The dark side of exposing a narcissist. The narcissist was subjected to certain treatment or information as a child. They saw too much. They knew too much. Maybe they saw their parents in danger or distress. They experienced traumatic events, things that were deeply damaging and disturbing. Or maybe things that were open to interpretation. But they were told that it was bad. Or they witnessed the reactions on other people's faces. They felt other people's fear and shame. So they knew that something was wrong. And this is how it all began. It's what made them decide to create a false character to protect themselves. Because they believed the world was not a safe place. They believed they were at risk of danger or harm. And this is typically what happens when you do try to expose a narcissist. People will create false characters to defend themselves. And they will typically turn against a real victim. Or it will amplify traits that they already had. Which can be very dangerous. Because exposure to unwelcome or unwanted things can cause serious damage. It can leave an impact on people's minds. To where they may never be the same. Or they won't even try to maintain an image of decency and respectability. Sometimes you're better off not knowing. And it's better to prevent people from exposure. A good example of this is from what narcissists and victims of narcissistic abuse are likely to have experienced in childhood. They saw that their parents were angry or upset. They saw their parents fighting. They saw that they were always complaining. And those of us who became empaths always had our parents leaning on us for emotional support. While narcissists were never trained to even feel their emotions. So they became detached from themselves. They were told that it's not about who you are or what you feel. Than it is what you do or what you achieve. And the image that you present to the world. Which traumatized them as a child because they were too young to understand. They couldn't fix or help their parents. Or they didn't step in because they were told that it was unimportant. And as though that was not their role. As though they didn't need to have empathy. So the narcissists felt hopeless and helpless. They felt incompetent and ineffective. As though things are always outside of their control. As though they're unable to defend themselves or to act without help. They learned that there is no need for empathy. No need for compassion or understanding. They defied with fear and shame because they felt like nothing they did was good enough. So instead of focusing on other people and trying to help them. They became more self-absorbed by focusing on what they could control. And by trying to protect themselves emotionally. Because they felt like everyone was out to get them. These experiences opened their eyes. It caused them to become more aware. But without a suitable solution. So they developed these unhealthy coping and defence mechanisms. They became paranoid and hyper-vigilant to where they were always on guard. They created a false character to protect themselves from the fear and shame. And because of this unnecessary exposure in their childhood now they cannot be real or authentic. They've lost that part of themselves. While for us that part of us was nurtured and encouraged. Which is how we became empaths. Because our parents or caretakers were emotionally dependent on us. The way we felt like we had to step in and fix them. But narcissists were never appointed for this role. Instead they were taught that the world is dangerous. People are manipulative and deceptive. And you always have to be two steps ahead of them to survive. As though it's this dog-eat-dog world. It's survival of the fittest. It's every man for himself. Which sets them up for a life of disconnection and detachment. From themselves and everyone else. To where they're only trying to gain an advantage. They're only seeking power and control. Rather than love, intimacy and connection. Because they were taught that people can't be trusted. That's what they learned from what they were exposed to in childhood. So they believe love is for fools. Love is a weakness. They create a false character to protect themselves. So they never experience a genuine interaction. Everything is scripted and rehearsed. It's thought out beforehand. And this character is usually based on what they've learned from their parents or caretakers. Or something they've seen in movies or from celebrities.   When that was probably the biggest mistake they made in their lives. Because now they will never get to experience true intimacy and connection. They will never get to experience love. They will never even get to have a real relationship with anyone. It will only be transactional rather than validational. Because they don't validate anyone. They can only manipulate people in order to get what they want. Which results in them ending up with other manipulative people. Enablers and flying monkeys. People who support the illusion. And they may get married and have children. But deep down they know that these things never would have developed naturally. They know that they had to trick people. Rather than being real and authentic. So they feel like they never experience real love. As though no one ever saw that real them or actually cared about them. Which is why they keep people at a distance. Because they're too afraid of being hurt. Yet they can see that people are able to receive their false self. And accept that as something that is real. Which makes them to believe that maybe nothing is real. Maybe everyone is fake. Because if they were real. How would they be able to trick them? So they deal with people as needed. For transactional purposes only. But they may often disguise it as love. Because although they know they can't experience that. They know it's what other people want. But eventually they often end up isolating themselves. And many of them die alone. Unless they have enablers and flying monkeys. People who support the false narrative. People who are just using them. They never experience anything real. Because they were exposed to the wrong things in childhood. So they end up rejecting the real ones. Other people who are real and healthy just don't want them. Because they desire something real. And all the narcissist has in this fake world is their false character. While any normal healthy person would be looking for something that self-sustaining. Rather than something more outwardly focused. Narcissists get in by manipulating people. By making you think you need something from them. But healthy people feel complete on their own. The Ronian tries to then people who compliment what they've already established. Rather than people who are looking for vulnerabilities or weaknesses. So narcissists typically end up with people who are similar to them. People who are also very lonely, needy and desperate. People who are not complete with themselves. People who lack a sense of self. People who have no life of their own and no meaningful purpose. And it's because they were exposed to the wrong things in childhood. They were in a vulnerable position or situation. They were unprotected. Because something bad or dishonest was made public. So they felt this need to keep themselves safe from harm. By developing this false character and this fake world. To preserve what they believed was threatened against development. Because they believed that what they had was bad. What they had was no good. But it's all because of this belief that they were threatened. That they were vulnerable or at risk. That's what nurtured the disorder. The chaos and dysfunction. Because they believed that people could not be trusted. As though everyone was out to get them. So they had to beat people to the punch. They had to get them first. And by doing that they were never in the moment. They were constantly planning ahead. So they could never be authentic. They could only manipulate other people to get their needs met. And it was all to protect themselves from further exposure. When the reality is that this was the very thing that damaged them the most. They were never the same after that. Because they were taught that it was bad. It wasn't nurtured or encouraged. So it prevented them from experiencing the very things they need. Which are true love and happiness. When a traumatic event or incident occurs. It should be recognized and it should be dealt with logically and professionally. Rather than emotionally or with an intense feeling. Unless the victim is processing these emotions on their own or with a licensed professional in order to heal. And then actions need to be taken to prevent this incident from happening again. Because when people are exposed to certain situations. And they believe that there is no resolve. And it's just every man for himself. They have no choice but to create a false character to protect themselves. Which is very damaging. They feel this need to become all-knowing and all-seeing. Where they have to be two steps ahead of anyone who they deem to be a threat. Which means that