Episode 15 - The Power of Influence

Influence is everywhere—social media, friendships, family, even TikTok influences us daily. 😅 In this episode, we’re diving into the power of influence: who has it, how it affects our decisions, and why we need to be more intentional about what (and who) we let in.

🎧 Tune in as we share our personal experiences with influence—good, bad, and straight-up funny—and how we’ve learned to lead instead of follow.

💬 Who influences you the most right now? Let us know in the comments!
#PowerOfInfluence #UnfilteredUs #PodcastLife #MindsetMatters #IntentionalLiving #SocialMediaInfluence #CoupleGoals #RealTalk

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Susie's Instagram: @sdguzman98

Transcript

You're listening to unfiltered us, where we keep it real and unscripted. I'm your host, Susie, along with my husband, Miguel. Ready to dive in? Let's get started. Okay. Well. Hello, friend. Hello, friends. I've been waiting for this moment to call you a friend. I think you're not gonna live that down. Well, I think you need to tell everybody the backstory of that. You keep saying it, so I'm gonna bring it up. I don't remember calling you friend three times in the doctor, but I guess I did several times then. So go ahead, baby. We came back from this trip, and when we were there, we were in the pool. This has happened before I think happened in Kabul as well. Yes, I do remember that. So and so when we came back from this trip, we were in the pool and, and then we were hanging out with our friends. And then you looked at me and you said you're a friend. And so more than once this happens every time we go on a trip and we're drinking, which I have a backstory on why I do that. You call me friend? Yes. So that's why I have to say. But I know it's because we're hanging out with friends. So. Yeah. So it's like, because I don't really call people by their names. Anyone I know, I call you by my friend. If you're my sister, I call you sister. If you're my brother, I call you brother. If you're my cousin, I call you cousin. I don't really name people by their names. I know that sounds really weird. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I hope not, at least. And so I if we go on trips. I'm so used to seeing a friend, friend, friend, you know? And so. When I talk. It's just me. No no, no. Nothing changes. Yes I know. It's just. It's like it just comes out. It's like bread. But I okay, I just see your. I mean, you are my friend. It's not a lie. I know I'm not disagreeing. I'm not upset about it, I just. No, I know you're not. I mean, we are friends, I just yeah, we are friends. We go on trips. I am your friend. Publicly. You're a friend. Yeah. So. Okay, well, that's good to know. I mean, how are you going to get the ladies if I call you hubby? That's why I'm not mad. I'm not mad about this friend. So how can I let you flirt if you're. You know what? I'm not mad about it. So we got an interesting topic today. I think all of our topics are interesting. Yeah, but today especially, you know, I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on, but I think, uh, this was appropriate. Um, it's, uh, we're labeling this one the power of influence, you know, because there are so many I think all of us are influenced in life. In one way or another. Yeah. Whether it be good or bad. Right. And and that's the thing that a lot of people, maybe some people are unaware of the fact that, you know, how their being influenced is affecting their life, as you said, for good or bad. You know, and I think a lot of the times there's many, um, examples I can think of me in my personal life on how I've been able to be influenced by others, and it's not a good influence. Does that make sense? Yes. And so the people you hang out with. Yeah. When there's not so much people you hang out with, like when you say people you hang out with, you think about friends, right? Like like there was a saying that says, uh, tell me who you're hanging out with, and I tell you who you are, right? Or something like that. But tell me who your friends are, and I tell you who you are. And it's not so much that, you know, I think there's a lot of people of quote unquote influence that influence us since we're kids. You're looking at teachers, right? You're looking at religious leaders, okay. That influence people. Um, all of those are influences, not just friends. Friends are a big part. Your parents, in a sense, right? Your family members, their influence. And so I think a lot of the times you adopt certain beliefs in life from all of these people, and that is influence. And that really makes you who you are in a sense, or at least the programming. But sometimes it's just not that good. Sometimes it's not good at all. Yeah. Because if I mean, if you have parents who really like, let's just say they're alcoholics or, um, I don't know, like they do drugs or they're heavy gamblers or whatever, you know, obviously that's an influence on you without them even thinking about it. And so it's really and that's why I think it's really up to you to decide if that's the path you want. Yeah, as well. Because if you see what a certain influence, you know, like a certain person of influence is doing to you like a parent, do you appreciate that or do you dislike that? And that's how you have to look at almost every situation in your life. Like and then I feel like we're so influenced, like TikTok, for example. Yeah. I