Why Not?!

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:05.080 Hey, what's up world? Welcome to snack size, the podcast that will 2 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.830 drag you into your most fabulous life. I'm your host, La La Luscious, 3 00:00:10.070 --> 00:00:13.669 also known as the snack of the twin cities. I decided for myself 4 00:00:13.789 --> 00:00:16.589 that I can be whatever I want to be, so I decided to be 5 00:00:16.789 --> 00:00:20.629 a drag queen, and if I can live my dreams, you can to. 6 00:00:21.070 --> 00:00:24.699 The time has come to believe in yourself enough to turn your ideas into 7 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:27.859 more than mere words, and, no matter what you were doing in life 8 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:31.500 or where you want to go, I want to help you get there fabulously. 9 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:40.969 Our ten minutes starts now. Hey, thanks, welcome to my very 10 00:00:41.009 --> 00:00:43.770 first episode of snack sighs, and, if you're listening, thank you so 11 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:47.969 much for being here and beginning this journey with me. You may have no 12 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:51.280 idea who I am, and that's okay. I have no idea who you 13 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:54.759 are, so we have that in common and it's already great to meet you. 14 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:58.640 I want to start off this episode by asking two questions, and the 15 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:00.840 only thing I ask in return is that you be completely honest with me. 16 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.709 I know that's a little bit difficult because we just met, but if you 17 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.829 know anything about drag Queens. It's that we're completely honest and I'm always going 18 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:11.510 to keep it real with you and in return, I want you to keep 19 00:01:11.549 --> 00:01:15.709 it real with me. So, if you want to imagine that I'm someone 20 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:19.420 you trust completely, maybe that your boyfriend or your girlfriend or your best friend, 21 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:23.219 doesn't matter, who just pretended, someone that you trust. My first 22 00:01:23.219 --> 00:01:27.620 question is, are you living the life of your dreams? Take a moment 23 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:33.930 and let that sink in. Are you living the life of your dreams? 24 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:37.250 Do you wake up every day, look in the mirror and say this is 25 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:40.730 one hundred percent, without a doubt, the life I've dreamed about? If 26 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:42.730 you can say that, then I am through for you and I want you 27 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.090 to email me and tell me how you did it so I can put it 28 00:01:46.209 --> 00:01:49.319 in this podcast. But maybe you can't say that, and I want you 29 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:55.359 to know from me, someone who would consider themselves living a fulfilled life, 30 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.079 that it is okay and you aren't alone. The other day I was enjoying 31 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:02.590 my morning snack and putting together what I wanted to talk about in this podcast 32 00:02:02.629 --> 00:02:07.510 series and I was reading an article in the Huffington post and it said that 33 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:12.710 nine hundred million people in a hundred and forty two different countries are unfulfilled with 34 00:02:12.870 --> 00:02:15.060 what they do in life. It then said that in the US alone, 35 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:20.539 seventy percent of people who are working are unhappy and don't care for what they 36 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:24.900 do. That makes me so sad, and what's even scarier to think about 37 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:28.900 is that those are just the people who are willing to talk about it. 38 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:34.969 So many people live in silence every day about not being happy and fulfilled in 39 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:38.610 their lives. So that leads me to my second question, and again I 40 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:44.479 want you to answer honestly, very simple why not? Some people will say 41 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.719 things like I won't be successful, or I'm too young or I'm too old, 42 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:51.919 or I'll do it one day. Sometimes people feel because they don't have 43 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.759 money or time or other resources, that they feel they can't make their dream 44 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:59.990 happen. Others are scared of failure or being judged for their decisions, and 45 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:02.830 so they choose easier and safer paths and the one that they truly want. 46 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:08.349 All these statements are valid. Fear and doubt is a natural part of being 47 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:13.300 human and growing into your own but what I want to tell you right now 48 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:17.740 that these are not reasons, they are excuses. Excuses that hold us back 49 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:23.780 from once in a lifetime opportunities, especially the one to change so that you 50 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:29.210 can live your best, happy, fulfilled and most fabulous life. So again, 51 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:32.770 I ask you, why not? Why settle for anything less than the 52 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:36.810 life that you dreamed of? At the end of the day, we're all 53 00:03:36.849 --> 00:03:39.569 a product of the decisions we have made. Your friends and family aren't going 54 