they're never in the moment. They're not even living. They're always outwardly focused because they're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. So they have to get you first. When people are exposed to situations. Without professionalism or resolve. They will become the very thing that they despised. The very thing that they were initially against. They will become the predator. They will create a false character which they will use to manipulate people. And then as soon as you catch on to the game they will get mad. They will deny it. Or they will deflect or blameshift. And then they will love bomb you again if they think you are susceptible to it. If that doesn't work they will just discourage you. And if they think that you're on to them. And you're beginning to realise that everything they do is fake. They will triangle it you. They will try to make you think that they have something real with someone else. But in reality it's no different to what they had with you. Because they never even tried to resolve things with you. Which means that it's still ongoing. So they cannot begin something in a new situation until the previous one is resolved. Otherwise they're just bringing past shame and trauma into the new relationship. Which means that it's based on what they did to you. So how could it be real if that energy is being carried forward into the next relationship? If you still have this influence over them from things that they never resolved.  Because they think they're getting away. But the shame continues to grow within them. And it continues to dictate every action that they take. It's also the reason why they will start to mere campaigns and enforce fine monkeys. To create this narrative, this story of how you wronged them and how they had to get away. But that does not prevent the truth from being real. The truth will always prevail. Regardless of what they think in their minds. Or what they managed to get other people to believe. Which is why a lot of them always come back to the scene of the crime. Because they know that they haven't finished business. They know that the situation was never resolved. And it's playing on their minds. It's preventing them from moving on. So they will often come back if they didn't completely burn the bridge. And they will try to rekindle things with you. But even then all they're going to do is run you for the cycle again. Because that's all they can do. But in many situations it will have gone too far. So all they can do is sabotage your life. And put out your light. And prevent you from experiencing the one thing they can't. Because they see your life and energy as this irritant to their delusions. When in actuality it really has nothing to do with you. It's because of the shame that they feel. Resulting from the actions that they have committed. And it's what causes them to keep coming after you. To where they must start to meet campaigns. And try to damage other people's perceptions of you.  They're trying to move on but they can't. As long as they think that you have these opposing ideas and views of them. Which results in them becoming very paranoid and hyper-vigilant. To where they always have to get you. In these situations you cannot be real with them. You have to create a false character of your own. You have to act friendly and agreeable. Even if that's not how you really feel. Because otherwise it's going to affect you. What you resist persists. But you should also avoid staying in these situations for long periods of time. You need to create an illusion of your own. And then leave at the earliest opportunity. Go in the opposite direction. Don't feed into it or it will affect you psychologically. They will continue to do what they do. Whether it's with you or with someone else. But you can heal your traumas. By recognising that you did the best that you could do. You never intended to harm anyone. So you can still nurture that side of you. That side of you that is deserving of love and connection. By recognising that you didn't do anything wrong. Let go of any resistance or resentment. Practice acceptance. Forgive yourself. Let go of the need to take revenge by recognising that they will get their karma. If you try to harm them in return for what they did to you. It will affect you more than it affects them. It will eat away at you. It will make you better. And it will only bury your authentic self. Because how could you love yourself knowing that you have committed those acts? Narcissists know exactly what they're doing. And they understand the effects that they're having on you.  And it's something they're unable to deal with. Because deep down they know that they are undeserving of love. They know that it's too late for them after everything they've done to you. So by default all you'll ever get from them is an illusion and a false character. And that's what you should give to them. Because all they're ever going to do is try to damage you for that shame that they feel inside. Avoid participating in any networks or smear campaigns. Avoid adopting their group think mentality or their hive mind. It will only prevent you from being your true authentic self. It will brainwash and indoctrinate you. By changing your beliefs about yourself and the people in the world around you. It will make you more self focused. It will distort your perception of the world. It will affect your relationships. It will make you think everyone is the same. As though everyone only cares about themselves. As though everyone is narcissistic and needs supply. It will prevent you from being able to build a relationship or connection with anyone. Which is why you must always discard them at the earliest opportunity. Don't try to find common ground. Don't follow them. Because it will only nurture these negative traits within yourself. To where you may then decide to team up with someone against them. You may become an enabler or a flying monkey yourself. Or you may do it just to keep the peace with the narcissist. Or to keep them off your back. The longer you're around them the more they will indoctrinate you. And in time you may feel that you're becoming more like them. Which is why you must leave. Take some time to yourself. Stay out of close relationships for at least one year. Get to know yourself. Get to know who you are. Identify what you stand for and what you're passionate about. Identify your values and beliefs. Find yourself again. When you do this and you then reintegrate yourself back into society. You will then wake up to the truth. You will realise that most people in this world are not being themselves. Most people do not have the ability to connect you or anyone else. Because they've been brainwashed by music, television movies and social media from a very young age. They don't even know who they are. So how could they ever know you? They are whoever they think people want them to be. And you're nothing but a concoction of different things they've seen in the past. Because they don't know how to receive. All they know is how to be subjected to something. Which is why you will find that most people in this world today actually have no identity of their own. There was a time when if you went to different parts of the world you would have witnessed different traditions and cultures. You would see different styles of clothing, different types of food. But now everything is the same. People dress the same, they do the same things. They all go to bars and nightclubs, they all drink alcohol and many of them do drugs. You will notice that very few people are doing what you do. Very few people meditate or self reflect. Very few people heal childhood traumas or even have an awareness of what they've experienced in their lives. Very few people are even alive, they're just an autopilot. They go in for the motions, they're just a shell of the person they used to be. And once you've managed to heal your traumas you may feel very confident that you can fix them and bring out the better side of them. But a lot of these people are already too far gone. You can't fix them and by you even trying to do that it will just lead you into a lot of trouble. You will only end up getting caught up in their problems. So save yourself, continue doing what you do, focus on your passions and values and what matters to you and just observe the circus. See it as something for your own amusement rather than something that should be treated with a serious purpose because it can appear convincing at times. But that's all that it's really designed to do. It's just meant to get your attention and that's as far as it goes, there is no deeper meaning to it, there is no substance, it's just a means to an end. Thank you for watching. If you found this video helpful please give it a thumbs up, share your thoughts in the comments section, hit the subscribe button to receive the notifications. If you would like to support the channel you can donate at people.me.narchsurvivor. You can book a one on one with me on my website it's narchsurvivor.uk. Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you soon.


