#14: June Lee - "Failing" into Physical Therapy, UGC, and the Importance of Letting Go - One Thousand Gurus Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of 1000 Gurus.
Today's guest is Dr June Lee.
June is a dedicated and highlyskilled physical therapist based
in West Los Angeles.
With four years of experienceunder her belt, june specializes
in orthopedics and post-oprehab, making her a go-to expert
for adults and athletes of allkinds.
She's worked with an impressiverange of patients, from D1

(00:22):
football players to marathonrunners to professional and
collegiate dancers and nearlyeverything in between.
A lifelong dancer herself, junehas even served as a former
director of Kaba Modern, ahip-hop dance group based at UC
Irvine.
June also runs a small sidebusiness where she provides
mobile PT sessions, treatingpatients in various locations,
like at home or in the gym.
She creates engaging content asa UGC creator on social media.

(00:45):
When she's not helping othersachieve their physical best, you
can find her working out withher husband dining out with her
sister or training for herlatest challenge, a Disney half
marathon.
So June and I go way back to ourfirst year in college at UCI.
So she's one of my longest timefriends on the show and this is
easily one of my newestfavorite episodes, as June is
very introspective andthoughtful about all of the

(01:05):
insights she's learned along theway.
Some of the main topics we getinto are her journey into
becoming a physical therapist,her more recent journey as a
user-generated content creator,and we talk a bit about loss and
letting go.
It's funny because in the first10 minutes we unexpectedly just
started fanboying andfangirling over the late Kobe
Bryant, which was a peakhighlight for our collegiate
dance experience.

(01:26):
I think we both really had funrecording this and hopefully you
all will have fun listening toit.
So, without further ado, pleaseenjoy this episode with my
friend, dr June Lee.
Hello everyone and welcome backto 1000 Gurus.
Today's guest is June Lee.
Today's guest is June Lee.

(01:47):
Well, thank you for being here.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
This is a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
So, yeah, let me just jump intohow I know you.
So we met in 2010 when we bothjoined Couple Modern, a
collegiate dance team at UCI,and that was a lot of fun.
We were first years and bothdancing, and our k10 class has
been through like a lot of majorevents together, mostly june's

(02:11):
life events.
She brings us together all like10 ish of us yes, you know it
depends on who can come.
Yeah, 10, 11, 12 and yeah.
So the past 14 years, like youmoving away, you moving back,
finishing pt school, gettingmarried, etc.
Et cetera.
So we have a lot of yearlyreunions.
You are passionate about givingback to the dance community.
You work at UCI now, right?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Actually no longer but I was working there for the
past academic year.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
There you go, so yes, Nice and as all of my guests.
You're probably my longest timefriend and I can see you're
like family, or at least all ofour class does, Like we're all
siblings.
We've been through a lottogether, yeah totally.
Yeah, so it's good to have you.
It's always nice to have reallyreally close friends here.
Any clarifications on any ofthat stuff?

(02:56):
It's just kind of like an intro.
Nope, it's good.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Cool.
All right, our intro topic.
You might have seen this on inthe brief, but do you have an
idea of craziest or funnestmemories from our time on common
modern?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
that stand out.
Oh my gosh, you know there wereso many memories and most of
them I'm probably unable toarticulate in words or allow it
to say out loud yeah but I feelyou know we've gone through so
many things together and one ofthe best memories I always tell
everyone about is when we haddanced for kobe bryant right,

(03:31):
yes, and that was just like sucha highlight of being on km,
like we were working on it washell week for one of our
competitions and we were doing adress, run through in the dark,
in the cold, outside onconcrete and, yeah, totally
normal.
But then all of a sudden, likeI'm in the bathroom getting

(03:53):
ready and I hear all thiscommotion and I hear, like Josh
just like screaming, and I'mjust like what is going on.
Everyone is just crowdingaround this person and get
closer and we're like it's KobeBryant no, crazy, crazy.
And the craziest part was that,like I guess he comes there all

(04:15):
the time, but when he had stayedto watch us perform, um, at the
very end he said something likeit was 2010 right so it was
during the finals or thechampionships, and he was like,
if we play like, y'all justdance, we would win the
championship.
And lo and behold, they won thechampionships that year.
So that was the craziest thingjust being able to say that one

(04:38):
like we saw him, we met him, butthen being able to dance for
him and then him telling that tous, was just like I can go to
heaven right now yeah insane, soso crazy the highlights yes
like even on top of that.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
So like we, I'll link the video if I can find it.
But like he was recording right, like he was holding the camera
or he was next to it because hewas cheering, he was like yeah
like we were blowing his mind,like it was crazy when we're
doing the, the stunts and Darrenwas doing like his handstand.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, kobe was going crazy, or like when you did the
backflip with.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Eric at the same time oh that's right.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
That's right.
Like the synchronized backflipwas crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
What show was this for again?

Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think it was Body Rock.
Okay yeah, okay yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
That heel, yeah, okay , right, right, deep v-neck.
Uh, that was me.
What else?
Yeah, no, that was crazy.
What else?
What was crazy about that isthat?
Well, one, when we took thephoto, like his arm span was
like I was two people away andhe got the other side of my
shoulder.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, so it was you.
Well, yeah, so, yeah, it waslike you know like one person
and then me, and it's kobe.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
He's like the only athlete that I ever really liked
and followed, like Filipinos,la, like we can all relate.
My mom was like a huge Kobe fan.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Not even Lakers, but specifically Kobe.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So I'm like also like diehard Kobe fan Only jersey
that I have.
And he was super nice too,because we're just a bunch of
college students and we'redancing and he's like taking
photos with us and being supernice and I'm sure he gets
inundated all the time, likeright when he was like around
campus, so to him to watch ourshow record.
It get all hyped give us likethose inspiring words and then
take photos with us like dude itwas.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
It definitely was peak I think what was a really
amazing thing was that it wasreally validating to hear it
coming from someone who's anexpert in their field, truly go,
go to everything.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Literally one of the best, if not one of the best, to
hear that I agree.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
You know, when you're just practicing amongst
yourself and you're giving eachother feedback, it's hard to
know whether or not you havesomething that's special because
you want to believe in thatyourself.
But to have again someone withthis level of respect and
prestige tell you that you'realso doing something right and
that it inspires that personlike could I ask for anything

(06:50):
better?
No, you know so that's great,okay.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
So actually coincidentally because I didn't
I forgot about that story andthen you brought yeah, that is
the best, one of the bestmemories I saw a kobe like real
oh no, it was j shetty real andhe was saying like, oh, he had
heard from his wife, vanessa,like when they were talking, oh,
why do you play throughinjuries?
And Kobe was, because everyoneknows that Kobe played through
injuries a lot like really badones.
And when they were talking,vanessa was saying that, oh,

(07:16):
yeah, kobe mentioned becausepeople would save up a lot of
money to see him play and theycan probably only afford to see
him once.
So he doesn't want to disappointhis fans and to show up for
your fans.
And it's not even because hewants the ring he wants to win.
It's because his fans show himlove, so he wants to show that
back.
Man, that messed me up.
That was like 9 am this morning.

