“What do you want to be when you grow up?

For some damn reason, everyone seems to be worried about the future. You might hear in the news how the future is stressful and that it’s going to take a massive external effort to restore things as “like when they were back to normal”. As if nothing that we have within ourselves will help anyone to prepare for the challenges that the future will throw at us.

Socially and politically that’s a lot to think about; however, when you’re only one person in this world.. How do you deal with this type of feeling?

For me, there’s something to living up to your full potential. Albert Camus once said, “Being so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”.

I remember in my Junior year of HS, there was this lack of motivation that I just couldn’t figure out. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to be super rich and feel like no negativity could affect me or my family. This internal struggle was something that I desperately wished to fix.

To solve this problem, I went down to my living room to talk to my grandparents, to learn more about why they came to the United States and the story behind their escape from Communist Laos.

This is my grandma, Amphone or Thu Mommy as we call her. Here she’s talking about the time when she was a young woman escaping communist Laos by walking through a jungle in order to get to refugee camp.

Thu Mommy talks about the time communist invaded Laos in 1975. And when that happened there was no food, no medicine for the sick, nothing was safe. So my family decided to escape.

Okay so, If my grandparents were willing to go through all that trouble to seek a safer life for our family…then, I should probably do something good [in life] with my opportunity to live in America.

And so that lesson sparked where I’m at now, podcasting with YEBO. But wait. It can’t be that easy, there has to be something more to this game we call life. Why is it that we have these personal, social, and political problems piling up as if more problems equals more success.

I mean, you ever notice how in Superhero Movies, the superhero is RARELY evenly matched against their villain? I’m talking about Luke vs. The Emperor, Aang Vs. The Firelord, and the Avengers vs. Thanos. Yo, for crying out loud Aang is only 12 years old and he has the responsibility of defeating the built AF Firelord in order to bring balance to the four nations.

Someway, somehow in the end these Superheroes defeat their villains, plus they learn and overcome their deep personal challenge that reveals their miserable, tragic need to become a Superhero in the first place.

This personal interrogation led me to the SuperHero Mindset. You don’t have to fly around, move things with your mind, or be a God to be a Superhero. This podcast will show you that there are everyday Superheros where I’m from. We’ll be listening to guest interviews throughout this series to explore how the Superhero Mindset shows up in the lives of our family, community leaders, and close friends.

Man, if there’s one thing you take away: it’s that Genius is community.

As of this recording, I’m 19 years old and still working on becoming that millionaire; however, I feel like there’s something more to life than just material success. There are real problems in this world, Whether social, political, or personal: These problems are constantly evolving.

Remember when I asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

If I were to say, that you are one step away from living a life full of courage, love, and happiness… What would you say to me?

By the end of this journey, my hope is that you fully embrace that you were always enough to begin with. Even if you do “fail” you can always and I really mean this, you can always wake up and try again the next day. 

My friend I’m here to ask you… WHY NOT YOU?.”