Thank you. All right. Can y'all hear me? Okay. This mic is kind of funky. All right. Well, good morning, everybody.  Again, my name is Javacia Harris-Bowser, and I am the founder of CJ&Rite, a website and community for women who write and blog. I'm also a freelance journalist, a blogger, an essayist, a freelance content writer. I do a whole lot of writing all the time. So this particular session is going to be great for anybody who is thinking about starting a blog, but you also want to write a book and you're trying to figure out how can I do both? Well, you can do both by blogging your book. It's also good for anyone who's already had a blog, it's been consistent, and now you want to turn that blog into a book, or maybe you have a blog, and it hasn't been all that consistent. We're going to talk about that, too, and how you can get back on track and then use that content to eventually start writing your book project. So here in Birmingham, a lot of folks used to call me the blogger girl because not only do I blog, but I like to help other folks start their blogs, too. I've been blogging since 2008. I'm the creator of Blog Like Crazy, which is an annual challenge that encourages you to blog every day for 30 days. I've used blogging and social media to build a business, and as I mentioned, I'm also a freelance content writer and blogger for businesses, organizations, and public figures. So lots and lots of writing. However, have you ever heard that phrase, the cobbler's children have no shoes? You know, this idea that the cobbler is so busy making shoes for everybody else in town that his own children have no shoes? Well, a friend of mine used to use that phrase talking about me because I had helped all of these other women write and publish books, and I had never written and published one of my own. Now, I've had essays featured in anthologies and literary journals and things like that, but never a whole book on my own because I was too busy helping everybody else with their book. And, you know, I was doing all this other writing, so I was like, I don't have time to write a book. How am I going to do that? And then another friend of mine, who's actually in this room, Katherine Lang, said to me one day, do I see that you've probably written five books already because of all of the blogging you do. You can take your blog content and turn that into a book. And I was very resistant to that idea initially because I thought, well, who's going to buy a book when most of the content is already out there for free? Right? But I realized in that statement, I'm assuming that there is someone out there who's so obsessed with me that they've read every single thing I've ever put online. And trust me, there is no one, including my husband, who has read every single thing I've put online. So that was not really something that I needed to be worried about. And so eventually, I did write a book that was largely based on blog content, and that book is Find Your Way Back, which is an essay collection about how I've used writing to get through everything in my life, including a cancer diagnosis. Now, my road to this book, though, was a rocky one, and we're going to cover that in the meat of today's presentation. But my blog did help me be able to complete this book. So why should you blog your book? Number one, blogging is going to help you develop discipline. You need discipline to blog consistently. You're also going to need discipline to write a book, and your blog is going to help you do that. Your blog is also going to help you build your author platform. And there are two parts of that platform, right? So there's one part is the audience. So your blog is going to help you build an audience of people that will buy your book when it's ready to go. It will also help you build authority on whatever the topic is that you're blogging about. So your blog is going to help you with all of that regarding your author platform. And blogging is actually going to help you test and refine your idea. So when I talk about blog your book, let's be clear. I'm not saying we're going to have a blog, and then one day we're going to print out all the blog posts and slap them together and say, here's my book. No, that's not what we're doing, okay? But as you're blogging, you're going to start discovering what really resonates with people. So my blog, CJ Knight, is all about teaching women how to use writing to make an impact and make an income. So I want them to make a difference, but also make the money. But along the way, what I learned was that a lot of that information that I was sharing, they could give that anywhere. The reason they were coming to me is because I was giving them inspiring stories. So yes, the instruction is good, but it needs to be wrapped in inspirational stories. And that is something that I learned through blogging. And so I applied that to my book. So these are the reasons why I think you should blog your book. So how are you going to do that? So first you've got to nail down your niche. So whether you're starting a blog fresh or you're kind of pivoting the one you already have to go in this direction of eventually writing a book, you've got to nail down your niche. But also keep in mind that when it comes time to write your book, your niche may change a little bit. It may shift a little bit because what you're probably going to have to do is niche down even more. And that's okay. So how are you going to do that? How are you going to nail down your niche? So figure out what is the topic you want to write about? Why do you want to write about it? What specifically do you want to say about it? And who is this for? So as I mentioned, I write about writing, which is really meta, right? But that's what I do. I write about writing. Why do I do that? Why do I want to write about writing? Because I want all of you to be writers. I really truly believe that storytellers change the world. I did a whole TED talk on that. And I don't mean like I ranted on social media. I actually did a TED talk on it. I believe that storytellers have the power to change the world. And so that's why I want everybody to be a writer. Especially, so let me answer the question who I do this for, I especially want women to write. Now I want everybody to write. So fellas, I want you writing too. But I really, really want women to write. Because for so long, we have been silenced. And so I really, really want our voices out there. So what do I want to say?  So you need to answer these questions for yourself. So food blog, okay, that's great. But what is it about food that you're trying to say? Who are you writing this for? What kind of food? Why are you so passionate about food? You've got to figure all of this out to nail down your niche. All right, pro tip here. Book proposals. I believe that even if you are planning to self publish, you should write a book proposal. And your blog will help you do that. And if you haven't started your blog, your book proposal can help you start your blog. So what does that look like? So when you write your book proposal, that book overview becomes your blogs about page. Your book marketing plan, that becomes your promotion plan for your blog. Your list of chapters, those are blog posts ideas. Your sample chapters, that's your first batch of blog posts. And then complimentary titles. So if there are authors, so you look at your list of complimentary titles and that's books that are similar to yours. And look at those authors and see if they have a blog. See if they do try to guest post for that blog so that you can start connecting with their audience because their audience is going to most likely be interested in what you're writing about. And even if they don't have a blog, see if there's some other way that you could collaborate. Maybe you could go, you could do an IG live together or something like that. Now, this is if you don't have a blog yet or you're revamping your blog, take your book proposal, use it to kickstart your blog. You can also reverse this. So if you've already got the blog, you've been consistent and now you're ready to go from blog to book. Use your blog to write your book proposal. So your blog's about page, that becomes your book overview.  You can do those same things to promote your book. And your strongest blog post can become your sample chapters. So I actually did this. So even though I self-published my book, I wrote a book proposal and I did this to write it. And so I wrote the proposal because initially I was going to use a hybrid publisher. And if you're not familiar with hybrid publishing, it's what it sounds like. It's a hybrid between self and traditional. And so most hybrids, you have to have a book proposal. I ended up not going with that company, but I had a proposal and I used that proposal to apply for a grant, which I won. And then I used that money to fund my self-publishing. So I highly recommend writing a proposal, even if you're going to self-publish, because you can use it to win a grant and get some money. And we all need some money, right? All right. So here's a great way how your blog can help you with that proposal. All right. So you nailed down your niche. Now you got to plan your process. If you have a blog and you aren't consistent, it is not because you're lazy. Well, I mean, I don't know you. Maybe you are lazy, but I doubt it, right? I don't think you would be here if you were lazy. If you are not consistent, it's probably because you haven't planned your process.  And the only way to do that is to have a process. You've got to have two things, an editorial calendar and an editorial process. Now, most folks have an editorial calendar, but that's all they have, but we're going to talk about both. All right. An editorial calendar is not complicated at all. It's just what you want to post when you want to post it. That's it. That's all an editorial calendar is. So you brainstorm your blog post ideas and your social media ideas. And you create your editorial calendar by deciding when you're going to post or publish these different ideas, but be flexible. So typically what I do is I'll plan out my content ideas for the month ahead. But then every Sunday, I'll kind of look at what I have planned for the week and I'll make adjustments as needed.  