The Importance of Curiosity in Personal Growth
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the drug prevention power hour. I’m your host Jake White. And today we’re hanging out with a new friend. got Dejon and we met at the Vive 18 prevention camp out in Prescott, Arizona. And what stood out to me is, man, this guy just lit up everybody at camp. They wanted to like hang out with him. He was building everybody up on stage in the shark tank and just, I don’t know, bringing everybody together. So
When Dejon asked to interview me for one of his classes, I said, absolutely. That sounds incredible. What if we make it into a podcast episode? So Dejon, you can take it over. If you want to please just introduce yourself real quick and then you’re the host. You can ask me anything. Yeah, I got you. So, hi, Jake. My first question is, what’s your status and how long have you been part of VIVE 18?
Hey, Dejon. Yeah. Uh, we’ve been running five 18 Tomas and I for about seven years. Uh, so we started it in 2018, whenever we met each other, was like, clicked. knew exactly what we were supposed to do and we hit the ground running the community.
Okay, that’s good. My second question is, what recreational or educational skills do you use on a day-to-day basis to help you with Vive 18? So, give a little more detail.
So what recreational skills or educational skills? You know what? I think the thing that helps me the most is being curious. And this is something honestly Tomas is really, really good with is he can meet somebody and he’ll start asking you questions. And before you know it, you’re like, why is this guy feel like my best friend? I’m kind of nervous at this. You’re you’re talking to me?
I’ve been trying to get better at that, but being really curious about people, asking questions, because it makes people feel really cared for. And in business and in life, that pays off because the only thing that you can control is how you act. You can’t really control what people think about you. But if you come from a place of curiosity and you want to learn about other people, what happens is even if you haven’t shared about yourself.
They really, really like you and they really, really want to support you. the other things in education is when I was in college, I studied public relations. So like making online content, things like that. And I use them every day, you know, in my job with Vive 18.
Yeah, just to get, if it’s okay, just give a little bit of my personal background on being curious. I’ve always been a curious mind for, since I was like seven years old, I’ve always been a curious mind. I’ve always been a passionate writer too. I’ve always wanted to know anything about everything. And that’s what made me become the person I am today. A very independent.
That’s a really cool day, Yeah. Have you said you like writing? You said you like writing too? Yeah, that’s a great skill, man. That’s gonna pay off for the rest of your life, man. I can’t wait for the future, honestly. My third question is over here at PACE, you know, the school I told you about, PACE, we always love to ask this question, what’s your why?
Understanding Personal ‘Why’ and Its Impact
I love that question. What’s your why? So storytelling, you told me before we started, you’re writing a story right now. And my why kind of goes back to that story for me. Growing up, I had lost my uncle to an addiction and I never wanted that to happen to anybody. Definitely not my friends or any of my family, not myself. I always thought that I wanted to create a really meaningful life.
And I remember the story of how the summer was coming up and this and being back together. All these things were happening in my house. So, I was in college. I the black and white school. I was was in college. college. I I was college. college. college.
I’d never heard a story about how someone using substances had made their life better. I’d always heard the stories about how it got worse. so enrolling in college, I didn’t really have enough money to go. So I worked a full-time job in the summer and also two part-time jobs. And so
I’m investing everything into my future, right? And I go into this culture where it feels like other people are making really poor decisions on the weekend. They’re drinking, they’re smoking. I just didn’t want to invest in those things. That’s where that led. Now here’s where the the why comes in.
I had a choice to either conform to my culture and say, hey, if I want to fit in and make friends and have fun, I could just follow what other people do and go drink and smoke on the weekends. Or I could choose to stand out and do something different. Because if I don’t like the world the way it is, then it’s my job to change it. I can’t just complain about it because I’d already been doing that for a couple of years. So I said, all right, I’m going to throw a party without any drugs or alcohol and see who shows up. And Dejon, you heard the story. Hundreds of students showing up to these sober parties and then I’ll be back getting sponsored by Pizza Hut, Subway, Red Bull, all these national brands. And then students from across the nation asking, how can I do this too?