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:44.039 to look back on their life and regret a decision that you didn't make. 55 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:49.479 So why wait? Stop listening to excuses as to why you can't or why 56 00:03:49.520 --> 00:04:00.870 it won't work, and instead prove yourself wrong. Let me tell you a 57 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:04.150 little bit about me. My name is Kevin, but my friends call me 58 00:04:04.189 --> 00:04:08.430 Lalla, which is my drag name, and since we are now becoming friends, 59 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:11.379 you can call me Lalla too. I'm thirty one years old and I 60 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:15.539 live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By Day I'm on operations in a call center 61 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:18.819 in Corporate America, and by night I transform and I perform all over the 62 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:24.060 twin cities. It's a fabulous drag queen. When I'm on stage, right 63 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:27.089 before I'm about to go on, there is a magical moment, and it 64 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:30.769 happens every time I'm on stage. When the spotlight hits and the music starts 65 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:34.730 and the crowd is filled with anticipation, waiting to see what I'm going to 66 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:39.160 do. It's like I have them in the palm of my hand and I'm 67 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:44.920 ready to entertain them. It's a moment where my fears and insecurities leave my 68 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:50.120 body and I feel strong and empowered, majestic invincible. It is that moment 69 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:56.389 when I know I'm fulfilling my passion and living my purpose. But it wasn't 70 00:04:56.389 --> 00:05:00.910 always that way. Even though now I have confidence and passion both in and 71 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:05.189 out of drag, I remember a time when I struggled with well everything. 72 00:05:06.259 --> 00:05:11.459 My journey to where I'm at in life now is filled with mistakes, failures, 73 00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:15.939 embarrassment and even anchor both it myself and others. I want to tell 74 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:19.259 you about the me eight years ago. It was one of the lowest points 75 00:05:19.259 --> 00:05:23.569 in my life. I had recently failed out of college and I was working 76 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:27.490 a dead and serving job that couldn't pay my bills and, to be honest, 77 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:30.370 I wasn't great and managing money at the time either. So ultimately I 78 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:34.610 got evicted for my apartment. I had nowhere to go, so I packed 79 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:39.240 as much of my belongings as I could in a backpack, which was pretty 80 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:44.680 much nothing, and I was homeless. I had some toiletries by work uniform, 81 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.639 a couple outfits, a laptop and my phone charger. That was it. 82 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:53.509 So what I did was I would eat for free at work because we 83 00:05:53.589 --> 00:05:56.790 got a free meal every shift, and if I made enough at work to 84 00:05:56.829 --> 00:05:59.949 pay for a motel room, I did that and if I didn't, I 85 00:06:00.069 --> 00:06:02.629 had a friend who would let me crash on their couch. So one day 86 00:06:02.870 --> 00:06:06.860 I was all my friends couch and all this happened so quickly. I just 87 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:11.980 kind of jumped into survival mode and I never had a moment to breathe and 88 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:16.860 process the fact that I was homeless and I just started crying, but it 89 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:20.290 was in a way I had never cried before. It was like it hit 90 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:24.730 me all at once that I had fucked up my life. So I just 91 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:29.209 had this deep emotional cry and when I calmed down, Oprah was on the 92 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:32.439 screen and, as you know, with Oprah it's always something uplifting, but 93 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:39.600 what she said changed my life. She said you are waiting on something better, 94 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:45.120 but something better is waiting on you. That really resonated with me. 95 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:48.269 Nothing changed right away, but to this day I still hold onto those words. 96 00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:53.069 So fast forward a couple years. I have a place and a job, 97 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:57.029 doing better than I was, but again not living a happy and fulfilled 98 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:00.629 life. I was short on rent and I saw a post on facebook for 99 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:04.019 an amateur drag contest and you could win five hundred dollars. Well, at 100 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:09.540 the time my rent was five hundred dollars. I had done drag a couple 101 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:12.259 times in college and I loved it, but at the time I had other 102 00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:16.089 goals and never focused on it. So I entered the competition and I one. 103 00:07:16.810 --> 00:07:20.610 Not only did I win, the club started hiring me regularly, and 104 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:25.569 that is how I began my career as a professional drag queen. It was 105 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:29.250 also the same time that the life I had dreamed of, the one that 106 00:07:29.329 --> 00:07:33.639 I felt fulfilled and have purpose, began to take shape. Now, don't 107 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:38.199 