Empowered with Dr. Lawrence - Anxiety and Teens

In the latest episode of the Empowered Podcast with Dr. Lawrence, he discusses Anxiety, Teens, isolation, and how improperly consuming dopamine can affect our bodies and the hope it has on your mind and body.

On today’s podcast, Dr. Salone sits down with Autumn Percival, the reigning Miss Louisiana Port City's Teen. They discuss her organization and how she is working to help and inspire kids to make healthy lifestyle choices, what’s happening in schools, why communication is declining, and how we can start rebuilding real connections.

This is a conversation every parent, teen, and community member needs to hear.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Welcome to another episode with Empowerment with Dr. Lawrence. I am your host, Dr. Lawrence. Thank you for making us a part of your day. Wherever you're consuming this, however you're consuming this, I appreciate the fact that you're here. Well, guys, today we're going to be talking about anxiety, specifically how anxiety is affecting our lives. Now, in the past, if you've listened to this show at all, you know that we've talked about money has an impact on anxiety with chronic stress. But today we're going to dive deeper into isolation and what that actually means to us. How does that affect the body? And then we're going to be talking about what I call dopamine wars. So what are dopamine wars? I'm glad you asked. Dopamine wars are our improper relationship with food, our improper relationship with our cell phones and video games and Netflix. I mean, look, how many episodes are you gonna watch? These things can rob us of our lives. Now, dopamine is a very vital function for our overall health, but when we consume it improperly, we have these improper relationships, it affects us in a negative way, and we're seeing it all across the country. So we're gonna dive in today, and I have the privilege and the honor of welcoming a very special guest. Now, she is a uh a trailblazer when it comes to advocacy. She is Miss Louisiana Teen, Port City Teen. Let me say that again. She is Miss Louisiana Port City Teen, Miss Autumn Percival. Welcome to the show. Welcome to Empowerment with Dr. Lawrence. How are you today?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

I'm feeling so good. Thank you so much for having me today.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

So tell me, look, so just fun fact, I follow you on social media and you are always doing stuff. So tell me exactly what Miss Louisiana Port City teen is.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah. So it's a local prelim to Miss Louisiana's teen, which is a part of the Miss America's teen opportunity. It's a scholarship pageant. So all of the women gain scholarships. My I myself have gained over$5,000 worth in scholarships just competing in one year. And with the Miss Louisiana opportunity, all of the contestants have something called a community service initiative. And it's all about something that's really impact passionate, that something that they're really passionate about, and you know, really gives them a drive to have a full, like, yeah, something that really makes them want to fight for their communities. And for me, that's raising kids for a healthy future. It's my organization that I created, and it's all about empowering kids to make healthy lifestyle choices. So that's eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and encouraging kids to talk to their parents about their health history. And also about their mental health, making sure that they are empowered in making those decisions about their mental health and making sure that they're prioritizing their mental health every single day. And also about getting that physical activity every single day and that the benefits that just living a healthy lifestyle can have in general on their life.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

That is amazing. So we so we have pretty with a purpose. So we we're winning scholarships. So you you said passion, and and I think you you can't be successful in life without passion. Right. I mean, passion is the foundation, it's the it's the key ingredient. When when I look at the data and and and I put on my my scientist hat and I look at the data and and I listen to the Surgeon General talk about um how isolation has a negative effect on the body, so much so that it's the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And when you start looking at high schools today, they're they're introducing the yonder pouches to dissuade kids from using their cell phones and so forth. When you are out in the community and when you're working with uh uh when you're advocating for mental health and you're advocating for overall health, what what are you seeing with regards to isolation?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