(07:36):
I was like oh, why am I drivingto UCLA?
I'm tearing up.
I'm just kidding.
I didn't tear up, I actuallycried.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
But like on the freeway, I was like this hits so
hard right now.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
I just woke up.
Yeah, that's a crazycoincidence and that stuff like
that really gets to me.
It's knowing the deeper thingsand it's not like, oh, your
passion, yeah, yeah, it's notjust about you.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
It's not just about doing what you think is the
right thing for yourself, butother people are looking up to
you, other people are supportingyou, and so giving back to them
in some capacity is like justfull circle moment.
I guess you know, because youwouldn't be who you are without
the people that you surroundyourself with.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Or the people who support you, or the people who
pay money to go see you.
Right, you wouldn't be as bigas you are without those types
of people, and I think it'simportant to keep that in mind
as you're doing anything thatinvolves others.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, I agree, I feel like that's like a stronger
fuel source when it's not aboutyou, it's about something deeper
than just oh, I just want towin, or I want to be the best
and I think that's whatseparated him a lot and I know
for us like kobe fanboys andfangirls, I think we like align
with that a lot.
Another fun fact like my mom, soshe's dire kobe fan, right, but
she will not watch like hislast game.

(08:54):
She hasn't watched it yet.
And I'm like mom, you have towatch it.
And because she's like I can'tdeal with it, she's still in
that sort of grieving, likedenial sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
But she didn't watch it live even.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
So where were you?

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Did you watch it live ?
I watched the second half of itlive because I was doing like a
photo booth gig.
So I wasn't able to catch thefirst half, but I rewatched the
beginning, but I watched theending of it live.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
And it was an incredible game.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
And that's not just luck it's not fluke.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
That's like all of his hard work paid off like in
one moment, right and it's notlike the other team was giving
it to him exactly because theyknew that he didn't want to go
out with just like right like acharity handout.
Why would you ever want to goout like that?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
you earn it, and then that truly was like a moment
where, okay, you really are thegoat.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
This is why people respect you, like you give it
your all from beginning tofinish and so, yeah, oh my god,
my chest is heavy now, jr Iwasn't expecting to go into this
like just fanboying for thefirst 10 minutes totally, but
yeah I was at the gym, I was, Iwatched, I caught the end of it
and everyone at the gym was justin the locker room just like
staring and I was like I can'tmiss this yeah, this is kobe

(09:57):
epic.
Okay, another quick tangent.
So there was this.
One christmas, maybe, likeeight years ago, my I went up to
visit, visit NorCal for my momand my parents and stuff like
that.
My mom, it was on Christmas daymy mom and my sister and I made
a spontaneous trip to watch theLakers game in LA.
So we drove, my mom, drove mysister and I five hours straight
down to watch the Lakers gamethat day, dropped me off
afterwards.
It was a very spontaneous, oneof those like memories you'll

(10:20):
never forget.
We're just like, do you want towatch a kobe game?
And we're like, sure, why notjust drove there on christmas?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
wow, watched it like, oh my god, it was crazy.
So when it core memory corememory for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
So when I hear about that quote of him, like you know
, playing through injuries forthat, I'm like, yeah, like it
wasn't a spectacular game and II don't even, I don't even know
if they lost or wanted anymatter, but it was just like
seeing kobe, yeah, and likechristmas day with, like, my mom
and my sister, it was reallynice, yeah, okay.
So now that we're done withkobe which is uh random, yeah,
not in the game plan- but, allright.

(10:49):
So career path welcome to thenormal.
You know you're a pt, right,and so how?
My first question is kind ofhow did you get into it?
What this?
What made you decide you wantedto go into physical therapy?
And I guess, what was yourundergrad experience like?
So that's that whole.
However you want to approach it.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think thatsubconsciously, my family has
been brainwashing me to be thisPT for the majority of my life.
When I was little, they wouldalways ask me to give them
massages and they're like, oh mygosh, you're so good, you
should do this for the rest ofyour life.
And I'm like, okay, cool, I'mreally good at this.
I'm going to keep this in theback of my head.

(11:32):
One summer, when I was nineyears old, my uncle actually got
his like amputated and he hador I, they forced a
nine-year-old to stay with himthe entire summer to take care
of him.
But you know, I don't know whatI'm doing.
I'm just there to keep himcompany or, like watch tv.
He would make his snacks, hewould pull pranks on me and then
he would actually have someonecome to the house and take care
of him and do these exercisesevery single not every single
day, but I don't know maybe twoor three times a day.
With me being there, everyonestarted calling me like his

(11:55):
nurse.
So I thought, oh, I'm going tobe a nurse when I grow up
because everyone says I'm reallygood at being a nurse.
So flash forward to senior yearof high school, when you're
applying to college applications.
My mom and my sister, they'relike OK, you got to be a nurse.
Now this is the time to apply,just go ahead, do it.
And I'm like OK, I guess.

(12:15):
So that's all I know what Ishould do.
But in my heart of hearts, likethere was just something that
was telling me I didn't want todo it, something that was
telling me I didn't want to doit.
I think mostly out of rebellionbecause I did not like people
telling me what to do.
But I had no other optionbecause I didn't know what else
I liked.
So I applied, got into UCSnursing program and it was
finally.

(12:35):
When I got there and I don'tknow why I didn't look up what
nursing was.
But when they told me whatnursing was, I was like I don't
want to do this.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
So, like, what do you mean?
Like, what about nursing, didyou?

Speaker 2 (12:48):
not want to do.
I based nursing off of what Isaw my uncle doing, which was
the exercising which was themassaging gotcha, which was just
like getting in and out of hiswheelchair and walking, learning
how to use his prosthetic leg,and I thought that was nursing.
But then, 15 years later,they're like, oh, what are you
talking about?
That's physical therapy.
But I didn't know that, Ididn't have a name to that and

(13:10):
as I was searching all thesecareers, it's oh yeah, nurses
help people in the hospital whenthey're sick.
They help them get out of bed.
Oh, they help them like eat andget better.
And I'm like, oh, that kind ofsounds like what I thought it
was.
So I was like, cool, yeah,let's continue down this career
path.
But then, like I said, once Igot there and orientation
happened, and they're like, ohyeah, you work in the hospital,
you get their meds, you do thisand that.

(13:31):
And I'm like, oh hard, stop,wait a second, this is not what
I thought it was going to be.
And I had volunteered in ahospital.
But again, like, I think my mindwas just so narrowed in on
thinking what I thought nursingwas so I just I didn't have a
passion for it.
I didn't have a passion fornursing.
I went through the motions ofgoing to class, but because I

(13:54):
didn't have that fire in me tocontinue to pursue this career
and, mind you, nursing is agreat profession.
I have the utmost respect fornurses, but it just didn't feel
like me.
Because of that, I pursuedother interests and da da da.
Here comes Cabo Modern, where,oh my God, I love dancing.
I've been dancing my whole lifeand these are people who are

(14:15):
very passionate about whatthey're doing.
I'm going to spend all my timewith these people and kind of
put nursing or school in theback burner.
So I failed out.
I failed out of the nursingprogram and it was probably the
most devastating failure of mylife at that time, not because I

(14:38):
was sad to not be a nurseanymore, but just the fact that
I failed at something.
I didn't do everything to the T, I just everything prior to
that.
I was straight A student, blah,blah, blah.
This and that.
All these accomplishments and Ijust failure.
To me wasn't ever an option,but here I am choosing to fail
because I wasn't passionateabout something.

