 Hello, my beautiful internet friends. I don't really know how to start talking about this topic because it feels mildly narcissistic, but we're just gonna go with it. That seems like the best thing to do. This community has taken so much interest in my story since I started talking about it, which has always blown me away, and I will forever be grateful for you, for you watching this right now. And my story has grown as time has gone on. And earlier this week, I was contacted by a journalist who works for, I believe it's called, like a syndicated news site. Essentially, she writes a story and then that goes out to many different sites, like Fox News and Daily News and Daily News, Daily Something. I can't remember the name right now. CNN and Yahoo and MSN and like just all different places if they wanna pick it up. And they did, which kind of blew me away. And so yesterday, my story went everywhere, like legitimate news sites. And then last night, which was Valentine's Day, I got a call from People Magazine. Any case, links are in the description down below. But the reason I wanted to talk about this is because what I was feeling before that first interview was a desire to sugarcoat my story for lack of a better term. I'm not entirely sure how to say this without maybe sounding offensive, but I feel like there's a course plotted out for me as an amputee. Like one option is to be like the inspirational amputee and I feel like that's a mold that I can be put into, but I don't feel like I fit in it because I feel like to fit in it, I would only talk about like the good things and how I overcome everything and like all that. And obviously, if you follow this channel, you know that's not what happens. I have a rough time and I talk about the ugly aspects of all of this too, that it's not simple, it's not easy. It's not just like overcoming adversity and all of that stuff. It's a weird hard adjustment, but sometimes I feel this pressure to be the mold, especially for other people like doing a story on me. It's easy to want to tell a story instead of like telling my story, like make a story up. And I'm pretty sure we've all felt that way at some point. And I especially felt that way like the night before talking to this journalist. I was contacted earlier today by a journalist to do an article that might go out to a number of different news organizations. And one thing that this journalist said is I've always been really attracted to stories about overcoming adversity. And so I'd love to interview you about your story. And overcoming adversity is a phrase that comes up a lot when people talk about amputees and amputations. And first of all, she was awesome. I have nothing like nothing bad to say about what she said, but it's something that I find myself doing because the interview, the actual interview is tomorrow. This was kind of just like the prep interview, you know, kind of wanting to like shadow some of the less pleasant aspects and make it seem rosier and more put together than it is. It's hard to fight that urge sometimes. It's easy, especially one year. And it feels weird to say like the public light, but in a public light, it's easy to want to appear to be something you're not. And I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that with my story. I don't want to do that with the aspect of this, but I feel like there's a certain mold to fit into with overcoming adversity and being an amputee and getting on with life. And you always see these inspirational stories, inspirational, that's another word that comes up a lot. And I just want to be me. And sometimes I feel like just being me isn't enough. Like if I just tell my story realistically and be like, man, it's really hard sometimes. Like I'm having a really hard time sometimes that that isn't enough. But then I have to step back and realize that no, that is enough because it is my story. And the same goes for you. Like whatever you are dealing with, whatever you are going through, I think we all have that urge to want to put on some kind of mask to make things look different than what they really are, than what we're really going through because we don't feel like we're enough on our own for whatever reason, like whatever your reason is. Mine is, I feel like I don't fit into the mold of being the inspirational, amputee, overcoming adversity the right way. Because I feel like I want to talk about the uglier aspects of it. Like I am struggling, I have struggled. It's not simple, it's not easy and the battle isn't over. And I was literally upstairs just now doing dishes, thinking about the interview tomorrow and being like, oh well, maybe I shouldn't say that I'm still really having a hard time or dealing with depression or anything like that because that probably wouldn't fit into the story well. And I was like, no, stop it, Joe. That's reality, that is your story. And if you tell it honestly, maybe it'll connect with someone who needs to hear it. And that's better than telling a fake version that more people might read, if that makes any sense. Like there's that old cliche quote that I actually secretly love, about it's better to be hated for who you are than love for who you're not. And I spent the first 20 years of my life just pretending to be someone I wasn't and I've spent the last seven years trying to figure out who I actually was. So really what I'm saying is that I am taking a moment right now to like, center, focus, readjust and commit to tell my story the way that it actually is, ups and downs and bumps and bruises and pretty and the ugly because that's reality and that's real life. And even though it's really scary to tell it that way, it's a lot more uncomfortable and a lot more vulnerable and I feel like it's not nearly as inspirational. Like it's not easy to like put on a cover of a magazine that way, at least it's real. And I for one really appreciate it when people are real with me and so I will try to return the honor and do the same with you all. I should be getting the call from the journalist any minute now, I'm looking forward to talking with her. I was thinking I would spend this time like the hour before like preparing or whatever because I feel like this is a more important interview than some of the other ones that I've done but how do you prepare just to talk to someone about your own story if all you're doing is telling your story, right? I don't think you really do, at least for me. And so instead I just spent the morning like getting ready and getting some work done and hanging out because I think any preparation would lead to sculpting details instead of just answering the question honestly, you know? I'm not gonna include any of the questions that she asked me because they requested that I not would totally understand. So I'm just gonna include my answers, please enjoy. I did as much research as I could every YouTube channel I could, you know, every article I could about life as a below the knee amputee. I also knew that there were only so many questions that I could know to ask. Like I knew that it was gonna be a lot different than I could predict. Like, I mean, you can always do all the research in the world, but you're never gonna know how something is until you're actually there. And I think that was the scariest part as scary as it is to be an amputee when previously I had had two legs and like walk into surgery knowing I was going to come out without a leg, like that is a bizarre situation to be in and truly terrifying. Like I couldn't pay attention to that because if like you pay attention to emotion, you're never gonna do it. Been a lot of different things at different points in the process. It's been more emotionally draining than I expected because everything is different. You know, you see amputees, especially like below the knee amputees and they have prosthetic legs and they're living fairly normal life. But that's when things are all healed and done. I have not had a moment where I have regretted this decision. I've not had a moment where I was like, you know, damn it, this was the wrong choice, but I've had a lot of moments where it was more challenging than I expected it to be. It's been a really, really growing process and I'm grateful I've had the time to process it. I've been working with the counselor the whole time, try to process this in a healthy way because it's a huge law. I think I'm walking through the, walking. I'm swimming through the grief of it, I guess you could say. Knowing that it gets better every day, but also it's like you can adapt to anything. You can absolutely find your way through anything. Like people are so much more perseverant than they think they are. So I think that that's the first thing that I would say there's 100% life after amputation even though it's challenging, even though it's hard. I have not been able to run at all, like at all at all since I was 12 and at 12 I didn't run like I was just a kid like you know, messing around or whatever. I have wanted to run forever and been super jealous of people who could, I could potentially someday in the not terribly long future I would need to get a running leg. Once I get to a point in my recovery process where I could get one, yes I definitely want to run and I think a marathon would be really cool. Even just go for a jog with my dad. I think that's my real goal. I would love to go for a jog with my dad. Feel like it, feel free to check out the articles below but if you watch my channel you probably know what they're talking about which is basically just my story and specifically breaking up with my ankle and like the goodbye note. I love you guys.