feel like TikTok has become a huge influence lately, even on kids. Oh, yeah. And, um, I know it's influenced me, and I like to think in a way, because now. I've always looked at ingredients in the back of like, food. But ever since I fell into that rabbit hole on TikTok, like I. I am a fanatic about finding food that doesn't have so many chemicals. They say if you can't read it or you don't understand what that ingredient is, you shouldn't be eating it, right. And so now I'm almost like paranoid about it. And I know it's because I see what it's doing. I mean, so many people lately have been getting cancer. Yeah. And I feel like a lot of that has to do with the food that we eat 100%. And I like the other day I wanted tortillas and I was like, I'm gonna go buy tortillas. Every tortilla I found is just not made with corn water, you know, like how it's supposed to be, right? Corn water and natural ingredients. Natural ingredients. It has some kind of vegetable oil or some. It's just bad. So I was like, I'm gonna make my own. I actually ChatGPT did. There you go. I'm like, how do you make tortillas? Which is really sad that I'm Mexican. I didn't know how to make tortillas, but actually the most simplest thing to do. And so I went and bought the masa, and I made my own tortillas because I didn't want to eat everything that those tortillas had, right? And they came out delicious, by the way. Oh thank you. But yeah, you know, obviously we're talking on you know, you mentioned TikTok and obviously you went on the, uh, food ingredients and the health aspect of it. Right. And I think all social media, it's its, uh, influence. But prior to that. Right. And we'll get into that influence through social media. Uh, but prior to that, it it really is um, the what when you said a second ago, when you grow up in a household of an alcoholic parent, right. Or an abusive parent. Right. Because that happens as well, too. Exactly. Luckily, thankfully, you know, neither one of us grew up in a household like that. But there is a lot of people that do. Yeah. Now. Yes, you're right, it's up to us, or it's up to that individual to say whether this is right or wrong. But unfortunately, most of the times, because that person just doesn't know any better. They think that's the right thing to do. You're right. You know, they think that. You know what? Okay, my my father did it or my mother did it. And so I'm going to do it too, right? Yes. It's their normal. Right. It's that agreement and it's that programming that they got still in their head. Ah, that early on. Because they looked up so much to this person. It's just like I can think of, you know, when I started the business that we're in, you know, I, I was very naive. I didn't know any better. Right. And I let myself get influenced by people. Right. And I didn't know any better. So I found myself later on doing things I shouldn't do because I thought that was what you did. Because that's what I learned from certain people. Does that make sense? Yeah. And it was wrong, right? It was a person on whom I looked up, and I was, in a sense, influenced by their behavior, by their example. And I just thought, okay, well, if that's the things you got to do, I'm going to do it too, right? And so people yes, you're right, I in a sense, I woke up and I told myself, okay, well, I can't do that, right? I this isn't right. I shouldn't do it like this or I, I need to look for a different way. And that's how you start learning. But I think your awareness just expands and you start thinking about these things and you start doing it right. And so honestly, I in in again, when we talk about the professional career that we've had 23 years into it, I'm and I used to idolize lies people. Okay, I used to really idolize people, but I'm going to point today where I do not idolize another human being. I really don't, because I decided that I wasn't going to allow another person to dictate and to influence my way of life in my thinking. Now I can take their examples and I can hear them out, right? But then I have the power to analyze whether this is going to be a good thing for me or not, a good thing for me. And if it's a good thing for me, which way should I go about it? Because we're all different. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so I think, um, majority of the people do not think that way, especially kids. Right? Kids, they definitely don't have that awareness. They don't have that power to do that, because it takes a long time for you to develop that strength, that mental strength, in a sense. Um, but majority of the people, even adults today, we see that they're not only influenced by those early on beliefs, but also by the external media, the, the, the mainstream media, especially social media and the news, which is probably the worst thing to watch. You know, there's so much fake news out there and people, they just let themselves. Go with it. The narrative. And next thing you know, a few years down the road, just like it happened, all these things that happened five years ago or so, Covid and all these different things. And now today, we're learning how none of this stuff was real or a lot of this stuff was BS. But yet five years ago, everybody was influenced and everybody was scared and everybody was like, oh my God, the world is ending. And now today even. Yeah. Where is it now? Even even if you get a positive Covid test, they're like, oh, you can go to work. It's fine. Yeah. Even that guy Fouchier or whatever back then that was like everybody was listening to him and he made all that shit up about six feet apart and washing your hands and all these BBS stuff. The mask. You know, it's it's I mean, unfortunately, a lot of people did die, but it was just because, I mean, they weren't healthy to be in it. Like it was something that was, uh, and they were old or they were older. So unfortunately, people did pass. Yeah. But I just feel like it just made it a lot more than what it actually was. