 Today I had the honor of speaking with a bunch of high schoolers to talk about mental health and life in general. So I want to take some stuff from what happened today and provide all of you with some tips. So stay tuned. 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, my channel is all about helping you improve your mental health no matter how old you are. So if you're into that kind of stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So here's what happened. Basically one of my very, very good friends, Nikki, pictured here with me, invited me down to her high school to talk to kids to help them out with the project. And since I am pretty much just working from home doing freelance stuff and doing YouTube and all that, like I was like, sure, I would love to. I was like, what's it about? And basically the kids are writing essays about coming of age, right? So they needed to interview adults about this stuff. So I was like, sure, I'm more than happy to come down. So it was an amazing, amazing experience. It was actually at Desert Pines High School. So all of you Jaguars out there, big ups to all of you. But yeah, it was so cool. And there were so many great questions. I introduced myself as a mental health YouTuber. And I also threw in there that I used to travel all over the world for professional video gaming. I knew I'd get some people who want to interview me because of that. So yeah, it was cool. I did, I did two classes. And there was probably about 15 or 20 kids who asked me questions and things like that. So in this video, like, there was a lot of good stuff that came out of it. So in this video, I want to talk about a few of the questions that they asked me. So if you're in high school, or even if you're a parent out there, and you have kids, like, I don't care if they're in high school or middle school or whatever, like, there were some great questions. And I want to share some of my answers with them to the best of my knowledge. But I have, you know, a pretty solid life philosophy. So I think they'll be pretty accurate to what I shared with the students this morning. But it was such an honor, like, for all of you out there who are struggling with addiction or you're new in recovery, like, man, like, let me tell you what a gift it is, you know, I was at the lowest of my low six years ago. And now I'm invited to go talk to kids at a high school. Like, what? Like, man, life is amazing. But enough of that sappy stuff. Let's start out with the first question, as well as some tips. So one of the questions that some kids ask me is, who inspires you, right? And I basically told them, like, I am inspired by anybody, anybody who has overcome challenges. So, like, a great example was some of my friend's students. I told them, I said, Miss Whaley, I said, she inspires me. So my friend Nikki, like, she, you know, she had not the best childhood and neither did I and stuff. But like, that girl hustles and works so hard. Like, when I first met her, you know, we were working together somewhere, and she was working and she was going to school. She's also in a band. And like, she chose to work at Desert Pines High School because she really, really wants to help kids. And like, I admire that, you know, like, I'm inspired by anybody who has gone through any type of struggle in their life. So I look at that. Like, I love seeing people who have overcome adversity. And I told the kids, like, if any of them have overcome anything, whether it's a rough family life or childhood or, you know, the loss of somebody, like, they inspire me because it shows me that somebody else got through it. So maybe I can too. So I don't feel so, so, so hopeless. So like, if you're looking for inspiration, just look for anybody, anybody who has overcome a challenge, because I guarantee you know people, like, even if it's just like, you know, getting out of bed in the morning and going to school or going to work, like, and, and you're depressed, like, that's overcoming a challenge. And like, that kind of stuff really inspires me. So the next question was, what's my view about success, right? And I told him straight up, I said, happiness is my view of success. So a lot of you who follow my channel, you know that Mac Miller passed away. And I talked about that. And I asked how many of them knew who Mac Miller was. And I talked about other people and things. I said, we have to look at that. And I'm so glad I got to share this with students at a young age, like, I said, look at these people, like, they are a prime example that money, cars, houses, you know, women or men, whatever your thing is, like, that doesn't always mean that you're going to be happy. So for me personally, I focus on the happiness and then the success comes after. Because if you can get this thing right, everything comes along with it, all the success, job opportunities, friends, family members, like, but you got to work on your happiness because the problem is that we keep chasing and chasing and chasing. And we're never happy because there's never enough. There's never enough money. There's never a big enough house. There's never a nice enough car, all this other stuff. So we need to start working on our own happiness and then get all the other things. So this question came up a few times and it was like, what do you wish that you could tell your high school self? And believe it or not, like, I think about this all the time. But, you know, it's something that I get to teach, you know, my son or, you know, these these kids in high school, right? And what I wish I could tell my high school self was quit caring so much about what other people think, like, I was so anxious and so depressed in high school, like, I never knew who I was. I was just trying to make you like me, right? I was a social chameleon. I would go, you know, I was on sports team, so I would hang out with the jocks or, you know, I'd hang out with the nerds or I'd hang out with the emo and gov kids or whoever it was. And like, I was always trying to validate myself with other people's opinions of me. And if people didn't like me, it crushed me. You know what I mean? And like, I just today, today that took me so many years to figure this out, like, I have to quit valuing other people's opinion more than my own. So this is an inside job. Once we start working on ourselves and we're happy with ourselves, we know that we're a good person, then I can take or leave other people's opinions of me, right? I now accept today that 100% of people are not going to like me. Not everybody is going to like me. Some people just don't like big guys with a beard. That's cool, right? Some of you like my voice. I had a comment the other day that somebody said my voice was stupid. That's cool. You know what I mean? But I cannot base how I feel about myself