Things happen in the news and things like that. Now editorial calendar, great. Most people do this, right? They plan out, okay, I'm going to post this day and this that day. And they're like, yeah, I got this. And then nothing happens because you can't stop there. Like, yes, your editorial calendar is all cute. But when are you going to actually do this stuff? You got to plan that. You've got to have an editorial process. So you break down your steps. You've got a brainstorm. You've got to research and outline. Then you actually got to write it. You need to select images, video, got to edit and format. And then you publish and promote it. So this is your process. And you've got to schedule when you're going to do each and every step. Now, if possible, it's great to batch produce content. So let's say you want to publish a new blog post every week. Then what you could do is take a weekend to just write all four blog posts, create all that social media content, just knock it all out in a weekend. Okay.  You got it all set. Now, if you know that your life is just not set up like that, and there is no way you can take a whole weekend to work on content, then that means you're going to have to drip this process out throughout the week. And what does that look like? So you could research and outline on Monday, right on Tuesday, Wednesday you choose your images and videos, Thursday you format and edit and then schedule when it's going to publish. Then Friday you work on those social media posts. Now this does mean that you're working on your blog a little bit every day. But if you do this, you shouldn't get overwhelmed because you're not trying to do all of these steps on one day. Okay. So I'm just trying to help you be consistent here. And what you will find is that once you have developed this process of creating your blog content, that discipline or devotion, if you don't like the word discipline, is going to help you when it's time to write your book because you're already in this groove of working on your content on a regular basis. All right.  But don't completely ignore SEO. All right. And we writer types, we don't really like thinking about SEO because we just want to be creative. But you need to think about SEO because you're trying to build an audience, right? Because you need some folks about this book once you write it. So you're trying to build an audience and getting to organic traffic is a great way to do that. So here's some very basic SEO tips for writers. So first of all, do your keyword research. So this means basically just see if people are actually searching for whatever the topic is that you're planning to write about and what kinds of questions are they asking about that topic. So you can find this out through Sumrush, through Answer the Public, also through Google. So Google Trends but also just searching the topic on Google and Google will tell you people have also asked or searched for and you can use those suggestions in your blog post. So for example, artist date. I don't know if you know what an artist date is but if you've ever read Julia Cameron's The Artist Way, she talks about taking yourself out on an artist date every week. And so let's say you're going to write a blog post on artist date. So you want to do a post of 52 artist date ideas. So you'll have an idea for every week of the year. So you Google artist date and you'll see that folks are asking, what is an artist date? How do you take an artist date? And so you can use that to inform your blog post. So you do your keyword research. You make sure you're using your keywords and your title, your subtitle, and sparingly throughout your post. You don't want to use it too much because that's called keyword stuffing. Google doesn't like that. So use it sparingly. Make sure you're including images, high quality links so that's internal links but also external links to websites that are reputable and relevant. And Google prefers long, in-depth posts because typically when people want to read something, they want something more in-depth. If it's something short and quick, they're just going to go to a video. So that's why Google likes those longer posts. However, humans don't, right? Because humans have no attention span. So you have to trick them into reading it. And so you do that with your subheads, with images, throwing in a video if you need to. But what I always tell people when we talk about SEO is I go over these rules and then I say, when you're writing, forget all of this. Don't think about any of this when you're writing because when you're writing, you need to write for a human, not an algorithm. So when you're writing, just write. Then on your formatting day, your editing and formatting day, you can go back and think about all this stuff like, am I using my keywords properly? Do I have, are my images titled properly, blah, blah, blah. Okay, you can think about all of that after you've written the post. If you use WordPress, which obviously you do, if you're here, the Yoast SEO plugin can help you out with this as well. Okay, that's it about SEO because I hate talking about it. All right, build your blog community. So you want to build a community again because you need folks that are going to read that book when you write it. So how do you do that? Social media is a great way to do that. You can also do that through email and text communities as well. I have all of these. So I do social media. I have an email list and I have text community. But you need to really know your ideal reader. So many beginner bloggers, they say, oh, I want to write for everybody. No, no, don't do that. Don't do that. So when you try to write for everybody, you end up writing for nobody. Right. So don't do that. Know your ideal reader and even create an ideal reader avatar. Give that person a name and think about that person when you are writing your post. And so it helps to know your ideal reader because you need to know what is the biggest problem of the biggest obstacle keeping that reader from doing the things you want them to do. So whatever your niche is. So if it is food like I used earlier, are you trying to get your ideal reader to cook more, cook healthy meals? What's standing in their way from doing that? We'll figure that out and then you need to offer them something free that's going to help them very quickly with that problem. So for me, my ideal reader, usually there are two things. One time they always say, I don't have time to write. I don't have time to write. I don't have time to write. So I have this quick and easy free e-course that's a time management e-course. Another thing that a lot of my ideal readers struggle with is they don't know where to start. A lot of women who want writing careers that they don't know where to even begin. So you have a quick and easy free e-course that's seven ways to jumpstart your writing career. But you can't create that if you don't know your ideal reader. Sorry that she was going on here. Okay. So you create that and that will give them to sign up for an email list. You can build a text community too as I mentioned. And then we have social media.  I am sorry. So in journalism, I mentioned I'm a freelance journalist and I have two degrees in journalism because I just couldn't get enough, I guess. So in journalism, we use this phrase use all parts of the pig talking about stories, right? So you have one story idea and you can turn it into several different articles. In blog or world, we use this to talk about taking that blog post and then turning it into all of the social media content ideas. So you can take compelling quotes from your, from your posts and turn that into tweets. You can use any images on Instagram or Pinterest. You can take out those powerful passages and put them on Facebook. If there are any questions that you're posing in your posts, you can use those in, sorry, I don't know why this is doing that. You can use those to spark conversation in Facebook groups. You could even go live on Facebook or Instagram and have a discussion about maybe like three points that you're making in your posts and then tease folks to go to the post to read the rest of them. And so you can do that with Reels as well or in TikTok if you do that. So these are ways that you can take your blog content and then turn it into blog posts. And again, you're doing all of this because you're building community because you're trying to get folks to be invested. So when that book comes out, they're ready to buy. Okay, so now you built your blog. You've been consistent because you've been planning your process. You've been promoting your blog, so you built a community. So now it's time to write that book. So how do we go from blog to book? First, you've got to choose the focus of your book. Now you're like, well, I know the focus because I already have to niche for my blog. No, you're gonna have to niche down even more. So I mentioned that my road to my book was a rocky one. So I actually wrote the first version of my book in 2017 and did nothing with it because it wasn't very good. And at first I couldn't figure out why it wasn't good.  