And Dejon, this is what will happen to you. If you follow your passion, there’ll be a moment when you ask yourself that we can still see the consequences of our own mistakes. This actually will happen in the next few We will probably be happy though. And while we still have the opportunity to take a few minutes, we will also have the opportunity to have high-level of insight.
I love this so much. Is there a way to get paid doing this? And that’s the journey I’ve been on, man. It’s like, how do I build a sustainable income doing something that I love and that could positively change the world? Because my why today is I don’t want any student to ever feel left out or like they don’t belong because they’re making a positive, healthy choice. I want that student to feel amazing and have a bunch of fun and a bunch of fun.
It’s absolutely powerful. It’s a time-consuming device. It’s quite interesting to use and quite a brand new artifact.
Yeah, honestly, in my personal experience, getting a little bit more personal than usual, you know, I went up there at the camp, I told everyone about my story with my brother. And I’ll be honest, after that happened, I started really researching, I started noticing, I started both using my eyes and my ear, eyes in the sense of researching and ears in the sense of hearing everything just about drug use and alcohol use. What I want to see is like change in like, not even just this year and the next following years. I just want to see it. I just want to see change, honestly.
Yeah, yeah. I know it’s not my turn Dejon to interview you yet, but for the viewers listening right here, do you mind sharing your story?
Sharing Personal Stories and Their Significance
Yeah, I wanna start with the good memories that I remember of my brother when we were, he took me on walks and we talked a lot. We spent a lot of time more over it like late at night, like he would just wake me up in the middle of the night and we’d just hang out, watch movies, that was fun.
The part that I didn’t see that my mom told me about, the part that I didn’t see that he didn’t want me to see was him being on drug use. That’s the part I didn’t see. And I didn’t really know about it until that one day where he kind of, what’s the word? He showed it. He showed that side of him. I don’t know the word, but he showed that side of him while I was there. And I was shocked.
Took me a minute to realize that he needed help and we tried the best we could, but either he didn’t like the pills or he was too far gone. And so he didn’t, I’m gonna be honest, I’m still healing. I still think about him now and then. He died 2022. So it’s been a minute and I still miss my brother for sure.
He had a real powerful impact on my life. The best male role model I could ever have praise God for that, dude. I think that we want to simplify life and say that, this person is amazing. So there’s no way they could ever fall into substance use. But I know from just like you, my uncle that I lost, and he was one of the smartest guys I knew and the more joyous, fun person and so when I found out that he was using two, I had that same, that same thought. I’m like, wait, there’s no way he would need a drug. Like he’s so amazing. but it just goes to show that addiction doesn’t really discriminate based on anything. It’s like our brains, our heart, they’re the same. And so when we go to those substances as a shortcut, instead of developing the skill sets, It takes over our brain and there’s not much we can do, but thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that with me, Dejon.
Of course I I mean I wasn’t gonna go too much detail because like there’s a lot more other like not really so happy stuff but that’s the best I can really say or else I start getting real sad. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. You’re setting the boundary for the episode and our listeners can definitely understand too, because a lot of people working in this field, probably even the people you met at camp, right? Is sometimes we have that story that hurt, but we’re just trying to turn that pain into some purpose. And we want to make sure that we don’t lose anybody else. So you did a great job sharing that. Do you have any other questions for me?
Building Connections and Team Dynamics
Yes, I have two more actually. My next question, I’m gonna, there’ll be a follow-up question. So my next question starts like, how did you manage to connect with so many people? You know, like for your team, how did you, and the follow-up question for that is how did you acquire such a phenomenal hardworking team?
Like I follow my own eyes. Wow. Dude, shout out to my team. The Vive 18 team is incredible.
Aren’t they? And you got to meet a lot of them at camp. Um, yeah. How did, how did we get connected? So, I mean, dude, if I could simplify it, I would just point to God and say, this plan is working and I feel like there’s, there’s nothing I can do to mess it up.
