We got to chop it up with our good brother Sidney, a local Chicago legend, fitness coach, entrepreneur, artist, model, and community organizer. We talked with him about his story getting back into reading in college, the importance of books to his health practices, and what home and community means to him being raised and having family all over the world.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/realballersread/support[00:00:00] What's up and welcome back to Real Ballers Read.
[00:00:13] Miles and I are here with a very special guest as always.
[00:00:16] This is our friend, our brother, our coach, our inspiration, Sydney Francois-Fries. We are here today with a real local legend in Chicago
[00:00:29] as someone who is not only a fitness coach,
[00:00:32] but entrepreneur, model, community organizer,
[00:00:35] and artist all in his own right.
[00:00:38] Sydney is truly an honor to know you
[00:00:40] and call you a friend and brother.
[00:00:42] Welcome to the show.
[00:00:44] Thank you so much. Thank you for that dope intro. Yeah, of course, though. Got you. Yeah you a friend and brother. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much.
[00:00:45] Thank you for that dope intro.
[00:00:46] Yeah, of course, though.
[00:00:46] I got you.
[00:00:47] Yeah, I got you.
[00:00:47] Always.
[00:00:48] And it's a blessing to be here, man.
[00:00:50] I got you, man.
[00:00:50] I think it's so awesome what you guys do
[00:00:52] and just sharing the voice and the message
[00:00:54] of the importance of reading and expanding knowledge.
[00:00:56] So we'll be here today, man.
[00:00:57] All right, excellent.
[00:00:58] That's great to hear, man.
[00:01:00] We always start off by asking folks, I guess,
[00:01:03] on the podcast what your story is with reading. You were just telling us some of it before we started recording,
[00:01:09] but you mind like re-sharing like just some of your story with books and the one that you're
[00:01:15] particularly excited to talk about today. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
[00:01:18] So just like that you had mentioned like I was in college,
[00:01:21] this was my sophomore year and I had a very busy schedule.
[00:01:23] I was a full-time student athlete playing college football, had two jobs, had classes
[00:01:28] every day.
[00:01:29] And at the time, I was still, I want to say a student that would have to get pushed to
[00:01:33] read books outside of what you had to do in classes.
[00:01:35] Because I was just caught up with football, with job, with girlfriend, with all types
[00:01:38] of stuff.
[00:01:39] And like, I was like, ah, reading's not from you right now.
[00:01:41] Yeah.
[00:01:42] Come tell me, like, tap into a book, find a book that's going to speak to you.
[00:01:44] And I always like looked on social media and internet
[00:01:47] and looked for books that speak to me.
[00:01:48] So I always liked motivational quotes
[00:01:50] and things that motivate me.
[00:01:51] So I was like, let me go to Barnes and Nobles
[00:01:53] and let me find a book that's short and sweet,
[00:01:56] but it's gonna motivate me.
[00:01:57] So maybe a one pager that can read a page every day,
[00:02:00] find a motivation.
[00:02:01] Go to Barnes and Nobles and I literally look
[00:02:03] and I see in the corner bottom right of the shelf shelf a book called Daily Motivations for African American
[00:02:08] Success by Dr. Dennis Kimbo. And I pick it up and it was really like corner of the shelf
[00:02:12] and I'm like, it's almost hidden away where I'm like something just told me to pick it
[00:02:15] up. And I pick it up and I go through it. I'm like, it's nice. Like this looks powerful.
[00:02:19] Like, all right, like, let me buy this. It was like eight, nine bucks. And I tapped into
[00:02:23] it and I started reading it every day with my roommate and has like daily motivations every single day of life,
[00:02:28] just uplifting, empowering, how to shift your mindset, how to shift your perspective,
[00:02:32] and there's different stories of like great, successful people in America from like artists,
[00:02:35] creatives, athletes, entrepreneurs, all types. So yeah, that's a little bit about how I started.
[00:02:41] Anything more you want to know about that? Well, okay. So like our listeners can't see this book, but it is now two books and it's
[00:02:50] looking like it's pretty like worn down. How many times have you read? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
[00:02:54] Well loved book. How many times have you read it? Like I said, it's been since my sophomore
[00:02:59] year and that's probably like seven years ago now, seven years. And I look to read a page almost
[00:03:04] every day. Sometimes I forget or I'll be out of the country,
[00:03:06] out of the city and then it's a home.
[00:03:08] But I've been consistently tapping into it for seven years
[00:03:11] and I read it at least a couple of times a week.
[00:03:13] And I'll take a picture to one of my friends
[00:03:14] or one of my people.
[00:03:15] Yeah, that's right.
[00:03:16] You've sent something to me too, for sure.
[00:03:18] Yeah, see, because this is the side of like being well-read
[00:03:22] that I don't think people talk about enough
[00:03:24] because it's one
[00:03:25] thing to read hundreds and hundreds of different books, but it's way more important to have
[00:03:30] a book that you've read several times over. You basically know that book cover to cover.
[00:03:36] And so what would you say is some of the impact? How have you seen Dennis Kimbrough's book
[00:03:42] manifest in your life since you started reading it?
[00:03:45] It's a great question. Literally, I would say it helped me shift my perspective and like amplify
[00:03:51] my mindset towards like finding motivation when I'm like going through hardships or like when I
[00:03:55] have a day where I feel unsure, like I'll wake up and I'll be like, let me just read the page and
[00:03:59] there'll be someone who overcame a trial of tribulation through like really, really hard
[00:04:03] circumstances like today, for example, the page is December 10th.
[00:04:06] It spoke on trusting the flow, trusting in every day,
[00:04:09] because if you look at a positive mindset in life,
[00:04:11] God's gonna bless you with the right things.
[00:04:13] Even if you're going through hardships right now,
[00:04:14] it's gonna be lessons at the end of the day.
[00:04:16] Today, again, it speaks on flow state.
[00:04:17] I got that tattooed myself too,
[00:04:19] because I believe just going with the flow,
[00:04:20] everything that happens in life is happening for a reason.
[00:04:23] And if you look at it in that way,
[00:04:24] instead of turning me into a victim perspective, like, okay, this is actually
[00:04:28] something that I'm growing from. I can learn from this. Let me take this in from an optimistic
[00:04:32] perspective and let me like turn that into a lesson and hopefully teach to the next person.
[00:04:36] That's something that helped me a lot. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Excellent. Excellent. Would you,
[00:04:41] would you like to read off December 10th? Yeah, let's do it. Sure. And yeah, I could help me fix this book, man. I'll be oh, yeah. Yeah, no, if you want to keep it here, I can fix it for you. Okay. Yeah.
[00:05:02] not always where we stand but in which direction we are headed. Mary Frances Berry, Educator and Activist.
[00:05:06] Life is shying its gifts upon us at this very moment.
[00:05:08] A force of love and light is streaming toward you from all the angles at all times, and
[00:05:12] all you have to do is allow it to pour in.
[00:05:14] Blessings are being offered to all of us within condition or limit.
[00:05:17] We can look at our capacity through the symbol of the hourglass.
