October 29, 2023 • 33 mins
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by life’s relentless demands, feeling as though everything is spiraling out of control? I know this feeling all too well, and it's exactly what we're unpacking in today's episode. My personal wake-up call came in 2015, following a car accident that forced me to confront the state of my health head-on. I realized then that I had been putting my work and responsibilities ahead of my own wellbeing. Today, I’m here to share my journey and the valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way, all in the hopes that we can navigate the path of self-care together.
In this episode, we’re taking a closer look at the specific challenges that men, especially those in leadership roles, often face. It’s all too common for us to sideline our health, but today we’re talking about the importance of striking a balance. We’ll discuss how vital it is to make time for our physical, emotional, and mental health, even if that means reorganizing our schedules, waking up a bit earlier, or staying up a bit later. We'll also delve into effective time management strategies, a crucial element in our journey toward holistic wellness. My goal is to highlight the urgency of self-care, sharing practical strategies and personal experiences to help guide you in your own life.
As we close out our discussion, the focus shifts to continuous personal improvement. Becoming the best version of ourselves is a marathon, not a sprint. I want to inspire you to commit to improving by just one percent each day. Through small, consistent efforts, we can achieve significant positive transformations over time. So, I extend an invitation to you: join me on this journey towards wellness. Remember, no matter where you are in your life right now, it’s never too late to start putting your health first.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
How are you doing right now?
Lightly, really.
How are you doing?
How are you feeling?
How's your health physical,mental, spiritual.
How are you Better?
Yet, are there any secrets thatyou're keeping, anything that
(00:23):
you're worried about health-wisethat you're not taking care of?
In this episode of the StingyPusual Podcast, I want to engage
you in a conversation aboutwellness and self-care and
specifically paying attention toyour health.
(00:44):
Let's go ahead and start.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
When they see me, they know that every day, when
I'm breathing, it's for us to gofarther.
Every time I speak, I want thetruth to come out.
Every time I speak, I want toshiver.
I don't want them to be like.
They know what I'm going to saybecause it's polite.
They know what I'm going to sayand even if I get in trouble,
that ain't what we're supposedto do.
I'm not saying I'm going torule the world or I'm going to
(01:07):
change the world, but Iguarantee that I will spark the
brain that will change the world, and that's our job is to spark
somebody else watching us.
We might not be the ones, butlet's not be selfish.
And because we're not going tochange the world, let's not talk
about how we should change it.
I don't know how to change it,but I know if I keep talking
about how dirty it is out here,somebody going to clean it up,
(01:34):
and now he's been promoted, hisjob is principle.
That's it, hello, everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This is Uchain Joghu SneakerPrincipal, and welcome to
this episode of theSneakerPrincipal podcast.
Your health is something that alot of us, that a lot of you
(02:05):
and including myself, don'talways fully appreciate, until
it drops, until you becomeunhealthy, until you become sick
.
So let me stop by telling you aquick story about myself.
(02:32):
I've shared this before, but Ifeel like it's one of those
stories that needs to be toldover and over again.
So back in about 2015 or so, Iwas in a car accident and, as a
(02:55):
result of the car accident, Ireally tweaked my back and I had
to go see a doctor.
And doing this appointment witha doctor, you know they know
the typical.
They take your blood pressure.
So they took my blood pressureand you know it's a problem.
(03:15):
When they walk out of the room,they say nothing to you.
The nurse runs out of the roomyou know, not run, but quickly
walks out of the room.
They come back and say we'regoing to do it again and they
use a different technique.
Maybe, instead of using theautomatic cuff, they use they do
the manual reading and they'relike ooh, it's a little high,
(03:37):
let me get the doctor in.
And you're like okay, now thisis going to be a third person or
third runner of the bloodpressure test.
And the doctor comes in and hedoes it and he's like, how are
you feeling right now?
And in that moment, I'll behonest with you I was tired, I
was a little annoyed.
I had to drive from work, putthis appointment, a lot of
(04:01):
traffic, finding parking wasannoying and again, it was just
a rough day at work.
And he said to me how did youget here?
I said I drove and he's likehuh, he's like your blood
pressure is really, really high,like it's so high that I'm not
(04:23):
even sure how.
You're still like like mentallyfunctioning right now.
And it's funny because my noiseturned into watering on rage.
I was like guys, listen, can wejust move on with this?
I just want to go home.
And he was like you, I keeplike I wouldn't advise you at
(04:46):
this point in time in ourreality.
You know, in cases like this,with limits, like this, we're
calling an ambulance to take youstraight to the ER, because
people in this situation usuallyare passing out or very passed
out.
I looked at him like what areyou talking about?
I also wind up typing the daythat I already had at work.
(05:11):
I think, if I remember correctlythat day, maybe I've had 30
parent meetings and I was inassistant principal at the time
Like three parent meetings.
There might have been a fightthen, my principal's annoying me
, you know, teachers wereannoying me.
There's all these thingshappening.
And it didn't help that I wasabout 350 pounds.
It didn't help that I was noteating healthy it wasn't.
(05:34):
It didn't help that I wasn'tgetting much sleep.
It didn't help that my wholeentire life was really wrapped
around the school building.
I got there early, I left therelate, you know, and my whole
entire identity was there andtied into the work that I was
doing as an assistant principalI made I really made very little
(05:56):
room for anything else otherthan work.
So I'm sitting there with adoctor and the doctor is trying
the best to help me understandthe severity of the situation.
I am not trying to hear it.
And he said these words thatresonated with me.
(06:20):
It still echoes to my head,right, it didn't resonate but it
definitely caught my attention.
He said to me Mr Andjoku, areyou trying to kill yourself?
Do you want to die?
And I heard him.
(06:41):
But I was just like you knowwhat bump this, I'm out.
And I remember I stormed out thehospital and everything.
I was re-mad and of course,being angry is not gonna help
the blood pressure.
It was just so much going onand I went straight to the house
.
I went straight home and I wasjust like tired and exhausted
(07:06):
and I just I think I just laiddown and knocked out.
And that's once when I didn'tusually do go home and just go
to sleep.
I would find some work to doand I remember waking up the
mulled the night and didn't feelany better and I kept on
(07:26):
thinking about what he said areyou trying to kill yourself?
Are you trying to die?
It's funny, but it's my mind.
I wanted to be successful.
I want to be great at what Iwas doing.
I want to be seen for the workthat I was doing and I wanted to
be the best since the principleI could be the best
administration I can be.