Because I’m not a perfect leader. I messed up a lot this year, Dejon, like I made all the big mistakes and I feel like I’m learning so much, but I’m surrounded by good people. So Tomas and I met because we were in a speaker group and it was an online one through, Facebook. Us old people use Facebook. We met through a Facebook group and I said I was moving to Phoenix, Arizona.
I want to say we have a great community, but we have to have a great world and we have to great community of young people. I think that we have to make it better. And we have a great project for our business better. And he chimed in and said, Hey, I live in Phoenix. Let’s get together. And the timing of us meeting was perfect for us to launch Vive 18 together. And then as far as our other speakers go, some of them, they hear about what we’re doing. And so they would reach out and ask questions. And then I learned a little bit more about them.
And what happens Dejon is when you’re building something really cool, people want to be a part of it, which is fine, you have to get out of your comfort zone and your school. It’s not easy to find a place with a school that’s not very close. But you have to get out of your comfort zone and school. And how do you get out of your comfort How do you get out of How you get out of zone? How do do you out of your zone? zone? How do do get your do zone? How do you of comfort because everyone has their different strengths. So you just have to find out, Hey, what’s a good place? What’s a good fit for this person and how they can support the mission.
And then you got to make sure you all have the capacity to make sure that I’m also giving back to them. And it’s, you know, it’s good for both of us. So our, our speaker Z or Zion Givens was in a place where he was going to go full time with his business and we were able to support him by bringing him onto Vive 18. We’ve got some other speakers like Brittany Richmond. She’s a national expert on teenage anxiety. Trevor, I met through college. He was an intern with me at the church when I was a youth pastor.
Is he the cameraman? I forgot his name. Giovanni. Giovanni is actually Tomas’s son. Yeah. I don’t know if he told you that. Yeah, man. But dude, when it comes down to it, if you’re doing amazing things and you remain curious about other people, you’ll find out like God’s probably trying to place people in your life at certain times for a reason.
If we’re curious enough and we walk around with open hands, he’s going to place some really good people and some really good things into our stories. And I’m really, really blessed that that happened, you know, with our company. Yeah, I’m blessed that I got to meet you guys at camp and the camera. Shout out to him.
Yeah. Yep. Giovanni. I’m glad y’all hit it off. He actually, you know, it’s fun. He doing that stuff at camp was one of the first times he worked with us and he did such a good job that I hired him to be my video editor for the next two months. so yeah, shout out everyone. We’re going to shout out the league marketing, Giovanni Contreras, Vustos. if you need some sports marketing or video editing, whoever guy, the league marketing hit them up.
Advice for Struggling Students
My last question before we get to that 15 minute mark you might be going over it it’s okay what’s your words of advice to all the stress all the struggling high school students what are some tips you can give them on their mental and physical health. Man, I mean, the number one thing is to realize you are not alone in your feelings. And no matter what you’ve been through, no matter what’s happened to you, you have a choice every single day to try again. And I don’t think that we accomplish great things by ourselves. And so if you feel burnt out or feel like you don’t have a way out or like the world is too much for you.
It’s because the world is too much for us when we’re alone. The biggest thing you could do is ask for help, find someone you trust, and be relentless because your life is such a gift and you can accomplish amazing things. And the one thing that I live by and I remind myself every day is that where we start in life is made by chance, but where we end up is made by choice.
And so recognizing that, Hey, we didn’t choose the struggles that we had yesterday. And maybe the circumstances we’re living in, wasn’t the ones that we would have picked for ourselves. That’s my chance. But every day you’ve got the opportunity to make a choice. That’s going to send you upward, send you towards your goals instead of away from them. And honestly, it’s some tough decisions, but if we make them, can man, they can take you to such heights you never knew was possible. And you become a person that can overcome these challenges instead of breaking down under those challenges. And so my number one piece of advice is just tell somebody, ask for help, be relentless at getting the help that you need because you deserve it. Yeah, that’s good advice, Jake. Good advice.
Yeah. Yeah, you got it man. All right. Anything else you all want to know? Or if you, mean, you got a classroom right there too. If you want to take a second. I don’t know if there’s your class know what Vive 18 does.
Yeah, I’ve told them I’ll tell them about it in like maybe two classes almost.