[00:05:21] God's infinite abundance is above us, waiting for us, waiting to flow down. And like an hourglass, we have the space to hold it all. Our mind is located at the skinny little
[00:05:29] juncture of the upper and lower vessels. It regulates how much can come through. If our
[00:05:33] mind is small, tight, and fearful, only a few meager grains will drop down. However, if our
[00:05:38] mind is open, free, and expansive, all of God's riches can pour through. We receive as much as
[00:05:43] we let in. Positive thinking means seeing the blessedness in everything. It requires a complete revision of the way
[00:05:50] we view life. It means tearing down our judgments and opinions of what is good and what is bad,
[00:05:55] what is right and what is wrong. It means having an open mind. And what is to open mind,
[00:05:59] we can receive all the blessings that God has to offer. I open my mind to the prosperity, happiness, and health that God has to offer. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. So, basically, every time it, well, yeah,
[00:06:13] not even basically, like every time you're reading a page, the last sentence that you said is
[00:06:17] affirmation. So were you already appreciative of affirmations or did this book like convince you of their power?
[00:06:26] Wow, you mentioning that actually just made me realize
[00:06:29] that that's where it happened.
[00:06:30] That's where it came from?
[00:06:31] Oh, it's not, yeah.
[00:06:32] No, because you got them in like every workout, you know?
[00:06:34] Like I'm sure you have something for yourself too,
[00:06:36] but like, you know, it's right there.
[00:06:38] Definitely that was a big, big amplifier for that.
[00:06:40] Like we have some sayings in football,
[00:06:42] like it's not about your start, it's about your finish,
[00:06:44] or you're only as strong as your weakest link, like things like that, that you stick with you or like
[00:06:47] push hard, like hard work pays off, consistency and effort pays off. But like this is definitely
[00:06:52] like more on a literary perspective. Like reading wise, we're like, okay, these are great affirmations
[00:06:57] I can put into day to day life. And you're saying that right now, make me realize like I use those
[00:07:01] a lot as I grew through my reading journey. Like, yeah, start putting them in like quotes and
[00:07:04] captions for social media, right into putting them in like quotes and captions
[00:07:05] For social media right into friends and stuff like that. So definitely helpful. Yeah, that's what you saw
[00:07:11] When when you think back to you know you
[00:07:14] You know at 27 years ago
[00:07:19] Yeah, what do you think about what that said was was was like what like what would be the advice you would give him Now and where do you think about what that said was, was, was like, like, what would be the advice
[00:07:25] you would give him now?
[00:07:27] And where do you see, um, even looking back at that person can help you in your own journey
[00:07:34] now?
[00:07:35] I would say be kind to yourself.
[00:07:40] Don't have such high expectations and just keep working hard.
[00:07:43] Keep surrounding yourself around good people,
[00:07:50] keep looking to find different options and opportunities to expand to do what you love.
[00:07:55] And yeah, trust the process, give thanks to most high and like your family and friends that support you and want you to be the best you. Yeah, no, that's, that's great advice to yourself and to
[00:08:00] us and to yourself right now too, know. Yeah you know I think another
[00:08:06] cool part of your story is that you started with a book where you only
[00:08:10] needed to read like a page at a time and so right like you started with African
[00:08:17] American affirmations by Dennis Kimbrough but you haven't stopped there
[00:08:22] either right like your your reading practice has expanded a lot. So yeah, could
[00:08:27] you share more on just like where your curiosity took you,
[00:08:32] you know, after and during this read?
[00:08:35] Definitely. I would say throughout college, this was
[00:08:38] like my main read, this being that I was still very busy with
[00:08:41] full time student athlete, job school. And then after college right before 2020 hit pandemic
[00:08:47] and everything, I went to a bookstore called the
[00:08:49] underground bookstore in Chicago on the south side and Baba Yuel
[00:08:53] who owns that bookshop, he is a very conscious brother, he taps
[00:08:56] into like spirituality, mindset, lifestyle and like he suggested
[00:08:59] me a lot of different books that had spoken to us in that moment
[00:09:02] and like, I started reading like about ancient Egyptian yoga,
[00:09:04] comedic yoga, started reading about like spirituality mindset. And then
[00:09:09] I started getting more into fictional afterwards too. But I definitely want to say spiritual books
[00:09:13] spoke to me a lot because I was very eager to understand like the deeper self of myself,
[00:09:17] of our people, cultures. It helped me a lot being that I started yoga in college through like
[00:09:22] football and the injuries that I had suffered in the past. It really made me understand like there's a connection between
[00:09:27] mind, body and soul. And then reading that book, Egyptian
[00:09:29] yoga, comedic yoga, really made me like understand that we've
[00:09:32] been practicing this since like 1000s of years. And like back in
[00:09:35] ancient Egypt, they were already practicing yoga and they
[00:09:37] connected that to like nature, to your mind to your body to your
[00:09:40] soul. And I'm like, wow, this speaks to me feels like it
[00:09:42] sounds almost familiar. Okay, like eating is actually really fun. Like this
[00:09:45] was making me like eager to read every day. And like, you know,
[00:09:48] Akashic records, like records you have inside you that like
[00:09:51] know your ancient knowledge, like I started to understand that
[00:09:53] that's reality. Like I was reading about things from Egypt.
[00:09:56] I'm like, this sounds so familiar. How does this sound
[00:09:58] familiar to me? And I've never read this. And it's like, okay,
[00:10:00] it's probably for my ancestors, for my past lives, and they've
[00:10:02] experienced this. So this is sacred knowledge. So that really helped me enjoy reading. I was like,
[00:10:08] Okay, let me see more about this. And I read like seven
[00:10:10] spiritual laws of success, four agreements, and all types of
[00:10:13] different books that are just suggested me at that point, and
[00:10:16] I found myself just being in an environment around people that
[00:10:18] were like suggesting books like, yeah, often like a lot of other
[00:10:21] great thinkers are like, cool, like, this is my alley, my
[00:10:23] avenue, like, now I'm expanding more to like financial literacy books and like, other like self thinkers. I'm like, cool, this is my alley, my avenue. Now I'm expanding more to financial literacy books
[00:10:26] and other self-improvement books.
[00:10:28] But yeah, just a little bit of the start of it.
[00:10:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:10:33] I mean, and one of those books too
[00:10:34] was the wisdom of insecurity, which I had here,
[00:10:37] but you also put me onto,
[00:10:39] because I probably wasn't gonna get to it
[00:10:42] until you said it.
[00:10:43] And one chapter in that book
[00:10:46] is about the wisdom of the body.
[00:10:48] You kind of just talked about it now,
[00:10:50] like the sacred knowledge that we already know inside,
[00:10:54] but what does the wisdom of the body mean to you?
[00:10:58] And like, how have you like discovered it,
[00:11:00] whether it be like through books or through,
[00:11:04] you know, football, yoga,
[00:11:06] like the way that you've blended,
[00:11:08] like athletic and, you know, mobility
[00:11:11] and agility, yoga training, all into your business now.
[00:11:15] That's a great question.
[00:11:18] I would say when I was young,
[00:11:20] I was always aware that I have a physical
[00:11:23] or athletic gifts and abilities, being that
[00:11:26] my mom was always a coach and a trainer.
[00:11:27] My dad was very athletic too.
[00:11:29] My cousins are very athletic playing basketball.
[00:11:31] Both my brothers always played sports.
[00:11:33] So we were always very tapped into our physical.