But I do know these things, inspite of the fact that I knew
(07:53):
something was wrong with myhealth.
I could feel it, but I'll givemyself reasons.
Oh, I'm just tired, I'm justnot getting enough sleep, I'm
just.
I'm just.
I'm just.
The reality was at 350 pounds.
Let's call it what it is.
I was very unhealthy and fastforward, you know.
(08:16):
Eventually you had to make somesome tough decisions and and
and this is after several timesup and down, losing 30 pounds
here, 40 pounds here.
I think the most whatever lossat any given time was roughly
about 80.
I think the most probably lostit any given time from the 350
(08:38):
range was by 80 pounds and I haddone that few years earlier.
So I've been doing the yo-yowait up and down, up and down,
and I'm it actually got to thepoint where, you know, I had to
make the tough decision ofgetting guests think I've gained
gastro by past surgery.
I mind you, I'm.
I was never I'm not surgerykind of person.
(08:59):
I had my shoulder.
I'd had my shoulder repaired afew years prior and that was
that was crazy, that was painful, that was like completely just
like, not something I would everwant to do again.
And here I am and I had to makea decision because my weight
was so out of control.
My blood pressure was also outof control, I was pre-diabetic,
(09:20):
I had severe sleep apnea, likeit was just everything and all
the things on all the markersthat could lead that typically,
lisa, death of black men I hadgoing on shouldn't have.
The only thing I didn't havewas heart disease.
My heart was pretty strong.
My heart, my heart walls werehealthy and they said you know,
(09:43):
that was something.
Even when they, when it did myEKG, they were like that was
pretty surprising and only thing, the only reason I would, the
only thing I would give that tois the fact that even at my
biggest size, I was alwaysworking out.
I was a, I was 350, but I wasstill in the gym.
I was still in the gym and mymentality was like I need to
make sure I was powerful enough.
I strong enough to be able towithstand anything that they
(10:05):
came my way.
And maybe that's why you know,you know, even though I wasn't
doing much cardio but justlifting weights, got my heart
rate up and kept my hearthealthy, but everything else was
out of control.
You know again, pre-diabetic,hypotensive, all these things
right.
So I'm, I got the surgery andfast forward.
(10:28):
You know, and here I am now.
You know, and I'm typically I'mabout 225.
Am I the healthiest I can be?
Absolutely not.
Am I still a workaholic?
Yes, I am.
Am I?
Am I more conscious of of myhealth and and what I do.
(10:49):
Yes, I am.
Do I drop the ball all the time?
Yes, I do, you know.
So it's a struggle, but it'salso a struggle that I think
doesn't have to be as long aswe're conscious of the lies that
we're telling ourselves aboutour health.
And I lied to myself for a verylong time.
You know, I didn't get a 350overnight and I need come coming
(11:11):
to education.
At 350 I was probably about 265or so I was.
I was pretty much a powerlifter, I had that powerlifter frame
and the work became my priorityand slowly but surely, over the
next decade or so, I got the 350.
And that's when and I'mgrateful that I am, that I'm not
(11:37):
there anymore, and I do workhard to make sure I don't get
back.
I don't get to that point, butalso know that it is a thin line
.
You know it's a very thin linebetween where I'm at right now,
or actually where I'm at rightnow where I could be as far as
if I don't pay attention to whatI'm doing, and also where I
(11:57):
could be if I was moreintentional and put more work in
which I'm doing.
But I know I could do more.
So I'm, that's my little spieland hopefully didn't bore you,
but again, I know I'm.
What I'm saying is speaking tosomeone out there and I'm gonna
say this specifically to men, tomen.
(12:18):
You know a lot of us and again,I know my audience is not just
school leaders, it's not justaspiring school leaders, it's,
it's.
I have people who listen tothis who are in various fields,
in a very various fields, ineducation and outside of
education.
And I'll say this men, you haveto take care of yourselves.
(12:39):
Too often we, we, we move inthe fashion that we are raised
to move in or move to move, like, which is we are providers for
the caretakers and we take careof everybody else before we take
care of ourselves, you know.
(13:00):
And then if there's anythinghaving to do with our health or
our health, you know it's, it'swe, we.
We think that it is weakness tobe sick, but the reality is
being sick is your body tellingyou you're not doing something
right or something is wrong.
So we have to be very conscious, listening to our bodies,
(13:22):
annoying Even, knowing all thethings that we may face as men,
whether it's things just have todo with men in general, whether
it's things have to do with ourwesternized diets, whether it's
things that tend to impactblack men more so, or Asian men
more so, white men more so,whatever race or background you
(13:44):
may come from.
We have to be conscious ofthese things because, again,
let's be honest here, men liveshorter lives than women for a
reason Usually it's because wejust don't tend to pay attention
to our health until it is toolate, and so I just want to put
(14:05):
that out there and make sureit's very clear.
And again, women, same thingwith you.
You know, it's just that, men,we do a poor job when it comes
to staying on top of our healthand hopefully, as a man, you
have a strong woman next to you,or whether it's a wife or a
sister or a mother or a friendwho is looking out for you and
(14:31):
is pushing you to take care ofyourself, and, sadly enough, a
lot of men don't have that.
So, again, let's get back to mynotes I just wanted to point out
before wrapping up this episode.
So, first thing, the demands onschool leaders we have to check
(14:54):
ourselves and be realisticabout what we can get done
during the day, and I know I'm Ineed to listen to this myself,
but it's very important that youschedule out your day.
The demands on school leadersis insane, you know, between the
compliance issues and then thethings that pop up and the
(15:16):
things, that has becomes yourresponsibility because you have
the title of principles orassistant principle.
So the number of times whereI'm ready to walk out the
building, you know, and all of asudden ring, ring, ring.
Such and such didn't get home.
You know, and you're like, okay, what's going on here?
Then you find yourself in schoolmaking phone calls, trying to
(15:37):
figure out where this child isor if the case is wrong these
may be and then all of a suddenyou find out they were at
whatever, wherever's friend'shouse or at the park and the one
new where they were.
And now they're home.
You know, and guess what?
You're the last person in thebuilding, you know.
I mean I've been in thebuilding sometimes waiting for
police or child protectiveservices to come, to come, come
(16:00):
meet me, because there was achild at the school with me.
I'm going to tell you now.