Okay, very cool. If you want to open it up to them too and see if anybody’s got another question and then when we’re done, I’ll flip it and I’ll get to interview you.
Yeah. Anyone got a question? OK. All right. I’m going to point the camera to someone that’s very what what to OK. Sorry. Hi. My name is Olivia. And after hearing what Dejon has been spoken to about Vive 18, know, it’s very, you know, very communicative. know, you guys are actually going out to the community and helping out. I do have a question. So if. there is any way you can improve with what you guys do, what would you guys do and how would you do it?
Engaging with the Community and Future Aspirations
That’s a great question. And the answer is so long. I got to like pick one thing because there are so many things that we need to improve on. I would say for me personally, I need to become a better leader who’s very clear and decisive on what I need in the moment. Have you ever, have you ever wanted help, but like didn’t know exactly what you needed you have here.
I feel like that I’ve got this big vision for our company. You know, I’m like, I want us to be in every school across the nation. want to help students throw drug free events for their friends and that we don’t build a community. That’s so amazing that we wouldn’t be wanting to turn to substances. And that’s a big, big vision, right? So for me, it’s becoming clear on what my next step is and then communicating it to my team, communicating it to our fans and supporters. To get them involved because if I don’t have a clear vision, then there’s no way people can help me and I think that’s really been holding us back in the past. We’ve done great so far, but if we want to make it to the next level as a leader, I need to be clear, and really have that. Yeah. Really clear vision.
Okay, thank you. Well, I do want to say you are a good leader No matter what you think of yourself You’re always gonna be a good leader. You have God right next to you God will be there making you sure that you have you know help and stuff So you have a voice don’t be afraid to ask for help. You are Okay, hold on because she pushed me out the way.
Overcoming Fear of Judgment
Thank you so much. you’re awesome. Now, I’ll take a minute. right. Anyone else got some questions before we split it? Anyone else? No questions? All right. Get to go. Oh, wait. on. Sorry. Sorry, Jake, to cut you off. Someone had a question?
All right, here we go. Awesome. All right, we’re gonna flip it. Did you get one more? I have the camera to you. what’d say?
Okay. His question was, if you could go back in 10 years to your younger self, what would you tell him? Ooh, I like that. I could go back 10 years and tell my younger self something, what would I say?
I would say, do not care what anyone, what anybody thinks about you, unless they are a person that you want to become. I spent so much time worrying about what certain people thought of me or what would this person think if I, if I did what I want, or if I took a big action, right? Like throwing these sober parties. I was so scared to throw my first event because I was thinking of all the people that wouldn’t like it.
They would tell me nerdy or uncool. And what I realized is I was letting those people who don’t like me and they don’t have my shared vision. I was letting them determine my actions. So if I go back 10 years, I would just say, Jake, you know what’s right. Do it a hundred percent, a hundred miles per hour. Like that’s your job. And if people don’t like it.
It’s time for a short break they’re going to remove themselves from your life and that’s a good thing. And then what will happen though, is you’re going to attract all the right people into your life too. And you’ll achieve your goals so much faster. So that would be my advice to my younger self.
Yeah, was a great question. Thank you. Yeah. Speaking up any any other questions? Before we get started.
Yeah, right. Thanks for speaking up. That was awesome. All right, we’re flipping it. We’re flipping. All right, Dejon, I would, because I just met you at camp,
I think we got to chat a little bit, but just like fun things for you that you love doing. I heard so far you like writing, writing stories. What other things do you enjoy doing when you have free time?
I usually have free time. I usually have a bookshelf at home. So every now and then I’ll take a read out books that I like. And if I’m interested, I’m interested. If I’m not, I’ll be honest. go back on my phone. I like actually like taking and this is a new hobby I just picked up. I like taking walks with my auntie in the evening. I like to walk with my auntie in the evening. It’s very peaceful to just walk while the sun is setting and then my auntie’s me her stories, I’m telling her mine. It’s just a real good bonding moment.
