. I'm also social at, in at work a lot of times because I kind of have to be because I can't totally like close off everybody, especially in the workplace. In the workplace, I have to communicate. I gotta learn how to communicate. I gotta learn how to set boundaries too. Like we. I've learned how to set boundaries in the workplace because bound there's bullying in the workplace, dude, it's everywhere.
[00:05:37] So find that happy medium because we still have to be a part of society regardless.
[00:05:44] And being a, being a person that, that believes, that's a. That believes in God through Jesus Christ according to the Bible.
[00:05:54] I don't.
[00:05:56] Because that I know and I understand that God created me like this.
[00:06:04] It makes you think of that story where they asked Jesus, this man has been like this. Like I think he's paralyzed or I don't know what happened to the guy, but they ask him, is it his fault or is it his parents fault? You know?
[00:06:19] And I think obviously Jesus's answer, like, always is always, like, mindboggling. Like what? Like, we never would have thought of it like that.
[00:06:26] So I think that way about my particular situation and being the way that I am.
[00:06:38] It's like God wants me to be like this.
[00:06:42] So there's a way to live like this.
[00:06:46] And you know, it makes me think of people that are really like, like paraplegic or have missing legs or are severely autistic or severely disabled in certain ways. People that can't see. Like, imagine what those people have to.
[00:07:06] And that's what I'm thinking in my mind. Like, imagine what those people have to live with. And, and mine is like. And I have a fully functioning body. Thank you, Lord.
[00:07:15] As far as having arms, legs, I can see, I can hear, my vision is excellent. I just took a vision test and it's.
[00:07:28] And, and for me, it's my brain that's. That's messed up. And I'm thinking like, people that can't see, people that can't hear, that have a missing arm or missing leg, whatever, whatever.
[00:07:37] For me, it's, it's a, a mental thing that I'm having to learn to live with.
[00:07:44] And I have to constantly remind myself, it's fine.
[00:07:50] It's the, that's how your brain is.
[00:07:53] Learn to live with it.
[00:07:55] Learn to navigate your life. And thinking about it now, I feel like I'm pretty successful in what I do.
[00:08:07] I'm married.
[00:08:08] You know, I mean, people used to make fun of me because they thought I was a certain way.
[00:08:14] And I'm married. I have kids. You know what I mean? I have a college degree.
[00:08:22] I've, I've. I have a job. I'm able to provide for my family. I have a semi successful local podcast in Corpus Christi, Texas.
[00:08:33] I had a semi successful YouTube channel where I would putting guitar videos. I was putting programming videos a lot of people watched. Changed a lot of people's life or helped a lot, helped a lot of people things.
[00:08:49] And like, I think that's one of the things that I need to do for myself now is to reflect and think back, like, of all the things, of all the accomplishments that I've made up until this point.
[00:09:13] And then another topic too. I'm thinking about the people that may see me and, and be like, oh, wow, he's like me and he's, he has these accomplishments, you know what I mean? Like, it's like the, like the Bible wants us to be salt and light of the earth.
[00:09:30] You know, salt loses its flavor.
[00:09:33] I want to associate it with Those that scripture because somebody that's in my predicament or has been or is dealing with life the way I am can look at my life and be like, oh, wow, he's got add, he's adhd, he's neurodiverse, he's kind of autistic, he's got a, a local podcast. What, he's a truck driver. What, he plays guitar. What, he's got a college degree. What, he's married, he has kids. What. I can do that too.
[00:10:05] So it's like part of my sharing this information too is just being salt and light of those.
[00:10:13] For one that don't think that people like me can do it.
[00:10:16] And mainly for the people that think that are like me, that may think that they can't do it, do the thing, these things, it's particularly for them.
[00:10:29] And then maybe, I don't know, who knows, maybe my kids watch these videos later on and think back like, oh, this is how dad was.
[00:10:41] It could be a testimony for them, you know.
[00:10:48] But yeah, it's, it's, it's encouraging to know that there's, that people like me, people like myself can get along in, in life and still have be successful.
[00:11:03] And then two people from the outside looking in.