(14:59):
So it was just.
It was really hard to processthe emotions I was going through
.
So I switched my major topublic health and I just
continued on through that route.
But it was only after graduatingwhere a PT aid position popped
up and I was like you know what,let me see what this is about.
And I applied and I actually Ididn't know what the position

(15:22):
even called for.
And then in the interview theowner was like so why do you
want to become a physicaltherapist?
And I had no good answer, otherthan the story I just told you
about my uncle and that was thefirst time I actually described
that story and I started crying.
And then he was like oh my God,I don't know what to do here.
Here's tissue, let me step outfor a second to give you a

(15:44):
moment.
So I collected myself and thenhe was like it sounds like your
uncle was a really specialperson and you really show
passion for helping others.
Um, I really appreciate yousharing that story with me.
I thought I tanked thatinterview because I cried,
because everyone says to beprofessional, but then a couple
days later I get the call sayingI got the job and when I asked

(16:07):
him like why did you hire me?
When I cried during theinterview, and he was like it
was because you showed genuinepassion, not just because you
wanted to do something that youthought was something that made
a lot of money or gave youprestige or whatever.
It was the fact that you reallytruly deeply cared about
something and you wanted topursue helping others.

(16:27):
So that's my.
That was my undergradexperience.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And after that it was just like PT school and then
kind of go.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, exactly.
So I hunkered down.
I had to go back to communitycollege to improve my grades,
like everything chemistry,physics, anatomy, everything
science related was just thatwas all I knew that I had to do
to boost my GPA.
My prerequisites were like Idon't even know they were bad.

(16:58):
They were bad but always afterthat because I really had a
focus now and I really wanted itand I did a whole bunch of
different like volunteerexperiences and I worked at
different PT clinics, and so Ijust made sure that I was
setting myself up for successand that I was doing everything
I could to like beef up myresume to, I guess, make up for

(17:18):
my horrible undergrad GPA,because that's something that
they really look for is how doyou do as a full-time student,
not just as someone who wants tomake up for being a full-time
student, right?

Speaker 1 (17:31):
yeah.
So from there I have twoquestions.
So one is you mentioned liketimeline in quotes in relation
to your career, like how doesthat apply to your own journey?
And or two, we can do either orboth.
But, um, as someone, like anaudience member who wants to get
into pt, and as someone who Idon't know what goes into the

(17:52):
undergraduate experience, thenapplying to pt school or like
boosting your resume or gettinglike job experience at like a
clinic or something, um, I guesswhat takeaways or advice would
you give to someone who wants toget into it either?
Kind, kind of like here's whatit's like.
It's really hard.
Think about this.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
You know that sort of thing Like as a person who's oh
she does PT.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
I really want to get into it.
What would you say to them Likeinsight into?

Speaker 2 (18:14):
how to get into that field.
So I didn't know anything aboutthat either until I started
talking to other PTs.
So basically, first, sobasically, first of all, you can
have a bachelor's degree inanything.
It doesn't have to be sciencerelated.
It can be like alex, my husband.
He has a bachelor's inanthropology, I have one in
public health, other people canhave one in drama, whatever.

(18:34):
You just need to have abachelor's.
The second thing is that youneed to fulfill the
prerequisites.
So, like I said, I went back tocommunity college so I can
fulfill all my science and mathand all this other stuff.
So, as long as you fulfillthose two depends on the school.
You can either do the GRE or not, but there are some schools
that require you to do variousvolunteer hours, shadowing hours

(18:58):
or work hours.
So you can be a physicaltherapist aid or physical
therapy aid.
In California you're allowed todo exercises, therapist aid or
physical therapy aid.
In California you're allowed todo exercises with a patient as
an aid.
You don't have to have alicense.
You can work with patientsone-on-one and that is direct
patient care, which is actuallythe best experience, because
then you get to feel like you'reactually doing something,

(19:19):
hands-on in a way, but you can'tdo any of like, obviously, the
diagnosing.
You can't change the exercises.
You have to do exactly what thephysical therapist tells you to
do with them and you're notallowed, obviously, to give like
medical advice, so you alwaysdefer to your PT.
Yeah, I'd say, get your collegedegree, get your undergrad

(19:41):
degree, get your hours in, getdiverse hours in in various
places, because anyone canvolunteer at an outpatient
clinic because it's so prominent.
Anyone can volunteer at ahospital, because that's also
very prominent.
It's like the uniqueexperiences.
I volunteered at this overnightcamp in Big Bear and it was for
kids who had limb loss or limbdifferences.

(20:03):
That was something that Iwanted to explore again because
it kind of related back to myuncle where he had his limb loss
and I think after that thatreally solidified me pursuing
this career.
So, yeah, and then you know someschools will have you do
interviews or not.
And I think there's this Iforget what it's called, but

(20:25):
it's like this applicationsystem online where you click on
all the schools you want toapply to and then you just send
your application.
It goes all the way there, butsome private schools will
obviously ask for differentthings.
Yeah, it's just making sure youhave all of those checked off.
Not sure how it's differentthis time around, because it
might have changed.
It was 2016 2017 when I appliedand got in, so it could be

(20:47):
different now, but I feel likethat's basically like the
backbone.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
yeah so I'm assuming you know, in a competitive field
like that, what are the biggestfacts, like gpa, your diverse
experiences, like you said,maybe the interview, other stuff
on the application.
So it's just kind of doing yourbest to beef up that sort of
application in any way possible.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But also I feel like you reallyhave to have a passion for this
Makes sense Cry in theinterview guys.
Guys do something.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
It worked.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
I cry in every interview.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
It is my thing now Just tears, just start running
Like whoa, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
It's so bad I cannot not cry, and I've just accepted
it.
By now I have tissues in mypocket whenever.
I go to interview, but I thinkyou know one thing that people
need to understand is thatbecause it's such a physically
demanding job, you really haveto like when you walk into that
door, it's not about you anymore, it's about that person, that

(21:43):
person that they.
It's not about you anymore,it's about that person, that
person, that they everyone's inpain.
They're coming to you for helpand you have to be willing to
think out of the box for them,be willing to look for answers
if you don't have one, bewilling to accept when you can't
help them because it's just notin your capacity, whether it's

(22:04):
like not your specialty or youjust don't have the answers for
them.
Right, you have to have thislike balance of knowing enough
and knowing when you just can'thelp a person and you can't do
it for the money because,honestly, pt is not a very
unless you own a clinic or youwork for a very high-end place,
you don't do it for the money.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Right, that's not really the purpose for people
going into PT.
Yes, makes sense.
Do you have any thoughts onthat timeline sort of question,
because I know you put that in.
Do you want to elaborate on?

Speaker 2 (22:35):
that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think you know it took mea long time to get to where I am
, but it felt long for mebecause I didn't go straight
from undergrad to grad school.
I took four years to againfinish out, doing all those
prerequisites and getting allthat experience.
When I felt like, looking backat it now, I wish I had just
done all of those prerequisitesin maybe like two years to cut

(22:58):
it short and then get to itsooner, but at the same time I
probably wouldn't have been orprobably not, what's the word?
I probably would not be theperson I am today without all
those four years to get to whereI am.
Because when I went to PT schoolthe school I went to, the
program it was like a.