I think we're seeing more of an increase in children not just being connected with one another, having a hard time, you know, looking each other in the eye and making personal connections. And even just speaking with their adults in their life. They have a hard time connecting with them. And I think with the increase of phones, the increase of iPads, we're seeing that there is a lack of that communication. And I think COVID is part is a lot of to blame for that because we and I myself, I grew up, I didn't have my middle school experience because of COVID, and I think it did have a negative impact on my communication skills for a little bit. But the Miss America opportunity gave me a space where I could use my voice in a powerful way and you know, have an impact on my community. But I think when I go into schools, I hope that they see me speaking and they see me being passionate about something and that they find something that's in them and they use their talents towards increasing that and making sure that that's something that they're implementing in their entire lives. That way they can, you know, just it does improve your mental health as well because we're making sure that they have something to live for and to strive for every single day.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Well, let me ask you this. Okay, so your teen, you you're very accomplished, okay? Good parenting, you know, shout out to your parents, right? Um, but you you've done something to accomplish what you've accomplished, you you had to put the phone down. Right. Right. So, so what advice would you share with with a mom that that has that's struggling with a teenager, that's locked in their room, they're isolated. What what advice would you then? So it's a two-part question. What advice would you then give to someone who has all these gifts bottled up inside and they want to get out there and release them?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Much like you.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, so I think it's really important to just start having conversations with your kids. Okay. Being open with them, you know, just showing your support towards them and like how much you really care about them and that you love them. I think that that's a really important thing that parents often sometimes forget about. And, you know, it's good to have that relationship with them, especially at a young age. So I think as early as you can, implementing, you know, just having open conversations and dialogue, speaking with your child every single day when they come home from school and asking them, you know, more than just how was school today? You know, have a really deep conversation every day. Talk about something that you learned that day. You know, what are some things that um, you know, you could have done better today, and just being honest with each other and you opening up to your child will help them want to open up to you as well. And to answer the second part of your question, I think as kids, we have social media at our fingertips. We have so much access to the internet. And so I think if you have all those talents bottled up in you, I think it's really important that you showcase that to the world because you never know what could come of it. You know, social media, especially with TikTok, the algorithm is random. So you could end up on a million people's for you page and you have this incredible career in front of you. And so I think it's really important that we capitalize on that and you know, not take social media for granted because I think it's a really important tool, and it it's a just an important tool to have to advocate for something that's important to you, and that's what I've done.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

That's what you've done. So, so we're gonna stay with isolation for a second, and and I'm really enjoying this, and I appreciate the the well thought out and articulated responses to these questions. That that is something that's rare these days because you go to the grocery store and people don't even, you know, say hello when you want to check out. But but one of the negative effects of isolation, right? Uh, you know, when I think of isolation and someone, you know, pulling themselves away from society, the the secondary effects of that are things like you know, weight gain and diabetes, malitis, and so forth. And and and while that affects adults, particularly when they start working and so forth, right? That is that is we're seeing unprecedented levels of obesity in children. And so you're all over the place, you're advocating for health. What are some of the things that you've seen work to try to help kids put the phone down and get out there and be active? Because when you when you think about dopamine, particularly, you know, we we talked initially about the the the the negative effects of dopamine, but when you get out there and you and you exercise, when you tap into the creative genius that's within you, dopamine is uh almost a superpower. So so what advice would you give to to children to put those phones down? Yeah. People, people in general, because adults need that too. Yeah. But what advice would you give?

SPEAKER_02 8:48

So when I go into schools, I try to make the lessons very short and engaging. And I think that that's what social media is. It's short and engaging, and it gets your attention right away. And so me coming in as a young adult, being able to speak with young kids, I think it gives them a different perspective on it and it makes them want to do it even more and it encourages them. So uh just you know, being there for them, being open with them, and also just being relatable to them. You know, like I try to come in and I'm I'm not a perfect person. You know, I may seem that I have all my things together and that my mental health is always there, but I do have my days, you know. And also it's, you know, sometimes I'm not exercising every day. Sometimes I do have to get fast food because life is moving so fast. So just being honest with them and you know, having that open dialect, and then also encouraging them to have those conversations with each other also makes them feel less alone and we're preventing that isolation. And you know, it's really important to have those conversations about your mental health and be open about it as well as having those conversations about your physical health so that way we can encourage each other. You know, when my when my with my lessons, I try to encourage them to, you know, do partner exercises. Let's do it together, let's encourage each other.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Like what? Give me an example.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Oh, like there's so many fun exercises. Like there's lunges that we do together, there's squats we can do together, we can hold each other's feet when we do crunches. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

So you're doing lunges and you started dancing. So are we talking about TikTok dancing? You gonna be out there TikTok dancing, or are we talking about legit exercises?