Dude, that is so cool. And Arizona has some good sunsets. Like, so spending it with some family here in stories, that sounds awesome. as far as the, would love to hear your, your experience at camp this year, because when, when I first met you, I thought, Dejon, he’s kind of quiet. And then at the end of the camp, you were not quiet.
I was shy even, what’s his name? yeah, Dry, he can tell you. I was shy for sure that first day. I didn’t know anyone, but the thing is with me, I can make friends with anybody. I’m very social. So it took me a minute, but on that last day, could tell I already made friends with half the people at the camp. I was talking to everyone. I finally got out of that shell that I was shy in.
That’s cool. What advice would you give somebody else if, you know, it’s their first time going to a camp or a conference and they want to get out of their shell? Would you have some advice for them to do that too?
Finding Common Ground and Building Connections
Yeah, I would tell them, I would tell them just take it slow because that’s what I did. I just took it slow. I learned a lot about the people around me, the group that they put me in. I learned about that and I didn’t really talk unless I was spoken to. And then if I got comfortable, then I would talk more. I would want to know more about that person and eventually become friends with them and get into contact with them too.
Yeah. Okay. That’s cool. That’s cool. There was a moment I remember, your team was on stage. You had just finished with the sharp tank competition and y’all had done this cool event plans and you were just like rallying everybody together, celebrating, hugging, high-fiving. And it was one of the sweetest moments for Emily and I as leaders. Let’s see that.
He was a very beautiful artist, but he was also very beautiful his work. I’m curious what has happened since then. Have you gotten involved with Casa Grande’s coalition at all? Or have you all done any projects?
Yeah, we recently did a youth boutique for Youth Alliance. That’s the group that I was in for the camp. We just did a youth boutique. It was good. I enjoyed it. What, tell me about that. What’s the youth boutique?
Hold on. In the simplest words I can put, the youth boutique is about, it’s down the street from Pace, first of all. It’s near my sister’s job. Then second of all, it’s about free clothes, free food. You get to hang out with the staff. You get free clothes. Who says no to free clothes? Even I get free clothes and I’m happy about it. Even if it’s not my size, I could just.
I can give it to someone, but it will be used for something. And by the end, when it’s all said and done, we clean up and then we celebrate our success depending on how much people that we had that day.
Dang, that sounds really cool. It’s so it’s kind of an afterschool thing. You can walk over there, have a place to hang out, get some free clothes, bring your friends. And there’s, and there’s like cool adults there too, that are hanging out and y’all have a bunch of people basically this year’s boutique, everyone came actually except, yeah, everyone came. Wow, that’s an awesome initiative. It’s about giving to those who need help.
And I love that it’s fun too. It’s not like, Hey, just here’s something. If you need something, go get it, which that’s good too. But you’ve made a big thing and you’re inviting everybody and it’s an event that’s really fun and a positive experience that people can have. Cause at Vive 18, that’s what we’re all about, right? Is creating those fun experiences and you’ve, you’ve doubled it with this event that you’re not only just having a great time drug free, you’re helping people with their basic needs, right? Of food and clothes and all that stuff that can keep helping them for days or weeks or months.
I would like to go more into that because it’s very special to me, very near dear to my heart. I’m a Youth Alliance Ambassador, so what that means is I’m the one that promotes, I’m the one that gets the word out. I let everyone know that it’s happening. That’s what I did at Pace High School. I did like five, no, I did like four announcements, and I let everyone know that, you know, free clothes, free food, and we even have a food bank where we give out food to people that need it. It’s mostly on Saturday, though. It wasn’t on Youth Boutique, but you know, we do what we can to help the people that need it.
That’s so cool. And Dejon, what is, I’m going to ask you the opposite question of what your friend asked me, right? We asked me about 10 years before. Let me ask you Dejon, if you could daydream of your life in 10 years, what is some things that you hope that you can do or that what your life looks like?
In 10 years, Yeah. Future. Going back to that, I said I’m hopeful for the future, but honestly, I don’t know what my future holds. I still don’t, but I’m starting to figure it out. It’s starting to be a little picture, then it’s going to get brighter and brighter as the days go on. In 10 years, I think I’ll be a successful person for sure. Successful entrepreneur, I’ll be doing my own thing, helping my mom when I can, having my own car too. In college, most likely too. I’ll be a good person in 10 years. I will have had helped a lot of people. I’ll say I’ll get it. That’s a guarantee.