(23:18):
Some people were grandfatheredin from their undergrad program
and then you had other peoplewho were in this grad state,
like me.
So it was a mishmash of 30 kidsfrom here, 30 people from here
and various walks of life,various life experiences,
various personalities.
I feel like having that timeoff gave me a little bit more

(23:39):
life experience than if I hadjust gone from undergrad to grad
, because I was still veryimmature at 22, 23, 24.
Didn't really know, wasn'treally confident in myself.
I just knew I had to dosomething.
And not to say that, mostpeople don't know how they are
at that age.
But for myself I feel like Itook the right amount of time to

(24:01):
figure out exactly what Iwanted and I didn't rush it.
And I can appreciate all ofthose obstacles, all of those
nights, in all of thosesacrifices I made to almost
create a different life formyself than what I thought I had
before, what I knew.
I feel like I could have donemore, but also life just throws

(24:21):
you in that right timeline.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Part of the journey right.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I feel like for most people,there's this pressure to get
your life together right away,but you really don't need to
succumb to that.
You can just do whatever youwant on your own terms, Because
that's what's going to make youfeel the most fulfilled, the
most happy, the most satisfied.

(24:44):
The most reward comes fromliving your the most satisfied.
The most reward comes fromliving your own journey.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, I love that.
I feel like a lot of collegestudents nowadays need to hear
that, mostly because I alsodance with a lot of college
students.
But it's always that anxiety ofI'm behind, I'm comparing
myself and I need to have thisfigured out as soon as I
graduate.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
If not beforehand.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
And anyone in our stage.
You don't need to have it allfigured out In fact, the process
is figuring out who you are.
And then you'll figure outwhich way you're supposed to go
afterwards.
But you have to appreciate thejourney, and when you don't get
what you want, you gainexperience.
So you're not actually losinganything from those four or six
or whatever years, Because theworst case scenario is you're
going up the wrong building thewrong ladder and you're like, oh

(25:25):
, now I got to go back down andup another one, but you might as
well take the time to just wetalked about this before on the
show but calibrating yourcompass and that's more worth
your time than trying to rush insome direction that might not
be right for you, so I totallyagree with that, yeah.
And I guess on that, anothertopic that you mentioned was

(25:45):
like pursuing your passions.
That was like a big thing and Ithink a lot of people can
relate to that.
So my initial questions and wecan also divulge from this is
what are your passions?
Or like, how does one balanceyour passions, like with the
career or relationship, familyresponsibilities, etc.
It seems clear that you are atleast passionate about PT from
all the tears in the interviews,but are there any other things

(26:07):
you wanted to call out on there?
And then how does one go aboutpursuing and then balancing
those passions?

Speaker 2 (26:13):
I think when I wrote that down, I was thinking about
how, yes, I'm passionate aboutphysical therapy, but I'm also
passionate about keeping like mypeace, my personal peace, and
doing things according again tolike my timeline, and doing
things that make me feel like Iam a worthy person in the world.

(26:33):
So I created my own sidebusiness of doing mobile PT
services and rather than justjoining another company like I
still do that I'm still kind offull time somewhere else but
rather than just working onlyfor another person, who they're
profiting off of my hard workI'm going to pursue my own
entrepreneurship with creatingmy own business model for myself

(26:57):
providing PT how I want totreat patients, not how
insurance dictates me how totreat a patient, and doing
whatever I feel is the mostappropriate for that person when
they're coming to see me.
And I feel like that's whatit's really all about, right
Trying to help people as much aspossible without the
constraints of someone's rules.

(27:18):
So I feel like I just unlockedmyself by doing that and it's
really scary because you have norules, but you get to make the
rules up as you go and by beingan independent PT, in that
aspect I feel the most free.
I feel like I'm the most myselfas a professional.

(27:40):
When I was working elsewhere,they go through like this trial
and error process or like aprobationary process where they
monitor you, and it felt like Iwas a student all over again,
and it was.
You know, it's for safety andit's just to make sure that
you're not like saying weirdthings and you're a nice person.
But also that made me a versionof myself where it wasn't me.
I was doing it performativelyto make sure I wasn't getting

(28:03):
fired.
I was doing it performativelyto make sure I wasn't getting
fired.
But with me being with patientsone-on-one, I get to be the
truest self.
My truest self and just I don'tknow, give my all and
everything.
I don't know, jr, my mind'sgoing blank.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yeah, no, I get it you know you work in an
environment where there's a lotof constraints right, and this
ability to have those not thoseconstraints and kind of approach
it the way you feel like isbest and you can help serve your
patients.
And that can be an unlockbecause, while constraints are
good because it makes you thinkinside the box once you have
that sort of down and obviouslyyou've been a professional for a
while then when you have those,you can now think outside the

(28:41):
box.
You can actually you can addmore value to your clients and
your patients and get morefulfillment out of, like your
career.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, I think I remember what I was going to say
.
I think me being in my own rolehas allowed me to bridge the
gap between my two passions,which is dance and PT.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Being able to, because there's all the places
that do that and, again, if theydo there's, it's under the
constraints of someone else'srules, and so being able to
provide dance therapy or beingable to find physical therapy
for dancers in the capacitywhere it's not just about
exercises, it's about movementanalysis, and even providing the
massage therapy or the manualtherapy that I'm, I guess I'm

(29:19):
really good at.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
You know, I just get paid for it.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
But you know it's creating your own path, because
I was passionate about these twothings and just trying to find
that balance of how can I getthe best of both worlds.
Even though I'm not an activedancer anymore, I get to still
contribute back to the dancecommunity in that capacity and
still help the next generationbe the best versions of

(29:45):
themselves and give themsomething that I wish that I had
as a dancer.
So that's part of the reasonwhy I also went to PT is because
when Darren during Hell Weekrevived, he injured himself and
we were all just there like whatdo we do now?
Is that his knee?
I forgot.
Yeah, I think it was his ACL.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Oh, his ACL, and it's a hard recovery Destroyed.
I think.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
But yeah, that's a hard recovery and, knowing what
I know now, it can take like 6to 9 to 12 months of rehab
before I even back to feelinglike some sort of normal.
So that was also anotherdriving force of me going into
PT school.
It's just trying to give backto the people who have made me
the person that I want to be orthat I am.

(30:28):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Anything else?
Okay, so what about balance?
So we talked about passions andkind of bridging the gap
between dance and PT.
Do you have any thoughts onbalancing those passions, if it
requires any at all, or do youfeel like there is some sort of
balance needed?

Speaker 2 (30:49):
I think with physical therapy in general, there is a
nice work-life balance becauseyou don't necessarily take your
work home.
You get to treat your patient,you get to treat your client,
but then you might have todocument afterwards.
But that's about it.
And with the free time that Ihave, I don't have to worry
about, oh, I have to get allthis done that I have, I don't
have to worry about, oh, I haveto, like, get all this done for
work.
I don't have projects, I don'thave deadlines to meet, I don't
have to be consumed by otherthings other than when I am with

(31:14):
my patient.
That's given me a bit more justmental freedom, I guess.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
So it's kind of nice that way, right there's a lot
more like slack or buffer builtin that is not so you can
compartmentalize, okay, cool, Ithink that's a lot of good stuff
, so we can pivot.
So the two next topics yeah,the two next topics, we can go,
whichever one you want to pick.
So one is letting go and theother is uggenerated content

(31:41):
creation.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Which one do you want to go with?
Let's go UGC, it's different,yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Okay.
So for those who don't know,which includes me, before I did
research what is UGC and how didyou get into it?

Speaker 2 (31:52):
So UGC is user-generated content and
basically let me backtrack for asecond.
Most people on social mediawill scroll, or most people on
social media will create contentfor their own, for their own
right, and so then you would beconsidered like an influencer
because you're trying toadvocate for something or

(32:13):
promote something or dosomething on your own account,
but it shows other people how tolike either live their life or
whatever.
I'm a really shy person bynature and I also don't have
those like creative juices tocreate content for myself all
the time.
I wish I did, because I lovewatching vlogs, I love watching
just other people like livetheir lives.