SPEAKER_02 10:17

And you know, I think line dances is something that I really want to start incorporating with my fitness classes because they're so much fun and they're a great way to get your heart moving and pumping, and you know, to get that cardiovascular exercise is really important because the number one killer in America is cardiovascular disease.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

100%, 100%. And then so we have people isolating and they're not exercising for whatever reason, whether they're doom scrolling or they're just they don't feel secure, you're saying to find a partner.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

An accountability partner. Yes. That is so huge to have an accountability partner. So who's your accountability partner?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

I think honestly, it's my dogs because they are always begging to go walk outside. And if I, you know, sometimes I'm so tired, like dead tired at the end of the day, but I'm like, let me just get up. It's only 30 minutes that I'm committing to myself and to my dogs, and you know, we're just gonna go out for this walk because I want them to be healthy, but I want to be healthy too. Right. So they encourage me and they keep me accountable on walking every day.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

I look I have a uh teacup York that thinks he's so cute.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Doberman picture.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Um they have all this energy until you, you know, so we we try to walk around the neighborhood and and that first block is amazing, and they're stopping and everything. And is it it can't, especially at the end of the day, is like I don't really want to do this. But when you do, you know, it is it is time to almost reset. It's time to go into, you know, figure out what am I gonna do this next day and and you know, collect your thoughts around your goals and so forth. So it is so important.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, it's a form of self-care.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

100%.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

It's it's showing up for yourself every single day.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

So, so we're talking about exercise, we're talking about accountability partners, we're talking about being present, right? When when I look at dopamine wars, and um the number one thing that we see when someone is having a prolonged bad day, so when it becomes a clinical issue, is their sleep is off. And so, you know, when we have the 24-hour news cycle, we have, you know, I mean, if if I get on Instagram and I'm looking at something and I'm laughing, I'm doom scrolling, and it's it's I'm thinking it's 30 minutes, but it's like three hours, and I've sat there on the couch, it impacts your sleep. And and what we know is that those lights, uh, I liken it to the casino where they have all the bright lights and they want to keep you locked in, but those the lights on the phone are are wired to uh increase adrenaline. Yes. And so it's hard to go to sleep. Right. We oftentimes suggest to people that they should not be on that phone at least an hour before they go to bed. And that allows, you know, the natural systems of the body to take place and then they can come in and have meaningful sleep. Right. You know, you're busy, you're you're doing all kinds of things. I mean, you're you're you're a scholar, you have goals, you're you're advocating for people. Tell me about your sleep.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

To be honest, sometimes it's not all the way there. Especially right now, since the Miss Louisiana competition is coming up very quickly. Okay. You know, I'm constantly thinking about so many things, and that anxiety can keep you up at night. But one thing that's always helped me to go to sleep and like to just relax is writing everything down in a journal. Journaling. I love it. Because it's in or just making a list of things, right, journaling, talking about your feelings, and you know, just having that place where you can vent or just talking to your friends, you know, just any way that you can get some of that pressure off yourself, and then also it's asking other people for help. Okay. I feel like a lot of the times in our society we have to we're taking, you know, everything and we're trying to do so many things at once, but it's okay to ask for help, and you know, it's okay to not be okay, and you can tell each other that, you know, and I think that's a really important thing. And with sleep, I know myself, I try to limit my screen time about 30 minutes before, you know, I go to bed because it actually reduces melatonin in your brain, the hormone. So it's it is affecting you, and that's something that I have talked to kids about. We have something like a spinning wheel. I actually just recently went to um a black wellness event in Baton Rouge, and we I had a wheel and all the kids were spinning it, and one of the things that were on there was sleep. And I was asking them honest questions how much sleep do you think you should be getting every night?

SPEAKER_00 14:42

What are they saying?

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Oh, they're like, I don't know. I'm probably not getting enough sleep, but I don't know what to do. So it's about, you know, encouraging each other, and I think also the parents getting involved, you know, taking those phones away, reducing their screen time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

They can start a war.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Yeah, I think I know. I don't like it if my mom takes my phone away. But if they're if you're empowering them to make that choice, they're more likely to do it. So you may have to take it at first, but you know, giving them that control of, you know, this is the effect of that, showing them options is a really important thing, too.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Especially when it's perceived as coming from a place of love. And so so when you have improper sleep, and this this we're gonna talk a little domino effect. Okay, painting a picture here. We don't sleep well, and we get up. As adults, the first thing I'm doing is I'm going to Starbucks and I'm getting a nitro cold brew, and that's like espresso on top of espresso, and I love it. I dine it and I'm sitting up here shaking, and I love in life, right? And then at 12 o'clock, I need another one. Right, right. Well, that's not healthy because you know, that's a chemical that has a life cycle, it's gonna process through your body, and then you know, it comes seven o'clock, eight o'clock at night, you should be going to sleep, and you're like, you're wired.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Oh, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