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, um, obviously playing down the, the the disease or the pandemic. I'm just saying the amount of influence yes, people got by listening to the mainstream media and the social media, you know. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Because even back then, when all this stuff was going on, we were already at that point where there was a bunch of places I. I went without a mask. Yeah, I didn't care, you know, I mean, I wore the mask when I had to, you know. But other than that, I didn't have a mask. I could go walk outside without a mask. You know, we can go for walks at the park without a mask. And people were wearing masks. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. And so that's what I'm talking about. So they this day people do do this day. These people do. But again, it's because of the power how much they're influenced by. Other people? Yeah. You know, instead of them doing their own research, I think, uh, and that's what makes it so different to try to raise a child nowadays, as opposed to maybe when we were being raised. Right. Maybe even to a certain extent when we were raising our children, uh, because they there was a little bit of social media when we were raising our children, but obviously not to the extent that it is now. Yeah. I feel like we could protect them a little more before we're now. It's just so out there and, uh, you know, tick tock. What do you mean by protect them a little more then. Well, because, you know, they had like a, like, for example, like Myspace. Myspace was just like, oh, you saw your friends, you talked to your friends or maybe. But like, for so it's it's just a huge difference now. So like from going to Myspace to TikTok. Uh, TikTok now is like, like constantly showing you something where that wasn't the case with like Myspace or, uh, well, a little bit, maybe Facebook, but, uh, Facebook didn't come around until a little later. Uh, so there's a huge difference between Myspace, which was the social media maybe they used to use when our kids were little, too. Now TikTok or even Instagram and now Facebook, because Facebook is huge about like, maybe letting you see a lot of, uh, so what you're saying is or even Twitter or X, however they call it. So what you're saying is back then you didn't have to worry as much as you have to worry now. Okay. So so in a sense, you have to protect them more now. Yes, than you did back then. Because I feel the difference and I agree. Right. Obviously the progression and well I mean protect like like they did I did and I since I didn't have to protect like it was, it was a little easier to I understand under like. Protect them because it was just so easy. Well, you didn't have to worry about us. Yeah. Now it's where the real protection. Yeah. You almost have to, like, cut off. Well, because it it didn't exist at one point, so you didn't have to worry about it, right. You think about back then, if you really want to know how your friend was doing, you would call him. Yeah. You would go visit them today. There's times where we haven't seen some of our friends for a long time, but we know how they're doing because they post. Yeah. And we see this stuff that they're going on and vice versa with us. Right. But I and I agree, I going back to what you were saying as far as the progression of the social media. Um, I just think that back then it wasn't as ill intended as it is today. If that makes sense. Right. Because back then, when it was first created, what were people doing posting pictures of their kids to themselves, themselves? And, you know, all these, you know, it was like a family thing, right? And yeah, it just got created to where now, if you fast forward to today's age, it's I mean, every other thing is an ad or somebody's trying to sell you something or somebody trying to recruit you, recruit you onto something or, um, I don't know, a a model. Right. Everybody's modeling now and then the the the actual Main Street media got into social media and now they have channels. And now not only they post that stuff, but people go and then repost the stuff that the media and the social, the, the the news posts. And so now we, our friends are posting stuff, you see what I'm saying? And now it's just cluttered with that stuff. And so that's where I feel the protection needs to come in now, especially for kids, especially for kids. Yeah, I, I that's just where I feel like a lot of body shaming has begun 100%. Uh, before I feel like that it wasn't a thing. Like maybe you yourself weren't happy with how you looked, but, um, it wasn't as bad. Now that when you see somebody on social media, you think, oh, why can't I look like that person? Or why? You know, why or how can I start to look like that person, which then starts to become like the whole plastic surgery? Again, it's an influence. It's an influence. It's somebody who either