[00:11:35] And as I got older and I suffered a lot of injuries, I broke my leg, both my arms, my
[00:11:40] nose, my finger, slipped my disc growing up.
[00:11:43] And this is all before I turned 14 going to 15.
[00:11:46] And I had to understand like when I was injured and recovering, I had to always
[00:11:49] sit at home and watch like my brothers play sports.
[00:11:50] And like I was impatient because I was the youngest out of three.
[00:11:52] Like I want to be healthy.
[00:11:53] I want to get healthy.
[00:11:54] I can do guys again.
[00:11:55] I had to like find that patience, not in my body, but in my mind to be like,
[00:11:59] rest, calm down.
[00:12:00] You have to rest for four to six weeks for your arm to heal up.
[00:12:03] And then you can go back outside.
[00:12:04] And that's when I probably subconsciously picked up that there's a connection between mind and body
[00:12:08] And then like as I got older, I'm going to football I'm playing like for the German national team
[00:12:12] I'm playing collegiate sports and I'm like, okay
[00:12:13] Like I'm very in tune with my body of I have athletic gifts that I need to work on
[00:12:17] But like it comes with mindset to like you have to have a strong mind to use your body efficiently and like I started connecting
[00:12:22] These things I'm like, okay. There's really a connection
[00:12:24] Like sometimes they'll tell you there's or certain systems and strategies will tell you that this connection to use your body efficiently. And like I started connecting these things, I'm like, okay, there's really a connection. Like sometimes they'll tell you there's certain
[00:12:26] systems and strategies will tell you that disconnection to mind
[00:12:29] and body is not true. I definitely believe mind, body and
[00:12:32] soul is all connected. And like the more I started studying my
[00:12:35] own body, I realized it's all coming from the mind. And then
[00:12:37] I'm reading on it. And I'm like, Okay, this goes hand in hand.
[00:12:40] Like, the physical body is a reflection of your mind. That's
[00:12:42] a reflection of your soul. And like how disciplined your body also can correlate
[00:12:46] how disciplined your mental practices
[00:12:48] and your spiritual practices.
[00:12:50] That's just how I put it all together.
[00:12:51] And then like starting yoga really made me understand
[00:12:53] like mind, body, soul is all one.
[00:12:55] And like, it just will lead through a vessel.
[00:13:01] I hope that answers your question.
[00:13:02] No, definitely does.
[00:13:03] No, definitely does.
[00:13:04] No, that's why we're like, we're like letting it sit for a second.
[00:13:09] Yeah, that's real.
[00:13:10] At what point in that process did you feel inspired, compelled, or called to teach other
[00:13:20] people?
[00:13:22] So going through, again, I mentioned football a lot because I'm realizing how much I had
[00:13:26] an impact on my life.
[00:13:28] Going through sports, going through football, coaches, I would find coaches put myself and
[00:13:32] other guys into leadership positions and they'll be like, okay, you're going to be team captain
[00:13:35] for this season.
[00:13:36] Like, you've taken care of the DBs, you're going to start the warm up.
[00:13:39] So like they would already like put me in a position where like you're able to lead
[00:13:44] because you're able to understand how to talk to a group of people,
[00:13:47] how to build camaraderie, and how to lead by example.
[00:13:49] And that's something that I want to say my mom instilled
[00:13:52] into us too when we were younger.
[00:13:53] She was like, you guys are leaders.
[00:13:54] You guys are not followers.
[00:13:55] You guys are leading the way.
[00:13:56] You guys are showing people that you can be good
[00:13:58] and there's better to be done.
[00:13:59] And obviously, you're not perfect,
[00:14:01] but try to just do good every day.
[00:14:03] And you're going to see results from that.
[00:14:05] I want to say she's a very strong woman who's led the way from being an immigrant coming
[00:14:09] from Haiti to moving to the US and then going to Europe and living in Germany and going
[00:14:13] to all these different cultures and still finding her way and building herself up and
[00:14:18] providing for her whole family and everything.
[00:14:20] That's already leading by example, by learning different cultures, learning different languages,
[00:14:23] to adapting, to making sure that my brothers and myself are able to go into different education systems and have a privileged upbringing to where we can learn different languages environments that can like hold us back and stuff because you know there's always distractions of people that don't necessarily
[00:14:48] want the best for you so that helped me a lot and my brothers I want to say also great leaders
[00:14:52] helped us a lot to just be in that position to do what we got to do and like help others to become
[00:14:57] better too. Yeah yeah wow but then like so um just in terms so just in terms of timing, right?
[00:15:06] Because you were in Chicago for college,
[00:15:10] and then you graduated when?
[00:15:13] 2019.
[00:15:14] 2019, right? So that was like right going into the pandemic.
[00:15:18] And it was a huge leap of faith that you took to be like,
[00:15:23] I'm going to start my own thing, I'm going to be an entrepreneur. So can you take us back to like, right, the pandemic and just
[00:15:29] like kinds of things that you were doing, not only to take care of yourself and some
[00:15:34] of your trainees and clients, but also just like the community at large too.
[00:15:38] Yes, sure. Thank you for that question too, because I like talking about the story a lot
[00:15:42] because I'm like, really like, God driven. And like, he really wanted me to follow my purpose at
[00:15:47] that time. Like, I joined in 2019 with a double bachelor's in sports management and marketing.
[00:15:52] And my goal was to go into marketing and expand my experience in marketing. I got a
[00:15:56] full time job for Starcom with just a global media and advertising company. They're located
[00:16:02] in Chicago, they're located, I believe in like 16 different cities across the world. Also in Berlin. So my plan was going to be to start with them,
[00:16:08] work there for a couple of years and then maybe go back to Berlin. Oh, so my family.
[00:16:11] Oh wow. And like I got a full time job with them and I went to like their future leadership
[00:16:15] program and this was all like in January, February after graduation getting ready. I
[00:16:20] was supposed to start April 16th, I believe in the pandemic started in March 2020. And we all got laid off. Big message like,
[00:16:27] Hey, sorry, we can't start with you guys. I was a part of this future leadership program. It's like 10 of us they got picked from all
[00:16:33] different schools across the country. Yeah, you know, out of that. And I was there, we're going to go into marketing full time and like
[00:16:38] gain experience there must my goal is still to go Monday to Friday work with start com and then weekends do my fitness and community outreach. Because
[00:16:45] that's still my creative goal and like my entrepreneurship
[00:16:48] goal that I had outside like getting that experience
[00:16:50] corporate. And then we got laid off in March the pandemic hit.
[00:16:54] And one of my friends who was going to school with me he was a
[00:16:57] extra science major. He was talking about we should start
[00:17:00] working out together let's get workouts in because we're still
[00:17:02] staying consistent with our workouts during the pandemic
[00:17:04] when everyone's on lockdown. And we start posting
[00:17:06] that more consistently on our social media. People like you guys should start hosting like
[00:17:10] outdoor workouts because you guys are always trying your workouts every day like bring some
[00:17:13] people in and like in college already I started doing community outreach to be the change. So I
[00:17:17] was already very passionate in like the outreach and like serving people. But I didn't at that
[00:17:22] point yet know how I can connect that with my love for health. I was
[00:17:25] serving doing food drives, clothes drives with my guys. And
[00:17:28] like that was already something we really like doing. I connect
[00:17:31] this with like, my love for like health and fitness. Okay, like,
[00:17:34] let's start hosting community workouts. Let's do free workouts
[00:17:37] for the people. People are all quarantined right now people
[00:17:39] need exercise, people need exposure towards like getting to
[00:17:41] each other. We did safe distance. We did like make sure everyone
[00:17:44] had like the six feet. What was it? You know, we had like the six feet apart for like, yeah, CO getting to each other. We did safe distance. We did like make sure everyone had like the six feet.