And I realized I can't tell them because I don't know. What's your elevator pitch? And I was like, what now? What's my what? And I realized my book wasn't very good because it was all over the place. It was not focused. And I thought it was because I was like, oh, it's about writing. That's a focus. No, it's not. That's way too broad. I didn't have an, he didn't have an elevator pitch because I didn't have an elevator pitch and I didn't have one because my book was not focused. It was all over the place. So even though you have this broad topic, you're still going to have to niche down some more for your book. And I was like, I don't have time to just put on a shelf and I didn't do anything with it. Then 2020 happened. And 2020 was awful for all of us, right? It was extra awful for me because January 24th 2020 I was diagnosed with stage to breast cancer. And that changed everything, including my writing. And so I wrote my way through cancer and through that also figured out what the focus of my book needed to be. And so find your way back. My book is about how to write your way through anything, even cancer. And so I then had my focus. So it wasn't just about writing and why writing is great and how to build a writing career. It was about how writing can get you through anything, even a cancer diagnosis. So think about what your subtitle for your book is going to be that will help you figure out your focus and have an elevator pitch. If you had to talk about your book in 30 seconds, what would you say? So you got your focus. Now that you have your focus, go to your blog because remember we are not printing out all of our blog posts and slapping them together. Nobody wants to read that. Nobody wants to read that. So you have your focus. Now go back to your blog and you're pulling out your best post related to that focus. And then you revise and you rewrite as needed because remember as you've been blogging, you've been learning about what really resonates with people. And I told you that I learned that what really resonated with my readers were inspirational stories. So it wasn't enough just to give them tips and instruction. They wanted the inspiration. So when I pulled my best blog post when I was rewriting and revising what I was doing was fleshing out those stories and adding more stories because I had learned over the years that that's what people really wanted. So then you've got to bridge the gap. So even though your, even though this is like a collection of blog posts basically or collection of essays, that's essentially what your book is going to be if you're blogging your book. You still there still needs to be a story arc, like an overall story arc or narrative of your book that still needs to be there. The reader still needs to feel a sense of that. And so you figure out what that story arc is, and then you fill in any gaps so that it will be connected and it'll feel cohesive and it'll feel like that story arc. And then you put it all together, and you ask yourself, is there anything else I could add that would really make my book stand out. And for me, I did this as a last minute y'all, my book was completely done. I was about to like send it off to because I hired I was because that grant I was able to hire a team to help me with all the logistics of publishing, and I was about to just send it off to them. And then I thought there's something missing. This needs something else. I'm trying to convince people that they can write their way through anything. And I'm giving them these stories. Yes, but I need to give them something else. Writing prompts. So the last minute I realized that I needed to add writing prompts to my book. And so I went through and added them throughout. So once you put it all together, allow yourself time to take a step back and see if there's something else that my book is missing, something I could add that would really just take it up to that next level. All right, so I want to have some time for questions before we go to that. So this is a QR code that may or may not work. So sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. But this is a QR code that will take you to. Yay. Okay, so this will take you to the CJ right network Facebook group, totally free group where you can hang out with other writers will encourage you. And we also ask silly questions sometimes too. So yeah, just come hang out with us. And if you join the group, you will also see notifications about a workshop that I'm having on gallon times day. February 13 at 630pm central time having a journaling workshop totally free virtual. And so if you like to journal, or you want to get into journaling, I would love for you to join us and you can get info about that in the group. If you are not on the book. Then you can just email me or send me a DM via Instagram and I will send you the link to get registered for the workshop. Okay, are there any questions. So thank you so much for that presentation and I have a microphone and if you have a question I'm going to bring it to you so that I recording and the captioner can get it. Can you give us a little information inside and to put it together with your team costs, who they were, what they did and did not do what you what you had to do yourself. Advantages between hybrid publishing and the soul publishing. Okay, those are great questions. Okay, I will start with the last question because that's the easiest one to answer. So hybrid publishing case you're not familiar with it is what it sounds like it's a hybrid between self and traditional. So with traditional publishing, you know you get a book contract and you don't have to pay for anything. They handle everything for you, but self publishing, you are paying for everything you were doing everything. So a hybrid is a hybrid of the two in that you have a team of people who will handle everything for you, but you're paying for it. So that's what a hybrid is. Okay, and it's very expensive typically if you get a good company. So the advantages of self versus hybrid is obviously that they do all of these things for you. And if you have a really strong company they usually even have the ability to get your book placed in bookstores nationwide as well, which is very, very difficult to do if you self publish. So again, huge advantage for hybrid over self is that hybrid they're going to cover everything you're going to get in bookstores most likely the disadvantage is just money right it's very expensive and they get a cut of yourself. If you self publish, yeah it's a lot of work because you got to do everything, but you also get all the money. Right, so that's the answer your second question your first question about the cost is really going to vary depending on what you're who you're going with. But so for my team. My team costs 6500. So I paid 6500 for the package that I purchased from my team, and they did pretty much everything. So they designed the cover, they laid out the book, they uploaded it to Amazon, they created like a press packet for me and all this stuff. I still hired an editor in addition to that because they don't really do that they do like light editing, but I wanted a professional editor so I did hire a professional editor. In addition to that, I can't remember how much that cost. I can't remember, but it wasn't cheap because she's good. So hopefully they answered your question. Recommendations as to solve for packages. I didn't do that part because my team did that. So, oh you mean just typing it. Do that anyway. I mean a lot of people are very big on Scrivener. So is that your thing if you think that's going to help you, I would say do that. I'm not what I can write if you just hand me like this, I will write a book on it like I don't, it doesn't matter for me. I mean my team and I, we use Google Drive and Google Docs just because that's easy to communicate that way. But as far as like how I actually wrote the book that was kind of all over the place. But we use Google Drive to put everything together. Other questions? Thanks for all the great information. I'm just curious when you wrote your book or when you're helping other people through your talks like this, do people write their books? Mainly for notoriety, they want the sales, they just want to be positioned as the expert. What have you found most people are writing for? Is it for their own self? Yeah, most of the people that I work with, they are writing just because they've always wanted a book, right? They've been writing all their lives and they just want to know that yes, I can write a book. I have worked with business owners who are writing so that they can position themselves as an expert on a certain topic. And so for them, that's their goal. But a lot of the people that I work with, they just want to finally write a book because it's something that they wanted to be their entire life. Demetrius, are you having a minute? One second. Thanks for the great information. So I wanted to know, how do you build a community when you feel like your niche is just you? Because it's just like you said, some people have always wanted to write a book. In my case, I feel like I'm just writing my dream journal. So how do I build a community around that? Because whatever it is that you're doing, you're not the only person doing it, right? So for you, you could build a community around other folks who journal. You could even get as specific as dream journals. But you could start with, if you wanted to, you could just start with like building a community of folks who love to journal. I think it would be really cool to have a men's community, a group of men who journal. Because you know, I just don't hear men talk about journaling that much, and I think that would be really cool. But yeah, that's what I would do. I would kind of take whatever your interest is and build a community around that. So you feel like it's just you, but it's not. Other folks have the same interest. So just take that and build a community around that. I hope that makes sense. Well, can I ask a second question? Of course. So, so with the community, would there need to be blog posts on the blog pertaining to the community? Or how does it can be? I mean, that's totally up to you. So I do. So on CJ and Wright, they're, you know, instructional posts, they're inspiring posts. And then yes, there are posts sometimes highlighting people who are part of the community. So I do the same where it's like a member of the month. And so I'm highlighting someone in the community. So yes, you can do that as well. You don't have to, but, but yes, you can. Okay. So wonderful again. I've been in other talks of yours. Thank you. Great information. So my question is kind of piggybacking on that. How did you, or how do you encourage someone who's blogging who feels like I'm just, I'm just writing. You know, no, I don't, you know, and I what I've learned is that people don't always comment. Right.  