by genetics or modified through plastic surgery, which which is fine. I'm not against it either. Post a video or a picture and then another person, men or women. It doesn't matter because guys get plastic surgery too. Um, they look at that and they're getting influenced by another person or a celebrity or, you know, you hear, oh, this type of celebrity did this, uh, skin treatment on their face. And all of a sudden there goes someone else to do it. Oh, this shot. Take this shot or I'm. I'm doing this or I'm doing that, or this person. You know, it's the influence. That's. It's the power of influence. Yes. And and yes. Then the comparison comes in from another natural looking human being. Yeah. And all of a sudden, they want to be. We know a person. In fact, we know a person that we follow on social media that if you look at this person today and you look at that person when they started social media, they are a complete different person. Look wise, face, body, everything. Do you know who I'm talking about? No. Yeah. You have to tell me later. Who? There's no no no no no, there's a person. There's the. I'm going to give you a clue. They don't live in Vegas, okay? Okay. They live in another state and it's a girl. Okay? And she has gone through a bunch of O transformations. Okay. We don't really know her personally. We don't know her, but we know we follow her. Yes. Yes, we followed her for many years, and. Yes yes, yes. Okay. You're right. You know what I'm saying? I know exactly who you're talking. You know what? That person was influenced. Which? More power to her, which is fine. Again, we're talking about the power of influence, the power that influencers have over other people. But yeah, this person is completely different. Like, if I show you a before and after you. Yes. You go. That's not even that's not even the same person. Yeah, but she is. Yeah. And she posted everything she did. Yeah. She had no she she had no issue on showing everything she did. So it's not like she, she didn't tell nobody like other people do. Right. She posted everything she did the whatever the the body everything. Everything front, back everything. Um, but yeah, that's that's the thing. And with kids. You know, going back to the kids, like when our kids were growing up. You're right. We didn't have to worry about that. I do remember when our daughter was growing up and she got into Twitter, which is X now, and I was like, oh my God, right. Like my daughter is on Twitter. And I remember a couple of times I made her shut, shut down her account, you know, and uh, because I found out I told her not to do it. And then she ended up opening it behind my back. And then I found out. And then I told her to shut it down again. And then I got to a point. So I was just like, okay. I think like a year or two went by and I just like, all right, whatever, you know? And she did it. But it was because of that, you know, because I know. And Twitter is supposed to be the worst one out of all of them. It really is. There's like no filter. No, I actually never I never I don't have a Twitter account. I have never opened. I mean, like, I think I opened one, but I definitely was never active on it. I don't understand it. Just like I don't understand Facebook. Yeah. I don't understand it. I just get I get out of it. Yeah, X for sure. It's very, um, unfiltered. So anything can go there and there is no they don't restrict it as much as the other platform. So yeah. Yeah. But yeah that, that's, that's one thing. And so when again going back to kids, you know nowadays um obviously with our grandkids right. They don't really get. On social media. I mean, they do. With when we get on it and we might take a picture with them or we might, you know, take a quick video with them or something like that, but they don't have a phone where they're scrolling through no social media. Some kids do. I've seen it. Oh, gosh. Or some parents. Yeah. Let them, let them. But you gotta be careful. I think the thing that Elena really is into is YouTube. Yeah, she loves YouTube, but only because she likes to, like, see makeup or like, uh, you know, kids playing, you know, or something like that. But you're but you're we're still monitoring, though. Yeah. Because we put it on the TV and it's either us she's either here at our house or at her house where, you know, at least who's watching her, what she's doing, you know, and again, I'm talking about for people who maybe have kids, which is still kind of an influence if you think about it, because Elena, she loves the you, she loves YouTube and, uh, she wants to do her makeup and wants to talk in front of a camera. Yep. Because little girls are doing makeup and talking in front of a camera. Yeah. So there is times where she's here and, like, let's just say we're making cookies. She wants to record herself making cookies. Yeah, because. And she talks to the camera like, oh, right now we're going to put in the water, you know. Yeah. And she does. Just like the little girls do. That extra cell phone we have that she uses. Yeah. That thing is full of videos of her. Yeah. So again but again, this is something that. But we monitor it. Yeah. And it's not bad. I mean, it's nothing bad. She's not watching any of these crazy shooting videos that other people watch or whatever. Um, but again, going back, what I was saying, there are parents that are not monitoring that for their kids. And that power of influence is going to play a part in their life. It's going to raise their kids rather than themselves. And that's the sad part. Yeah. Because that that's the difference of maybe raising kids when we brought up our kids. In racing kits today. Now again, there are great parents today. I'm not saying that all of them are crap. There are great parents today that are aware of this and that are watching their kids and that make sure that their kids don't get into any of that crazy stuff. But there are some out there that I've seen that their kids just yes, I've seen it too. It's really sad. They do you see them even in restaurants? