 Okay, well, I just had the most frustrating like 30 minutes before this ever because I was trying to figure out How to get my blue Yeti microphone to work and it's just not working so That's garbage, but luckily the Samsung Q2u is working just fine with my computer So hopefully you know if this if I can figure out how to use a microphone and do the YouTube thing Then maybe we'll have some really great audio for this video. If not, it'll just be the regular audio. So, you know, I tried Okay, but let me like shake that off Let's do like a little grounding meditation, let's do a couple of breaths wherever you are SH all the air out Let it go to the side Twice more and he'll go all the way up and let it go with a sigh Last time and he'll go all the way up and then let it go with a sigh Wow, okay, I feel so much better. Um, my name is Nika Wow Can't believe we're doing this. So I actually posted like a little poll today on like what video I should post for you Wednesday and a lot of people said like girl talk slash life update, which I was not expecting I was fully expecting to be doing a Beyonce costume tonight But you know, I am a woman of the people. This is a democracy. I Have had a lot going on if you guys have been watching my last couple of vlogs, but if you're new Hello, my name is Nika. I am a 28 year old living in New York City I am a graduate student at Teachers College in the spirituality mind body program and Actually, let's just start there the SMBI program at Teachers College has literally changed my life When I went into the program. I was so sure I was going to go in with a DEI a focus So diversity equity inclusion and accessibility But then just things change I took the mother child matrix class with Dr. Ethan and that just really changed my life in my perspective and my name Nika well a NECA Means mother is supreme and I really just feel like it's just been like a calling on my life to really help Mothers going through, you know, the perinatal period and even you know, potentially Abortion miscarriage stillbirth all of those things that kind of come with motherhood So I really want to be a perinatal like psychologists That's like my little specialization that I want to go for but literally when I started the program and 2023 2022 I had no idea that that's kind of where I was gonna end up so with that being said also With that being said and I do so want to do a video that goes a little bit more in depth about my Columbia University Experience like class reviews teacher reviews stuff like that So if you do go to Columbia University Teachers College Make sure to leave a comment below and let me know if you're interested stuff like that because I do think That could be a really cool like quick sit-down video so I could do for you guys and would also be Super helpful for people who are choosing courses and the upcoming academic years Okay, now back to the life update So now with this whole like perinatal focus I've been really interested in opportunities to get like my feet wet and you know different clinical motherhood Spheres I guess so right now I'm taking nutrition and human development, which is a Nutrition class that's truly all about you know nutrition while you're pregnant and then nutrition for the child and infancy Up to adolescence and like preventing eating disorders and like just having your child develop good eating habits And also taking care of yourself while your breastfeeding And while you're pregnant so that has been super interesting And we've been doing a lot of like little case studies that make me like really excited I'm also taking the psychology of law and sexualized violence right now Which I think could be interesting because a lot of studies show that domestic violence actually increases when a woman is pregnant I am kind of taking that class to kind of understand the nuances there and like how to best support pregnant women in that space because When you're in a domestic abuse situation already, it's super scary to leave But once children are involved it just becomes that much harder So I definitely want to have that kind of understanding so I could be a great clinician and therapist to those women Who are living that walk of life and then what else am I taking? Positive psychology this semester for the fun I mean it's like a core SMBI class that like everyone recommends and it's been so good so far So I love that and then the last class I'm taking is spiritual entrepreneurship Because I really want to create like a holistic birthing center and working with dr Jack has been great because there's a lot that I don't know and he really helps Motivate you to kind of like get there and like he's obviously not an expert in birthing But he's like you are going to be the expert in birthing and I'm the expert in business And this is how you're gonna get from this little like tiny I just realized I have to tell you guys something again. Okay Also, so with all of this pregnancy and like mother mental health stuff being said I have decided that I want to do a doula certification So I'm kind of taking this like one-on-one doula practice and my goal is to scale it to like a holistic birthing center Down the line, but right now. I'm still just in my training stages of it So that certification well, it's like a training. It's not really a certification But that training kind of on top of my full-time course load has been a lot to say the least So, yeah, so I'm really excited about my birthing center I'm really