What do you what are you seeing with you know, student athletes and and you know, goal-oriented children, goal-oriented adults, people in general, you know, we're not sleeping, we're gonna cope somehow. Yeah. What what do you find, particularly as you when you're when you're advocating for wellness, what do you find is best received, the feedback that you're getting from from the people in your audience? What is the right I mean I how can I ask this better? What is the feedback for uh uh how to cope with improper sleeping?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah, so I have been noticing an increase in a trend in energy drinks, and I think that that's something that really negatively impacts our generation because they're being faced with it, you know, head on in a different way. Because with social media, we have these influencers who are getting these huge campaigns and brand deals to advertise for this, you know, these drinks that are one full of calories, full of added sugars. We don't know what kind of chemicals they're putting in them. There's dyes in them. Some of them are banned in other countries in Europe. And so I think it's really important to educate people about the importance of, you know, finding healthy coping skills and not those energy drinks because they are not good for you at all. No, they're not. And you know, they can also cause you to have a heart attack. And so when I go into schools, I tell the kids about that. And a lot of them, it's like a big shock because they think that an energy drink is supposed to get, it's not gonna hurt me. You know, it's just a little bit, you know, but over time they can really have a negative impact on your cardiovascular system and your pulmonary function. So I think it's really important to just educate them on that because they don't have the proper information, you know, because social media is just it's coming at them in so many different ways. And we have to give them the the tools to make sure that they know to make the right best choices for their lives.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

So, love it. You you like education. Education is a pillar to a lot of the work that I do, particularly in performance. And so, what is an alternative to the energy drink?

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Right. I think sleep is the best thing that you can do, just getting recharged, resetting, and even if you didn't get that sleep the night before, a quick 15, 30-minute power nap does it for me sometimes. Like probably after this, I'm gonna take a nap. And then I'm gonna have so much energy to finish off my day strong. And I think that that's a really important thing to do is you know, set that timer to just you know, taking brain breaks throughout the day. Sometimes it's really important to just take a minute for yourself and prioritize yourself.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I call those tiger snoozes and and those can recharge your battery. But if if you know these energy drinks are loaded with sugar and they're loaded with sugar, what is an what is a natural alternative for somebody that may have a little sweet tooth? That's not as diabolical and and and hurtful, harmful to the body as an energy drink. What would what would be uh a healthy alternative to one of those those sports drinks?

SPEAKER_02 19:04

I think, you know, finding recipes that you like, making it at home is I think the best thing because even when you're buying things that say organic, they say healthy, they say low sugar, they do still have a lot of chemicals and harmful things and ingredients in them and dyes and things that we just don't know what it's going to do to our bodies in the next 30 years. We don't know. And there's a lot of ingredient, and this is something that's um a big thing with the CDC right now is getting those ingredients banned. But until then, I think it's really important to just get back to the basics. You know, uh fruits and vegetables are a great way to get that energy throughout the day, and just finding recipes that are easy and simple for your life, meal prepping, eating eating b whole balanced meals are really important to give you that energy as well because that's where your energy energy should be coming from. It should be coming from your meals, not a drink, not you know, anything special. So I think that that's really important. And there's really a lot of recipes we have that information at our fingertips.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Like Chat GPT, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

I use it all the time to find those recipes, and you know, um through my social media. I actually just posted a video today on a protein popsicle, and so that's gonna give you some of that energy that you may need.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

A protein popsicle. Okay, you gotta tell me about that now. So, what's what's in this protein popsicle?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