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Sitting there. And then they're sitting there sitting with their parents and they're on an iPad. Yep. And they purposely bring the iPad so they don't have to even talk to their own children, which is another level of and not just the I back then they used to get kids the iPads mini. Remember the little ones. Yeah. Now they're buying them the pros. The one that's like 15in. And then they put that that case over it. That kind of becomes a bigger. Yeah. So it's almost like they have a flat screen TV in front of them while they're supposed to be eating or conversating with the other people to the table. To each his own man, but that's definitely something that we never did and probably will never do know. But yeah, I think, um, so again, most people are just get influenced, you know, by everything else that happens out there. And, and again, they listen to so many things that. May not be true, and they don't do their own thinking until self-improving plays a big part. I tell you what's another big thing right there? It's like the fitness influencers, right? Yes, we kind of talked about that before we did. So same thing with with the foodies and the fitness influencer. But the fitness influencers, right though? I mean, we in a sense have been influenced to work out. Yes. Okay. I know there is a person you follow and she has the workout routine. Yes, I absolutely saw her. Not all influence is bad. Okay. There are some great influence out there because there are some great content out there. I always tell people YouTube has great videos that you can watch, right? Great content. There's some great podcasts. You can listen to, this great content. Um, there's great workout videos on TikTok, workout videos. But you also have to be careful when it comes down to this. Yeah, I don't know if I talked about this example on another episode, but I remember that I was watching a video one time from this guy, uh, on TikTok, and he was talking about, okay, when you do this exercise, this is the form. You gotta do it right. Because and then he starts talking about like the muscle and the join and how his position and do it like this and it works this right here, blah blah blah. Right. I'm like, okay, that makes sense, right? I'm going to try that tomorrow. And then the very next video. The very next video, I flip up. I got done with this video, then the very next video. It's another fitness influencer that completely discredits everything. The first person just said yes. And and and he makes sense to yes to that a lot. I'm like, are you guys like what's going on here? Like, you know, you don't know who to believe. You don't know who to believe. And so again, it's the influence. Right. So I had to figure it out myself and I'm yeah, you almost have to do the workouts. You do how you feel. Yeah. Or you know what? Here's the thing. They both may be right. Right. So guess what? Maybe you alternate between one or the other, and then you see which one kind of gives you a better result. Or you feel your muscles. If your if this is really working that body part, do you see a growth or you see a change on it, you know, but you have to figure this thing out yourself. Yeah, because I do that too. Uh, there's a couple workouts that I've done lately that I got off TikTok, and it's to like, uh, work out your inner thigh. Mhm. And, um, uh, there was a couple of them. And so I figure, okay, I'm going to do one one day and one the other day. And one of the workouts I felt it like in my inner thighs. The very next day I was so sore in my inner thighs. I did the other workout and I felt nothing like in my inner thighs. And I'm like, okay, so that workout is crap. I'm going to go continue to do this other one because I could feel the difference. So you almost have to do that. You almost have to do the workout, you see. Yeah, exactly. But see, what I'm saying is, is if someone. Maybe we would have watched the first video. Right? Right. And the second video would have never came through. They feel that that's the only way to do it. Yeah. Like, there are some exercises that I do different today, um, that I know work, that I know that I was doing them wrong before. Yes. I've done that, too. And now I. I'm at the gym and I see the results. Right. And so I do it proper now. But I know that when I started, I was doing it all wrong. And I go to the gym and I see people working out, and they're doing the one that you used to do before. Oh, I told you, I used to do that. And I'm like, okay, well yeah. No that's not. Yeah. That that's not going to give you the results. And it's not like you can tell of anything. Right. But yeah. Because you don't want to go to that person. You can feel dumb like, hey by the way, you're doing it wrong. And I've also seen people at the gym. I also seen videos