[00:11:08] I started this video out talking about how people, it's not easy to be, to categorize me because, and along those lines, I've got different interests.
[00:11:20] I'm not just the podcaster, I'm not just that.
[00:11:26] I've got other facets and things that I like. I'm, I, I just started stand up comedy, you know, I, I listen to music. I don't just listen to heavy music. I listen to hip hop music.
[00:11:41] You know, I get down with that type of stuff. And for some people, if they're just heavy music people, and I've noticed this throughout my life, some of them don't accept you as a heavy music person, even though you listen to heavy music.
[00:12:00] You know what I mean? Or some people won't accept you as a podcaster because whatever the reason is, because I'm me, you know, and it makes, I think it makes those tips types of people nervous around me because they're used to categorizing people and being able to put them in a box and like, oh, you're over here and you're supposed to stay there and people will, will act that out.
[00:12:27] It's called social policing. They'll try to be like, nope, you have to be in this box. And me, most of my life, I'm like, no, I Don't want to be in that box. I want to do this.
[00:12:40] You know what I mean?
[00:12:43] For this. I want to do this.
[00:12:45] Who are you to say that I'm only supposed to do this? Only supposed to.
[00:12:50] In music's case, I'm only supposed to listen to heavy music and I'm not allowed to listen to hip hop music or country or whatever.
[00:13:01] So that it's, it's been, it's. It. It's weird because it's not me. Like I want to be who I am and when I choose to be who I am and I get in particular social circles in, in any facet. Say it stand up comedy or say it's in the podcast space or in the music space.
[00:13:20] If I get in any one of those scenes, the ones that are only specific to that scene will, will. I feel like they'll be nervous and they'll try to social police me or try to. So that they can feel comfortable. And it's, it's hard to explain, but they do it so that they can be comfortable with themselves.
[00:13:41] Me, an outsider coming in that has a podcast going into the music scene.
[00:13:48] Some of them will look at me and be like, what are you doing here? You're a podcaster.
[00:13:55] We don't do that here. Whatever, you know, And I've always been like, so what? To those people, because they're, they're. Those, they're not the only ones in the scene. There are other people that might be like me in the scene, which I do get along with. And we have to find those people because not everybody's going to try to police us, social police us, and not everybody's going to try to put us in a box.
[00:14:19] And I want to say us. I mean, people that are neurodiverse, like a bit autistic, a bit ocd, a bit. Everything that's on that type of neurodiverse spectrum, a bit autistic, all this other stuff.
[00:14:32] So it's possible. And one of the ways to make, make that work for myself or for people like myself, find people that are comp. That are, that are like me.
[00:14:43] And there are people that are not particularly neurodiverse, they're neurotypical that may have grown up with somebody like us or have a family member, somebody like us, and will show grace to us and they'll. I find those people super awesome because it's like this. My, My wife gave me this one example. She's like. It's like those girls in high school.
[00:15:12] They would see another girl that say autistic girl, ADD that's getting picked on, and they'll come to that girl's aid. The, the ne. Neurotypical girls will go and fight for her, like being like, what, why you picking on this girl? For whatever. And then they'll end up befriending the girl.
[00:15:29] The neurotypicals will end up befriending, you know, the, the ADHD person because they see that, that they're being picked on maybe because they have, they've had a family member, they've had somebody like that, and so they, they want to be on their side because they understand what, what they're going through.
[00:15:48] So the neurotypical people, mad props to them for giving us that type of grace, you know, wanting to fight for us.
[00:16:00] And they're out there, you know, and I, I like, I'm thinking of this one guy particular at work who is, is like that and he's, he's willing to be like, okay, this guy's like this. Let's give him a shot. You know what I mean? And there's a lot of that in the workplace, especially for being ADD adhd, that people, they don't want to give you a shot because you're just weird. Because I'm just weird. Like, I've been to, to a job before where I didn't fit the norm. They wanted to social police me. They wanted to be a certain me, to be a certain way. And I just, it's. I, it's hard for me to try to do that because when I try to do that, I put myself aside and I become in. Been. Become somebody that I don't want to be and, and just being myself and like questioning, like a lot of times I question like, why is it like this? How come we can't do it like this? Whatever, Whatever. Anyways, so there's, there are workplaces that don't. That won't give you a chance.