It's only three ingredients. Um, so the first ingredient is whatever fruit that you like, and then Greek yogurt, okay, which is a good source of protein, and then um a sweetener like honey or monk fruit or stevia or whatever. Gotcha. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Okay, so shifting gears a little bit. So I've I follow you on social media, and and you're doing some amazing things, by the way. You recently had an opportunity to present some information at the Louisiana legislature. Yeah. So tell me about that experience. What were you talking about? Or tell the audience what you were talking about, and and and then tell me tell us why it's important.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah, so one of my great partners is um Louisiana Center for Health Equity. Um, with founder Alma Stewart, I was able to speak to the legislative um uh speak at a legislative hearing to the Women and Children's Committee for the Louisiana leadership uh Louisiana legislature, and it was awesome just to be able to talk to them about maternal health, which is a big issue in our nation right now, especially in the state of Louisiana. We have a lot of health deserts, and that means that there's a lack of health care for those women. And so also another thing that I talked about where my focus was was that preconception health. So talking to those legislatures about what we can do as legislators and as community leaders to make sure that kids are equipped with the education that they need and empowered to make those healthy lifestyle choices at an early age because a lot of the maternal health risks that we're seeing are 80 times preventable, 80% of the time preventable. So um cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes, as well as um overdose. So teaching kids about the importance of healthy coping skills, not using drugs. About the importance of making sure that they're eating healthy foods and a balanced diet as well as getting that exercise. We're lowering their risk of, you know, having when they are ready to have children, we're helping them be at the optimal health so that way they are prepared to conquer that. Yeah, prepared to, you know, physically have that child and have the best outcomes so that way they can raise a healthy baby, raise a healthy child, and then we have generations of healthy kids in our state.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

So I see some politics in our future. Is it possibly possibly?

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Yeah, I would I would love to be, you know, a representative, create those bills that are so important and necessary, you know, to have our communities make sure that they're represented because uh current, you know, a Louisiana is 30% black, but we don't have that many representatives that are black, and I think that that's a really important thing to have your communities represented properly.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

It is important for folks to see you and and that lets you know that it can be uh possible and achievable. And that that's an amazing thing. So you you're really taking full advantage of your platform. That is it's impressive and amazing. I I I want to share something with you that you may not know. Um, my organization is is built on empowerment and freedom, right? And we're doing just that. So April 25th, we're having uh an event for mothers, so working mothers, uh uh young mothers, uh seasoned mothers. We're having an event and we're gonna be tackling anxiety and the four ways that it shows up. So, how does it show up within themselves? How does it show up in the relationships with their children? How does it show up in the relationships with their spouse? How does it, how does it show up at work? Right. Um, and we're gonna have a panel of of professionals discussing these things, and we're gonna have an open forum. I would love if you could be in attendance of as a as a participant, but for sure, but I would love for you to be uh set up and talk about the things that are passionate to you because uh as the news goes out about this event, I can't think of a better person to come in and advocate for the health of women, the health of children, the health of all the people that deal with mental health. Is that something that you'd be interested in?

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yes, I would love to be a part of that. Oh, you heard it here before. We have to make sure that the family, it's a family.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

It is a family deal.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

And I think it's a really important thing to make sure we get the whole and family family involved and you know, like taking that's that accountability thing, you know, making those lists together, making those charts. What are the ways that we can be healthy together? Let's go make a healthy meal, let's go walk our dog, and we've done something healthy and productive for the day. We've done something healthy and that's the things that I would like to talk about, you know, at that. I'm thank you for inviting me. I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

For sure. All right. Well, listen, it has been an honor and a pleasure to have you on my show. Um, I would love that you come back um as you as you develop and grow with the things how that you're doing. Uh and you're doing a lot. Let me let me ask you this. How can people find you?

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah, social media is probably the best way to reach me. Um, it's just at Autumn Percival, or you can do at raising kids for a healthy future on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and that's really the best way to reach me. Um, you'll I try to post every single day or try to post as many times a week as I can. And I I use my social media because I think it's the best way to reach our generation.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

100%. So last thing, um I'm an entrepreneur, and entrepreneurs meet unmet needs. That's that's my definition of an entrepreneur. You at a very young age stepped into entrepreneurship. Tell me about that. Where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02 25:47

