May 4, 2025 • 30 mins
Elijah gets you vaught up on his past week, & discuss the shows topic, The Power of Showing Up.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Elijah Winfrey Show. Each week, Elijah gets
you caught up on his work in the community, talks
with guests about issues and causes that are important to them,
while also answering your email questions. So sit back, relax,
and enjoy the show. Here's your host, Elijah Winfrey.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, folks, and welcome to the Elijah Winfrey Show. I
am indeed your host, Elijah Winfrey. It is good to
be back with you today. We have a great show
lined up for you today. I will not be taking
questions this week. We are going to cover a topic
(00:47):
that's it's kind of near and dear to me. You know,
I love shouting people out on my platforms in person
for the work that they're doing in nick munity, and
today we're going to talk about the power of showing up.
(01:10):
I'm excited about this topic. I think it's important to
shine the light on this and how if we can
consistently show up and build, we can change the world
and do great things. So there are some people I'm
going to highlight today that really mean a lot to me,
(01:34):
that have been very impactful in my life, and I've
seen the work in their communities and it has been
great to collaborate with these individuals. So we're going to
get into that momentarily. First, I'm gonna get you caught
up with my past week, which was business as usual.
Things are beginning to pick up here as we head
(01:57):
into late spring and get ready for summer, and I
am excited about that. My fourth children's book, Little E
Celebrates Juneteenth will be out this month, May twentieth. It's
already May May fourth, to be exact, and things are
really starting to pick up steam here. So I would
(02:20):
encourage all of you. I would really appreciate the support
if you all could get out and purchase a copy
of the book. I work really hard on writing this
story about Juneteenth, and it's a it's a very important day.
It's a day that we cannot forget. And you know,
(02:43):
I'll I'll share a bit of honesty here. When I
was growing up, we didn't talk about June tenth much.
We didn't I definitely didn't hear about it in schools. So,
you know, as we all continue to learn and educate
(03:04):
ourselves on things that we were not taught or told,
I think it's important for you to go out and
purchase this book and read it to your classrooms, read
it to your kids, and you know, talk about it,
talk about the importance of Juneteenth again, that that book
will be out May twentieth, or do more promo drives
(03:27):
on my social media platforms about the book coming up
here next week. I'm really really excited, really really excited
about this project and I know it's going to do
as well as my previous books. And you know, I
can't wait to read your responses. My work as a
(03:52):
para educator. It's winding down, and again the door is
still open. Mm hmm. You know, I'm not shutting the
door on that. I just you know, I personally, I
personally need to be around a bit of a bit
more structure and I'm hoping that you know, that happens.
(04:19):
The teachers and the staff at Sunset Elementary are are amazing.
They do a wonderful job. And I've I've enjoyed my
time in the building. You know, this is this is
year three for me, and you know, as I, as
I said before, I learned new things every day. So
(04:45):
I am doing my best to enjoy you know, my time,
and whether or not, you know, I I come back
next year, you know, remains to be seen. We'll see.
I am gonna sit down and really think about some
things before I make that decision. There are a lot
of things that are happening in my life that I
need to get a handle on pertaining to family back home,
(05:08):
and so I want to make sure that you know
things are okay before I make any future plans regarding
my role as a pair of educator. But I love
my teammates. You know, we definitely you know, we can
definitely do hard things. I see them do it all
(05:29):
the time. I try to take a lot of my
cues from them, and last week was no different. So
that's going well. As many of you know, I am
a fitness model, a clothing model. I giggle because I
(05:51):
you know, I don't take myself too seriously. These companies
that reached out, I really appreciate them taking the time
to see me and too high like me and to
offer me things. So I'm grateful for for these opportunities.
It's been fun. I've enjoyed it. You know. I love
dressing up. I love wearing nice things, cool things and
(06:15):
representing companies that I feel are you know, all about
being good right and doing positive things and having that
positive energy, so I'm excited about you know, where that
road leads me to. Physically and mentally, I'm doing okay.
I'm building toward my one of two only golf outings
(06:40):
this summer. I'll be teaching, you know, golf, but I'm
gonna play twice this summer. My first stint will be
at Chambers Bay, and I'm excited about that. You know,
raising funds for the First Tea of Seattle, a place
that I hold near and dear. Tomorrow art they do
(07:02):
really good things for kids. They definitely focus on core
values and life skills, something that's important to me. So
I am trying to get in some type of shape
to walk thirty six holes in a day with these
flat feet, but I am excited about that. So mentally,
physically I'm doing well. Families doing good. My kiddos's getting
(07:25):
ready for track. We're going to go out and test
his new spiked shoes he has. He has an upcoming
track meet this week that I can't wait to watch.