Sometimes it's late, at eight,nine o'clock, you know, and yes,
but I might say, well, there'sall these protocols that could
come pick up yet, but you stillgot to wait with them.
You know, you know you can't,you know, as a leader, I'm not
willing to just say, hey, child,stay here on the corner until
somebody comes to get you, my,my, my belief has always been
(16:21):
what the child is in my custody,that that is my child, until I
hand them off to the next, tothe proper person, whether it's
their parent or authorities orwherever the case may be.
But things like this make forvery, very long days.
Yes, they don't happen all thetime, but sometimes, you know,
there are things that, um, thatdon't allow you to have a
(16:44):
properly scheduled day.
But one of the things that Ilearned, and and I have to
remind myself every day, youhave to have a full stop at how
many days we eat, like I'm donefor the day.
You know, borrowing thosethings that that that could pop
up at any given time, that are,that are, um, that are just part
(17:06):
of the job.
Like I said earlier, somethinghappens and what a child.
And you have to be there.
Yes, I understand that, but youhave to.
You have to make it a point toknowing to stop your day and
also knowing to start your day.
I know people who who theirofficial work day doesn't start
till 7 30, but their work is 630 every day.
(17:28):
You know, I used to be me andthat's one of the things that I
had to stop doing and because Itold myself, rather than taking
getting to work a whole hourbefore I should be there, I can
take this from that time and goto the gym and work out.
You know, meditate, dosomething.
So I have a clear mind and bodybefore I even walk into the
building, versus waking up,jumping, jumping in the shower,
(17:49):
jumping in traffic and gostraight to work.
So think about you wake up,shower, being in traffic and,
depending on how far you'redriving, that's stress right
there.
They walk to the building.
Then, as you walk in your, yourdrone is pumping your your
stress hormones are are arestarting to ooze out.
Unless you know that they startand you're going, then if you
(18:12):
want those people who doesn'tknow how to stop the day, they
guess what you're doing Nowyou're at, you're at the job
till you know, you know 5, 6,you know whatever it may be.
And I know some of you whomight be listening to this who
work in the environment likeBrandon, but it's a joke.
You, you, you do that.
No one thing I do do is I do do.
(18:33):
One of the things that I that Ido is I do wake up early.
I do go to the gym and let'slook at religion.
Religion for me, whether it'sgoing to the gym or getting
getting some kind of physicalactivity, even in the days where
I'm like oh my God, overslept,which is rare, I would jump on
the floor and knock out 100push-ups.
But again, I have to make surethe blood is flowing in my body
(18:54):
and my and that blood is flowingto my brain, to make sure that
I'm ready to start the day theright way.
When I'm in traffic and I'mdriving, I'm not thinking.
I try my best not to thinkabout work.
I think I might use that timeto engage in some kind of
gratitude conversation.
I reach out to a friend whomight, might be in traffic as
well and just to say, hey,what's up?
And chop it up.
Or I might do an audio book inthe car, like these are the
(19:18):
things that I'm doing to makesure that when I walk into the
building, I turn on when I walkin.
Yes, is that?
Is that always the case.
No, there's some days where youwalk into something and then
and work might start a littlebit earlier just because of the
circumstances of that day, youknow, and that's okay.
But it cannot be.
It cannot be like that everysingle day.
(19:40):
You know the thing, the thingthat you need to understand
about self care is that it'sabout taking the time to attend
to your physical, emotional andmental well being Okay, physical
, emotional and mentalwell-being and being intentional
about that when carving thattime out.
(20:00):
And for everybody it's going tobe different, like in my case.
I like early mornings and Ilike late evenings, you know
those two spaces just to likehow I unpack my brain, you know,
or set myself up for the nextday.
Now again, is it something thatis easy to do?
No, it's not.
It's very hard because often,if you're not careful, you let
the day dictate your 24 hoursand for me, my 24 hours have to
(20:25):
be broken up Sleep, preparationand release.
So preparation for my dayworking out, meditating, you
know, getting the mind, of bodyready.
Then, end of the day, release,shut it off.
Shut it off so that your bodyhas time to recuperate and reset
(20:45):
itself so you can jump into thenext day and get back to the
grind.
So practical self-carestrategies.
So, like I said, I have itscheduled in my day to work out
(21:09):
and I don't have it timed out tomeditate, but I do take brain
breaks, I do.
You know, listen to my body.
There are times when I'm justlike, okay, uche, you're
starting to escalate, you knowyour anxiety is starting to
reach, get high, or you'regetting hyper-emotional, and I
will, you know, stop everything,put my do not disturb sign on
(21:30):
the door, turn lights off andbreathe, or sometime it might
just be.
I need a complete detachmentfrom what I'm feeling in that
moment and I will drop into thefloor and do some push-ups.
Well, I might.
Right now I haven't done thatlike like I'd drop out of the
hat, but previously I would dothat, I'd be in the hallway and
(21:51):
just drop to do some push-ups.
You know, and the thing withthat was that doing push-ups or
if you're for your jumping jacksor whatever it is, you do
because it's something thatrequires focus and concentration
.
I, my brain, takes a, my braintakes a break from the thing
that it was focused on prior todoing those push-ups.
(22:12):
So I don't like to do minimum40.
And, depending on how I'mfeeling, I might push for that
100 on push-ups, and I'm talkingabout 100 push-ups in a row.
So I'll do 10, 10, 10, 10, 10,10, 10 times to get to that 100.
And again, when I'm done, I'mbreathing.
No, I feel the, the, theadrenaline rush, the blood
flowing and all of a sudden, myanxiety is, it's non-existent,
(22:35):
and I get to be focused andattack whatever problem is or
whatever work I need to get done.
So I, so I do things like that.
The other thing, too, is eatingdoing a day and this is
something to get better at doinga day I like to intentionally
(22:59):
fast.
What I mean by intentionallymeaning that today I'm going to
fast, this week I'm going tofast and it's part of my
intention.
Versus I fasted because Ididn't get to eat.
I was hungry throughout thewhole entire day and I was
annoyed, and every time I try toget some food to eat,
somebody's bothering me ordistracting me.
So then what ends up happeningis, when I do get to eat, I go
(23:21):
and grab a bunch of bags ofchips and soda or whatever the
case may be, because I'mravenous, I want something quick
.
Versus when you're intentional,you say, okay, I'm going to
start my fasts at this time, I'mgoing to run to this time and
this is how I'm going to breakmy fast, because if I break my
fast at four, maybe I'll have abowl of fruit or something that
(23:44):
honors my body for survivingthat fast.