You know, I think also just having those positive role models in your life. My parents were always a positive role model for me because they always worked hard for everything that they had. And they worked really hard for everything that I have now. And I think that that's something that's really important, taking advantage of those opportunities. And as teenagers, right now, we have so much access to take control of our lives and what we really want out of our lives because we can teach ourselves how to do anything online. We can use our social media to talk about the things that we're passionate about, we can sell things online. So I think that that's a really important thing that kids, you know, just know about is that you have all of that at your fingertips and you can achieve any dream that you want to. And you know, I was born with a disability. I was born with Club Foot, and that's something that made me fight harder, made me want to fight harder because I had to work harder as a dancer. You know, I had to work harder in the studio to be at the same level as all the other girls. And as a performer, as a musical theater performer, that's a really important thing to me as well. I had to work really hard for all of those things. I put in my 10,000 hours, and I think that encouraging kids at a young age and teenagers at a young age to find something that they're truly passionate about, use their talent and see what they can do to make the world a better place.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

I love it. So, so what you're talking about is not accepting any limitation. You put your goal paramount and you went and accomplished it. Yeah, that is hard to do. Um, okay, so let's expand on that. Okay, I have a goal. I I talk a lot about weight loss because you know, that's something that's important to me. Uh, but any goal that you have is gonna is, you know, how are you able to channel that and keep that front of mind? Because I think that is something that as we're talking about improving our health, as we're talking about improving our mental, if that's a goal, how are we able to channel that and keep that present, particularly amongst all the distractions that exist in the world?

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah, I think it's really important to just every year writing those goals down and truly making those resolutions come true. And I think it's also about setting attainable goals that you know that you can truly do. Don't set that goal for yourself that you're gonna go to the gym every single day, spend two hours in the gym, which is not necessary. Find simple things every day and just try to make it better and better and better. Improving, you know, it just say I'm gonna do 10 crunches every day, and then next week you're gonna do 20 crunches, setting those goals for yourself, keeping yourself, holding yourself accountable, and awarding yourself. You know, I think it's a really important thing that we're always moving on to the next thing in America. We're always, you know, we don't give ourselves and yes, we don't give ourselves enough chance to, you know, to just really be proud of ourselves. And, you know, I also think faith is a big thing for me, too. Um, you know, just being grateful that God has given me so many opportunities. I wouldn't be able to do it without him because, you know, he's the thing that keeps me accountable too, because he's given me all these opportunities. And, you know, I think it's really important that I use my voice as a way to microphone his voice and just to amplify it. Because I feel like he's given me this in my heart. And every time I do something like this, I just pray that he just allows me, him to just speak through me. And that's why I truly believe I think I think it's really important to just find a spiritual, even if you're not a spiritual or religious person, I think it's something an important thing that kids have is something that they can go back to and just have a foundation that's bigger than them.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yep. 100%. I I can't think of a time in business that my faith wasn't um needed and and essential.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Because a lot of things when you're a trailblazer and you're a pathfinder, you're doing things that no one's done before. So the advice may not be there. And so, you know, what I find is that it it centers me on the belief. What am I, what is my goal? What it what am I here for? What is my gift? I talk a lot about gift. The big picture and and your why. And and those are the things that that help push through when the distractions go away, but the the the obstacles come. Right. And that's that's you know, any goal that you're gonna face, uh whether it's running a business or trying to get promoted at work or trying to lose weight or trying to improve your health, when the euphoria settles down and the obstacles come, when when the sugar cravings hit you, uh, when you're tired and you don't want to go walk your dog, I feel that faith is is the is the ultimate motivator that that conversation with God allows you to push through and and and achieve your goal, particularly when you can't. And so, wow, that that is amazing. That makes me even um more uh appreciative of this conversation because you know you're tapping into something that I believe is going to set you up for success for the rest of your life. And it's good that that people can see that because it is important. So, well, that is what we have today. I thank you for coming on the show with Empowerment with Dr. Lawrence. Um, you've made me smile, and uh I that's gonna be funny to see this big old head smiling and everything, but thank you. Um and guys, listen, I want to piggyback on something that we're saying. This this platform is about faith, empowerment, and freedom. Faith is a belief system. It's it's it's the you know, channeling the energy, the power that you have within you to accomplish the things that you want. Empowerment simply becomes the tools that you need to go and accomplish those goals. And freedom is a it's a thought process, it's a state of being. And so we're committed to make sure that we are giving you the tools and ideas and considerations to help you live the life that you want to live. So that's all we have for today. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for uh uh spending time with us, and as always, share this with your friends until next time. It's Dr. Lawrence. Take care.