on other people's opinions. I just got to do the right thing. I got to work hard. I got to be kind, generous, honest. You know, be the best person that I can be on a regular basis. So I wish I would have been able to tell my younger self, but hey, it turned me into the person I am today. And maybe I had to go through that. Maybe I've had to go through all that people pleasing and stuff like that to get to the place I am today, where people's opinions of me mean very, very little. I will link up in the info card above how to quit caring so much about what people think because I dive deeper into this subject. Another great question was what's something that you're proud of? And you know, I introduced myself. I also said I'm a drug addict and alcoholic in recovery. I have six years clean and sober. So like I told them that it changed for me, you know? When I first got clean, when I first got sober six years ago, like it was just staying sober for a day. Like if I could stay sober for a whole 24 hours, that was a big deal and I was proud of myself because my entire life revolved around alcohol and drugs, right? But like I got to a certain point where that wasn't good enough because I still wasn't a great person. I was what we call a dry drunk. I mentioned it in another video I did the other day, right? I was still lying to people. I still have a lot of anger issues. I was yelling at people, all sorts of stuff. I was stealing all those things. So like I had to raise the bar. So today, today, like I'm not, you know, I am proud of myself for staying clean and sober this long, but I wanted to do more, okay? So I am constantly proud of myself because I live in a way where I wake up in the morning asking what I can give to this world rather than take from this world. So I'm constantly trying to do random acts of kindness, do nice things for other people. Like those are the things that make me proud of myself. So it's not, it's not based on the subscribers. It's not based on the views, right? Like did I make a positive impact in this world today? Those are the things that make me proud of myself today. And I wish and I wish I wish more kids could get that through their head, man. Like I'm so glad I got to talk to them like even if I was able to get through to just one kid today, one kid with a message like that, my life is complete. Like if I, can you imagine, you know what I mean? We'll just start teaching this next generation to, to try to give back to this world, to try to make this world a better place, to try to be kinder, nicer, more generous, more empathetic towards others. Like man, this world will be awesome. So I really hope that I was able to get through to just one person today. So this is another question, the last question that came up a few times, right? And it was, have you ever had to confess something, right? And like how did they help you grow as a person? So I told them, you know, I asked them all, I said, do any of you know any drug addicts or alcoholics? I was surprised, but not surprised how many kids rose to their hands. Then I asked them, I said, do you know any drug addicts or alcoholics who are in recovery? And there were still some hands up. So that's good. That's good news, right? But I told them, you know, part of my recovery process was in 12-step programs. And the 10th step in 12-step programs, part of the 10th step is, when we go wrong, we promptly admit it. And I live my life that way today. Like one of the reasons that I used to beat myself up so much and talk down to myself was because I was a bad person doing bad things. I was lying, cheating, stealing, all these other things. So the way I live my life today is, I know I'm going to screw up. I'm not a perfect human being. But when I screw up, I admit it like that, okay? My goal at the end of the day is to go to sleep with a clean conscience, right? So I'm constantly confessing stuff. Well, not constantly because I'm a better person today. I don't got to confess things because I'm not doing shady things. But confessing to me is also like apologies and stuff. I told them, you know, and maybe it helps them in their home life. Like, there's times where I apologize to my son. Like, maybe I'm having a bad day and I might snap at him. And I promptly apologize to him because I feel bad about it. You know what I mean? So I think it's important that on a daily basis we're looking at ourselves and saying, do I have anything that I need to apologize for? Did I yell at somebody? Did I lie to somebody? What did I do? So I do that every single day because I'm trying to keep this thing free and clear of guilt and shame. You know what I'm saying? So anyways, anyways, that's all I got. And again, I am so, so, so grateful for the experience I had today. Like, I don't interact with high school kids that much. And like, man, like, I need to make more videos for these kids. Like, not the kids specifically that I talked to, but just for kids in general. Like, my high school years was when my mental health just completely deteriorated. And like, I make a lot of my videos. I think my primary demographic is like 18 to 26, something like that, right? But like, man, I love being able to help high school kids and hopefully teach them some life lessons that I wish. I wish I knew when I was younger. You know what I'm saying? So actually, tomorrow, tomorrow, I'm going back there to talk to two more groups of students. So that'll be interesting if some new questions come up. Maybe I'll do a part two of this video. And again, actually, let me say this. All of you desert pine students who subscribe to me or you followed me here on YouTube or on Instagram or Twitter or whatever, thank you. You are all amazing. And I took a bunch of pictures with the students afterwards and I told them to tag me in it. So if you took a picture with me, you better tag me in it at the rewired. So look, it's up on the screen again, just for you, right? But anyways, there's more that I could talk about. Maybe I'll do a follow up tomorrow anyways. But that's all I got for you. Let's do this. Let's do this for all of the adults out there, right? Or anybody who's graduated high school even. Leave comments down below. What's something that you know now, right? What's something you know now that you wish you could tell your high school self? I love that question so much. All right. So leave comments down below. But that's all I got for you. So if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. And if you're new here, I don't know what you're waiting for. Make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You are all amazing. And there's still some sweet rewired soul merch up in the shop. If you want to get your hands on some, boom, click or tap right there. All right. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.