That intentionality is very,very important.
So those are some of thestrategies that I like to employ
when it comes to food.
I try to make sure that I'm notputting myself in the position
where I'm starving and then I'mhangry throughout the day
because I didn't get to eat, andthen, between the hunger and
(24:04):
the anger and anger, it becomesits own beast, like, I make sure
to be intentional and there'sno what's happened.
There are days where it slipsmy mind and I'm like, oh, snap.
But then once I know, okay, Ihaven't eaten or I'm getting
hungry, then I have to come tothe issue with myself Okay, what
am I going to do about that?
Is there's a hunger where I canmake it intentional and tell
(24:25):
myself, okay, I'm going to holdoff on the next two, three, four
hours and then at that point,I'll get something?
Or is it something where I'mjust like, okay, I need to get
something to eat right now.
Then I ask myself what is itthat is going to allow me to
have a more effective day afterI eat it, versus something
that's going to make meexhausted and droggy and
completely out of the loopyafter I have in it and I'm
(24:49):
talking about like things likesugars and processed foods that
just elevates your sugar spikeso you're like hyper and all of
a sudden you're done.
So those are the things that Ireally think about.
Like you know, how do I makesure that I'm taking care of my
body?
And the other thing too is thenit's being hydrated.
You know, getting some fluidsin.
I'm lucky I have a water coolerin my office.
(25:11):
Then there's open to anybodywho wants to get water.
I just gotta make sure I saythat I'm not the king with the
water cooler in my office.
Now it's stationed in my office.
People come in there all thetime to get water.
But, yes, they're hydrated,especially when you're in a
space where you know where theair quality is not that great or
(25:34):
you might not be moving as muchas you want to move.
So you want to make sure you'rehydrated, that you're body and
muscles are getting a lot offluids and also allows you to
flush your body system out.
People don't think about that.
You know you have to be regular, whether it's, I mean,
especially when you come to gointo the bathroom, and the best
way to do that is to drink waterand let your body be able to
(25:58):
flush yourself out.
And then now mental.
When it comes to mental andemotional wellness I think I
touched upon this alreadyBreathing, that's been my
biggest thing.
Find a space to just breathe ordo something that breaks the
monotony during the day.
That's something that's veryimportant to me.
(26:20):
But the other thing, too, ishaving trust of people around
you that you talk to Like youknow, read.
Talk to them and say, hey, I'mhaving a tough day today, but
also having people around youwho are who you've developed a
relationship strong enough forthem to say, hey, how are you
doing?
You don't look too good todayor you look tired, and I
(26:40):
appreciate that.
When people in my staff tell methat, I really appreciate that,
because that tells me that theycare about me.
Because the other thing, too, Ido the same thing.
I want to see them.
But hey, what's going on?
Are you good?
Because sometimes… you know,manu, I started this episode by
asking you this question and howare you doing?
You know, because often howwe're doing, especially when it
(27:02):
comes to mental, physical,emotional health, is a secret.
We say we're fine when we'renot.
So for me it's very importantto create spaces for us to be
able to freely express whatwe're going through, so that we
have a tribe and a culturedeveloped within our school of
(27:24):
wellness, mutual wellness,taking care of each other.
You know, because, again, that'ssomething that often you don't
talk about.
You know we suffer in silenceand that's something that I try
to ensure, at least in my schoolcommunity, that we're not doing
.
Am I the best person at doingit all the time?
(27:46):
No, but also, I put my moneywhere my mouth is.
I have vendors.
I have one particular vendorwho comes to my school and does
that work, not just for myself,I'm sure, not just for my
students, my teachers, but alsofor me, you know, and my parents
as well, having workshops,wellness workshop for the
parents, you know, goingvisiting classrooms and doing
(28:08):
that work for kids, and then forthe teachers and then me myself
, you know, having aconversation and when I'm being
checked in with to see how I'mdoing, how I'm doing personally?
How am I doing professionally?
How am I addressing issues inthe school, how what kind of
support I could be given to bemore effective in supporting the
(28:31):
school community, like thesethings are like very, very
important and often we don't.
We don't engage in them.
I'm gonna say it again we don'tengage in them because we are
embarrassed or we're fearful orwe're worried about being judged
as being weak, but in allreality, that's not what it is.
This is something that I thinkmakes you better.
(28:51):
I can tell you this.
Ever since I lost the weightand I've been conscious in
making the right moves to stayhealthy, even though, again, I'm
nowhere close to where I'mgonna be, but at least it's
there, you know, and then onlythat being more conscious of my,
my my mental well being,something again that I've now
(29:15):
was done great at.
But the fact that I'm at likeright now, I am conscious of it,
you know I am, I am a, I am abig, big even protecting my
mental health and being able totell people like to back off,
like really back off whenthey're infringing on my mental
health, and these are thingsthat, as school leaders, are
(29:37):
very, very important.
Knowing what to take a meetingand not to take a meeting,
knowing to, knowing when to youknow, being able to tell your
superiors like, hey, I'm notdoing good right now or I need
XYZ these are things that Ithink I believe are marks of
good leaders because, again, ifyou're serious about your health
(29:58):
physical, mental, spiritual,emotional that means you are
going to be, or at least youshould be.
You should be serious aboutthose of the people around you
because if you're serious abouttheirs and they eventually,
hopefully they'll be seriousabout yours and you have, you
develop a culture where that ispart of the conversation, you
(30:19):
know you start your, you startyour meetings by doing check-ins
, you make sure everybody isgood, you're paying attention to
people's needs and they'repaying attention to your needs
students, parents, kids staff,cafeteria workers, bus drivers
these are things that are very,very important.
So I was moved by, I've movedto make to do this episode, and
(30:43):
maybe I've been babbling alittle bit because, again, life
is short.
Life is very, very short andwe're not we're not going to be
here forever at all, but whilewe're here, I think it behooves
us all to be the best version ofourselves, whether it's, you
know, emotionally, physically,mentally.
(31:05):
We have to be, we have to bethe best versions, and the only
way we do that is by listeningto our bodies, listening to our
inner voices and doing, whendoing the work to make sure that
we're healthy all around, butalso creating space for our
colleagues and our staff and ourstudents and those that we care
(31:27):
about, to engage in those someconversations.
Yeah, please take care ofyourself.
If you're listening to thisepisode, I hope that I said
something that just sparkedsomething in you to say you know
what?