get me wrong, I'm not saying that the answer to your problems is being 108 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.639 a drag queen, but if you want to, that's great and you should 109 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:45.069 definitely do it. I know for me it is changed my whole life. 110 00:07:45.629 --> 00:07:47.949 What I am saying is that if you want something in your life, if 111 00:07:48.029 --> 00:07:53.149 you have goals. You want to achieve dreams you want to come true physical 112 00:07:53.230 --> 00:07:57.430 or metaphorical mountains you want to climb and you want to live your most fabulous 113 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:00.860 life, but you just aren't quite there yet or don't even know where to 114 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:03.819 start. I want to tell you that the only thing stopping you is you. 115 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:09.500 Yes, there will be challenges, mistakes and hurdles, but I want 116 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:13.610 to tell you that the only permission you need to follow your dreams is your 117 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:16.329 own, and your dreams are out there waiting for you to find them. 118 00:08:18.370 --> 00:08:20.569 Now, at this point, you may ask yourself, why should you listen 119 00:08:20.569 --> 00:08:24.730 to me? What is different about me than other self help books, videos 120 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:28.879 or podcast that you have listened to before? Well, I'll be honest. 121 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:33.679 I'm not a doctor or a selfhelp professional. There are definitely times in life 122 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.320 where you may need one of those people, and that's okay. There's nothing 123 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.029 wrong with asking for help. Keep that in mind for a later episode. 124 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:46.190 What I am is a person just like you, who had a dream that 125 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:50.070 at one time I didn't even think was possible and I made it come true. 126 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:54.470 Drag has given me so many experiences in which I meet a lot of 127 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:58.259 people. More importantly, I meet a lot of different types of people. 128 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:03.419 I have worked with some of the most interesting personalities this world has ever seen. 129 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:07.100 No two people are ever the same, but I've noticed that no matter 130 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:11.409 who I meet, we are all working towards the same thing, the pursuit 131 00:09:11.490 --> 00:09:15.570 of a happy and fulfilled life. For me, it's drag, but for 132 00:09:15.690 --> 00:09:18.929 you that may mean something different. Maybe it's getting your degree, owning a 133 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:24.440 home, getting out of that boring job and starting your business. Maybe it's 134 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.360 building a life with the person you love, or starting a family or finally 135 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.759 pursuing a hobby that you have always secretly wanted to try. Maybe your life 136 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.600 is filled with doing things that don't make you happy or, worse, make 137 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:39.789 you feel empty, and you want to start living your life. For you, 138 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:43.429 I'm here to tell you that, no matter what, you're happy or 139 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:46.870 fulfilled. Life looks like it's yours if you want it, and actually it's 140 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:50.830 what you deserve. How do I know this? Because I made it happen 141 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:54.299 for me and now I'm living the life that I dreamed and guess what? 142 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:58.860 Now I have more dreams and I work hard every day to make those dreams 143 00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:03.139 come true too. So from one human to another, through this podcast. 144 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:07.409 I want to share with you how I change my life, and I know 145 00:10:07.529 --> 00:10:11.490 it will help you change your life too. Actually, this reminds me of 146 00:10:11.570 --> 00:10:13.850 a line from one of my favorite books as a child, Charlotte's Web, 147 00:10:15.210 --> 00:10:18.649 when Charlotte tells Wilburg, you have been my friend. That in itself is 148 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:24.399 a tremendous thing. What's a life anyway? We're born, we live a 149 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:28.279 little, we die. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift 150 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:31.960 my own life up a trifle. Heaven knows, anyone's life can stand a 151 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.750 little of that. If you're still listening, I can tell we're going to 152 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:39.070 be great friends. Let's lift each other up and the next time you tell 153 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:45.990 yourself that you can't, ask yourself why not. Don't be afraid of your 154 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:50.980 own potential. Hey, snack I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember you 155 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:56.259 can get every episode of snack size on apple podcast, Google podcast and spotify. 156 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.419 Let's keep the conversation going. If you have questions or feedback, don't 157 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:05.769 be afraid to say hello at Lala, at snack size podcastcom and if you 158 00:11:05.850 --> 00:11:11.049 want to support my podcast, head on over to paypal dot me for its 159 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:15.210 snack size podcast. Until next time go be fabulous.