sometimes of people working out, and they doing some sort of move or some sort of exercise. And I'm like, okay, well, I don't do that, but whatever. Right. And then I go to the gym like the next day and I swear I seen I think the person is doing the. Yes, they're doing the exercises, the video I saw. So I'm like, okay, I see what they're trying. And again, it's the power of influence. You know, it's a great thing. I mean, I always tell people at least are at the gym, you know, at least at the gym, at least they're working out. At least they're putting in the work. I mean, halfway through. Right. But they're doing it. Yeah. Which is better than not doing it. Yeah. Because even when I let's just say when we first started, I was doing certain things wrong, at least I was there. And at least I was getting maybe not working out the body part that I thought what I was working out from doing it wrong. Um, but at least I was doing something. Yeah. You know, there was some kind of weight behind it, so I was still kind of straight training, even though it wasn't maybe working out the body part. I thought it was. Yeah. Like a perfect example was like those cable kickbacks that I do. I used to do them like, you, like, have the cable all the way down and kick your leg up. But then I realized, that's not how you do it. You're supposed to have the cable, like, at your knee and then kick back. Right. And so I see people doing it, like all the way down and I'm like, oh yeah, it's not going to do anything. Hopefully they'll stay long enough for them to learn. Yeah. To realize it. And then the other day you showed me a video of myself doing it like that with the cable all the way down and then kicking it up. And I was like, oh, I was doing it wrong. Yeah. Yeah. It makes a huge difference when you have the cable at your knee. But we know and this is also a good thing. On why we record ourselves sometimes doing the exercises right. So when those memories do come up you're like, man, I'm glad I don't do it like this anymore. Right. But I tell you what. Another form of influence too. And this is why people, okay, in all areas of life in in all areas of life, people need to be great listeners and great students. Okay. And I've always considered myself to be a great student because I would listen. Right. And if it's something that I can learn, that can apply to me in my life and it'll improve my life, then I'm going to do it. Okay. So there are a few guys staying on the health and fitness, um, topic. There are a few guys at the gym that I've become pretty good friends with. And one time when asked me, what are you working on today? And I told you, I'm doing this and this and this. And he goes, well, you should be doing this, and this is how you do it. And I worked, I worked out with him one day and I'm like, you were so sore the next. I was, I was done. Yeah. Like this guy worked me out. Yeah. I'm like, oh my God. Right. And we were using like £10 weights. Yeah. But the way of the exercise and how he was telling me to do it and he was there. And now I avoid the guy when I see him. No, I'll get it. No, you don't know. I don't know like talking to him. Yeah. He's he's he's a good buddy. But what I'm saying is that's a form of influence. Does that make sense? Because it's helped me a lot. And this is what I'm saying. How you need to listen and you need to see what works and see what doesn't work. But you need to be a great student of it, you know, and so that that's again, not all influence is bad. Some influence is good. But you got to be aware, it's like take the best and leave the rest. Yeah. You know, just like I heard a podcast, Mel Robbins, remember that podcast on the woman that was teaching fitness to women and how different it is from men and how we were influenced as women to do a lot of what men do and even like the eating and everything. And it's not it's not the same. Right. And when she said that, and when I listened to that podcast, it was like mind blowing because I thought, oh, I've been doing it wrong this whole time. I've been doing it almost like Miguel. Right. And that's not correct for me. You know, like she said, that men could workout in a fasted state where women cannot, that it's not good for us. It raises our cortisol levels. It it doesn't do, you know, it doesn't really build up the muscle that we want. We actually end up staying more fat. Like we actually end up collecting more fat when we when we work out on a fasted state. And she says it's just something as simple as having like a protein shake before you work out. Yeah. And ever since I started doing that, I have felt such a difference in myself as far as, like even as a workout. Gold's as, you know, like maybe not. Maybe looking a little leaner now, you know? So like it did help. It was a huge thing to listen to that podcast and realize that this whole time I've been doing it in a fastest way, which is not correct for women at all. The power of influence. Yeah, the power of influence. And that's another thing that, um, you and I don't work out together. No, we we go to the same gym at the same time. There's times where you end up right next to me. Or we might work like the same body part. Uh. Very rare. Um, and that's another thing. I see a couple sometimes at the gym, and the guys doing the same exercises as the woman, as the his girl or whatever. And I'm like, thinking, what are you doing? Like, no, you know, I think the other way