So things are really really going well on the home front.
All right. I can ramble on about myself and things
(07:47):
the entire show, but you didn't come here for that.
You came here for the topic of the day with
just the power of showing up. And you know, I
think about this lot when I am in the community
or when I'm just at home, maybe writing or thinking
(08:07):
about something like the importance of really being there for others.
It is, it's very powerful. I equate everything back to service,
you know. I think that's why we're all here. We
have to find ways to service each other. And you know,
(08:30):
sometimes in this world of ours, we celebrate the loudest
voices and the biggest platforms. You see it all the time.
You see, you know at these award shows that they're
talking about the biggest names or the biggest organizations that
are doing great things, which is true, and I don't
want to take anything away from that, because they are
(08:51):
doing good things. They do give back, a lot of
them do. But we sometimes forget the power of being present,
and we forget about the little companies, you know, or
the people that are really on the ground doing the
work in the community. And it doesn't matter what you're doing.
(09:13):
You could be mentoring a young child, or you can
be mentoring a group of people. You can be helping
a neighbor, you could be just simply listening, but you're
showing up. And I've been surrounded by people like that
my entire life. You know, I've always looked two others
(09:39):
to find a source of inspiration. Right, Not that I
necessarily needed that, but when you see people doing good
things in the community, it lights a fire in you.
I know it does for me, and you want to
figure out how they're doing what they're doing with limited resources. Right,
(10:03):
And I'm talking about the folks that we don't talk about,
like a Gerald Donaldson. I don't know anything about Gerald Donaldson,
aka mister D until my wife told me about him.
She listened to him on NPR talk about the importance
of helping our youth in the school system, and he
(10:23):
was very passionate, very emotional about it. And you know,
my wife said, you got to find a way to
talk to him. You got to reach out and try
to meet this guy. And that's all it took for me.
You know, I did my homework, reached out. He responded,
(10:44):
and we're like brothers now. And the work he's done
in the Seattle School district is second to none. And
he's not one of those look at me type of people.
He does the work and then he pivots, he shares
(11:05):
the work, and then he pivots, and talking to him,
you know, I understand his worth and his value, and
his sense of direction and where he wants to go.
He's a fantastic guy, and he's one of many individuals
(11:27):
that I've met that have impacted and inspired my work
in the community. I frequently go to Springfield, Missouri every
summer to meet with autism advocates, and Elizabeth Aubrey is
an amazing talent. She was part of the Stars for
(11:49):
Autism organization that is no longer currently functioning. You know,
they've all kind of spread their wings a bit. Doctor
Linda Barboa, Shelley Allen, Brenda Bradshaw, Jan Luck like these
women started a nonprofit and the impact they had on
(12:14):
their community was tremendous. They were training police officers. They
would go into stores to train employees pertaining to kids
and adults on the autism spectrum. I was guest speaker
at a couple of their events in Springfield, and our
connection remains rock solid. Even though they've all kind of
(12:36):
spread out in the world and have moved into different things.
Elizabeth is still in Springfield and we have a great friendship,
and I'm going to be there this summer next month
actually June twenty seventh through the thirtieth, So everybody who
listens to Springfield, I will be back and I'm excited
(12:59):
to be back. There are some great people doing some
great things, and it all comes back to the power
of showing up and helping those who are in need
of voices. It's not always low income families that we're helping,
(13:22):
right We're also helping people that are on the right
track but are in need of a word or just
they want us to listen to ideas. It's all about
to me anyway, It's all about building trusts and creating
these connections right that never go away. I can text
(13:51):
these individuals I just talked about right now and I'd
get a response. So I I encourage all of you
to get out in your your communities. Listen, watch what
(14:15):
the showing up mean to you? In your line of work?
Are you thinking about that or in your personal life?