[00:17:45] What was it?
[00:17:46] You know, we had like the six feet apart for like, yeah,
[00:17:48] COVID restrictions.
[00:17:49] Exactly.
[00:17:50] We started putting out flyers and like doing like shout outs to people
[00:17:52] like, Hey, come out this Sunday.
[00:17:53] We'll be here at 10 a.m.
[00:17:54] We're going to get a full body workout in free for all people.
[00:17:57] Donations accepted, but come out.
[00:17:58] Yeah.
[00:17:59] It'll be a great time.
[00:18:00] And we started doing that in May of 2020.
[00:18:01] We did it every Sunday and like throughout the three, four weeks
[00:18:04] per time doing that. 50 people put up,
[00:18:06] 60 people put up, and it was deep
[00:18:08] because people were inside and they needed health
[00:18:10] and wellness, and we really got our name out
[00:18:12] in the city of that.
[00:18:13] It became a big thing in the city.
[00:18:15] And going into the summer, it was June,
[00:18:17] going into July, Under Armour reached out to us,
[00:18:19] and they're like, hey, we see what you guys are doing.
[00:18:22] Respect to you guys holding the communities accountable
[00:18:24] and staying healthy, because people are getting unhealthy, to you guys holding the communities accountable and staying healthy because people are like
[00:18:25] Getting unhealthy staying inside being quarantined and stuff not getting exposure to oxygen enough
[00:18:30] Yeah
[00:18:30] a lot of things were happening and like so under armor reach out to us and they're like you see what you guys do for
[00:18:35] You for the people that we want to support you guys
[00:18:37] Like let's do like free giveaways after you guys camps
[00:18:39] And then we started posting that with like free giveaways underarm and stuff. And at one point we had 100 plus people at our camps.
[00:18:45] Like I'll show you guys afterwards,
[00:18:46] 100 people on a big field,
[00:18:48] Jones Prep Athletic field downtown.
[00:18:50] And we'd be like 100 people,
[00:18:51] me and my friend who are coaching together,
[00:18:53] and we'd have like whistles with us
[00:18:54] and we'd strategize 50 people on my side,
[00:18:56] 50 people on his side.
[00:18:57] And then we'd just do the different stations,
[00:18:59] different drills with everyone and they loved it.
[00:19:00] And I always finished off with yoga at the end too.
[00:19:02] People like, yo, we need this.
[00:19:04] Like the exercise and the yoga part at the end too,
[00:19:06] like it's a great balance and it's making me feel like
[00:19:09] I'm still part of a community during this pandemic
[00:19:11] while everyone's on lockdown.
[00:19:13] I was just such an experience and I got seen,
[00:19:15] okay, that was a sign that God put me in my position
[00:19:17] and my purpose at that time.
[00:19:19] I didn't get my full-time marketing job at the time,
[00:19:21] but two months later, I was doing a lot of community organizing
[00:19:24] through what I love doing. And then the summer started closing off and fall came and I was like, two months later, I was doing a lot of community organizing do what I love doing.
[00:19:25] And like, then the summer started closing off and fall
[00:19:27] came and I was like, Okay, like, what I do now that like, make
[00:19:31] sure I can pay my bills and what can I do like, keep this going
[00:19:33] and like, people start reaching out to me from the camps like,
[00:19:35] Are you doing one on one training? I'm like, Yeah, I've
[00:19:37] been training people through like college experience to my
[00:19:39] mom being a coach, some experience with coaching and
[00:19:41] like one on one coaching. So I started accepting one on one
[00:19:44] clients and they would come to my home gym, and I'll just train them and then that would
[00:19:47] make me pay my bills. And like, then I really just been working, working, working years now down the
[00:19:52] road and like still doing community outreach, still doing one on one training and been able to
[00:19:56] expand a lot of different fields through that. So I'm very, very grateful for that. And like,
[00:19:59] there's a sign again that that guy was at that time like, now we're going to put you right into
[00:20:02] your purpose. Like, yes, you had the opportunity to go corporate and do your marketing thing,
[00:20:06] but like we want you to do your purpose right now. Like in October, SOCOM hit me up and
[00:20:10] they're like, we want you to start working with us again, but you can work from home.
[00:20:12] So it's all this was like that fall. Oh, it's not October. Like you can start working
[00:20:17] again, but we're going to have you from home. You know, a lot of people start working. Yeah.
[00:20:20] Right. Right. And I sat there and I read the email and I'm like, wow, they're offering
[00:20:23] full time payment. And like, but this is a whole summer, me doing community outreach, working with friends and having
[00:20:28] my name in the city.
[00:20:29] And I was a coaching trainer.
[00:20:30] I'm like, I'm going to follow my purpose.
[00:20:33] Getting the same ends that meet financially, I'm like, I'm going to follow my purpose.
[00:20:37] I know it's going to pay off and this is the purpose.
[00:20:39] So let me do that.
[00:20:41] And since then I've still been doing it and I haven't looked back since then, I basically
[00:20:44] took a risk and better myself, but I know to the data I made the right decision.
[00:20:47] And like, hope for that.
[00:20:48] Yeah. Wow. Let's go, bro. Let's go. I didn't even know all the details of that story though.
[00:20:53] That's actually wild. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, cause we've been the several, uh, this year and like, yeah, a good handful of them. And something that was so like,
[00:21:08] just like impressed upon me was how,
[00:21:11] yeah, how much better I felt in the like 45 minutes
[00:21:14] to an hour of the workout, you know,
[00:21:17] cause it's not just, it's not just like your energy, right?
[00:21:21] It's like the music, it's the whole vibe,
[00:21:22] it's the environment, doing it at Healthy Hood or the Has Room. It's all the other people that you get to meet there too,
[00:21:30] like you've just off of like doing your thing created such a cool transformative space.
[00:21:36] And I remember like after the first one I went to, I was like, yo, you really just like made
[00:21:42] like 30 people's day. Like just by just do that one hour, like you really just like made like 30 people's day. Just by just do that one hour.
[00:21:45] Like you just made like you made like 30 people go on and have like the best
[00:21:49] Saturday ever, like feeling great, feeling grateful, feeling grateful and proud of
[00:21:53] themselves for going, feeling grateful for you.
[00:21:57] Um, and then of course, like bringing that energy to like all the people that
[00:22:01] they interact with, you know, and it was just, it was just such a powerful thing to see, you know,
[00:22:05] and I really appreciated it.
[00:22:08] Yeah, I mean, for anyone listening that's in Chicago,
[00:22:11] you gotta pull up to a Yogaletics session
[00:22:15] hosted by Cindy Francois-Fries.
[00:22:17] You know, they're fire, they're so fun.
[00:22:19] Thank you, I appreciate that so much.
[00:22:21] Yeah, of course.
