 I don't fear being self aware. I know I suck at a lot of stuff. One of my biggest fears, one of my biggest fears is being a hypocrite and not even being exposed as a hypocrite, but one of my values is to walk the walk while also talking the talk. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, that channel is all about mental health. What I like to do is pull different topics from the YouTube community or the social media influencer sphere to try to teach you how to improve your mental and emotional well-being. So for any of that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And all of my loyal Rewired soldiers out there are probably like, Chris, where the heck are ya? Well, if you followed me on social media, you would know that I am in Los Angeles, California doing a bunch of collaborations with other YouTubers. And if you're following me on social media, you would have seen that I posted this picture with Donna from Psych IRL and our video is going up tomorrow on Friday. And she talks on my channel about parasocial relationships. Make sure you subscribe to her channel because we did a video about the state of mental health in YouTube. All right, very cool topics. But anyways, for those of you who don't know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, you better ask somebody, all right? Like Gary Vaynerchuk is amazing and he's an entrepreneur, he's in business development but he's turned into kind of a motivational speaker, right? And that's something that I can relate to Gary on because Gary Vee doesn't like being perceived as a motivational speaker but he does what he has to do to inspire people, right? And the reason I can relate to that is because some people labeled me a drama channel even though I'm really just trying to teach people how to improve their mental and emotional well-being. But that's not the topic of today's video, okay? The topic of today's video is how to stay true to yourself, okay? And I love it because Gary Vee a little bit about his story and his history. When he first started getting asked to do some public speaking, he would go out there and he's a dude who grew up in New Jersey. He always says, you know, I'm just a Jersey boy, you know, and stuff like that. And he cusses, he has a foul mouth, one of the most caring, empathetic, compassionate people you'll ever meet. But when he started to go out and do public speaking, some of the event organizers were like, yo dude, you got to calm down on the cussing, you can't do that and stuff like that. And Gary had, you know, this chance to look at some self-awareness, thinking about what he wanted to do, who he wanted to be, how he wanted to be perceived. And he basically told people to screw off. He said, I'm going out there and I'm gonna still cuss on this dude from Jersey. That's how I grew up, that's how I taught and all of that. So he stayed true to himself. So if you've ever watched a Gary Vaynerchuk talk or anything like that, you know, this is who he is. He talks with profanity and everything like that if you get offended, sorry, whatever that is. But I find this so, so, so important because something I'm often trying to teach people is something that I learned a long time ago, which is I never, I never ever ever, one of my biggest fears is I never want somebody to meet me outside of, you know, the original context they met me and realize that I'm a different person, all right? Like that's something that I don't want to happen. So the reason why this is important to me is one of them is because growing up I never knew who I was. I didn't have a solid sense of self. I was always trying to change who I was to fit who I was around. And it drove me personally insane. So one of the reasons that I try to stay true to myself is because I know if I don't, it affects my mental health, all right? Now that doesn't give me an excuse to be a dick to people. So that's why I try to be kind, generous, you know, give tough love and all those things, like in all aspects of my life. I try to be me no matter what. But those of you who don't know me, I am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I got clean six and a half years ago. And yeah, one of the things that I noticed because I got sober through 12 step programs and a sober living house, and like I never went to, you know, a traditional rehab. So I went to 12 step meetings. And one of the things that bugged me so much is that there would be people in the meetings and they just talk to talk, right? Like you would sit there and just be inspired by them. They would say these things about how they used to be this scummy person. And, you know, now that they're clean, they have better relationships. They don't lie. They don't cheat. They don't steal. You know, they have better relationships. All these things that they would talk it and they can quote, you know, different aspects of the literature for 12 step programs and you look at them and you're like, dang, this person has it together. But then you would find out that outside the meetings, they were a crappy person. Like they weren't a good person. Like maybe they were cheating on their wife. Maybe they were embezzling money from their job, right? And I'm just sitting there and I'm just like, you know, like if I'm looking to model myself after you and your recovery, your mental and emotional health, like, why am I gonna, you know, why do I wanna model myself after somebody who's putting on a facade, someone who's putting on an act, someone who's just talking the talk inside the rooms but they're not walking the walk outside the rooms. So this is something that I take very, very seriously. I wanna make sure that I am the same person that you would meet inside of a meeting that you would meet outside of a meeting. And this is something that carried on very true in my work when I worked at the drug and alcohol treatment center. Like when I was talking to clients about, you know, some people who talk the talk and they don't walk the walk, I would let them know. I'm like, you guys, when you talk to me, when you see me up here running groups, when you see me, when you come into