Are you consistent in that? Can you share moments where
(14:37):
your presence made an unexpected impact? You know it's that's
a hard one for me, you know, I am. I'm
getting better with handling compliments and sharing moments where I
(15:04):
feel like I impacted someone or something right. I love
to share my work on my platforms from time to time,
but I do like being behind the scenes because I
think as we do the work, it's really all about
(15:25):
the families or the individuals that we are responding to
or we're helping. That's where the spotlight goes, and if
you've done the work, they kind of share that. I'm
inspired by a lot of people, a lot of people
(15:49):
in the elementary school that I am at. I'm inspired
every day by these teachers who lesson planned in the morning,
after work at night. They go above and beyond all
the time, and I think sometimes we underestimate that because
(16:18):
we think, oh, well, that's what they signed up for,
so they should be doing that. But that's not That's
not always the case, and I think that that's part
of the problem. We tend to underestimate those who show
(16:40):
up day in and day out and on specifically talking
about teachers rarely take any days off. You have to
retain so much in the classroom. You have to deal
with multiple personalities. Right, You're twenty students, maybe twenty three,
(17:04):
twenty four students in a classroom it's a lot. But
as I walk through the halls and I'm peeking in classrooms,
I see like leadership from these teachers. I see leadership
(17:26):
from Mr d I see leadership from the students. Every
day is in a good day, but we always find
something good, right, We find something good in it. And
(17:48):
I try to do that every day. And I think
one of the ways that we can celebrate and support
folks that are doing the work who don't really care
for the spotlight. It's just walk up to them, share
(18:09):
something positive, but genuine and honest. You're doing a fantastic job.
I see you, I hear you. Thank you. It's as
simple as that. A lot of times, it really is.
(18:31):
So I encourage you to think about that and to
step out into your community and find ways to show up.
When you show up, though, make sure you have a plan.
(18:55):
Don't just show up and then go home and feel
like you've done enough. There's a lot of work that
needs to be done. When you show up, show up
with a plan, share your plan. You'd be surprised how
(19:16):
many people or waiting on you to do that or
want that. Showing up is extremely powerful. It is, And
(19:41):
before I pivot to something else that's been heavy on
my heart. I I I want to I want to
wrap this this segment up with this, and I want
you to remember this. You do not need a title.
(20:07):
Let me say it again. You do not need a
title or a platform. Or you don't have to have
a plan a perfect plan. Right. We focus on the
word perfect a lot. You don't have to have a
perfect plan to make a difference. Just show up, show
up for your community, show up for your family, but
(20:27):
most importantly, show up for yourself. So many people need
you right now, and sometimes we don't always know how
to say that or admit that. So be present, Be
present in one area of your life that's been holding
(20:50):
you back. Volunteer, offer a smile, or make a call
to check in on someone. And you have to remember,
you know, the world changes not all at once. It
(21:16):
all starts with you. It all starts with you, all right.
I want to pivot to something here as we get
closer to the end of the show. Something that's been
weighing on me, and I had made a post I
(21:39):
do my weekly post Monday Friday. You know, kind of
a positive vibe thing, you know, something that I'm really
thinking about and a friend of mine I won't name
the friend wanted to know if I could elaborate about
this post that I made on the show today, and
(22:01):
I told my I told this friend I would do that.
And for those who who are new to my social
media page or they follow me on social media, every
Monday every Friday, you know, I try to post a
positive message coming out of the gate to kind of
(22:23):
get us going into the work week. And I enjoy
doing it. It was part of the Peloton campaign, if
you will, where I feel like, you know, because of
the positive vibes that I was sending. You know, I
was offered a spot in the commercial. I took it
(22:45):
with well, you know, the rest is history. But I
love I love sending out positive vibes, positive energy. And
so I made a post recently talking about most people
would rather be right than be free, right, some would
(23:12):
some would rather wear the weight of being right than
the wings of being free because truth asks us to
let go and letting go ain't easy, right, And I
kind of said a few more things, But everything I
said in that post, everything I say in my post,
I believe. I believe every word of it, and I
(23:38):
think and for the record, I've been guilty of this too, right,
So I'm not just I'm not talking at you. I'm
talking to you too often. You know, we cling to
to being right. Right, My point is the point. I
have to be right, even when it costs us peace, growth,
(24:00):
or connection. I've been there. I will argue my point
until you know, everybody says that I'm right. And and
why do we do that? You know? I thought about
that yesterday. I thought about it Friday when I was
(24:21):
asked about it. Why do we do that? Why do
we we cling to being right? And I'm not saying
that's a horrible thing right, like you want to be
You want to be true to yourself and you want
to feel like your point is a valid point right.
You want to live your truth. But why do we
we cling to it? I think one of the reasons
(24:43):
we we we cling to it is because being right
gives us control. Sometimes we think, oh if I'm if
I'm right in the room, everything will gravitate towards me.