excited to kind of like get my feet wet with the Practicality of birthing and like supporting mothers through being a doula and the more I think about that the more I'm like wow, that's like Just two completely different sides of the coin like We talked a lot about in our last training now my cat's like getting on the counter Stop go But in the training last week, we talked a lot about what holding space looks like and how that can look different for different people for different licenses and career paths and it really dawned on me, you know, like being a doula is so intimate and There's things that I can do as a doula that I would not be able to do as a therapist for example being a doula I'm most likely going to be in the home like helping to cook meals like teaching the partner or The community support that the birthing person has in place like oh like you should make this tea or you should you know Kind of rub her back like this when she's having this pain or XYZ and like as a therapist What like I'm absolutely I'm not gonna be able to go into people's homes like I'm honestly probably not even gonna be able to meet their community unless they bring them in for a therapy session like Being a therapist is going to be so different and segmented from being a doula like Because as I'm thinking of creating this holistic center like I would love for everything to be in one roof And I do think it's possible. It just means I Cannot hold the doula role and the therapist role for a woman at the same time in the same place like she could either be my patient or She could be like my doula client, but she can't be both So that's also something that's been interesting to me Also, I have this microphone because oh and the other microphone because at some point I do want to start a podcast to you about like mental health and yoga and all those things and one of my friends was like You'd be a great life coach So now I'm like do I want to do like a coaching business or like a programming something? I don't know. I have so many like little ideas floating up in my head, but right now I think I'm barely keeping my head up above water between YouTube and school and doula training Don't even get me started about dating because I have I just I like I barely can do that But I'm trying and I am dating someone kind of but not really. I don't know. We'll see I'm not putting too much pressure on it because I Also in the midst of all of this have PhD inside the applications that I need to get through also I got into the Harvard prep program So I'm gonna be doing that this weekend to kind of prepare me for applying this fall So I do just have a lot going on and Yeah, I'm just feeling so grateful I finally got to the point on like checking my arm or tracking my YouTube progress where I can kind of compare Year over year and I forget the exact number, but as I'm talking to you guys right now I'm at 809 subscribers. Thank you so much. I love you guys So so so much and I think this time last year. I was at like 300 something so I'm just feeling really grateful So blessed. Everything is falling into place just as it's supposed to The Sun is setting and it's getting kind of dark and I think this is like 15 minutes straight of me talking to you guys So hopefully I can edit it and I'll be like maybe 10 minutes or so But yeah, I just wanted to come on and say that because you guys wanted a little girl talk Life updates catch up with me. I truly have just been like Like the fact that I've even been consistently posting on YouTube still is like mind-boggling to me because I Have had like no time the past couple of months But I do think that this is like everything is just setting me up for something That's so much greater and just so much better than I could have ever imagined And I'm just really happy to be able to share my journey with you guys and like I said, it's getting dark So actually one second, let me turn on the light. Yeah, it's getting dark and I think my light looks a little orange I'm going to wrap it up here, but thank you so so much Let me know in the comments below if you guys like these kind of quick talky videos I mean, I imagine that once I actually have the bandwidth to start my podcast. This is what it will be like But um until then I would love to make more of these little talky videos with you guys because it helps me actually learn How to use the microphone and I just I love you guys so much. Thank you all for subscribing If you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe My goal is to get to a thousand subscribers by my birthday, which is November 3rd Which is coming up real quick. I don't know if we can do like two hundred and two weeks, but I mean I Think we can do it maybe possibly if not a thousand by the end of the year But honestly like I just feel so proud. So I'm rambling I'm always rambling when I talk to you guys because I can just talk to myself for hours And also like I'm talking to you guys. So it's like am I really talking to myself? I don't know All right, so I'm going to edit this video tonight Hopefully get it live for you guys on Wednesday. What is today? Today's the 16th. So yeah, it should probably come up on the 18th. But yeah I'll probably film a week in my life starting tomorrow too. So you guys can have that for Sunday and yeah, I will catch you on the flip side It's weird kind of talking into this mic because I don't know how to end these things. I Don't know how to end things. I feel like I can just Talk into the mic