(32:34):
I live like my life vicariouslythrough that, but I just don't
have that in me to just likeshowcase my life.
I don't think I'm a veryexciting person, but I wanted a
different way to supplement myincome and I knew that social
media was the way to go, becauseeveryone now is on social media
and, after doing all thisresearch, there are so many ways

(32:57):
that you could make money offof social media.
I don't want to be aninfluencer, so I randomly was
scrolling and I found I wasserved this ad of this girl who
was advertising her.
I think like her guide on howto start social media or how to
start UGC and so how convenient.
I know it's like she was likereading my mind.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Or listening to your phone.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Right, but yeah.
So I clicked on it and she waslike reading my mind or
listening to your phone, it'scrazy, right, but yeah.
So I clicked on it and she wasjust saying now you can just
make videos for other brands topost on their social media
accounts, and that you don'thave to post it on your own
social media account.
And I thought that was amazing,because that's exactly what I
wish I could do.
I didn't know how to do it, soI purchased her guide and I read
the entire thing.

(33:42):
It took me about two to threeweeks and I was still really
skeptical because I was like isthis a scam?
Like how?
Because I'm sure you've seenall those ads like, oh, here I'm
selling this digital product.
It's like a buy this course.
And like what are you evenselling?
You know you're just sellingyour digital product.
On how to sell digital productsyes, okay, sorry, real quick

(34:04):
tangent.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Yeah, oh, I'm rich.
I have a lambo, so buy mycourse on how to also be rich
and you're making your money offof this three thousand dollar
course.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
What are you actually doing?
It doesn't make any sense.
What are you teaching me?
Just to scam other people?

Speaker 1 (34:16):
so I can create my own course to do exactly what
you're doing right now so I'mjust, it was just so, it's yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
So I read it and I was like, okay, well, this
sounds, this actually soundslike you could do it, so let me
try it.
She has email templates forpitches, she has a couple of
contacts, and then she has thiswhole school community online s
k o o l, and it's basically justall those people who bought her

(34:42):
guide in one place.
So it's like an open forum kindof a thing.
So I started making myportfolio with a sample of
videos of things I just had athome and they would give me
feedback on how to make itbetter.
And then I started pitching tobrands and I was like is this
real?
Are people just going to put mein the trash?
And I started getting theseresponses with like, oh yeah,

(35:05):
cool, what are your rates?
I was like, oh my God, peopleare asking me how much I want to
get paid.
So then I went back to the guy.
I'm like, how much do peopleactually get paid for this?
What do I do?
And so I sent them my rates andthen it just started
snowballing from there.
I made one video here, onevideo there.
I can't even remember whatvideos I've made anymore and

(35:26):
I've only been doing this sinceMay, and I remember I got my
first inbound, which is whensomeone contacts you.
And I thought that was thecoolest thing, because now I am
visible enough in the space.
How did they?

Speaker 1 (35:38):
find you?
Do you have a page that'sdedicated?
Oh?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
okay, so I have my portfolio.
I bought a domain and'sdedicated.
Oh okay, so I have my portfolio.
I bought a domain and I postall of my examples my best
examples on my portfolio with mycontact information.
But the way to get to myportfolio, if you don't know who
I am, is through my instagram.
So I've posted some of thoseexamples on my instagram.
I have my link in bio and thenyou can go to my portfolio.
A lot of my inbounds come fromsomeone seeing those?

(36:04):
sample videos that you do for.
Oh, I see, I see.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
So it's not like a lease or what's it called.
If you're creating content fora business, you're allowed to
repost that or what do you?
Mean because then let's say,I'm a brand and you make a video
for me and I pay you right andI'm posting on my social site I
guess right but then you're alsoposting that video on your
socials as samples so thatpeople can reach out to you.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
So that's fine.
Yes, okay, gotcha, as long asthat's in your contract.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Some brands don't want you todo that either right, because
they want to own that correctyeah, so that's an option, or
you can make, like extra videosthat aren't given to that brand.
Then you can make that intoyour sample video, your sample
video gotcha.
Yeah, so it's been kind of cool.
I do this on the side,obviously, and I do it in my

(36:49):
free time, and it has been likea roller coaster of emotions
because it's so different thananything I've done before.
I've always been intrigued byvideos Like even in high school
I had my little digital cameraand I would just be recording
everything and I would poststuff on YouTube.
But they're just like sillyvideos Like of just me and my
friends hanging out with no likemarketing attached to it.

(37:12):
But knowing that I feel a bitcomfortable in front of the
camera, especially in private,makes it easier to do, because
then you're just kind of doingwhatever you know and you're
just showing personality and Ithink that is a way for me to
stay creative without using somuch of my physical self at

(37:32):
times.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, I feel that it's like a creative outlet, if
not like for a professionalsense.
But you know like a side sortof thing, but I feel like most
people need that which is somesort of creative outlet side
sort of thing.
but I feel like most people needthat, which is some sort of
creative outlet.
On that note, I guess forpeople who are curious, do you
have any either tips or bestpractices or how to get into
doing user-generated content ifsomeone's interested in doing it

(37:55):
.
I don't know if you want toplug the same place that you
learned from or if they'realready doing it, like what has
worked, been working for you toget some success.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I would love to plug, so I follow.
Oh my gosh, what's her handle?
I think it's TranUGC, okay.
We'll link it, yes, and herguide is, I think, also
TranUGCcom, and she actuallyjust increased her prices.
But this is like gold.
This is really valuableinformation.

(38:24):
There are a lot of other UGCmasters out there and experts
and whatnot, but I really feellike the amount of time that she
dedicated into creating thisguide has been very digestible
and user-friendly and it makesyou feel like you can do this.
I've bought a couple otherguides at a cheaper price from
other people and they're justkind of very generic.

(38:46):
It's all kind of the sameinformation, but they want you
to buy that as a way to buy more.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Like an entry point to help sell you.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
And I think she does have this mini guide too.
But, honestly, everything thatI've learned has been primarily
through this guide and then thecommunity that she provides.
So I feel like access to peoplewho can answer questions and
just provide support, andeveryone is just so nice, like
you just feel like you're partof a tribe again, and that's
what I really wanted is to havethat support.

(39:13):
So, I mean, you can still startit on your own if you just look
up how to start UGC on, likeChatGBT or something like that,
but I don't think you're goingto get the same experience if
you don't have people giving youfeedback and people giving you
the amount of support that youget from community.
Yeah, okay.
So you'd recommend the guidefrom that person and like the
community that helps you kind oflearn, live, get feedback yeah,

(39:37):
it's really simple to starthonestly, like I said, you just
take whatever products that youactually use in your home and
then you just make videos onthat.
There's a formula, it's calledthe direct response formula, and
that's how you guide yourscript and how you guide your
visuals.
That way, you're not justrambling about these products.
You have to give like substanceand a message, otherwise people

(39:58):
are just going to keepscrolling.
You have to have a hook right,something that engages the
audience when they first scrolland to stop them from scrolling.
And then I feel like, fromthere, as long as you're just
natural about what you'repromoting, it should be pretty
easy.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, Really quick.
I think I remember if youposted this recently, but it was
that video that you did whichwas like making a song about
breaking my sister's somethingoh my gosh yeah yeah, it was an
ad for some sort of it was anapp.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah,that was kind of funny.
I was like what is this?
I was like this is actuallyreally well done, because, like,
I would definitely download it.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Oh, really okay good, that was actually one of my
first inbounds I got okay,that's cool.
So it was this ai generatedmusic app and the concept that
they wanted me to do was toprank someone, and the song was
supposed to tell them that Ibroke something or I did
something.
And I really wanted a genuinereaction from my sister, and I
am a little sister and so I I dothis to my sister all the time,

(40:56):
like I am the epitome of alittle sister.
And, mind you, she's like 40,I'm 33, so we, I still punk her,
and so I made that video andthat was probably the most
viewed video on that app'saccount Because of how extra she
was, but it was just a reallygenuine reaction.