Yeah. Because after a while, you feel like no one's listening. So how did you go to get through that? That's why social media is so important. I know social media can be annoying and it can be a time suck, but it is really such a great way to build community because people usually do not comment on blog posts, but they will comment on a social media post. And so I feel like that's why it's just such a great thing. So I've done that primarily through a Facebook group, the one that we had QR code for. So because people who read my blog will read the blog, but then go to the Facebook group to talk about it. So a lot of people do that. So social media can be a great way to start building that community. It doesn't have to be a Facebook group. You know, there are other ways that you can do it. But that's what I would do. CJ and Wright also started out as a Birmingham based community. So it actually started with events. So we were actually having in person events, but then it just grew and so now we have members all over the country and even in different countries. And so now we focus mostly on social media and on zoom for our community. But the key is you're, you're probably going to have to go beyond the blog to build a community and to spark the conversation just because that's how humans roll these days. Yeah, I hope that's helpful. Oh, sorry. I had at least two questions. So the first one is, is there a particular time when you were talking about your editorial process and. And your calendar is there a particular time when you schedule publishing and those social media posts or like in terms of for your analytics to be better. Right. Yeah, I mean, that's going to depend on everybody. And so you just said what you need to do you need to look at your analytics and see what is working. So it's trial and error. Right. Okay, I'm going to do these social posts on these days at this time. See how that's working our people responding or people interacting with it if they're not then let's try something else. So, so yeah, there's no like one and done answer to start off like when you have no analytics, you can just do a Google search. All right, you just do that and start with that recommendation in the beginning because you have nothing else to go on. And then you just play around with it from there. Okay, great. Thank you. And the other question I had about your blog is a lot of times when I see people doing those, it gets kind of annoying because as you're scrolling down through it there's add after add after add and then you can't really find what the content was and then you just kind of like whatever and leave it. Well, I don't have ads on my blog. You're going to ask about that. I don't have a question. Yeah, I don't have ads on my ball. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Hey, first of all, I want to say not only did she write her way through cancer, but she got a lot of other women writing through her cancer diagnosis and just a big inspiration. So thank you. Thank you. And it's like, my question is as you know I've been trying to write a book proposal for about two years and this is very helpful. Do you have any resources for going through a more established blog and looking for the post that that you call like most engaging most important, other than numbers and comments like what else are you looking for to say like this is the blog post. So, along with comments, I mean just really your analytics. So is there the blog post that people were reading but also that people were sharing. So I have one blog post on my blog that gets about 50,000 views a year. It's been doing that consistently for like years like five years, and then all my other blog posts. Okay, so that's why I'm asking that question. So that post, the magical post, is it related to the book proposal that you've been trying to write? I feel like everything I do is related, but it's on the peripheral for sure. Okay. So it's not, it's not the book you want to write. No, because I want to write di book. It's about a court case. So it's a di but it's not the di. You know what I mean. Okay. But it sounds like, do you think people are drawn to that because of the story? So I think maybe that's the key. So even if you don't use that particular court case, maybe what it's showing you is that this di book that you are going to write, it needs to be rooted in stories. So not just like, here's your di manual, but it needs to be rooted in compelling stories. And it could be used as like an example or something. Yeah, you definitely use it in there. Yeah. One more question. So I'm a biologist and in my professional life. And so we're always really cautious about sharing our manuscripts with other people because then they can scoop you. Is this something that you really worry about like in this nonfiction genre? I'm assuming probably not like you. I feel in fact, I feel like it's less of an issue with nonfiction, because especially if you're telling your own story, because like, how you gonna steal my cancer story, right? That's not really possible. So, um, so now I don't really worry about that that much.  That's why it's so important to find a writing community and have that group of people that you do trust. And so if you are going to have beta readers for whatever you're working on, you need to make sure that those beta readers are people that you really trust. And if you are super worried about it, you can even have them sign a contract beforehand. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Javacia, for a great presentation. We'll be back in this room.


Everybody for a syrup in twenty two twenty three select Premier League four box number nine random teams find the results anytime elite sports grubs.com Let's do this. Let's do this. Hopefully we see a stained glass here. I don't know if they're guaranteed for case It just says SP on the side there Usually it's one per case that we've seen one per case. I think I think everything okay so far Hopefully We have already seen like four SP's from this from the near that you break stuff Oh, yeah, Mick make shoe marker silver terrace, Rodrigo Moreno for the leads orange Allison Becker for a Liverpool mezzanine to 75 Red Paris hitch mezzanine level for Tottenham Somerville go on ten of ten on the gold auto nice hit man city You'll get goon do on by saying his last name goon do on goon do on goon do on Donnie No, it's his name I know Fred Tarasola Antony Robinson for Fulham. He'll give you a reason to say it rookie Or Everton is Nathan Batterson. Yeah, that's my greeting from now on to 225. It's coming to work. Good new on everybody Got Andy Cole newcastle on the auto nice Andy Cole Slight bringing all the throwback names into this Clue terrace level Jean-Carlo Samaka for West Ham cold Palmer select future I appreciate your shame. Thank you. Thank you silver terrace level Eric dear for Tottenham and sweet check on the pink mezzanine to 99 Hammers West Ham got Everton Dominic Calvert Lewin on the jersey card Silver terrace level Tiger Mitchell Crystal Palace and an orange Samaka for 99 for West Ham silver mezzanine Gabriel Arsenal Solange Bad Robert Sench has Brighton and it's high-dive Mason mound. That's pretty nice field level to 49 for Chelsea Salah silver rookie field level Sinisterra Leads Mel die. Come on Celtics. I'll see you game seven. Come on. I need more basketball run out of basketball games this year Get to the finals NBA finals means football's closer. I don't care football closer makes me a happy done football closer Donnie like yeah football good All right guys to get basketball football and soccer filled up. That's what we got left basketball football and football Silver and eco Williams terrace level for Nottingham forest for Mino on the camo To one 99 Liverpool Chelsea hits hits hits all the time in this What they do blue mech Alastair Brighton on the terrace level and another tie-dye Maddie cash for villa 49 yeah, I'm stomp on the auto for man United legendary defender Silver Jacob Ramsey field level for Aston Villa Jetspence How the false have those come out 30 minutes? That's cool Go bird silver terrace level Kaisado Brighton camo Marguerite Crystal Palace That one's to 225 Donnie, what's your prediction of the record this year of our record? Yeah Wesley Fulphana on the jersey card Chelsea. I'll tell you I see schedule red terrace level Alexi. What we for Everton My only thought is um Will the Patriots even lose a game this year? I don't think so Oh, yeah. Yeah They uncooled Savski jersey card for Tottenham. They probably won't lose in the next three or four months or so I would think I guess pretty good is silver Michael only say terrace level for Crystal Palace pink Bernardo Silva said 99 for man City Patriots are gonna go undefeated get a buy First round they play their own So we check tri-color for West Ham I'm sure it's actually be CD. They still may even make CDs. They still make those Fernandez Kevin de Bruyne on the auto for man City. I don't want to see zappy at quarterback silver mezzanine he John Wong for Wolves Like yeah, I don't care who's playing I hope they're good but Tri-color Kunya for Wolverhampton orange is bukayo soccer field level number 275 Your arsenal these helmets hit forth on the head If I were to be so lucky nice prism choice just came in and a contender spot just came in noise 11 to go on the contenders case 17 