my office and we do a one-on-one and we talk and all that. Like work, Chris is the same as outside Chris. Like the last thing I want is somebody to look up to me as some kind of, you know, mentor or somebody they aspire to be like or anything like that. And then, you know, maybe they run into me at a grocery store and they see me like screaming at somebody. You know what I mean? Their opinion, their view of me is going to change. So that's something that I take very, very seriously. Like some of you may not realize it and this is the first time I'm actually talking about. This is something that I take very seriously. And that's why I relate to Gary Vaynerchuk in this aspect. Like I don't want somebody to meet me and be let down and be like, oh wow, Chris isn't that same person. You know what I mean? Like for example, I just met up with Daly who's a long-term rewired soldier, a fan of the channel, a subscriber. And I'm interesting to see the video that she makes about me. By the time this video gets uploaded, I don't know if she has. But I'm interested to see like, am I who she thought I was going to be? You know, not like how I look. Like I think I look how I look in person, right? But like my personality, you know, did I let her down? Did I live up to her expectations? Am I just a normal guy with a camera? Which I keep trying to tell you guys, like I'm nothing special. I'm just a guy with a camera, right? So I'm interested in that. I just did that collaboration with Donna from Psych IRL. I'm interested to know if she thinks I'm the same person. Like do I put on a facade on YouTube? Because as my channel is growing, this is something that I have to be very mindful of, right? But to get into where I'm at with YouTube now, it's the same thing. Like something that I struggle with is as my channel is growing, who am I, right? Because as channels grow, as more eyes are on you, you see a lot of YouTubers who put on like this PR appearance, right? They don't talk about certain things. They talk about certain things. You know, so many YouTubers are worried about their brand. They got to watch what they're saying on social media and all of that. And in my opinion, one of the reasons why there's so much drama that happens is because of expectancy theory. This is something I talked about in a different video. People expect a certain thing from different people. So when something comes out about them, that's one of the reasons it blows up, right? Because nobody expected. They thought this was a well-polished good person. They see this person as larger than life, maybe not even human, because they're always putting on this good show, this good act, whatever it is, and then you see something happen. And the person who keeps coming to mind is Manny MUA, right? Like I think Manny MUA, I think Laura Lee has so much backlash in the drama get-in of last year is because they put out a certain personality on, you know, online, on the internet to everybody. And then they started getting exposed by the people who actually knew them. So that's why it's so important to me that I stay true to myself and I'm always me. So I get it, I get that I have more responsibility. I have to be more mindful of what I put out there. And like, trust me, there's not everything that I put on camera. There's not everything that I put on social media. Like, there's things that, like, here's a great example. I cuss, I cuss all the time. I cuss like a sailor. I love dirty humor. I love dark humor. I love all those things. But I don't put them on my YouTube channel, you know, for various reasons. I don't want the algorithm to screw me over, you know, this is how I make a living. I don't want to get demonetized. So I'm mindful of that. But like, just so you know, if you follow me on like Twitter or Instagram, you'll see me cuss. If you follow me on my Instagram stories, you'll see me make jokes and things like that. And that's so you can get more personal and get to know me and stuff. But like Gary Vee, like, I think this is important for all of us is to be true to ourselves. Like, think about the jobs you get and the act or the mask that you put on to go into a job interview, right? Think about when you're going out on dates. Like how many times have you gone out on a date with somebody and they put on this whole facade and they're this kind, nice, generous person, then you start dating them and they are verbally or emotionally abusive, right? Think about the other aspects of your life where this is a really important topic where people weren't staying true to themselves. They acted different in different situations and all that. Like, while I like don't get it twisted, I absolutely understand that, you know, if I'm doing, you know, a job interview, I'm not gonna cuss like a sailor, like, sorry, bro. This is who I am. Like, I have to think about what is responsible of me being an adult and all of this in certain situations or as a father, I don't cuss all the time around my son. I don't talk around him the way I would talk around my friends and things like that. But I think it's really important on YouTube. So I want you guys to know, like, all the things that I do, all the things that I say, like it's me staying true to myself and it's very important and that's why I look up to people like Gary Vaynerchuk because they have that same mentality and it's really important to them as well. All right, but let me know down in the comments below, do you struggle with, you know, staying true to yourself? Do you struggle with, you know, having a sense of self? Have you been affected by somebody else putting on a mask or facade? You know, that saying where they say never meet your heroes. Have you ever met somebody who showed you their true colors after you looked up to them? All right, let's have a conversation down below. Let me hear your thoughts, all right. But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You're all amazing. And if you would like to become a patron and get exclusive perks, special videos and all that, click or tap right there, all right. Thanks again so much for watching. I'll see you next time.