(41:17):
It's kind of like a proud momentthat I was actually able to do
something and people respondedwell to it.
Yeah, it took off.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, that was a fun video, I agree, thanks.
Okay, so last topic we can getinto this.
We can take as much time as youwant, or we don't have to.
We can go to rapid fire, butit's you mentioned letting go,
right, and it's a big thing foryou in terms of something that
you learned over time.
My question would be like whatare some examples of things that
you felt like were important tolet go, and or do you want to

(41:44):
elaborate on kind of that, whatletting go means to you?

Speaker 2 (41:48):
yeah, I think, as someone who dwells on a lot of
things, like I'm a veryintrospective person and I'm
extroverted when I have to be,but for the most part like I
think a lot of thoughts tomyself and, um, there are
certain things that you do inlife where maybe you look back

(42:11):
and you just said, oh, thatwasn't my best moment.
Or you make you say somethingand you're like, oh crap, like I
shouldn't have said that.
But you can't take it backbecause it was already said and
done and you know, I have a lotof those moments where you just
realize that you're just notyour best self, even though you
think that you are.
There's one example in whenwe're still on modern and I was

(42:38):
one of the directors I wouldstay up at night just haunted by
my own thoughts, dwelling onways that I had behaved and ways
I had handled certain things.
But I was also paralyzed withthose types of feelings that I

(43:00):
didn't know how to get out of it.
I didn't know how to be abetter person.
It was just very all-consuming,and so I feel like that made me
spiral into a dark hole because, oh my gosh, I'm this bad
person.
I can't get out of it.
This must be who I am.
So then I continued to just bethe same way.
I couldn't climb myself out ofthis hole.

(43:20):
And then, years later, aftergoing to therapy, I realized
that you're this way because youcare, but you just don't have
the guidance.
You don't know who to ask forhelp and you're afraid to ask
for help or admit that you werewrong, because other people are
looking up to you and you can'tshow that you don't know what
you're doing to people who aretrying to seek help from you to

(43:41):
be a leader.
So I feel like in my now 30s,my late 20s, I had to let go of
all those inner demons and justforgive myself for not being the
perfect person that I wish Iwas or that I thought I was, and
reaching out to certain peopleto kind of get closure because

(44:05):
of that, because it's still like, still haunted me, because
that's not the person that Iwant to be remembered as either.
It's not the person that I wasproud of being.
I think it's important tounderstand that everyone goes
through phases of life and thatit's okay if you're not the
perfect version of yourself inthat moment, but as long as

(44:26):
you're able to learn the lessonsyourself and kind of grow and
be better now than you werebefore, then that's a win.
You're constantly growing andevolving.
But you can't do that if youcan't look back at yourself and
let go of the things that areeating you alive yeah, yeah,

(44:48):
yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Thanks for sharing and I feel like a lot of people
can relate, I kind oftangentially to that is.
You know, I ask people a lotwhat do they regret?
What would they do differently?
Right, and a lot of timespeople will say and this is
totally fine, is I don't reallyhave regrets because obviously
my mistakes made me who I am nowand that's perfectly fine, I
agree with that.
But I also learned recently, too, that your regrets well, I see

(45:10):
it differently, meaning I likethat.
I have regrets because it helpsme to learn and become a better
person.
It's that accountability.
Yeah, I messed up and this ismy regret and I'm not going to
let it haunt me, right?
I'm not let it eat at me, but Iwant to always remind myself
that it's theirs to keep meaccountable, so I won't do it
again Because you don't want tojust erase, forget, right?
Because?

(45:30):
Or else you're not going tolearn from that if you don't
have that sort of thing thatsays, hey, remember, you messed
up.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
And that's.
I think that's healthy and Ithink there's nothing wrong with
that, as long as it, like yousaid, doesn't eat at you and
doesn't cause you from movingforward and becoming that better
person, Right right.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
So yeah, I totally agree, I like that.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Anything else on that before we move on to rapid fire
.
Okay, cool.
No, I mean, that was good.
I liked it a lot.
I think that itself was alreadygold.
Okay, rapid fire questions.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Season two questions.
We'll start with the billboardquestion is normal.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
So if you could put up a sign for millions of people
to see, what would it?

Speaker 2 (46:08):
say, oh, my God, okay .
So I thought about this allweek and, as most people do, I
could have gone so manydifferent directions, right, I
could have done something that,like, I've advertised for myself
or for something that I'mpassionate about, or just
something random.
But I thought about what I seeon billboards and how I react to
certain billboards, and I feellike if I were to put something
up for millions of people to see, I would want to get almost

(46:31):
like an immediate reaction outof them.
And when I say I'm about to say, most people react to it, which
is check your posture and andmost people will always like Me
every like 15 minutes, okay, youknow, and as a PT, I'm not
trying to be a posture police,but I do know that most people

(46:53):
look like this.
Most people look like they'rehunched over, their head is down
, I know you guys.
And guess what?
All of you guys will give me ahard time to hound on your
posture, but then you come inwith all this neck and upper
back pain, numbness and tinglinginto your hands.
Definitely not me.

(47:14):
And so if I were to just putout a little billboard that just
said check your postureimmediately, when everyone hears
the word posture, they sit upand that's it.
That's all you got to do isjust change positions, because
that's what your body wants.
Your body wants to just beupright.
So just be upright, but not allthe time.

(47:36):
You can get out of that, butfor the majority of the day do
not be here.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Just be aware of your posture, just be aware.
I love that question.
That answer very unique.
I imagine if you put a cameraon the freeway and people pass
by your billboard, everyone'slike just oh my God.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Car seat posture is also the worst, because you have
people who don't fit their car.
You got big people who are insmall cars, small people in big
cars and like you get theselittle people who are like
craning their necks.
It's just horrible and like carseats are not very ergonomic to
begin with, and so that's likemy number one thing is just,

(48:15):
that's something that you cancontrol.
You just choose not to, so justcheck your posture.
Move once every hour, top andbottom every hour.
Just sit upright, pull yourshoulders back.
That's all so simple.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
You know that's like the theme of my life for the
last year.
I'm like, oh god, check myposture.
I know this pain as our podcast.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
I was just like this all day yeah that's fine.
It's fine.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Now we're gonna check I know we're talking about.
Our posture is perfect thisentire time.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Hopefully you listening to the audio so you
can't check All right.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Next one what is one of the hardest challenges you
faced in your life and what did?

Speaker 2 (48:50):
you learn from it, if anything, you know, I think
every transitional period insomeone's life is really hard
because you're trying tonavigate life in a new chapter.
I guess oh God, I'm trying notto cry here I go again, call me
back.
I was thinking about this andit's still something that I'm

(49:12):
trying to figure out.
Is JR Okay Life without my dad?
He wasn't a very I'm going tobacktrack he was a very
supportive person in my life andit's all of the small things
that you would do for a familythat I took for granted and I

(49:37):
felt like, oh, that's just whatdads do, right, sorry, I mean
yeah, okay, thanks.
You know he was there for allof my like dance performances,
living in LA and then Cabo Kidsor Creative Movement, being in
Irvine.