on the first Prism Premier League choice. We got a Revolution Chinese New Year as well as playbook and contenders optic football full case which is divisions 20 boxes if there are no points that would mean 40 autos Friday that is correct Higley Silver terrace level title on E. Higley is like a Siri Got a camo to 199 Jordan Pickford Everton Hey Higley, can you find a restaurant that sells tacos near me? Blue terrace level Aaron Hickey Brentford 25 all extenders in shanko tie-dye Jersey card for arsenal Let's talk about yeah Silver rookie terrace level and see so for Brighton in a camo are Evo for full of sorry South Hampton on the on the Aribo 225 Silver soy check West Ham. I've heard of Del Taco never been the one As a Patriots fan, it's annoying to like buy Patriots cards because every player gets overvalued on the Patriot Like every single player silver rookie terrace up and Nathan Patterson Everton purple Tango Silva it's a 135 for Chelsea. It's got snakes and auctions red graylish mezzanine For Manchester City. Oh Del Taco Servants a restaurant maybe pit-side signatures Devon Douglas for Liverpool for Kennedy I don't get Kenny Douglas. I know I said Devon. Yeah, maybe something did hit me in the head red as a For Crystal Palace pink Madison, Lester City to 99 Tony Adams Arsenal signatures Tony Adams How the dog was just pretty cool You don't see a lot of these autos in like most products Carvalho Rookie Field level for a Liverpool Red Decorate Crystal Palace in an orange Evan Bergusen rookie Brighton to 75 Field level. Oh, sorry. Yes, sir. Kenny Douglas Dog leash, right? Garnaccio rookie field level with a silver field level of St. Maxim and for Newcastle Arquinos now, hopefully there's one in this box I was saying that we saw a lot of short prints early in the other break So maybe maybe maybe we won't get one, but I hope hoping silver Georgino Chelsea purple is Lissandro Martinez the 135 Man you See a zebra first zebra the case was kind of crazy We have a ton of tie-dye though Silverlander for Fulham and at Zebra is your entailments Lester City mezzanine to 25 Try color Gabriel Jay Zeus for Arsenal Son Jack Graylish on the Jersey card man city. Donnie can do that. Do what? Silver Harry Kane Tara Selva for Spurs and a white James Tarkovsky to 20 Everton Donnie's gonna do it now Silver mezzanine Jordan Henderson Liverpool.  I don't think he's wants to do it now red Tara Selva Kyle Walker Peter Southampton He's good.  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Trust me David see man auto for the arsenal all right Shane sounds good Silver Darwin Nunez feel level or Liverpool and Neves What a bunch of nonsense Every night though every night around here is just It's true this is totally sensical only in the good areas diesel hey, what are you doing there get out? So you need to turn you know that the part reason like the monastery is Yeah, it's like that's like the opening scene got Gabriel Jay-Z's Foden Tarkovsky Telemans Ferguson Madison Silva are Ebo Pickford And what I was soccer nice soccer but out of Silva Marguerite mighty cash or Bertha from Eno Mason mounts soy check Patterson and Becker Allison Becker You know it's dang last we had other short prints It'd be like that sometimes Relics of graylish is in Chinko Kulesov ski for fauna covered Lewin Autos of seaman Everton redemption to Mari gray Tony Adams Dauglish is a cool on Dauglish Kevin De Bruyne Stam Andy Cole and a goal. Okay, go into one Man city to ten that'll do it. Thanks again everybody on to skybox


Well, good morning from the big easy. I moved my parking spot, but I didn't move it that far I was parked right over there last night because I ran into some friends of mine. I met at schoolie Palooza, so I want to introduce you guys to the Margo Tenen bus Instagram How are you guys doing? Sorry for the artificial hello. We just did a full interview for my friend's channel bus of adventure But let me give you guys a quick run-through of theirs And by the way, this is a full-size bus a little bit longer than I'm thinking for number two So how do you like having such a big bus? The storage is great As far as driving around a city like New Orleans it can be a little hairy, but otherwise we love it We we lucked out being able to have as much space to work with as we got sweet. All right Well, I don't want to hold you up. So what do we have going on here? And what what is this thing? This is a 1995 international 3800 You know pretty standard setup as far as mechanical goes We it was a functioning school bus when we bought it and we gutted it and redid everything in from insulation to obviously the build Out yeah, and we actually have the same engine. That's right. That's right t444 e 7.3. That's right Got our electrical up front under the booth. Uh-huh down here. Yeah solar power solar fridge How do you and this is the winter we said in the earlier thing? So you guys like the DC fridge? Yes It's you know super efficient as far as the solar goes And no surge when the compressor kicks on which is really nice. Wow, I wish I could see the same You know try to find as much reclaim stuff as possible, you know used sink things like that We rigged up a hood for our camping stove when we have it out 55 gallon fresh water drum there. That's underneath the counter That was also used item as well, but food grade. So that's good A piece of mailed shower with our washing machine pan down there The shower head came with our hot water heater, which is a tankless propane vents out through here. It was a great. Yeah and Camping a compost toilet as well. So we kept things pretty simple nice You know didn't want to have to do a lot of work with With propane tanks and gray water black water tanks. We do have gray water That's that's about it In our bed area. All right Very cool So anyways, if you guys want to see more about their travels what they do on the road the places that go the things you eat possibly Oh, yeah, and working everybody find you guys on Instagram. It's at Margo dot ten and bus Perfect and as a Facebook page as well. All right, and we just actually randomly bumped into each other Is there saw each other message you said it and steampunk Steve told me to come to the spot in park And guess who told them to come here in park as well I love the school bus community. I was just gifted some natural products And this is from the KAI NAT brand, which is your company. Yep kind of beauty We do natural body care and some cosmetics as well. This is an all-natural Healing balm, so it's like a salve. It's really thick and intensive You can use it all over you can use it as lip balm. It's great for cuticles and really dry hands It's like a therapeutic type thing. Yeah, and I said or just a second ago Smells like surf wax, which I like and then this is that all-natural soap. Yep It's an african flash black soap with potash and charcoal, so it's really great for your complexion It's pretty good for sensitive skins made with organic coconut oil and olive oil All right, cool. You can use it all over sweet, and I'm gonna use that in all my 2,000 parts I think I'm gonna hit the road and keep heading east. I have not Followed up with driving and vibing yet They are in Alabama How's it work over here, Mississippi? Um, I don't know. I don't know the Southern states too well, but they're over on the Mobile area I think and so yeah, I need to follow up with them I'm gonna try and stop by a place Where somebody is working and they said hey, I saw you're in town swing on by so that's so I'm gonna stop by there and see if that is gonna work and then otherwise We're gonna hit the road All right, so I stopped by them at Alice here and Alice got a hold of me was like hey I saw your boss so your town come by the shop. So I came by her work Interrupted her and you're so dirty. She's what are you working on your mechanic? Yeah? I was I'm rebuilding my engine for my truck right now. Cool. So let's go see my truck. Let's do it This is your ride, huh? But there's no engine And what are you doing to the engine? I'm rebuilding it or I'm gonna I'm I have a 4300 engine that's on its way here that I also need to rebuild but I might be putting that one in does that mean it's it's gonna be bigger faster. It's bigger. Yeah, the engine I have is a 223 right now Sweet thanks for hitting me up. All right. Have fun with the rebuild so I don't know where I am, but I passed by this on the way to the mechanic place and This is an old abandoned. I think she said maybe Building or something like that and apparently this is a spot where everybody comes. They do some artwork and I Don't know New Orleans is pretty cool. It's pretty cool. There's all kinds of a Abandoned places and run-down places and god. I mean some of these houses here just so beautiful and so historical but There's a sign specifically for me Go back to Cali. I Bet people are getting a steal of a deal for some of these houses out here But of course you got to do some DIY on it because they're so run down and You know destroyed from the the hurricanes and stuff So like I was saying This town is super cool, and I don't know The history of this place obviously just literally was passing by and then I decided to come in here But I have seen so so so many abandoned places around town and it seems like in this town it is let's just say a Bit less enforced seems to be a bit more a bit more craziness to this town Even when I was walking around Bourbon Street last night Saw these dudes like just kind of stand on the corner looking a little mischievous, and then it reminded me of this Vice documentary I saw on Like a drug dealer on Bourbon Street, so I was thinking to myself after I left I was like wait Was that the dude? Was that the dude from the documentary that they blurred his face, and it was like selling drugs on Bourbon Street, so If anybody is from this town Feel free to confirm what it said or not, but it just seems like a kind of Not quite lawless