Dude, that is, that is a guarantee. I love that you said that. And you know what’s cool? Your success is going to happen because you help other people. think that’s something that I’ve learned from running this program is I used to actually think that making money was kind of bad. I was like, Oh no, I don’t want to be rich. I don’t want to make a lot of money because then it’s going to control me. But See ya.
I’ve learned that money is kind of just a, it puts a magnifying glass on you. So if you like helping people and you have a lot of money, you can help a lot of people. And that’s what I’m learning as we grow this is it’s, it’s a tool for doing good things in the world. And I could see you’re on your way. You’re already finding these ways that take your passion and your interests, then you align them with your strengths and what you’re good at people, and people find, and a lot of people. And I’m happy to say that it’s a pure earth spirit and it’s not like me.
And that gives you a platform to go spread good in the world. And the money’s gonna follow I’ll be honest, I’ve always wanted because I’ve always been shy speaking out loud you could tell at the camp it took me a minute that I finally got there. And when I did, I felt better. I felt great, actually. I’ve always wanted public speaking to be a passion of mine. Like I am passionate, but I’m always just shy by speaking. the thing is, I have so much things to say, especially depending on the topic. I just I really just want people to know my story and I want to others like motivate. I want to inspire people. With my story.
Yeah. I love that. Well, you’re already doing it, man. And you’re the, cool thing is you’re doing it at such a young age. And for those of you who are listening and you’re thinking like, Hey, this Dejon guy is incredible. Like, how do we find, how do we find a student like Dejon and like where is he? What’s he doing? I mean, he’s involved in his coalition, his school pace.
I just know a little bit about it, but what I really love, it’s a project based school. Like you don’t just have to take all these tests. You’re actually out doing the things that you want to do. you’re creating the future you want and you’re doing projects, which I think back to my school, I’m like, I would have loved to go to pace. That would have been really fun.
I just want to say real quick since this is on air, out to my sister and my mom. They’re the reason I actually, shout out to Cardi too. They’re the reason why I’m at peace and why I love this school as much as I do.
my gosh, that was going to be my question. You just answered. said, I was going to say we have a superstar shout out. Who do you want to shout out? So you said your teacher, Clardy, who set this whole thing up. and then share just one thing you said your sister and your mom wants a little bit about them.
My sister, yes, my sister, to interrupt. She’s the one that told me about it and my mom is the one that accepted me to go to the school. And Olivia Castro, looking at me. I want to shout out to her too. She’s helped me a lot. She’s even helping me now.
She’s like, me out. That’s incredible. Well, Dejon, I know. Shout out to all my friends, honestly. Shout out to all my friends, they’re all good.
Yeah, I love that. at the end of our episode, I’ll just ask you this day, John, and then we’ll say goodbye if you could give advice to anybody who’s doing drug prevention work, cause that’s the people that are listening to this is they want to help students make better choices in their town and their community. And, I mean, having a perspective of someone your age who’s doing such incredible work, what advice would you give to somebody?
Community Engagement and Youth Initiatives
If they want to get just 1 % better at their job, yeah, what advice would you give?
That’s a tough one. The advice I would give that person or group is, it’s like I said before, you gotta start small. It’s going back to what you said about the sober, you started small. You didn’t think a lot of people would show up, but then a lot of people did. And then that branched off into what Vive 18 is today.
So you just gotta start small. And if you start small, you never know. People might come, people might enjoy that time, and they’re gonna be like, wow, this is way better than everything else I was doing previously that included drug use. So you just gotta start small.
Dejon, dude, I just can’t thank you enough for doing this and making me a part of your class project. I just want to let you know, I believe that you are going to do everything that you think you’re going to do, Like changing the world, being successful, making a difference. Stay close, hit us up anytime. And I know we’re already working on getting Vive 18 over in our experience, we have been a lot of research on the project class of grand to do something. So we’ll stay in touch. But I just wanted to say it’s such an honor to know you. And I’m so grateful that we got to meet at camp. And hopefully all your friends in the class right now, y’all can join us at next year’s camp too. It will be super fun.