I'm just going to try to be 1%better tomorrow, and that's and
that's the really the goal.
Just to be 1% better tomorrow,that's it.
(31:48):
That's it, because, guess whatthat after five days, you know
you might be 5% better.
After 100 days, you might be100% better, that's.
That's that mean of movement,you know.
But either way, you got to moveforward, you know, and fell
forward, stand up, dust yourselfoff and keep moving forward and
(32:08):
reach that place that you endup being the best version of
yourself.
All right, y'all, this isUchain's Joker's New Year
Principal.
Hopefully this was good forsomebody and I'll talk to y'all
soon.
All right, be well, peace.
How are you doing right now?
Lightly, really.
How are you doing?
How are you feeling?
How's your health physical,mental, spiritual.
How are you Better?
Yet, are there any secrets thatyou're keeping, anything that
(00:23):
you're worried about health-wisethat you're not taking care of?
In this episode of the StingyPusual Podcast, I want to engage
you in a conversation aboutwellness and self-care and
specifically paying attention toyour health.
(00:44):
Let's go ahead and start.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
When they see me, they know that every day, when
I'm breathing, it's for us to gofarther.
Every time I speak, I want thetruth to come out.
Every time I speak, I want toshiver.
I don't want them to be like.
They know what I'm going to saybecause it's polite.
They know what I'm going to sayand even if I get in trouble,
that ain't what we're supposedto do.
I'm not saying I'm going torule the world or I'm going to
(01:07):
change the world, but Iguarantee that I will spark the
brain that will change the world, and that's our job is to spark
somebody else watching us.
We might not be the ones, butlet's not be selfish.
And because we're not going tochange the world, let's not talk
about how we should change it.
I don't know how to change it,but I know if I keep talking
about how dirty it is out here,somebody going to clean it up,
(01:34):
and now he's been promoted, hisjob is principle.
That's it, hello, everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This is Uchain Joghu SneakerPrincipal, and welcome to
this episode of theSneakerPrincipal podcast.
Your health is something that alot of us, that a lot of you
(02:05):
and including myself, don'talways fully appreciate, until
it drops, until you becomeunhealthy, until you become sick
.
So let me stop by telling you aquick story about myself.
(02:32):
I've shared this before, but Ifeel like it's one of those
stories that needs to be toldover and over again.
So back in about 2015 or so, Iwas in a car accident and, as a
(02:55):
result of the car accident, Ireally tweaked my back and I had
to go see a doctor.
And doing this appointment witha doctor, you know they know
the typical.
They take your blood pressure.
So they took my blood pressureand you know it's a problem.
(03:15):
When they walk out of the room,they say nothing to you.
The nurse runs out of the roomyou know, not run, but quickly
walks out of the room.
They come back and say we'regoing to do it again and they
use a different technique.
Maybe, instead of using theautomatic cuff, they use they do
the manual reading and they'relike ooh, it's a little high,
(03:37):
let me get the doctor in.
And you're like okay, now thisis going to be a third person or
third runner of the bloodpressure test.
And the doctor comes in and hedoes it and he's like, how are
you feeling right now?
And in that moment, I'll behonest with you I was tired, I
was a little annoyed.
I had to drive from work, putthis appointment, a lot of
(04:01):
traffic, finding parking wasannoying and again, it was just
a rough day at work.
And he said to me how did youget here?
I said I drove and he's likehuh, he's like your blood
pressure is really, really high,like it's so high that I'm not
(04:23):
even sure how.
You're still like like mentallyfunctioning right now.
And it's funny because my noiseturned into watering on rage.
I was like guys, listen, can wejust move on with this?
I just want to go home.
And he was like you, I keeplike I wouldn't advise you at
(04:46):
this point in time in ourreality.
You know, in cases like this,with limits, like this, we're
calling an ambulance to take youstraight to the ER, because
people in this situation usuallyare passing out or very passed
out.
I looked at him like what areyou talking about?
I also wind up typing the daythat I already had at work.
(05:11):
I think, if I remember correctlythat day, maybe I've had 30
parent meetings and I was inassistant principal at the time
Like three parent meetings.
There might have been a fightthen, my principal's annoying me
, you know, teachers wereannoying me.
There's all these thingshappening.
And it didn't help that I wasabout 350 pounds.
It didn't help that I was noteating healthy it wasn't.
(05:34):
It didn't help that I wasn'tgetting much sleep.
It didn't help that my wholeentire life was really wrapped
around the school building.
I got there early, I left therelate, you know, and my whole
entire identity was there andtied into the work that I was
doing as an assistant principalI made I really made very little
(05:56):
room for anything else otherthan work.
So I'm sitting there with adoctor and the doctor is trying
the best to help me understandthe severity of the situation.
I am not trying to hear it.
And he said these words thatresonated with me.
(06:20):
It still echoes to my head,right, it didn't resonate but it
definitely caught my attention.
He said to me Mr Andjoku, areyou trying to kill yourself?
Do you want to die?
And I heard him.
(06:41):
But I was just like you knowwhat bump this, I'm out.
And I remember I stormed out thehospital and everything.
I was re-mad and of course,being angry is not gonna help
the blood pressure.
It was just so much going onand I went straight to the house
.
I went straight home and I wasjust like tired and exhausted
(07:06):
and I just I think I just laiddown and knocked out.
And that's once when I didn'tusually do go home and just go
to sleep.
I would find some work to doand I remember waking up the
mulled the night and didn't feelany better and I kept on
(07:26):
thinking about what he said areyou trying to kill yourself?
Are you trying to die?
It's funny, but it's my mind.
I wanted to be successful.
I want to be great at what Iwas doing.
I want to be seen for the workthat I was doing and I wanted to
be the best since the principleI could be the best
administration I can be.
But I do know these things, inspite of the fact that I knew
(07:53):
something was wrong with myhealth.
I could feel it, but I'll givemyself reasons.
Oh, I'm just tired, I'm justnot getting enough sleep, I'm
just.
I'm just.
I'm just.
The reality was at 350 pounds.
Let's call it what it is.
I was very unhealthy and fastforward, you know.
(08:16):
Eventually you had to make somesome tough decisions and and
and this is after several timesup and down, losing 30 pounds
here, 40 pounds here.
I think the most whatever lossat any given time was roughly
about 80.
I think the most probably lostit any given time from the 350
(08:38):
range was by 80 pounds and I haddone that few years earlier.