[00:22:22] Yeah, you know, I'm thinking about now and, you know, the body does follow the mind, but
[00:22:30] in some sense too, like when you're moving your body, you can kind of give your mind
[00:22:38] space to like breathe and like not really think. And I think that's why when you move and your theology is, you know, involved
[00:22:50] and included, you end up so much happier and just feeling more alive afterwards because in a sense you finally gave your mind a chance to like rest and
[00:23:10] No, I feel like every podcast now though yes just kind of made makes me see something differently, but
[00:23:17] Yeah, the body mind and connection. I think really just can't be
[00:23:22] understated because lean 99 for each one of us Mike I think really just can't be understated because of the 99% of us, Mike, I think just don't
[00:23:31] move enough. Like we are all so unhealthy and not just because of what, yeah, it's everything
[00:23:41] is what we're eating, but like, yeah, COVID really has accelerated, I think, how sedentary a lot of us are. And
[00:23:52] we really, really still need the reminder to get up and move because we'll feel better.
[00:23:59] Like now, it's not even about you know, perfect perfect body or whatever. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's
[00:24:07] that it's like, for me recently, I've been like, I want to work out because I want to
[00:24:13] feel better like now. And I know that when I'm done with the workout, I will feel like
[00:24:17] incredible and probably the best that I like just that runner side, you know? So yeah.
[00:24:23] What I'm hearing from this is too like,
[00:24:29] basically you said turning off the mind and tapping into the physical is like just being present. Really that's what that is present and like you go back to yoga, yoga means being present.
[00:24:34] That's a practice of that. When we turn off our mind and we just tap into our physical and we're
[00:24:38] in the now don't worry about the past or the future. It's unnecessary stressors and like that's
[00:24:43] exactly what I'm so grateful
[00:24:45] for us to experience together during our camps. Like we're able to just turn off the mind,
[00:24:48] tap into our body and be present. And then you release the theology like endorphins release
[00:24:52] through your body. So you naturally feel better after that. You feel accomplished. I did something
[00:24:56] good for myself today. You go more clear minded into the day after that, because you were present
[00:25:00] for that hour and you didn't worry about Monday, what else do on Tuesday you were just with your body move your body and like
[00:25:07] put yourself push yourself to a different threshold of like just push
[00:25:10] into a new limit of like I accomplished myself through exercise today and like
[00:25:13] you go back to looking at like our animals function they get day-to-day
[00:25:16] movement into a bird flies every day I don't know how many hours a dog goes for
[00:25:20] run every day they get that movement in that they need and that they know they
[00:25:23] deserve them like as humans nowadays we're like taught to sit in the
[00:25:26] house a lot and like it's like exercising or something we have to do
[00:25:28] outside of our normal, but that should be the normal. It should be day to day for us
[00:25:32] to know, okay, I have to get my two-hour movement in for me to be more productive,
[00:25:35] for me to be more effective in what I'm doing. But like we're kind of taught to not
[00:25:39] do that anymore, which is interesting. It could be also systematically set up like that and I
[00:25:44] don't know how deep we're going to go into that, but like, they're
[00:25:46] definitely not making us more lazy, making us more like just
[00:25:49] sedentary and like you said, but like natural, you go back in the
[00:25:52] day, like we always say we used to be in the woods.
[00:25:54] We used to be chopping wood together.
[00:25:55] We used to be in the man, mostly we used to be in camps together to provide
[00:25:59] for everyday movement, you know what I mean?
[00:26:01] Like, yeah, bro.
[00:26:04] No, we, we, and this is why I also can't
[00:26:08] understate the importance of like studying history. Because when you even think about
[00:26:13] Egyptian culture, and I really want to read those yoga books too, uh, who powers, you know, lasted thousands of years.
[00:26:26] And we, we think we're so cool and wise now, but like,
[00:26:33] in reality, our, even the time span of our empire, you know, I don't,
[00:26:39] I don't claim it is only a hundred years and a few hundred years.
[00:26:44] And we've built nothing
[00:26:48] that can really stand the test of time.
[00:26:50] Like, you know, all of the iPhones and the computers won't even, can't even last, you
[00:26:57] know, the length of a pyramid.
[00:27:00] And we still don't know how they made that, right? And it's just like so interesting how that history
[00:27:07] works because in a sense, like the technology has caused pridefulness and that has then caused a disconnection, you know,
[00:27:25] from a wisdom that is more important.
[00:27:32] And yeah, I really see you, you know,
[00:27:36] leading this charge back to like understanding our bodies
[00:27:41] and reconnecting. Yeah.
[00:27:47] Thank you. I'd love to add to that too, that like in the book that you just mentioned,
[00:27:51] the Egyptian yoga book, one thing that stuck out to me a lot was they had mentioned that
[00:27:55] they had peaceful societies back then through the consistent practice of like yoga, it was
[00:27:59] normal back then to wake up in the morning and do a 10-15 minute yin flow, a 10-15 minute
[00:28:04] just yoga meditation flow, because then you automatically are tapped into your physical, connected to
[00:28:09] mind and then you go into your day to day life with a more open perspective and like
[00:28:13] a more grounded perspective because you're not getting stressed right away about things
[00:28:16] that are on the phone or on the news like you just took your time to wake up with your
[00:28:19] family.
[00:28:20] You did a 10-15 minute meditation in prayer and you go into your community and then you
[00:28:24] look to be with morals,
[00:28:25] you look to help each other,
[00:28:26] you just have a more peaceful way about going about life,
[00:28:29] and then you go probably in the afternoon,
[00:28:30] you do another 15 minute session,
[00:28:31] and the evening you do another 15 minute session,
[00:28:34] and that's what that book leaves spoke on,
[00:28:35] like that's how they had peaceful societies,
[00:28:36] and I believe that we all were to practice that,
[00:28:38] imagine the ballpark right now.
[00:28:40] Everyone's practicing 15 minute yoga three times a day.
[00:28:43] This whole vibration of this community right now will be higher because everyone's thinking at a higher level.
[00:28:47] Yeah, no, I mean, you were you were kind of just mentioning it now about the 10, 15 minutes
[00:28:53] every morning, you know, even with your page a day for the Kenbrel book. For our listeners,
[00:29:00] like what would you recommend are good ways to start small?
[00:29:05] Like let's say I'm someone who is on my laptop
[00:29:09] all day for my virtual job and yeah,
[00:29:12] I don't get outside enough.
[00:29:13] Like what's Coach Sid's recommendations
[00:29:15] for building out a habit of being healthy and mobile?
[00:29:20] I would say mindful habits during 10 minute stretches and it doesn't have to be too advanced.
[00:29:27] It can be in the stretches that you can find in any book or in any yoga, YouTube video
[00:29:31] or just going to class and really getting to know your physical body.
[00:29:35] You start understanding that your emotions are tied into your physical body too and sometimes
[00:29:38] you have emotions bottled up in your body that can help you release the physical movement.
[00:29:43] Do them consistent.
[00:29:45] Let's say again, 10 minute yoga session in the morning, you're feeling more calm.
[00:29:49] You released emotional tension from your shoulders and then you feel like more
[00:29:53] productive. And then after that journaling, that's something that y'all taught me.
[00:29:56] You're writing after those 10 minutes, yoga sessions, you feel, okay, what did I
[00:30:00] feel during the session? Let me write that down.