(49:57):
He would drive me every Fridayand Sunday after school or at
Sunday afternoons he would driveme in like hour and a half
traffic, wait for me in his carwhile he would just watch on his
portable DVD player like thesame four movies over and over
again and then he would drive mehome and do it all over again
for three years.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
He would always be at like my volleyball games.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
He would always fix things around the house.
He always had some sort ofsolution to whatever tangible
problem that you had and he wasalways a person who, even though
he would grumble, at a request,he would do it.
Dad, I forgot my lunch, can youbring it to me?
Or, dad, I forgot this?
Or dad, can you do this, canyou pick this up?
Whatever, he was an activeservice man and I feel like that

(50:41):
had really that reallydeveloped my love language of
acts of service.
And now that he's gone, I feellike a little bit like a little
lost, because he always had thesolution to every problem and
having to figure things out formyself like an adult should,

(51:03):
it's just it's harder knowingthat there is not that person
who did have those answers orsomeone who you could rely on,
and it's harder to, I guess,navigate family dynamics without
him there, just because it'sdifferent Not that it's bad,
it's just different.
So there's always going to bethat space where I feel a little

(51:28):
bit empty because he's notthere, but I feel so
appreciative knowing that he hadgiven me so much love.
So hardest challenge is still,to this day, figuring that out I
saw this video with elmo andandrew garfield.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
It just came on my feed and it messed me up and he
was talking about him losing hismom recently and elmo was
asking about it and andrewgarfield was like you know, I
know, you know these feelingswill make you feel sad, but I
also love and appreciate thesefeelings because it meant that
that person meant something toyou, which is a good thing.
Yeah, because that that feelingof emptiness and loss means

(52:06):
that they live, they existed,they made that impact on you and
we should appreciate and alsolove those feelings.
Of course it hurts but, um, itmade me kind of see things
differently, because we all dealwith loss, but if we can see it
that way, then we, I don't know.
I think I feel like you know.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Just to reframe yeah, totally, so totally but thanks
for sharing that.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
I know I'm sure a lot of people can relate or will
relate to that.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
All right, next one is self-inflicted wound.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
So do you have a story or something that's gone
wrong in your life?
That is your own fault and youcan't blame anyone else because
you did it to yourself.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
You know, my answer for this question was actually
my nursing school failure, soI'm just going to leave it at
that.
You know was actually mynursing school failure, so I'm
just going to leave it at that.
You know, you make decisionsand you pay for the consequences
and you just learn how to livewith it and move on.
Yeah, move on.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
If you could redo one thing, what would you do
differently?

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Can we skip this one?
Yeah, and then come back to it?
Yeah, we can.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
And I know you talked about a lot of stuff that's
similar.
If you give your, if you couldgive your younger self advice,
what would it be now?

Speaker 2 (53:10):
any age, any time period oh my god, stop plucking
your eyebrows.
I think when you're young andyou're pubescent and you want to
fit in, and you just have allof these fairy tales in your
head about how you're supposedto look and, blah, blah, you're
hormonal and you want to just,you know, be be a certain way,

(53:35):
you do silly little things andyou.
I have two older sisters and soI would model all of my ways of
like beauty and fashion and allthese like external things off
of them.
But then, when they went off tocollege, like, oh my God again,
like I feel like I just needother people as a crutch, so
tell me how to live my life.
I am a 33 year old teenager, jr,ok, so so, yeah, I feel like,

(54:01):
just on a bigger level, is thatit's okay to be who you are.
You don't need to change to fitsomeone else's standards, you
don't have to worry about whatother people are thinking about
you, because everyone is worriedabout themselves, and that if
other people are judging you forwho you are, then they're not

(54:21):
really worth your time.
And I feel like that is.
For who you are, then they'renot really worth your time and I
feel like that is.
You know that message has beenreiterated in some way over and
over and over again, but it'strue, it doesn't really resonate
until it means something to youand you can relate to it.
And so I feel like if you arejust comfortable with yourself,
you don't have to be confident,you can just be comfortable, and

(54:42):
then that confidence will come,because you're no longer
thinking about what others arethinking about you.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Yeah, I like that a lot.
Sometimes I'll give, likecollege students, advice as well
.
I'll preface it with this Likelook, you might not understand
this or relate to this, let mejust tell you and then later on,
when you get through that pointand you're like, oh yeah what
he said was right or like okay,that makes a lot of sense, but
you won't even reallyinternalize it until you
actually it happens to you orlike that mistake or whatever.
So let me just plant this now.

(55:08):
I'm not telling you what to do,but just know that the
information was there.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
I feel like.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
I should at least do that Totally 100%, 1000%.
In the last few years, what newbelief, behavior or habit has
improved your life?

Speaker 2 (55:24):
I think time blocking .
I've always been a person tolive and die by the schedule.
But after you don't have aschedule anymore, you have to
create your own schedule.
You just lose track of time andthen so many tasks just get put

(55:49):
in the back burner but then youget overwhelmed.
Being able to time block andonly designate certain things at
certain times will save themental capacity and the
emotional capacity, because youonly have a certain amount of
time to think about things.
So, for example, my therapisttold me to time block and then
my friend also reminded this tome as well.
But if you're feeling a certainway, you're allowed to feel that
, but let's like, keep it within10 minutes because you're

(56:10):
dedicating that time for it, butdon't let it again consume you
because there are other thingsthat you have to focus on.
So appreciate the time that youhave to feel really sad.
If you have to schedule a 5minute cry, go for it.
But also don't feel bad thatyou have to schedule a five
minute cry, go for it.
But also don't feel bad thatyou have to do so, because it's
healthy to just live throughthose emotions.
But since you have so manythings to do, you have to

(56:32):
prioritize certain things andthen time block yourself, so
then you can appreciate yourfreedom.
So I feel like that has been ahabit I'm currently implementing
again because I wasn't doingthat for the past four years.
After school it was just like,okay, I'll do it at this time.
Then you're just kind of livinglife willy-nilly and you know,

(56:54):
so yeah, it's just been more,I've been a bit more productive
because of that.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Nice, I think that's a good tip.
All right, who would you callsuccessful and how do you define
success?

Speaker 2 (57:04):
I feel like success is to every individual and I
feel like I've heard this onyour podcast before with other
people where success isprimarily because or success is
defined by being or feelinghappy with your decisions, and
it's not just about like moneyor accumulating all these
accomplishments and accolades.

(57:24):
It's about doing something andfeeling like that had given you
the fulfillment, the reward foryourself.
And so I feel you know you canhave all the money in the world,
but are you truly happy withhow you got that or what exactly
you're flaunting?
Yeah, I feel like you know,success is in the eye of the
beholder.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Yeah, definitely.
Do you have any specificexamples of maybe someone you
can point to and be like?
I really think this person issuccessful, I like what they're
doing, or something like that,if anything?