town, but just kind of like a Like a free-for-all Whoa, this is pretty crazy looking Josh and Cody would definitely Definitely like this place Someone's baby stroller not really sure why there's a baby stroller and My goodness look at Look how gnarly this is Whoa, there's some workout equipment How crazy is that? Yeah, it is a little Dusty in here, so I definitely understand why Josh and Cody use those those mouth things the ventilators because it's just can be pretty gross in here But yeah this is some kind of big area and It looks like fire extinguishing Unit or something Not really sure how long I'm gonna hang out in here because I do want to hit the road head towards My next place, but I did want to show you guys You know what you can expect around here As far as You know places to see You know some of the urban culture You know part of the city here, so Yeah, very It's beautiful in a Kind of like decaying way like there is I don't know if anyone else agrees, but It's almost kind of beautiful to see it crumbling. I'm just doing a little check for nails There's a bunch of potentially pokey stuff Everywhere in here So, yeah, let's uh, let's hit the road. You're never gonna guess what got spotted again exploring with Rick Explore with Rick Jax Me neither I know very nice video like you were here at all. Yeah, I got here two nights ago actually I like that camera That was cool another urban like another Explorer urban adventurer person over here explore with Rick nice to meet you man I finally sent off the postcards, so thank you for your patience To the winners and sorry it took me so long Not gonna go into Why I sucked at sending them out, but I am going to announce another And also I feel terrible because there's three Leftovers from people who didn't see the comet. I'm really not really sure what to do I have a stamp on there and they're ready to go By the way, this is open to international people Or international yeah international addresses The post office has international stamps forever stamps, and I feel like a buck fifty so Yeah, so no problem sent off one to Australia and one to Taiwan so that was neat to be able to do that. So we got one two 11 let's throw in these ones here too. So we got 14 14 possible winners I suggest If you do want a postcard, I'll try and stop and get some more There's a little bell next to the Subscribe button you could always turn that on and that way if you do want to win You'll see some notifications that either sent to your phone or email or something I don't know you have to figure out that on your end of it, but I'm gonna send out 14, so All you got to do just write a comment just you know say whatever say hi You know tell me about your day Whatever you want to put all right. Here's an update on bus number two My friend and I my friend by the way is an incredible builder You'll meet him at some point because it looks like either option. He is willing to help me out And I think there's both different options we have can both Be good options Just gonna say that so He's got connections. We're looking for buses I'm gonna be looking online if anyone has a connection to to any I don't know bus place or school district that sells buses, please let me know I'd be much obliged Also have a few more people to thank who joined up on patreon a first. Thank you goes out to Jacqueline Duran Thank you very much Next one is sandy long. Thank you very much as well. It is much appreciated And we have Joyce Smith signed up. Thank you Joyce and Georgiana Thornton. Thank you. Also. Thank you John Hansen It is much appreciated Thank you to Doug Gray and Thank you to Scotty P. I appreciate all of you and Now it's time to hit the road again. Well guess where I made it to if anybody has driven I-10 You have probably seen this magnificent rest area in Alabama It is the Alabama welcome center drove from Louisiana to Alabama and about 50 miles or something like that Anyways, this is a great place. It is a little confusing because when you come in There is a sign that clearly says no overnight parking Right, so you think to yourself will kind of rest stop allows no overnight parking but and I wasn't gonna park here, but I saw a security guard and I just happened to ask him like hey So where's a dump spot and he said over there, which by the way, they didn't have a hose We anyway, it's a separate story. I'm not gonna use my drink of water hose for my flush hose Common sense. Anyways, and I said also where should I park overnight because I saw the no overnight parking site He said oh, they made that the wrong sign. That just means you can't abandon a car for 24 hours Bizarre, I know. Anyways, we are gonna meet up with driving a Vibe in tomorrow across the way In actually in Alabama, so that'll be a fun video Those are a favorite of badges and L. So It's catching up on a few videos of theirs and Yeah, so it's gonna be a fun day. So looking forward to it. What else is exciting news? I think that was it. I'll see you guys on the road tomorrow. Thanks for watching


I've always wanted to study abroad, but I didn't know where. It was that feeling of getting out of my comfort zone and challenging myself that drove me. And that's why I decided to move to Denmark. I was spellbound by the country's amazing landscape and revered social system. Having all that while getting high quality education seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime. Despite all the perks Denmark could offer, I still faced some challenges. Trying to integrate into the Danish lifestyle. The language barrier and the unfamiliar norms exacerbated my culture a shock, making it difficult for me to adapt to society or even participate in social events. But over time I became more familiar with my new surroundings, which helped me make new friends. A lot of new friends. I slowly started developing a new appreciation for the Danish culture. Now, what I love most about having embarked on this international experience is the engraved diversity in culture. It taught me something in life that I would have never been able to learn by not travelling abroad. After all, home is not where you're from, but where you belong.


Hey everyone! Before we get started on today's video, we'd like to go want to wish everyone safety and health during the outbreak of COVID-19. We've got your back, we've got plenty of videos to keep you company. Please stay strong at this time. We'll fight this battle together. It's essential for all of us to do our part in taking a proactive stance against the coronavirus pandemic. Here are five common problems you may struggle with and how you can shift your mindset to a more positive one, especially during these crazy times. Number one, being quarantined. In light of the coronavirus, many countries have suspended work and classes, advising everyone to stay at home for their own safety. Self-isolation may be hard to adjust to at first, but instead of thinking, I'm stuck at home with nothing to do, try shifting your mindset to something more positive like, I can stay safe in my own home and spend time with my family, or if you're alone you can take this time to hone your crafts or develop a new skill.  Number two, the risk of contamination. The coronavirus may be pretty contagious, but there's still a lot you can do to fight against the virus and keep yourself safe. Do you tell yourself, I will get sick and worry all the time? If so, try shifting your mindset that I will do all I can to lower my chances of getting sick. Self-isolate, wash your hands frequently, drink plenty of water, practice social distancing, and always wear a mask when you need to go out. Three, hoarding and panic buying. While the public has been urged against hoarding and panic buying, the threat of a total lockdown has made many feel the urge to stock up on necessities. Are you making yourself anxious by thinking, I'll run out of stock at home during self-isolation? If so, it's better to shift your mindset into, I will use what I have wisely. Assure yourself that you have everything you need for now because you've prepared for this. Avoid giving in to the widespread panic and be the voice of calm and reason. Don't buy more than you need, so there's enough for everyone else. Four, everything being closed. Because of the sudden outbreak, many businesses have been closed to encourage people to stay indoors. Many restaurants, bars, hotels, and others are closed and even most major airports around the world have been closed with travel restrictions placed to keep all flights grounded. But there's no need to panic. Remember that all the most important places are still open. Hospitals, pharmacies, and supermarkets have been asked to continue operating to help us through these trying times. So if you ever need medical attention or more supplies for your household, you won't have a problem getting it. And five, all the uncertainty. It's okay to feel afraid about all the uncertainty around us, but it's important to remain calm and hopeful for the future. Healthcare workers are working hard to treat those infected. Scientists around the world are working to develop a vaccine and governments all over the world are trying to alleviate public distress and manage the problem. Remember, even though you can't control the situation, you can control what you do about it. Seek information from trusted news sources, be mindful of your health, rest if you're feeling unwell, and check in on your loved ones. So how are you coping with the pandemic right now? Let us know in the comments below. Know that you're not alone, and with enough cooperation, kindness, and compassion, we can all make it through this together, one day at a time. The references and studies used in this video are added in the description below. If you find this video helpful, be sure to like and share this video with those who might benefit from it. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in our next video.