[00:30:01] You released through writings.
[00:30:02] Okay. During this 10 minute session, I felt like my hips were blocked.
[00:30:05] Maybe that's because your root shocker is tight.
[00:30:07] Maybe because you still have emotional traumas
[00:30:09] that you didn't fully process.
[00:30:10] So one thing leads to another.
[00:30:12] I feel like the more you do physical practice,
[00:30:14] you start seeing it's emotional too.
[00:30:15] It's physical, it's mental.
[00:30:17] And like, again, I would love for people
[00:30:18] to do 10 minute yoga in the morning, breath work.
[00:30:20] And then after that, what was on your mind?
[00:30:22] Let me write it down.
[00:30:23] You take notes on what you felt.
[00:30:24] And then you start your day with breakfast, a healthy
[00:30:27] meal, whatever your practices are. I don't know if you're fast or not, but that's a great
[00:30:31] way to do it. Exercising too is a great way to do it. Strength training can really push
[00:30:34] you to limits where you go past your comfort zone and you're really seeing you can push
[00:30:38] your body to a new limit, stepping out of your comfort zone. Always leads to growth,
[00:30:41] always leads to lessons. That's something I'd recommend. People like to wake up early in the morning,
[00:30:46] going for a run or going exercising.
[00:30:48] Just moving your body in different ways.
[00:30:49] Everyone has a different way of doing that.
[00:30:51] Maybe it's just going for a walk,
[00:30:52] maybe it's going swimming, but moving your body.
[00:30:54] Because the more you move your body,
[00:30:55] the more I feel like your mind moves freely
[00:30:57] and I connect you again to soul.
[00:30:59] That's the whole mind body soul thing we keep mentioning.
[00:31:02] Finding ways to move your body, literally.
[00:31:04] Go for a walk, go for a run, meditate, do yoga, go swimming, play basketball, move your body. So thing we keep mentioning. Finding ways to move your body literally. Go for a walk, go for
[00:31:05] a run, meditate, do yoga, go swimming, play basketball, move your body. Yeah. Yeah. How do
[00:31:11] you move your body when you're reading? Do you? Great question. Sometimes I have like a yoga block
[00:31:18] at home and like I'll sit like in a cross-legged position. Oh, on the blocks. Yeah. Okay.
[00:31:23] I read. Oh, okay. Moving, moving, whether I'm in a meditating position. So Oh, on the blocks. Yeah, yeah. OK. I have to read. Oh, OK. I have to be moving, moving, whether I'm
[00:31:26] in a meditative position.
[00:31:27] So I feel like I tell my body, OK, we chilling.
[00:31:30] We doing something good.
[00:31:31] Meditating while we're reading.
[00:31:32] Yeah.
[00:31:33] But I don't know.
[00:31:34] You have an answer for that?
[00:31:35] No, bro.
[00:31:36] No.
[00:31:37] I mean, I've been, oh, well, yeah, audio books are great,
[00:31:39] for sure, because, yeah.
[00:31:41] And every time I'm in a good audiobook,
[00:31:48] you know, I'll be like, yeah, I can take another lap around the block, you know, or like just keep walking.
[00:31:50] Like, I think it's a lot easier to walk
[00:31:53] for longer periods of time when you have the like
[00:31:55] attention focused, at least for me,
[00:31:58] because I also know that if I go out without it,
[00:32:02] I'll like want to come back in,
[00:32:03] because my focus is somewhere inside the house.
[00:32:05] So yeah, that is a good point. I was thinking of reading physical books because I feel like
[00:32:12] I've been reading too much on that couch, honestly. But there are some positions where
[00:32:18] you put your body in it and it's like, oh, okay, we're going to sleep, go to sleep then, you know, like, I've been falling asleep while I'm reading too much now.
[00:32:26] Okay.
[00:32:27] Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, the cross legged on the block, definitely. That's, that's a move for sure.
[00:32:33] Yeah, exactly.
[00:32:34] Cause you literally help your body also be staying in a meditative position, like the cross lady,
[00:32:38] like sitting up position, healthy posture, spine is aligned, chest is out. So you're breathing
[00:32:43] through your whole spine. You're reading at the same time. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
[00:32:50] What is your dream? Like the biggest or most fun or best community workout?
[00:33:02] Where would it be? Who would be there?
[00:33:05] I already know what I'm about to say.
[00:33:14] I've been gratefully expanding a lot through youth work recently, and I've been able to be
[00:33:19] in a position where I can do a lot of yoga-letics with the youth. And I love working with the youth
[00:33:24] because they're so receptive
[00:33:25] and there's so much room for growth
[00:33:26] and putting right keys into their mind
[00:33:28] for them to become better people.
[00:33:30] So I really, really like working with young people.
[00:33:32] And I think one of the dreams and goals
[00:33:34] would be going back to my roots like Haiti,
[00:33:36] or going to Africa and hosting major youth camps out there.
[00:33:39] And also everyone's welcome.
[00:33:41] During our summer camps, we have kids there,
[00:33:42] adults, elders, but an emphasis on young people where we can help them become in tune with mind, body, and soul.
[00:33:49] So if I had the choice right now, I'd love to host a major camp in Haiti because that's
[00:33:52] where my family's from and I want to connect with the youth and people there. And I'd love
[00:33:56] to go to Africa and I believe in a manifest that that's going to happen and I'll be going
[00:34:00] to Africa and I'll be doing youth camps through holistic wellness, through education with
[00:34:04] youth and people that are looking to help and empower each other. But that is one of
[00:34:08] my big goals and I believe it's going to happen in God's timing for sure.
[00:34:12] Thank you for sharing that. That's yeah, no. Thank you for Yeah, you're just you were just
[00:34:17] mentioning yesterday how 2024 holds a lot for you and Yogaletics just going like worldwide.
[00:34:25] And I mean, I didn't know where you were like,
[00:34:28] things specifically, just like everywhere,
[00:34:30] that's where I took it.
[00:34:31] I was like, oh yeah, Sydney about to be everywhere.
[00:34:32] So yeah.
[00:34:34] But that does remind me too that you were thinking
[00:34:37] about going back to Germany to be closer to your family.
[00:34:42] And that was like what, three years ago. So I'm curious if you could share just
[00:34:49] more context on where your family's at, where you grew up, you know, and also like what
[00:34:54] it's like keeping up with your family overseas, right? Like when you're when you got a whole
[00:34:59] ocean in between, you know.
[00:35:00] Thank you for that question. I actually like speaking out a lot because sometimes we get so caught up in day-to-day life and then I forget to like reach out to a family member and stuff.
[00:35:10] So like I love speaking on the story of like how my family and myself came up. So my mom is from
[00:35:16] Haiti, my dad's from Denmark and on my mom's side of the family migrated from Haiti to the US because
[00:35:22] of like circumstances back in the 60s and 70s, poverty, just oppression
[00:35:26] going on in Haiti till this day, unfortunately, they moved to Brooklyn, and then they found
[00:35:30] ways to live and survive in Brooklyn. And my mom was going to NYU. And when she studied
[00:35:35] their criminal law and justice, she had met a lot of international friends and she started
[00:35:39] moving and traveling to Germany a lot back and forth. And when she moved to Germany in
[00:35:44] late 80s,
[00:35:45] beginning of 90s, she had my brothers and myself there.