I'm like, girl, don't be doing what I said. You're going to get like, not that she'll get muscular like him, but it's not good for you either. I look at the guy and I'm like, bro, just let her go. You know, like, go, go live heavy or go do something else. She can't even spot you, you know? But anyways, um, yeah, I think that's the the the the power of influence. I think if you, uh, the main thing that becomes right here is just the power of awareness, in a sense. Right. Because you're always going to be bombarded with information coming from all over the place. Yes. We live in a world where news and people are available at your ear 24 hours a day, seven days a week, non-stop. Especially with how TV is now. You could you could turn on your TV and be like, I want to watch the PD case. You can find so many things on the PDT, right? Like it's available for you 24 or before. I like when we used to watch TV back in the day, like if you didn't catch that show or oh yeah, because it's streaming. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. You didn't catch that show. There's no going back. You just didn't catch. You're never going to see that show again. So it's available. That's what I'm saying. It's available at our fingertips. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's like the difference from back then. Yeah. Until now you could you could go on in the streaming is there. Yeah. Always. Yeah. And yeah. So because all of that is available 20 473 65 at any time before there was such a thing as, uh, was it TiVo when you like, missed the show or let's say you were recorded on a VHS? Yeah. Like your mom. Yeah. Yeah, my mom would program the VHS to record her because that's the only way you could catch it. So she wouldn't miss her. Bingo. So, yeah, she figured I'd get the best of both worlds, but now it's available to us. Where, uh, because there's so much of that. And if you are not aware of all the information that you see, man. You're. And I see it. There's people that, you know, sometimes we come across or we fall on social media. They're unaware of many different things, and they let themselves go on all these little, you know, um, uh, you know, rabbit holes. And a lot of the times you gotta protect your thinking and not be caught up on all of that because all of a sudden it distracts you from what your really life's purpose is. Yeah. Or your. I always say, if it doesn't affect me personally, I pay no attention to it. Yeah. So if it has nothing to do with me and it doesn't affect anyone with me or my close family, I don't pay attention to it. I just choose not to. I choose to put my energy somewhere else. And, uh, not only that, it becomes sometimes so overwhelming. Yeah, that why do I need to do that to myself? To my mental health? Yeah. Why have you not? It's not. And I can personally speak on this. What you just said right now. I'll give you a perfect example, okay. For people to that are listening to understand this this point. When Venezuela was going through the change of the elections. Right. This was back in like, um, 2018, I think it's 2018. Um, they were going through the change of elections. Right. And then the, the they were the opposition was rising against the government that they're today, which is basically a dictatorship in a sense. Right? Yeah. And they were on the streets and there was riots and there were protesters and they were getting killed. And I was I was invested on that 24/7. Yes. I was following news pages from Venezuela. I was following, uh, family members. Right. I would post all this stuff. I even me talking about it today. It's getting me back to that stage where I was immersed. Immersed on that to the point where it was affecting my mental health, my personal life, my business life, everything that I needed to focus on at that time, I was not because I was immersed on that 100%. And it hurt. It sucks. It was bad. I was I was, in a sense, emotionally very devastated. But there wasn't anything I could do from here. No, there was anything I could do to change any of the stuff that was going on over there. And I woke up one day and I told myself, I cannot do this. This this is this is not good. This is not making me. This is not making me focus. This is not making me do the things that I need to do, that I need to focus on. And of course, I was not giving the attention to my family here. And so I said done. I unfollowed every news page from over there. I muted friends and unfollow some friends that were posting that stuff all the time. I muted. A lot of family members are muted. Um, and I, I, I didn't want to know anything about it anymore. It sucks, but I just, I, I just couldn't handle it mentally. It was draining. And I was 100% invested into that, that I told myself no. And I think we in the United States go through things like that from time to time and people get into that same state. So where now? Because I've already been through it and I know I couldn't do anything about it. So I adopt the same mindset to that now. Yeah. And so I, I just, you know, unfortunately there isn't a whole lot I can do. No. And it affects you like you, you said earlier, if it doesn't affect me personally, well, all of that ends up affecting you personally because you get caught up on it. You know. Yeah. So actually mentally. Oh it's draining. It's 100% draining. And maybe someone has been there before or maybe someone's going through there right now. But I'm