Everybody will ask me all the important questions. And sometimes
I think it gives us a shield. I can just
(25:05):
hold it up and say remember this, Remember when I
said this. But freedom, it's different. Freedom requires vulnerability, you know.
It asks us sometimes to admit that maybe, just maybe
(25:32):
we've got more to learn, more to unlearn, and more
to become. And not many people are ready for that.
A lot of people don't even don't want that, if
I'm being perfectly honest. Freedom isn't always comfortable. It stretches you.
(26:05):
It's supposed to stretch you. It causes you to look
in the mirror something that I don't think we do
enough of. Freedom forces us to face what's hard and
still choose to show up with love and humility. I
(26:29):
try to do that every day, but I fall short
from time to time. So when I made the post,
I thought about it a little bit, but then when
I was asked to kind of elaborate on it, I
(26:51):
really did some thinking. But I believe every word of
the We all want to be right. We we sometimes
fight to be right, but we don't fight hard enough
(27:15):
to be free. So as I close the show today,
I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you this, are you choosing
to be right or are you choosing to be free?
(27:39):
And how do you determine one or both? And again,
I don't think being right isn't a horrible thing. But
sometimes we we focus so hard on being right that
(28:03):
we missed that opportunity to be free and to check
in on ourselves and to open those doors where there's
a real struggle going on inside of us. So I
(28:23):
encourage you to think about that, and my really good
friend who listens to the show, I hope that that
answers your question. And I'm glad you you you brought
it to my attention. Otherwise I probably wouldn't even gave
(28:48):
it a second a second thought. Probably not all right,
That is it for the show today, folks. I want
to thank everybody for tuning in as you always do,
(29:10):
and you always show me love and support. Really appreciate it.
Do me a favor. As you're thinking about what I
just said, get out in your communities and check in
on your family and friends. Put a smile on someone's face.
Remember it doesn't take a lot of energy to do
(29:31):
that at all. Show up for somebody this week. Make
a difference. Doesn't have to be a big one. It
can be small. Start with a smile, start with a handshake,
but just show up until next week. Take care, God
bless Thank you for listening to the Elijah Infra Show,
(29:52):
Bye Bye
Welcome to the Elijah Winfrey Show. Each week, Elijah gets
you caught up on his work in the community, talks
with guests about issues and causes that are important to them,
while also answering your email questions. So sit back, relax,
and enjoy the show. Here's your host, Elijah Winfrey.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, folks, and welcome to the Elijah Winfrey Show. I
am indeed your host, Elijah Winfrey. It is good to
be back with you today. We have a great show
lined up for you today. I will not be taking
questions this week. We are going to cover a topic
(00:47):
that's it's kind of near and dear to me. You know,
I love shouting people out on my platforms in person
for the work that they're doing in nick munity, and
today we're going to talk about the power of showing up.
(01:10):
I'm excited about this topic. I think it's important to
shine the light on this and how if we can
consistently show up and build, we can change the world
and do great things. So there are some people I'm
going to highlight today that really mean a lot to me,
(01:34):
that have been very impactful in my life, and I've
seen the work in their communities and it has been
great to collaborate with these individuals. So we're going to
get into that momentarily. First, I'm gonna get you caught
up with my past week, which was business as usual.
Things are beginning to pick up here as we head
(01:57):
into late spring and get ready for summer, and I
am excited about that. My fourth children's book, Little E
Celebrates Juneteenth will be out this month, May twentieth. It's
already May May fourth, to be exact, and things are
really starting to pick up steam here. So I would
(02:20):
encourage all of you. I would really appreciate the support
if you all could get out and purchase a copy
of the book. I work really hard on writing this
story about Juneteenth, and it's a it's a very important day.
It's a day that we cannot forget. And you know,
(02:43):
I'll I'll share a bit of honesty here. When I
was growing up, we didn't talk about June tenth much.
We didn't I definitely didn't hear about it in schools. So,
you know, as we all continue to learn and educate
(03:04):
ourselves on things that we were not taught or told,
I think it's important for you to go out and
purchase this book and read it to your classrooms, read
it to your kids, and you know, talk about it,
talk about the importance of Juneteenth again, that that book
will be out May twentieth, or do more promo drives
(03:27):
on my social media platforms about the book coming up
here next week. I'm really really excited, really really excited
about this project and I know it's going to do
as well as my previous books. And you know, I
can't wait to read your responses. My work as a
(03:52):
para educator. It's winding down, and again the door is
still open. Mm hmm. You know, I'm not shutting the
door on that. I just you know, I personally, I
personally need to be around a bit of a bit
more structure and I'm hoping that you know, that happens.