[00:35:47] And we're all born and raised there.
[00:35:50] And when I was 18, fast forward,
[00:35:52] I moved to the US to pursue my athletic career.
[00:35:56] And since then, I've basically been long distance
[00:35:58] with my immediate family,
[00:35:59] but I knew I wanted to come to America
[00:36:01] to pursue my academic and athletic career
[00:36:03] to eventually put myself and my family in a better position. So right now it's more of a like a FaceTime
[00:36:08] each other thing. It's more of a talking every other day type of thing. But like, I believe
[00:36:13] we're going to get close again through like fulfilling like my dream and my purpose to
[00:36:16] where we're in a position where we can help each other come visit more often and stuff
[00:36:19] like that. Well, like, yeah, I have a lot of family across the globe, gratefully, like
[00:36:22] in Germany, I have family in Miami, family in New York, family on the West Coast,
[00:36:26] I'm still looking to meet, and just being in a position
[00:36:28] where I can go to all these places and still do what I do
[00:36:31] through yoga, let it, through community organizing,
[00:36:32] and then meeting and growing with family through that.
[00:36:36] All the places that you mentioned
[00:36:37] have such different cultures.
[00:36:41] So what do you think, what does it mean to you
[00:36:44] to regard each of them as home, right? So what do you think, what does it mean to you to like,
[00:36:45] regard each of them as home, right?
[00:36:47] And just have like a multicultural upbringing and family
[00:36:52] and heritage in that way?
[00:36:56] I would say definitely when I was going through high school,
[00:36:59] I would like battle with like, hmm, like what is home for me?
[00:37:03] Like where is home for me? Now being in Chicago for 10 years, like I'm like, what is home for me? Like, where is home for me? Now, being
[00:37:06] in Chicago for 10 years, like, I'm realizing Chicago is definitely home for me because
[00:37:09] I feel a lot of love and support here. And like, I have a lot of great people that I've
[00:37:12] grown with here. And then when I go back to Germany to visit my mom, my siblings, my dad
[00:37:16] out there, I'm like, wow, like, this is where I live for 18 years. So this is home too. So
[00:37:20] I feel like home is really a place where you have people that love you and like that are
[00:37:23] in community with you and like that want you to be you and like care for you and nurture you.
[00:37:27] But definitely like growing up in different social settings and different demographics taught me to have like a very open perspective but also very like observative perspective because like you come across so many different people, so many different energies, so many different just walks of life when you are in different cultures. So like being open-minded and being like very like receptive of people and like not judging
[00:37:47] people right away because everyone has different upbringings, everyone has different backgrounds,
[00:37:51] everyone has different ways of living.
[00:37:52] But there's not always like one way how to do something perfect like just because you
[00:37:56] think you do it this way is not necessarily the only way to do it.
[00:37:59] Other coaches do it in this way, but still find an answer.
[00:38:01] So like just being open and receptive to different perspectives and mindsets. You mentioned earlier, The Wisdom of Insecurity from Alan Watts.
[00:38:12] I would love to mention how that book helped me also be aware of how things are shifting
[00:38:18] in the 21st century and how back then, he in the book, how things were very faith-based back in the,
[00:38:26] before the 2000s and before that time.
[00:38:29] Nowadays, people tend to be, unfortunately, more insecure
[00:38:31] because fast-paced societies, social media and stuff,
[00:38:35] make us go to phones so fast and look for answers.
[00:38:37] And back then, and I just can relate with that
[00:38:39] because my intuition tells me that that's where
[00:38:41] a lot of those problems stem from.
[00:38:43] Back in the 70s, 80s, or before that, if we would sit
[00:38:46] together and be like, hey, let's try to do this and this by next
[00:38:48] week, we'd set a goal, we'd write it down, we'd do it, and
[00:38:50] then we'd just pray on it and hope it would come to life.
[00:38:52] Like nowadays, we go to social media, go to Google right away,
[00:38:55] is this and this possible? How fast can it be to attain this?
[00:38:58] And then it just limits you right away because it tells you
[00:39:00] like, this is doable, this is not doable. So you build an
[00:39:02] insecurity of like, oh, shoot, social media told me I can't do this. Google told me I can't do this. And like back then,
[00:39:08] people just wouldn't have the answer right away, but they would trust to work towards the answer.
[00:39:11] And that's again, like trusting more in God and like having faith over fear. So that's one thing
[00:39:15] that really stuck out to me to that book was like, we're unfortunately becoming more insecure through
[00:39:20] like all these devices and fast paced societies, because we're not trusting in like patients and
[00:39:24] like intuition into like God and like source.
[00:39:27] Yeah.
[00:39:27] But that's really like one of the major things that the books spoke to me.
[00:39:30] Yeah.
[00:39:31] Uh, where, where would you say that you get your sense of security from?
[00:39:36] Uh, I would say experience experience.
[00:39:38] Yeah.
[00:39:38] Yeah.
[00:39:39] Yeah.
[00:39:39] Like your own personal experience.
[00:39:40] Does that include like your siblings and mom and everything?
[00:39:43] Yes.
[00:39:43] Yeah.
[00:39:44] The whole family.
[00:39:44] Yeah. Yeah. Definitely whole family. Yeah.
[00:39:45] Yeah.
[00:39:46] Definitely.
[00:39:46] The Haitian people.
[00:39:47] Yeah. Come on. Let's go.
[00:39:49] I definitely would say it too.
[00:39:55] Yeah, experience like also taking a leap of faith multiple times at a young age,
[00:39:59] like being 18, moving from Germany to Miami and saying,
[00:40:02] I'm going to live with my aunt and go to high school there so I can
[00:40:04] then get recruited to play college football. There was no definite,
[00:40:07] like, it's going to happen. It was like, let's give it a shot and make it work.
[00:40:10] Yeah.
[00:40:11] That's how I see my family has done it too. When they left Haiti, like,
[00:40:14] grandpa had connected with some people and got him a taxi job in Brooklyn. And then he went
[00:40:18] and made sure he can secure himself there, get money in. And then he brought my grandma over,
[00:40:22] and then slowly brought my mom over and my other uncles and aunts. And it was taking a risk, basically, and through experience,
[00:40:27] they made it work. And then they found their ways through that. And I guess that my mom put that
[00:40:32] into us too. She was like, if you want to go to college, you want to get your degree, go ahead and
[00:40:35] do that. If you want to go play football, go ahead and do that. Give it a shot. You never know. The
[00:40:38] only answer is giving it a try. If not, it's going to be a would've, could've, should've. Give it a try. If not, it's going to be like a woulda, coulda, shoulda, like give it a try, work your hardest towards it and let it work. Yeah. And you know, that, that, uh, thank you
[00:40:50] for that answer too. Cause I've been kind of like sitting on one that I was trying to figure out
[00:40:55] like how to ask. And part of it is just that like the experience, um, when it is accounting for
[00:41:03] like all of the, the work, the sacrifices,
[00:41:05] like the struggles that your whole family has been through.
[00:41:09] Like it can also put like a lot of weight on your shoulders
[00:41:13] and like a lot of pressure on you
[00:41:15] just with like making it happen,
[00:41:17] taking things to the next level.