Yeah, I’m definitely going to promote that camp. Man, I can’t wait for next year.
Can you share some motivation for the struggling right now, just education-wise? Can you share some motivation for the kids that are down on their luck and they don’t know how to get back up?
You know what Dejon? I’m gonna flip that on you, okay?
What advice would you give for a student that’s struggling right now and they don’t want to get back up?
What happened with me, I’ll be honest. I’m gonna be real honest. Last year, I wasn’t focusing. I wasn’t locked in as much as I am this year. I was getting in trouble. I’m not perfect, one is. But this year, I’ve done a lot. I’ve done a lot better. What I did mainly, I isolated myself. I focused on myself. See, you have to be selfless to be selfless. That’s what my dad taught me.
You have to be selfish to be selfish. You have to know when to just stop and focus on yourself, focus on your education, everything that you stand for and everything that you’ll be in the future. You just have to isolate yourself because friends are a distraction. Everything is distraction. Everything. No matter because you don’t know what’s going to happen, when it will happen. So you really just need to isolate yourself and get that money.
Dang. I, that’s a, that’s a bar. You said you got to be self selfish to be selfless. And that’s, that’s good, man it’s, it’s like that, that analogy, like you can’t pour out from an empty cup, like you gotta take care of you to take care of others. And I love the way that you said that shout out to your dad. That’s cool.
You get that one? You get that one? Yeah, my dad. Shout out to him.
I’ll piggyback on what you said. And a lot of people think they need to focus on the things that they want to stop doing. Like, Hey, just stop feeling this way. Stop using substances, stop whatever the behavior is. Right. But our brains can’t actually, we can’t imagine stopping something. Actually, I need to, I need a way to explain this. So if I said it’s not one thing.
Dejon, right now, whatever you do, just do not think of a giraffe. Don’t think of a giraffe, Dejon. What are you probably thinking of right now? Exactly. Because if you try to like, you’re imagining whatever you said, by saying the word no or don’t, there’s no image in our brain for that. Except for maybe like a red circle with a thing through it.
You ultimately see the object, you see the thing. And so if there’s something going on in our lives that we don’t like, it’s hard to just get rid of it and that’s it. Instead, we have to something in its place. And so focusing on what you want for your future. And that’s the image of your mind. So I’m not thinking, don’t do drugs. I’ve really got into like pick up basketball and volleyball lately.
So I’m not thinking of, don’t do this or don’t feel this. I’m thinking, Hey, what am I doing today to be the best basketball player or volleyball player? I am being in the gym. I’m eating well. I’m getting eight to nine hours of sleep. Therefore I’m building something. ⁓ and that’s way more exciting than just going through your day thinking, I got to not do this. And you’re only focusing on the thing that you don’t want to do. Yeah.
I’m I mean, I’m a very good sound engineer. I’m good I do music here, I do music out here, I music in my sleep, in my work, when I’m doing something. I do music out here, music in my sleep, when I’m music out sleep, something.
All right. This has been awesome. Deja, once again, thank you. And for all of our listeners at the drug prevention power hour, do it.
Just sorry to interrupt again, but thank you, Jake. I love talking to you and hopefully your team soon, but I just love having conversations like this. It motivates me and I’m sure it motivates all those people that need to hear these words right now.
That means the world to me, Dejon. That does mean the world to me. Thank you for saying that. And stay on the call quick too. But once I press stop, but for everyone listening, remember you are such a big part of this prevention picture. We cannot do this alone. We shouldn’t be doing this in silos. Like we work so much better together. And Dejon is living proof of this. He has a team to get a part of with the Youth Alliance because of the European Union and this country too.
And with the Casa Grande Coalition, like this is the part of the work that you’re doing and it’s so impactful. So please reach out if you need anything and we’ll see you next Monday on another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour.