(04:19):
The teachers and the staff at Sunset Elementary are are amazing.
They do a wonderful job. And I've I've enjoyed my
time in the building. You know, this is this is
year three for me, and you know, as I, as
I said before, I learned new things every day. So
(04:45):
I am doing my best to enjoy you know, my time,
and whether or not, you know, I I come back
next year, you know, remains to be seen. We'll see.
I am gonna sit down and really think about some
things before I make that decision. There are a lot
of things that are happening in my life that I
need to get a handle on pertaining to family back home,
(05:08):
and so I want to make sure that you know
things are okay before I make any future plans regarding
my role as a pair of educator. But I love
my teammates. You know, we definitely you know, we can
definitely do hard things. I see them do it all
(05:29):
the time. I try to take a lot of my
cues from them, and last week was no different. So
that's going well. As many of you know, I am
a fitness model, a clothing model. I giggle because I
(05:51):
you know, I don't take myself too seriously. These companies
that reached out, I really appreciate them taking the time
to see me and too high like me and to
offer me things. So I'm grateful for for these opportunities.
It's been fun. I've enjoyed it. You know. I love
dressing up. I love wearing nice things, cool things and
(06:15):
representing companies that I feel are you know, all about
being good right and doing positive things and having that
positive energy, so I'm excited about you know, where that
road leads me to. Physically and mentally, I'm doing okay.
I'm building toward my one of two only golf outings
(06:40):
this summer. I'll be teaching, you know, golf, but I'm
gonna play twice this summer. My first stint will be
at Chambers Bay, and I'm excited about that. You know,
raising funds for the First Tea of Seattle, a place
that I hold near and dear. Tomorrow art they do
(07:02):
really good things for kids. They definitely focus on core
values and life skills, something that's important to me. So
I am trying to get in some type of shape
to walk thirty six holes in a day with these
flat feet, but I am excited about that. So mentally,
physically I'm doing well. Families doing good. My kiddos's getting
(07:25):
ready for track. We're going to go out and test
his new spiked shoes he has. He has an upcoming
track meet this week that I can't wait to watch.
So things are really really going well on the home front.
All right. I can ramble on about myself and things
(07:47):
the entire show, but you didn't come here for that.
You came here for the topic of the day with
just the power of showing up. And you know, I
think about this lot when I am in the community
or when I'm just at home, maybe writing or thinking
(08:07):
about something like the importance of really being there for others.
It is, it's very powerful. I equate everything back to service,
you know. I think that's why we're all here. We
have to find ways to service each other. And you know,
(08:30):
sometimes in this world of ours, we celebrate the loudest
voices and the biggest platforms. You see it all the time.
You see, you know at these award shows that they're
talking about the biggest names or the biggest organizations that
are doing great things, which is true, and I don't
want to take anything away from that, because they are
(08:51):
doing good things. They do give back, a lot of
them do. But we sometimes forget the power of being present,
and we forget about the little companies, you know, or
the people that are really on the ground doing the
work in the community. And it doesn't matter what you're doing.
(09:13):
You could be mentoring a young child, or you can
be mentoring a group of people. You can be helping
a neighbor, you could be just simply listening, but you're
showing up. And I've been surrounded by people like that
my entire life. You know, I've always looked two others
(09:39):
to find a source of inspiration. Right, Not that I
necessarily needed that, but when you see people doing good
things in the community, it lights a fire in you.
I know it does for me, and you want to
figure out how they're doing what they're doing with limited resources. Right,
(10:03):
And I'm talking about the folks that we don't talk about,
like a Gerald Donaldson. I don't know anything about Gerald Donaldson,
aka mister D until my wife told me about him.
She listened to him on NPR talk about the importance
of helping our youth in the school system, and he
(10:23):
was very passionate, very emotional about it. And you know,
my wife said, you got to find a way to
talk to him. You got to reach out and try
to meet this guy. And that's all it took for me.
You know, I did my homework, reached out. He responded,
(10:44):
and we're like brothers now. And the work he's done
in the Seattle School district is second to none. And
he's not one of those look at me type of people.