So I've been doing the yo-yowait up and down, up and down,
and I'm it actually got to thepoint where, you know, I had to
make the tough decision ofgetting guests think I've gained
gastro by past surgery.
I mind you, I'm.
I was never I'm not surgerykind of person.
(08:59):
I had my shoulder.
I'd had my shoulder repaired afew years prior and that was
that was crazy, that was painful, that was like completely just
like, not something I would everwant to do again.
And here I am and I had to makea decision because my weight
was so out of control.
My blood pressure was also outof control, I was pre-diabetic,
(09:20):
I had severe sleep apnea, likeit was just everything and all
the things on all the markersthat could lead that typically,
lisa, death of black men I hadgoing on shouldn't have.
The only thing I didn't havewas heart disease.
My heart was pretty strong.
My heart, my heart walls werehealthy and they said you know,
(09:43):
that was something.
Even when they, when it did myEKG, they were like that was
pretty surprising and only thing, the only reason I would, the
only thing I would give that tois the fact that even at my
biggest size, I was alwaysworking out.
I was a, I was 350, but I wasstill in the gym.
I was still in the gym and mymentality was like I need to
make sure I was powerful enough.
I strong enough to be able towithstand anything that they
(10:05):
came my way.
And maybe that's why you know,you know, even though I wasn't
doing much cardio but justlifting weights, got my heart
rate up and kept my hearthealthy, but everything else was
out of control.
You know again, pre-diabetic,hypotensive, all these things
right.
So I'm, I got the surgery andfast forward.
(10:28):
You know, and here I am now.
You know, and I'm typically I'mabout 225.
Am I the healthiest I can be?
Absolutely not.
Am I still a workaholic?
Yes, I am.
Am I?
Am I more conscious of of myhealth and and what I do.
(10:49):
Yes, I am.
Do I drop the ball all the time?
Yes, I do, you know.
So it's a struggle, but it'salso a struggle that I think
doesn't have to be as long aswe're conscious of the lies that
we're telling ourselves aboutour health.
And I lied to myself for a verylong time.
You know, I didn't get a 350overnight and I need come coming
(11:11):
to education.
At 350 I was probably about 265or so I was.
I was pretty much a powerlifter, I had that powerlifter frame
and the work became my priorityand slowly but surely, over the
next decade or so, I got the 350.
And that's when and I'mgrateful that I am, that I'm not
(11:37):
there anymore, and I do workhard to make sure I don't get
back.
I don't get to that point, butalso know that it is a thin line
.
You know it's a very thin linebetween where I'm at right now,
or actually where I'm at rightnow where I could be as far as
if I don't pay attention to whatI'm doing, and also where I
(11:57):
could be if I was moreintentional and put more work in
which I'm doing.
But I know I could do more.
So I'm, that's my little spieland hopefully didn't bore you,
but again, I know I'm.
What I'm saying is speaking tosomeone out there and I'm gonna
say this specifically to men, tomen.
(12:18):
You know a lot of us and again,I know my audience is not just
school leaders, it's not justaspiring school leaders, it's,
it's.
I have people who listen tothis who are in various fields,
in a very various fields, ineducation and outside of
education.
And I'll say this men, you haveto take care of yourselves.
(12:39):
Too often we, we, we move inthe fashion that we are raised
to move in or move to move, like, which is we are providers for
the caretakers and we take careof everybody else before we take
care of ourselves, you know.
(13:00):
And then if there's anythinghaving to do with our health or
our health, you know it's, it'swe, we.
We think that it is weakness tobe sick, but the reality is
being sick is your body tellingyou you're not doing something
right or something is wrong.
So we have to be very conscious, listening to our bodies,
(13:22):
annoying Even, knowing all thethings that we may face as men,
whether it's things just have todo with men in general, whether
it's things have to do with ourwesternized diets, whether it's
things that tend to impactblack men more so, or Asian men
more so, white men more so,whatever race or background you
(13:44):
may come from.
We have to be conscious ofthese things because, again,
let's be honest here, men liveshorter lives than women for a
reason Usually it's because wejust don't tend to pay attention
to our health until it is toolate, and so I just want to put
(14:05):
that out there and make sureit's very clear.
And again, women, same thingwith you.
You know, it's just that, men,we do a poor job when it comes
to staying on top of our healthand hopefully, as a man, you
have a strong woman next to you,or whether it's a wife or a
sister or a mother or a friendwho is looking out for you and
(14:31):
is pushing you to take care ofyourself, and, sadly enough, a
lot of men don't have that.
So, again, let's get back to mynotes I just wanted to point out
before wrapping up this episode.
So, first thing, the demands onschool leaders we have to check
(14:54):
ourselves and be realisticabout what we can get done
during the day, and I know I'm Ineed to listen to this myself,
but it's very important that youschedule out your day.
The demands on school leadersis insane, you know, between the
compliance issues and then thethings that pop up and the
(15:16):
things, that has becomes yourresponsibility because you have
the title of principles orassistant principle.
So the number of times whereI'm ready to walk out the
building, you know, and all of asudden ring, ring, ring.
Such and such didn't get home.
You know, and you're like, okay, what's going on here?
Then you find yourself in schoolmaking phone calls, trying to
(15:37):
figure out where this child isor if the case is wrong these
may be and then all of a suddenyou find out they were at
whatever, wherever's friend'shouse or at the park and the one
new where they were.
And now they're home.
You know, and guess what?
You're the last person in thebuilding, you know.
I mean I've been in thebuilding sometimes waiting for
police or child protectiveservices to come, to come, come
(16:00):
meet me, because there was achild at the school with me.
I'm going to tell you now.
Sometimes it's late, at eight,nine o'clock, you know, and yes,
but I might say, well, there'sall these protocols that could
come pick up yet, but you stillgot to wait with them.
You know, you know you can't,you know, as a leader, I'm not
willing to just say, hey, child,stay here on the corner until
somebody comes to get you, my,my, my belief has always been
(16:21):
what the child is in my custody,that that is my child, until I
hand them off to the next, tothe proper person, whether it's
their parent or authorities orwherever the case may be.
But things like this make forvery, very long days.
Yes, they don't happen all thetime, but sometimes, you know,
there are things that, um, thatdon't allow you to have a
(16:44):
properly scheduled day.
But one of the things that Ilearned, and and I have to
remind myself every day, youhave to have a full stop at how
many days we eat, like I'm donefor the day.