[00:17:05] And they'll just be like, well, you know, we're not going to give this guy just, there we go.
[00:17:12] We're just, we're going to kick them out. We're going to fire him. We're going to get, you know, whatever.
[00:17:16] And they'll do that. People, businesses will do that.
[00:17:20] And then sometimes you'll land on this, like for, sometimes you'll land on those businesses that are, okay, they know I'm like this and they'll work with me. They'll work with me, you know, And I just had a thought there about that.
[00:17:37] They'll work, they'll work with me. So along with that, being a truck driver and having a job or a skill that is marketable, meaning there's a lot of jobs in that area is good for somebody with add, ADHD or that's neurodiverse. Because if one company, you know, if one company doesn't.
[00:18:13] Sorry guys, got sidetracked. It was a. There was a bug down there. Why did I kill it? No, I'm sorry for killing you.
[00:18:26] Yeah.
[00:18:28] Being that I have a marketable job, if I get, if I get fired from that job or let go from that job because people may not jive, I might. May not jive with their culture.
[00:18:42] There's always a. There's. You can always go to a div. Another job being that that skill is marketable and p. And I think I want to push that for people that are neurodiverse, have add, ADHD or are a bit autistic.
[00:19:00] Find a job that is marketable.
[00:19:03] Like the, like trades are come to mind.
[00:19:07] People need another electrician, people need ac, people need plumbing, people need welding.
[00:19:14] Tons of truck drivers are out there, which is the profession that I'm in.
[00:19:20] Maybe programming things of that nature.
[00:19:23] And that has. And another thought that comes in my mind too is I'm. I'm a Hispanic.
[00:19:32] Whenever a Hispanic goes into a predominantly, let's say, workplace, that's not a lot of Hispanics, you'd say. It's like a lot of different type of culture people.
[00:19:46] It's a chat. That's another addition to the challenge because you have to be good at it. I'm thinking about like programming or mathematics or engineering, where you go into that field. You got to be good at it for people to accept you for. You know what I mean? It's. It's. That's what. At least that's what I'm thinking right now. I could change my mind. Let me know what you guys think. But anyways, that's, that's. That's. That there's.
[00:20:12] Yeah. Finding a job that's marketable, going into a career that, that has.
[00:20:17] That you can go to different. If you get let go from a job because they don't. You don't jive with their work culture, meaning they don't necessarily want to work with you because you're neurodiverse, then that's okay.
[00:20:33] Set aside that job. Just chalk it up as an experience.
[00:20:36] Go to another job that. That might. That's the same. That's has the same skill set.
[00:20:42] For me, it's truck driving. I've had a bunch of different truck driving jobs.
[00:20:48] You know, some of them are my fault for getting let go.
[00:20:51] You know, that's another thing too. When you're ADD adhd, you're having to figure out the workplace. And if we've been in school, like, all the way to, like, 12th grade, and we've never been in the workplace, we have to figure out the workplace, which is kind of like school, because you still have.
[00:21:08] You still have people that are the way they are, and we have to learn how to navigate the workplace and social cues comes in. In the workplace too, because a lot of times some. Some workplaces want you to cut corner, cut corners. And for me, I don't like to cut corners. I like to do it well, do it good.
[00:21:27] And. And it's. There's a huge dynamic in that because people could feel, like, nervous about their job because you're doing a better job than they are. There's this whole dynamic workplace thing that we have to navigate as people with ADD that are neurodiverse or people with adhd.
[00:21:45] That's a whole thing in itself that I could talk about in another video, but I hope this helps you guys. If you got any questions, comments, or anything that might be relatable to this or going to the same thing, leave it down below. I want you to feel like you can talk about this stuff on my channel with somebody that's. That's like. Like me. But thanks a lot, you guys.
[00:22:09] Appreciate y'. All. Y' all have a good one. Bye.