telling you right now, you gotta protect your mental peace. Yeah. You have to protect. If it doesn't help you get closer to your goals and dreams. Um, you have to protect your mental peace because it ends up affecting your health. Very much so. 100%. And a lot of people. A lot of people don't know that. You know, a lot of people don't know that. But that's the power of influence. I was being influenced. If you talk about the power, that was me getting influenced by outside sources, and it ruled my life. It did. At that point, I remember you could probably. You remember that? Yeah. Yeah. And it was I even I'm sure I even told you. Yeah. Like you, you know, there was a couple times where you're just like, yeah, you need to stop. Yeah. And I would sit there and I would look at it and I would I I'm telling you, speaking about it today, it's putting me in that mental frame that I was back then. Yeah. It wasn't good. No. At this very moment. But anyways. So. Anything else on this topic? No. No. But let me just add something really quick because I just remembered it. I was on I was at Trader Joe's the other day. Okay. And when I was, when I was there, I saw a friend. No, no, no. Uh, I was checking out what was in the checkout line. And one of the girls that Trader Joe's was like, we need to get a section where if a product. One of our products is TikTok famous, it's just there because she goes, I swear, people are constantly, where is this? And it's the same product because it's become so popular on TikTok. Yeah, that they get they'll get annoyed that they have to keep telling the person. Aisle three. Yeah. Like, just make an encounter. Like make an end cap. The girl was like me. Like, we need to just put a place where it's like. These are the TikTok famous things of the week. You know, like here. This is a reminder of that as seen on TV. Yeah. And it's kind of like that when you went to the store and there was a section, it was like as seen on TV, and then they got their own store at the mall. Yeah. And it was like, I see anything you see on TV in the infomercials. You would go to that store and find the potato peelers and yeah, the girl was like, we need to say she goes, that's pretty smart. It is. But then she was like, but the problem with that, we'd have to change it, like every week. Yeah, which is fine. Well, no, the problem, I think, when it comes down to that, is that they don't know which product is the one that's going to get. That's true too. That's really somebody. Yeah. Because it's not like Trader Joe's analysis. Oh, hey, by the way, this one's going to be the famous theme of the week. Yeah. Here's the the the peanut butter. What's that butter that they had. The cookie butter. The cookie butter. That thing's delicious. Yeah. So they don't know what people are gonna, you know, go out there and post and, you know. So. But that actually is very smart. It is smart. Like, I guess what's the I guess you'll notice, like, once a couple people start asking, you're like, okay, that's going to be the or if they were smarter, they would actually dedicate an employee to or the manager. Oh, to like to watch monitor to monitor that. Yeah. To search for, you know, hashtag whatever. Trader Joe's. I haven't still been able to find the vanilla bourbon creme like vanilla bourbon at the store or our Trader Joe's. Oh, that's the famous thing. Like the vanilla bourbon. Oh, is that what it was? Syrup or whatever they put in their coffee? It went viral. It went viral. So now you're looking. Actually, that's what the lady was talking about. That was the one that when was viral, when I was at Trader Joe's and they had found they had ran out. Yeah, they had it. Yeah. I haven't found it. I haven't found it. So you got influenced. I was influenced by my daughter. Believe it or not, she was God. And that's another power of influence. Somebody saw it and somebody tells you, yeah, you got it. You have to try it, you know? Yeah. Which is again, not all influence is bad or some of is good. You just got to be aware of what's going to work for you or not. Yeah. But it is a it is a big topic that I don't know. You have to protect your mental you do your mental health I guess, and protect your kids very much so because especially nowadays, there's, there's, um, it's a different world today than when we grew up and definitely when we helped our kids grow up. Yeah. And it's not like we're 80 years old. No. You know, like, we can say, well, you know, our we raised our kids back in the 50s, so. Yeah. You know. No. Or that even we were raised in the 50s, we were no, no, no, no. This is like 20 years ago, which is wasn't that long ago. No. It makes me wonder what life will be when Elena starts having kids. Mm. That's a good question. I know, we'll see. I guess we'll see. Hopefully we'll still hear to see it. We will be. We will be. All right. Great episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Yes, I think so too. That's it. All right. Love you guys. All right. See you. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Unfiltered Us. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to hit that follow button so you never miss an episode. Would love to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment and join in the conversation. If you think someone else will enjoy today's chat. Go ahead and share this episode with them. Your support means the world to us. Until next time, stay real and stay unfiltered.