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Mm, hmm, you know, I actually I thought about this
vlogger, this YouTube vloggerthat I've been following for the
past like 10 years.
Her name is Jen Im.
And she is really really wellknown and she's been in the game
for such a long time and she'sbeen a YouTuber primarily as
like her full-time thing, andshe divulges her life online and

(58:14):
she gets really intimate withher viewers, but really she's
just talking to a camera, she'stalking to no one but everyone
at the same time, and she doesso just on her own accord, no
one's forcing her to do so.
But then she starts to level upeach time that I see her New
house, family, this and that,this and that, and so to me, I

(58:35):
find her successful becauseshe's found her passion.
She's gone for it.
She's gone through all theselife trials that she divulges
online, that she allows us tosee, but yet she comes out of it
still doing what she wants todo without.
It just feels like she's areally genuine and authentic
person, and keeping that as anexample for how I want to live

(58:58):
my life not to say I want to putmy life on line all the time,
but just being your true,authentic self, with whatever
you're doing will then lead thelife that you want or will or
are deserving of.
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, I like that All right.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Next question If you knew you couldn't fail, what
would you try or what would yoube doing now?

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Oh, if I was 10 years younger and I really took dance
seriously, I would be aprofessional dancer.
Oh yeah, I think just again,like you hold yourself back when
you don't think that you'regood enough, and so then you
just go a different route andthen again.
I was pursuing PT at the time.
But if I knew I couldn't fail,if every audition was like
number one, like A plus, I wouldfor sure be a professional

(59:43):
dancer on tour with somebodyJustin Timberlake.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
I was about to say three top people Justin
Timberlake.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Justin Timberlake or Usher, or I don't even know
Anyone anyone, Anyone like that.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
Tier those people.
I like it.
What is one of the best or mostworthwhile investments that
you've made in time, money,energy, etc.
Any of those.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
I think, investing in education outside of school.
So I did a mentorship programwith Offset Med and I did one of
their like online seminars oronline workshops during COVID
and I was still a student at thetime but it just gave me a
different perspective of howother practitioners in the dance
field are helping dancers, likeathletic trainers,

(01:00:31):
chiropractors, other physicaltherapists, other dancers just
movement-based individuals arehelping dancers.
To that capacity.
I felt like really gave meinspiration and resources and
just a different way again ofthinking and how to treat people
.
So, um, yeah, I feel like justdo going the extra mile to get

(01:00:54):
supplemental education for yourown field is very valuable,
especially if you're passionateabout that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
yeah, um, all right, last few recent favorite recent
purchase under or around 50 to100 dollars that has impacted
your life the most in the lastsix months oh, you know, I
really couldn't tell you.
I don't think I've made manypurchases in that we can change
the time frames or the rangeokay the spirit of the question
is something that has impactedyour life, that you bought we

(01:01:22):
try to keep it like lower end,but it doesn't matter if it's
higher end.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Going back to the whole time blocking thing, I
know there's a whole bunch ofstuff with ai now and you can
get all these apps, but I useuse motion, that app where it
helps me time block.
So I just plug in the task andit will reshuffle my schedule to
allow me to finish that taskwithin a reasonable amount of
time.
So let's say I need to shootsomething for UGC and it takes

(01:01:52):
about an hour to two hours.
I'll just plug that in and thenit will put it in my schedule
where I have those one to twohour pockets, so that I'm not
like, okay, I have to rearrangemy schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Yeah, so that I'm not like, okay, I have to rearrange
my own schedule.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Yeah, so it's kind of nice to keep me productive
because it will tell me when I'mpast due or again if something
major pops up like an actualevent.
I can't reschedule, I can putthat in permanently and then it
will take my other tasks andthen reshuffle it.
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
What was it called?
Again, motion.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Motion, but it's like use motion.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
Okay, all right, I'll link it in the notes.
Yeah, all right.
Last one Favorite books, movies, videos, articles, media,
general media or anything thatyou share or recommend the most.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
This is something that I recommend to my patients
a lot because it's about painand pain is such a complicated
topic to understand, let aloneto teach, and I can't just teach
it within a 10 minute allowance, so I usually tell people to go
to retrainpainorg, and it'sthis website that has these like

(01:02:55):
two to three minute modulesexplaining pain in a better way
than I could again in 10 minutes, because it has all these
pictures and descriptions andblah, blah, blah.
I think that's a reallyvaluable tool to have for anyone
, because everyone experiencessome level of pain, but not all
pain is bad and not all pain isdamaging.
And that's an important thingto know, because when you're

(01:03:18):
injured, yes, we have pain, butsometimes we have aches and
pains and we're like, oh my gosh, something is wrong, but it's
usually just our body's alarmsystem telling us that something
is happening versus somethingis damaging.
So it's an interesting websiteto kind of look through, to kind
of get a better sense of whatpain is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Nice, yeah, I think it's a great resource.
All right, that is it for therapid fire questions, so we can
go into our ending questions.
So, like to end with gratitude,as always, shout out to my mom
for teaching me this.
So, june, what are you gratefulfor?

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
I am grateful for life.
I'm grateful for all of myexperiences.
I'm grateful to have thisopportunity to reflect on the
past 33 years of my life.
To reflect on the past 33 yearsof my life and knowing that I
am the culmination of all of my,of the people that I surround
myself with, whether directly orindirectly, all the experiences

(01:04:13):
I went through, all of thelessons learned, obstacles I had
to jump through, all thecelebrations, all the wins, all
the losses, everything inbetween.
I am just so grateful foreverything, because life
wouldn't be the same.
Everything has just been right.
Everything has been right.

(01:04:34):
Otherwise, everything would beso different.
I am grateful for you, for thisopportunity.
Thank you so much, jr, for evencoming up with this amazing
podcast with a thousand gurus.
What a great way to explore andStorytell and just learn from a
whole bunch of people ofdifferent walks of life.
Thank you for that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Thank you.
Thank you for saying that.
Appreciate it Cool.
Any final ask from the audienceor like final takeaways that
you want them to have and again,feel free to plug.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Okay, well, shameless plug.
Then, if you are in the west laarea or the surrounding la area
and you need a physicaltherapist whether you have aches
or pains or just want someoneto walk you through better ways
to move if you have anyquestions about any type of like
past injuries, things like thatthen feel free to hit me up at

(01:05:27):
DrJunePT on Instagram or June atDrJuneRehab.
I did not make my email, sowhatever.
Yeah, but I think I don't know.
Main takeaway is that everyonehas their own journey.
Everyone is the guru of theirown life and it doesn't matter

(01:05:47):
what anyone else says or whatanyone else thinks.
It really just matters what youthink of yourself and treat
yourself right and love yourselfthe most and be a good person
every single day.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Fantastic.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, it was great to catch up.
I really appreciate it, thankyou.
Thank you for being here andtaking the time.
I know we're a little bit overand I know we could probably go
on for hours.
Maybe we'll do a part twosometime or catch up or another
life events that you'll all betogether for.
But yeah, this was a greatconversation.
I think we learned a lot and Ithink the audience will
appreciate it.
You are very introspective andthoughtful and I can tell,

(01:06:24):
because when I interview peopleit's like you know, you can tell
who's really thought aboutcertain things and I feel like
that really gives a lot to otherpeople so I really appreciate
it.
Thank you cool, so we'll signoff now.
So thank you, guys, for tuningin.
Again a reminder to always bekind to others, especially
yourself, and that you canalways learn something from
someone if you just take thetime to listen.

(01:06:45):
So thank you for tuning in,thanks.

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#14: June Lee - "Failing" into Physical Therapy, UGC, and the Importance of Letting Go

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#14: June Lee - "Failing" into Physical Therapy, UGC, and the Importance of Letting Go