Resilience

• 20 Nov, 2023
• • Growth

Podcast reflections 2

Audiobooks are a great way to absorb information on the go and that's the same with podcast. Normally I will listen to podcast when I am actively doing something else but I want to keep my mind occupied. Sometimes when I learn something interesting on the podcast I want to tell the world about it because I think they are valuable to you as well. Strength in situations that you can do nothing aboutFrom: Joe Rogan Experience #1193 Josh Dubin & Bruce Bryan Josh Dubin is from the innocence project which seeks to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and advocates for criminal justice reform, which needless to say is an incredibly meaningful job. Josh is joined on the podcast by Bruce Bryan who is a black man who was exonerated in 2023 with the help of the innocence project after spending 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Yes you read that right. A murder he did not commit.I cannot imagine the frustration this man goes through, day in, day out. Thinking about his family, how unfair everything was and what injustice was done to him. He must have felt hopeless, helpless, and angry at the world. He must have wondered if he would ever see the light of day again, or if anyone would ever believe his innocence. But yet he stayed mentally strong and did not succumb to despair, violence, or self-harm. He used his time in prison to educate himself, help others, and advocate for his cause. He maintained his faith, his dignity, and his optimism. He never gave up on his quest for justice, freedom, and redemption."Prison is a cold environment and its up to you to find your own heat ... maintain a sense of humanity, you can either do two things, you could become bitter or you can become better. I chose the later. ..." — Bruce BryanI really liked his use of the coldness in the prison as a metaphor as a sense of hope and positivity, that he had to find his own heat, meaning his own source of motivation and strength, to survive and thrive. He did not let his circumstances change him for the worse, but rather used them as an opportunity to grow and improve. He could have sunk low thinking how the world has turned their backs on him but he chose not to do that - to be bitter but to be better. He goes on to say:Because one of the things I did early in my incarceration was to made a conscious decision to not serve time but to have time serve me, I made up my mind that if you were going to have me incarcerate for a crime that I did not commit, then I was going to take this time and use this cell as if it was an office, the school building as if it was an university, any chance I had to self reflect and engage in introspection ... — Bruce BryanBecause the external situation that he is in does not change no matter how he feels inside, he decided that he will take advantage of the situation and turn in it into one that is as positive as it could. And that my friends is just 100% respect.We can either choose to focus on the darkness or on the light Stay positive folks.