You know, borrowing thosethings that that that could pop
up at any given time, that are,that are, um, that are just part
(17:06):
of the job.
Like I said earlier, somethinghappens and what a child.
And you have to be there.
Yes, I understand that, but youhave to.
You have to make it a point toknowing to stop your day and
also knowing to start your day.
I know people who who theirofficial work day doesn't start
till 7 30, but their work is 630 every day.
(17:28):
You know, I used to be me andthat's one of the things that I
had to stop doing and because Itold myself, rather than taking
getting to work a whole hourbefore I should be there, I can
take this from that time and goto the gym and work out.
You know, meditate, dosomething.
So I have a clear mind and bodybefore I even walk into the
building, versus waking up,jumping, jumping in the shower,
(17:49):
jumping in traffic and gostraight to work.
So think about you wake up,shower, being in traffic and,
depending on how far you'redriving, that's stress right
there.
They walk to the building.
Then, as you walk in your, yourdrone is pumping your your
stress hormones are are arestarting to ooze out.
Unless you know that they startand you're going, then if you
(18:12):
want those people who doesn'tknow how to stop the day, they
guess what you're doing Nowyou're at, you're at the job
till you know, you know 5, 6,you know whatever it may be.
And I know some of you whomight be listening to this who
work in the environment likeBrandon, but it's a joke.
You, you, you do that.
No one thing I do do is I do do.
(18:33):
One of the things that I that Ido is I do wake up early.
I do go to the gym and let'slook at religion.
Religion for me, whether it'sgoing to the gym or getting
getting some kind of physicalactivity, even in the days where
I'm like oh my God, overslept,which is rare, I would jump on
the floor and knock out 100push-ups.
But again, I have to make surethe blood is flowing in my body
(18:54):
and my and that blood is flowingto my brain, to make sure that
I'm ready to start the day theright way.
When I'm in traffic and I'mdriving, I'm not thinking.
I try my best not to thinkabout work.
I think I might use that timeto engage in some kind of
gratitude conversation.
I reach out to a friend whomight, might be in traffic as
well and just to say, hey,what's up?
And chop it up.
Or I might do an audio book inthe car, like these are the
(19:18):
things that I'm doing to makesure that when I walk into the
building, I turn on when I walkin.
Yes, is that?
Is that always the case.
No, there's some days where youwalk into something and then
and work might start a littlebit earlier just because of the
circumstances of that day, youknow, and that's okay.
But it cannot be.
It cannot be like that everysingle day.
(19:40):
You know the thing, the thingthat you need to understand
about self care is that it'sabout taking the time to attend
to your physical, emotional andmental well being Okay, physical
, emotional and mentalwell-being and being intentional
about that when carving thattime out.
(20:00):
And for everybody it's going tobe different, like in my case.
I like early mornings and Ilike late evenings, you know
those two spaces just to likehow I unpack my brain, you know,
or set myself up for the nextday.
Now again, is it something thatis easy to do?
No, it's not.
It's very hard because often,if you're not careful, you let
the day dictate your 24 hoursand for me, my 24 hours have to
(20:25):
be broken up Sleep, preparationand release.
So preparation for my dayworking out, meditating, you
know, getting the mind, of bodyready.
Then, end of the day, release,shut it off.
Shut it off so that your bodyhas time to recuperate and reset
(20:45):
itself so you can jump into thenext day and get back to the
grind.
So practical self-carestrategies.
So, like I said, I have itscheduled in my day to work out
(21:09):
and I don't have it timed out tomeditate, but I do take brain
breaks, I do.
You know, listen to my body.
There are times when I'm justlike, okay, uche, you're
starting to escalate, you knowyour anxiety is starting to
reach, get high, or you'regetting hyper-emotional, and I
will, you know, stop everything,put my do not disturb sign on
(21:30):
the door, turn lights off andbreathe, or sometime it might
just be.
I need a complete detachmentfrom what I'm feeling in that
moment and I will drop into thefloor and do some push-ups.
Well, I might.
Right now I haven't done thatlike like I'd drop out of the
hat, but previously I would dothat, I'd be in the hallway and
(21:51):
just drop to do some push-ups.
You know, and the thing withthat was that doing push-ups or
if you're for your jumping jacksor whatever it is, you do
because it's something thatrequires focus and concentration
.
I, my brain, takes a, my braintakes a break from the thing
that it was focused on prior todoing those push-ups.
(22:12):
So I don't like to do minimum40.
And, depending on how I'mfeeling, I might push for that
100 on push-ups, and I'm talkingabout 100 push-ups in a row.
So I'll do 10, 10, 10, 10, 10,10, 10 times to get to that 100.
And again, when I'm done, I'mbreathing.
No, I feel the, the, theadrenaline rush, the blood
flowing and all of a sudden, myanxiety is, it's non-existent,
(22:35):
and I get to be focused andattack whatever problem is or
whatever work I need to get done.
So I, so I do things like that.
The other thing, too, is eatingdoing a day and this is
something to get better at doinga day I like to intentionally
(22:59):
fast.
What I mean by intentionallymeaning that today I'm going to
fast, this week I'm going tofast and it's part of my
intention.
Versus I fasted because Ididn't get to eat.
I was hungry throughout thewhole entire day and I was
annoyed, and every time I try toget some food to eat,
somebody's bothering me ordistracting me.
So then what ends up happeningis, when I do get to eat, I go
(23:21):
and grab a bunch of bags ofchips and soda or whatever the
case may be, because I'mravenous, I want something quick
.
Versus when you're intentional,you say, okay, I'm going to
start my fasts at this time, I'mgoing to run to this time and
this is how I'm going to breakmy fast, because if I break my
fast at four, maybe I'll have abowl of fruit or something that
(23:44):
honors my body for survivingthat fast.
That intentionality is very,very important.
So those are some of thestrategies that I like to employ
when it comes to food.
I try to make sure that I'm notputting myself in the position
where I'm starving and then I'mhangry throughout the day
because I didn't get to eat, andthen, between the hunger and
(24:04):
the anger and anger, it becomesits own beast, like, I make sure
to be intentional and there'sno what's happened.
There are days where it slipsmy mind and I'm like, oh, snap.
But then once I know, okay, Ihaven't eaten or I'm getting
hungry, then I have to come tothe issue with myself Okay, what
am I going to do about that?