He does the work and then he pivots, he shares
(11:05):
the work, and then he pivots, and talking to him,
you know, I understand his worth and his value, and
his sense of direction and where he wants to go.
He's a fantastic guy, and he's one of many individuals
(11:27):
that I've met that have impacted and inspired my work
in the community. I frequently go to Springfield, Missouri every
summer to meet with autism advocates, and Elizabeth Aubrey is
an amazing talent. She was part of the Stars for
(11:49):
Autism organization that is no longer currently functioning. You know,
they've all kind of spread their wings a bit. Doctor
Linda Barboa, Shelley Allen, Brenda Bradshaw, Jan Luck like these
women started a nonprofit and the impact they had on
(12:14):
their community was tremendous. They were training police officers. They
would go into stores to train employees pertaining to kids
and adults on the autism spectrum. I was guest speaker
at a couple of their events in Springfield, and our
connection remains rock solid. Even though they've all kind of
(12:36):
spread out in the world and have moved into different things.
Elizabeth is still in Springfield and we have a great friendship,
and I'm going to be there this summer next month
actually June twenty seventh through the thirtieth, So everybody who
listens to Springfield, I will be back and I'm excited
(12:59):
to be back. There are some great people doing some
great things, and it all comes back to the power
of showing up and helping those who are in need
of voices. It's not always low income families that we're helping,
(13:22):
right We're also helping people that are on the right
track but are in need of a word or just
they want us to listen to ideas. It's all about
to me anyway, It's all about building trusts and creating
these connections right that never go away. I can text
(13:51):
these individuals I just talked about right now and I'd
get a response. So I I encourage all of you
to get out in your your communities. Listen, watch what
(14:15):
the showing up mean to you? In your line of work?
Are you thinking about that or in your personal life?
Are you consistent in that? Can you share moments where
(14:37):
your presence made an unexpected impact? You know it's that's
a hard one for me, you know, I am. I'm
getting better with handling compliments and sharing moments where I
(15:04):
feel like I impacted someone or something right. I love
to share my work on my platforms from time to time,
but I do like being behind the scenes because I
think as we do the work, it's really all about
(15:25):
the families or the individuals that we are responding to
or we're helping. That's where the spotlight goes, and if
you've done the work, they kind of share that. I'm
inspired by a lot of people, a lot of people
(15:49):
in the elementary school that I am at. I'm inspired
every day by these teachers who lesson planned in the morning,
after work at night. They go above and beyond all
the time, and I think sometimes we underestimate that because
(16:18):
we think, oh, well, that's what they signed up for,
so they should be doing that. But that's not That's
not always the case, and I think that that's part
of the problem. We tend to underestimate those who show
(16:40):
up day in and day out and on specifically talking
about teachers rarely take any days off. You have to
retain so much in the classroom. You have to deal
with multiple personalities. Right, You're twenty students, maybe twenty three,
(17:04):
twenty four students in a classroom it's a lot. But
as I walk through the halls and I'm peeking in classrooms,
I see like leadership from these teachers. I see leadership
(17:26):
from Mr d I see leadership from the students. Every
day is in a good day, but we always find
something good, right, We find something good in it. And
(17:48):
I try to do that every day. And I think
one of the ways that we can celebrate and support
folks that are doing the work who don't really care
for the spotlight. It's just walk up to them, share
(18:09):
something positive, but genuine and honest. You're doing a fantastic job.
I see you, I hear you. Thank you. It's as
simple as that. A lot of times, it really is.
(18:31):
So I encourage you to think about that and to
step out into your community and find ways to show up.
When you show up, though, make sure you have a plan.
(18:55):
Don't just show up and then go home and feel
like you've done enough. There's a lot of work that
needs to be done. When you show up, show up
with a plan, share your plan. You'd be surprised how
(19:16):
many people or waiting on you to do that or
want that. Showing up is extremely powerful. It is, And
(19:41):
before I pivot to something else that's been heavy on
my heart. I I I want to I want to
wrap this this segment up with this, and I want
you to remember this. You do not need a title.
(20:07):
Let me say it again. You do not need a
title or a platform. Or you don't have to have
a plan a perfect plan. Right. We focus on the
word perfect a lot. You don't have to have a
perfect plan to make a difference. Just show up, show
up for your community, show up for your family, but
(20:27):
most importantly, show up for yourself. So many people need
you right now, and sometimes we don't always know how
to say that or admit that. So be present, Be
present in one area of your life that's been holding
(20:50):
you back. Volunteer, offer a smile, or make a call
to check in on someone. And you have to remember,
you know, the world changes not all at once. It
(21:16):
all starts with you. It all starts with you, all right.