[00:41:18] So I'm curious like how you like hold that,
[00:41:23] how you navigate with that, and also, right, just like process it in a way
[00:41:29] that is like healthy for you and also better able
[00:41:32] to like help you expand for your impact for other people.
[00:41:35] That's a great question and a deep question too.
[00:41:39] First thing that comes to my intuition is like resilience
[00:41:42] and like knowing that like the resilience
[00:41:44] like character is built
[00:41:46] and you can then meet the right people to keep your mission and vision going. Definitely
[00:41:52] can be tough at times. And it's been times where I was like, whoa, it's really hard right
[00:41:56] now. I'm going to be honest with y'all, a couple of weeks ago, I actually broke down
[00:42:00] and that was the first time in five, six, seven years that I had a breakdown And I was just in my place and I was about to go run some errand.
[00:42:07] And I looked in the mirror and something told me, kneel down for a second, just calm the
[00:42:13] F down for a sec. I'm always moving and running. And I literally kneeled down on my bed and I
[00:42:17] started tearing up. And this is very transparent. I really broke down for the first time and I just
[00:42:23] listened to why I was crying and what was going on. And I got literally realized, wow, I sacrificed a lot of my life
[00:42:30] 10 years ago too to leave my home and come to America and go to college and pursue this life
[00:42:36] and this career so I can then help my family. But I kept having a voice inside me too that was
[00:42:40] telling me, this is all happening for a reason. You're in the right position, all this is happening because there's a big pivot and a shift happening soon. And
[00:42:47] it's going to put you in a position that you deserve to be in. But like, for the first
[00:42:50] time I felt like that, like, wow, like you really like sacrificed yourself to like, put
[00:42:54] yourself and your family and your loved ones and your people into a better position and
[00:42:57] like, felt good, like feeling that voice and then hearing that like that affirmation, like
[00:43:02] saying like, this is happening for a, you're healing right now through this,
[00:43:05] and weight acknowledged that,
[00:43:06] and you've had a lot of weight on your shoulders,
[00:43:09] but it just built more character.
[00:43:10] And they say God puts the strongest warriors
[00:43:12] through the hardest battles.
[00:43:13] So all those tests that I've been through in the past
[00:43:15] have been to make me who I am today,
[00:43:17] and for me to continue to lead
[00:43:19] and help other people become better.
[00:43:21] I see pride, I have pride in that too,
[00:43:23] where it's something something tries to throw me
[00:43:25] off my pivot. I'm like, okay, this is another challenge. How can I overcome this? How can
[00:43:29] I learn from this and help the next man learn from this too?
[00:43:32] Yeah. Dang, bro. Wait. So you said two weeks ago, is this like a full moon timeframe or
[00:43:38] right before it?
[00:43:39] I want to say like two, three weeks ago, probably around that time.
[00:43:41] Oh, dang. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That was was like same time for me that's crazy yeah like same reason oh no I know I know I wasn't even expecting all that I was just
[00:43:50] curious what you're gonna say but dang all right yeah all right yeah so we'll keep on packing that
[00:43:54] then yeah exactly exactly well no I mean uh no for real thank you for your honesty on that though
[00:44:00] um and uh you know Miles asked you about your dream community workout.
[00:44:07] Um, I'm curious what your dream like book would be too, you know, like Sydney, you
[00:44:13] definitely got a writer and artists within you.
[00:44:16] Um, what's on, what's on your spirit and heart to like share with, with people
[00:44:20] through writing first thing I can remind is teaching people how to trust the process.
[00:44:29] And then also being your full and authentic self and not being afraid to express yourself because
[00:44:35] we deserve to express ourselves as a people, as melanated people. We have to. That's part of our
[00:44:39] art and our culture. And we have so much baggage from the past that was put on us unwillingly
[00:44:45] that we need to speak on and need to heal from. So I feel like it helps me a lot to
[00:44:50] speak my truth, speak my family's truth, speak our people's truth. And I think I'm so inspired
[00:44:55] by other people in Chicago too when they speak and I go to open mics and I hear writers and
[00:45:00] artists talk where it makes me want to express myself more too because we relate to each
[00:45:04] other in so many ways without even knowing it. like it's up to us to share each other's
[00:45:07] stories so we can empower each other through that like a lot of things that I might have shared
[00:45:11] right now hopefully inspire a person that's listening to this yeah they can be like wow like
[00:45:15] I need to share part of my story more too because this can help the next person more open and be
[00:45:19] more of themselves because like they're telling us to act a certain way or like be a certain way
[00:45:23] we're like nah we should all be our full beautiful self like we're all us to act a certain way or like be a certain way. We're like, nah, we should all be our full, beautiful self.
[00:45:25] Like we're all beautiful beings.
[00:45:26] And like the more we help each other be our authentic self, the more we can just
[00:45:30] grow and flow, you know?
[00:45:33] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:45:34] Bro.
[00:45:36] Man.
[00:45:37] Wow.
[00:45:37] Well, uh, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
[00:45:41] This is an incredible, incredible blessing for you to be on and come over to interview with us in person
[00:45:46] and really appreciate it, Cindy.
[00:45:49] So definitely more soon, would love to invite you
[00:45:53] to share how people can keep up with you,
[00:45:56] learn more about what you're doing,
[00:45:57] follow you on socials, and find the next community workout
[00:46:02] or thing that you're gonna be working on.
[00:46:03] So go ahead. Thank y'all so much again
[00:46:06] Thank y'all for doing this today
[00:46:07] And like in general what you guys are doing adding value to our people to our culture and like expanding and helping people gain more
[00:46:14] Insight on like how to become better through reading and do just also it's a part of life
[00:46:18] So you guys are teaching lifestyle like you guys are helping people make reading cool again
[00:46:22] Like there was a time where people said readings not not cool. Where reading is cool as shit.
[00:46:25] Sorry if I had to curse, but I'd say you're cool.
[00:46:27] Yeah.
[00:46:28] Yeah.
[00:46:28] I was in that mindset too, where I was like, man, I don't need a read, man.
[00:46:31] I'm just football player.
[00:46:32] I'm listening to this.
[00:46:32] Nah, man.
[00:46:32] Reading is the truth.
[00:46:34] And that's why I respect y'all so much for that.
[00:46:35] And I'm going to do what I can to see you guys propel through this too.
[00:46:38] And like, thank y'all for letting me share my story.
[00:46:40] And like, yeah, if anyone's listening to this or when you guys listen to this,
[00:46:44] tap in with me to yoga, let X,
[00:46:45] please come out to our workouts.
[00:46:47] It's a judge free zone.
[00:46:48] We're here to help each other and power each other.
[00:46:49] Thank you.
[00:46:51] And tapping on me on Instagram, Haitian Viking,
[00:46:54] feel free to reach out with any questions
[00:46:55] and tapping with real ball is read, man.
[00:46:57] It's a lot of big things coming with collaborating,
[00:46:59] we're unifying, and we're going to amplify our voice
[00:47:01] and our message through this one of y'all peace.
[00:47:04] Thank you so much for listening
[00:47:06] to this episode of Real Ballers Read.
[00:47:08] Go ahead and follow Sid on Instagram,
[00:47:10] at HaitianViking, and we will catch you
[00:47:13] in the next episode.
[00:47:14] I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.