Is there's a hunger where I canmake it intentional and tell
(24:25):
myself, okay, I'm going to holdoff on the next two, three, four
hours and then at that point,I'll get something?
Or is it something where I'mjust like, okay, I need to get
something to eat right now.
Then I ask myself what is itthat is going to allow me to
have a more effective day afterI eat it, versus something
that's going to make meexhausted and droggy and
completely out of the loopyafter I have in it and I'm
(24:49):
talking about like things likesugars and processed foods that
just elevates your sugar spikeso you're like hyper and all of
a sudden you're done.
So those are the things that Ireally think about.
Like you know, how do I makesure that I'm taking care of my
body?
And the other thing too is thenit's being hydrated.
You know, getting some fluidsin.
I'm lucky I have a water coolerin my office.
(25:11):
Then there's open to anybodywho wants to get water.
I just gotta make sure I saythat I'm not the king with the
water cooler in my office.
Now it's stationed in my office.
People come in there all thetime to get water.
But, yes, they're hydrated,especially when you're in a
space where you know where theair quality is not that great or
(25:34):
you might not be moving as muchas you want to move.
So you want to make sure you'rehydrated, that you're body and
muscles are getting a lot offluids and also allows you to
flush your body system out.
People don't think about that.
You know you have to be regular, whether it's, I mean,
especially when you come to gointo the bathroom, and the best
way to do that is to drink waterand let your body be able to
(25:58):
flush yourself out.
And then now mental.
When it comes to mental andemotional wellness I think I
touched upon this alreadyBreathing, that's been my
biggest thing.
Find a space to just breathe ordo something that breaks the
monotony during the day.
That's something that's veryimportant to me.
(26:20):
But the other thing, too, ishaving trust of people around
you that you talk to Like youknow, read.
Talk to them and say, hey, I'mhaving a tough day today, but
also having people around youwho are who you've developed a
relationship strong enough forthem to say, hey, how are you
doing?
You don't look too good todayor you look tired, and I
(26:40):
appreciate that.
When people in my staff tell methat, I really appreciate that,
because that tells me that theycare about me.
Because the other thing, too, Ido the same thing.
I want to see them.
But hey, what's going on?
Are you good?
Because sometimes… you know,manu, I started this episode by
asking you this question and howare you doing?
You know, because often howwe're doing, especially when it
(27:02):
comes to mental, physical,emotional health, is a secret.
We say we're fine when we'renot.
So for me it's very importantto create spaces for us to be
able to freely express whatwe're going through, so that we
have a tribe and a culturedeveloped within our school of
(27:24):
wellness, mutual wellness,taking care of each other.
You know, because, again, that'ssomething that often you don't
talk about.
You know we suffer in silenceand that's something that I try
to ensure, at least in my schoolcommunity, that we're not doing
.
Am I the best person at doingit all the time?
(27:46):
No, but also, I put my moneywhere my mouth is.
I have vendors.
I have one particular vendorwho comes to my school and does
that work, not just for myself,I'm sure, not just for my
students, my teachers, but alsofor me, you know, and my parents
as well, having workshops,wellness workshop for the
parents, you know, goingvisiting classrooms and doing
(28:08):
that work for kids, and then forthe teachers and then me myself
, you know, having aconversation and when I'm being
checked in with to see how I'mdoing, how I'm doing personally?
How am I doing professionally?
How am I addressing issues inthe school, how what kind of
support I could be given to bemore effective in supporting the
(28:31):
school community, like thesethings are like very, very
important and often we don't.
We don't engage in them.
I'm gonna say it again we don'tengage in them because we are
embarrassed or we're fearful orwe're worried about being judged
as being weak, but in allreality, that's not what it is.
This is something that I thinkmakes you better.
(28:51):
I can tell you this.
Ever since I lost the weightand I've been conscious in
making the right moves to stayhealthy, even though, again, I'm
nowhere close to where I'mgonna be, but at least it's
there, you know, and then onlythat being more conscious of my,
my my mental well being,something again that I've now
(29:15):
was done great at.
But the fact that I'm at likeright now, I am conscious of it,
you know I am, I am a, I am abig, big even protecting my
mental health and being able totell people like to back off,
like really back off whenthey're infringing on my mental
health, and these are thingsthat, as school leaders, are
(29:37):
very, very important.
Knowing what to take a meetingand not to take a meeting,
knowing to, knowing when to youknow, being able to tell your
superiors like, hey, I'm notdoing good right now or I need
XYZ these are things that Ithink I believe are marks of
good leaders because, again, ifyou're serious about your health
(29:58):
physical, mental, spiritual,emotional that means you are
going to be, or at least youshould be.
You should be serious aboutthose of the people around you
because if you're serious abouttheirs and they eventually,
hopefully they'll be seriousabout yours and you have, you
develop a culture where that ispart of the conversation, you
(30:19):
know you start your, you startyour meetings by doing check-ins
, you make sure everybody isgood, you're paying attention to
people's needs and they'repaying attention to your needs
students, parents, kids staff,cafeteria workers, bus drivers
these are things that are very,very important.
So I was moved by, I've movedto make to do this episode, and
(30:43):
maybe I've been babbling alittle bit because, again, life
is short.
Life is very, very short andwe're not we're not going to be
here forever at all, but whilewe're here, I think it behooves
us all to be the best version ofourselves, whether it's, you
know, emotionally, physically,mentally.
(31:05):
We have to be, we have to bethe best versions, and the only
way we do that is by listeningto our bodies, listening to our
inner voices and doing, whendoing the work to make sure that
we're healthy all around, butalso creating space for our
colleagues and our staff and ourstudents and those that we care
(31:27):
about, to engage in those someconversations.
Yeah, please take care ofyourself.
If you're listening to thisepisode, I hope that I said
something that just sparkedsomething in you to say you know
what?
I'm just going to try to be 1%better tomorrow, and that's and
that's the really the goal.
Just to be 1% better tomorrow,that's it.
(31:48):
That's it, because, guess whatthat after five days, you know
you might be 5% better.
After 100 days, you might be100% better, that's.
That's that mean of movement,you know.
But either way, you got to moveforward, you know, and fell
forward, stand up, dust yourselfoff and keep moving forward and
(32:08):
reach that place that you endup being the best version of
yourself.
All right, y'all, this isUchain's Joker's New Year
Principal.
Hopefully this was good forsomebody and I'll talk to y'all
soon.
All right, be well, peace.
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