I want to pivot to something here as we get
closer to the end of the show. Something that's been
weighing on me, and I had made a post I
(21:39):
do my weekly post Monday Friday. You know, kind of
a positive vibe thing, you know, something that I'm really
thinking about and a friend of mine I won't name
the friend wanted to know if I could elaborate about
this post that I made on the show today, and
(22:01):
I told my I told this friend I would do that.
And for those who who are new to my social
media page or they follow me on social media, every
Monday every Friday, you know, I try to post a
positive message coming out of the gate to kind of
(22:23):
get us going into the work week. And I enjoy
doing it. It was part of the Peloton campaign, if
you will, where I feel like, you know, because of
the positive vibes that I was sending. You know, I
was offered a spot in the commercial. I took it
(22:45):
with well, you know, the rest is history. But I
love I love sending out positive vibes, positive energy. And
so I made a post recently talking about most people
would rather be right than be free, right, some would
(23:12):
some would rather wear the weight of being right than
the wings of being free because truth asks us to
let go and letting go ain't easy, right, And I
kind of said a few more things, But everything I
said in that post, everything I say in my post,
I believe. I believe every word of it, and I
(23:38):
think and for the record, I've been guilty of this too, right,
So I'm not just I'm not talking at you. I'm
talking to you too often. You know, we cling to
to being right. Right, My point is the point. I
have to be right, even when it costs us peace, growth,
(24:00):
or connection. I've been there. I will argue my point
until you know, everybody says that I'm right. And and
why do we do that? You know? I thought about
that yesterday. I thought about it Friday when I was
(24:21):
asked about it. Why do we do that? Why do
we we cling to being right? And I'm not saying
that's a horrible thing right, like you want to be
You want to be true to yourself and you want
to feel like your point is a valid point right.
You want to live your truth. But why do we
we cling to it? I think one of the reasons
(24:43):
we we we cling to it is because being right
gives us control. Sometimes we think, oh if I'm if
I'm right in the room, everything will gravitate towards me.
Everybody will ask me all the important questions. And sometimes
I think it gives us a shield. I can just
(25:05):
hold it up and say remember this, Remember when I
said this. But freedom, it's different. Freedom requires vulnerability, you know.
It asks us sometimes to admit that maybe, just maybe
(25:32):
we've got more to learn, more to unlearn, and more
to become. And not many people are ready for that.
A lot of people don't even don't want that, if
I'm being perfectly honest. Freedom isn't always comfortable. It stretches you.
(26:05):
It's supposed to stretch you. It causes you to look
in the mirror something that I don't think we do
enough of. Freedom forces us to face what's hard and
still choose to show up with love and humility. I
(26:29):
try to do that every day, but I fall short
from time to time. So when I made the post,
I thought about it a little bit, but then when
I was asked to kind of elaborate on it, I
(26:51):
really did some thinking. But I believe every word of
the We all want to be right. We we sometimes
fight to be right, but we don't fight hard enough
(27:15):
to be free. So as I close the show today,
I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you this, are you choosing
to be right or are you choosing to be free?
(27:39):
And how do you determine one or both? And again,
I don't think being right isn't a horrible thing. But
sometimes we we focus so hard on being right that
(28:03):
we missed that opportunity to be free and to check
in on ourselves and to open those doors where there's
a real struggle going on inside of us. So I
(28:23):
encourage you to think about that, and my really good
friend who listens to the show, I hope that that
answers your question. And I'm glad you you you brought
it to my attention. Otherwise I probably wouldn't even gave
(28:48):
it a second a second thought. Probably not all right,
That is it for the show today, folks. I want
to thank everybody for tuning in as you always do,
(29:10):
and you always show me love and support. Really appreciate it.
Do me a favor. As you're thinking about what I
just said, get out in your communities and check in
on your family and friends. Put a smile on someone's face.
Remember it doesn't take a lot of energy to do
(29:31):
that at all. Show up for somebody this week. Make
a difference. Doesn't have to be a big one. It
can be small. Start with a smile, start with a handshake,
but just show up until next week. Take care, God
bless Thank you for listening to the Elijah Infra Show,
(29:52):
Bye Bye
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!