Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Ashley Woods On Failed Suicide Attempts and Overcoming PTSD Challenges

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Ashley Woods On Failed Suicide Attempts and Overcoming PTSD Challenges · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
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Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
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Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
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Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
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Speaker 1: You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
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Speaker 1: decision makers. It's what he likes to do. It's what
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Speaker 1: he likes to share. Now it's time to hear from
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Speaker 1: my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we come.
0:30
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. I am your host, Rashan McDonald.
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Speaker 1: I recognize we all have different definitions of success. For
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Speaker 1: some exercisable paycheck. Mine is helping people wake up and
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Speaker 1: inspiring them to accomplish their goals and live their very
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Speaker 1: best life. These are my passions and that's what I'm
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Speaker 1: going to do for you. I want you to stop
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Speaker 1: tripping over small challenges and prepare to rise above the
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Speaker 1: bigger obstacles that life will present to you my next kiss.
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Speaker 1: Ashley Woods is an author, aspiring, motivational teacher, and mentor.
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Speaker 1: Ashley is a veteran of the United States Army and
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Speaker 1: National Guard Reserve. She served for five years from two
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Speaker 1: thousand two to two thousand seven. Diagnosed with PTSD in twelve,
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Speaker 1: Ashley has faced many obstacles in their life, including multiple
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Speaker 1: breakdowns and two suicide attempts. Equipped with an effective management
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Speaker 1: technique for her PTSD, actually now dedicates her time as
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Speaker 1: a mental illness advocate, supporting millions of people that battle
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Speaker 1: with the effects of various mental disorders every day and
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Speaker 1: inspiring and encouraging others to overcome and thrive. Actually is
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Speaker 1: living proof that your illness does not have to define
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Speaker 1: your path in life. She's ill, sure to talk about
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Speaker 1: the overcoming the odds. Please welcome to money making Conversations
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Speaker 1: Ashley Woods. Hello, Hello, thank you for having me for
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Speaker 1: for all you know to explain to me what exactly
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Speaker 1: is PTS d Okay, PTSD is postermatic stress disorder and
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Speaker 1: a lot of people get a misconstrued and think that
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Speaker 1: it's m military driven and it's not need anything that
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Speaker 1: happened UM in your life that caused the um trauma
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Speaker 1: and it makes you and you can have triggers behind
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Speaker 1: it put you in a depressed state of mind, and
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Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's different, um, depending on the person.
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Speaker 1: So how it might affect me, Like with me, my
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Speaker 1: one of my triggers is bad. Why back is a
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Speaker 1: trigger for me because that's what my sister had tried
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Speaker 1: to use to kill me when I was a little,
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Speaker 1: when I was six years over, So I have a
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Speaker 1: bad like you know, I have a thing with that.
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Speaker 1: So it's just, uh, it's triggered by a terrifying event.
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Speaker 1: So it could be somebody who got rape, molested, assaulted.
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Speaker 1: Um are they seeing somebody in the house, you know,
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Speaker 1: get abused. It's different layers. Whatever's traumatic to that person,
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Speaker 1: it can trigger off the emotions. It caused people to
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Speaker 1: go in and out of slumps and suffer severe anxiety, nightmare, nightmares.
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Speaker 1: And also it just it takes over your mind. Right,
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Speaker 1: the first time I became aware of heard the term
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Speaker 1: PTSD was Vietnam veterans. And so that's why you know,
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Speaker 1: I guess you said. Rashaun is not just tied to military.
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Speaker 1: It's tied to everyday life. It's tied to dramatic physical, mental,
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Speaker 1: catastrophic engagements in your life that can cause you to
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Speaker 1: be depressed and then it can lead to you know, relationships,
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Speaker 1: running relationships potentially leading you to commit suicide, causing you
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Speaker 1: stress at your job and not functioning properly. That's what
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Speaker 1: PTSD can do. And I brought you on the show
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Speaker 1: just they're like, let people know that it is not
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Speaker 1: tied to one lane of opportunity, that you can become
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Speaker 1: a victim of PTSD. Now, how will you diagnosed? Because,
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Speaker 1: like I said, you served in the military, and I'm
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Speaker 1: not trying to put up two and two together, but
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Speaker 1: you United States Army and National Guard Reserve. Now what's
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Speaker 1: the difference between the two. You have the United States
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Speaker 1: Army and National Guard Reserve. Please tell us the difference
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Speaker 1: between the two. For the National Guard Reserve, that's not
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Speaker 1: full time Army. So I was able when I first
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Speaker 1: founded up because I was a little scared of um
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Speaker 1: being away from home. So it was like I go
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Speaker 1: to BAB training. Then I come back to a station
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Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, which mines was on Southampton Road up the
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Speaker 1: boulevard at maintenance company. So I did weekend drills and
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Speaker 1: then two weeks out of the year I did drills.
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Speaker 1: We're basically gonna standby in case anything happens, but in
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Speaker 1: between times we trained, we still retool, We still you know,
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Speaker 1: do our PT tests and that everything. Now I got
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Speaker 1: tired of that. I didn't feel like I was maximizing,
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Speaker 1: um my strength, so I wanted to go after But
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Speaker 1: when I'm in a rugby United States Active Army, I'm
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Speaker 1: full time. It's not everyday life. And now I'm stay
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Speaker 1: on a military installation and um, you know, I'm tied
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Speaker 1: to a different And I was stationed at Fort Benning
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Speaker 1: in Columbus, Um, Georgia before I had to get out
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Speaker 1: due to medical So I'm I'm a better you know,
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Speaker 1: I'm a disabled veteran I had. They found out I
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Speaker 1: had heart conditions, so I had to get out. But
5:21
Speaker 1: my diagnosis came probably five years after I got out,
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Speaker 1: because I got out in two thousand and seven. And
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Speaker 1: once I started going to therapy and counseling, they showed
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Speaker 1: that I'm not trying to start it when I was
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Speaker 1: six years old, and I try to go to the
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Speaker 1: military to run from my problems within my household, and
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Speaker 1: it kind of added to my problems. And that's why
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Speaker 1: I try to stress the people. Sometimes we think that
5:51
Speaker 1: you know, changing the city of state that you're in,
5:54
Speaker 1: or you know, trying shut off your your past without
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Speaker 1: doing with it. It's going to make like better and
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Speaker 1: it it didn't for me. So it actually added on
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Speaker 1: to all the issues that I had because I dealt
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Speaker 1: with challenges in the military, you know, being a female,
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Speaker 1: being a mechanic. Um, we still went through the certain
6:15
Speaker 1: things of you know, racism, equality and all that things
6:19
Speaker 1: of that nature. You wouldn't think that you would go
6:21
Speaker 1: through stuff like that, but it happens everywhere. Absolutely absolutely so.
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Speaker 1: Now you're in the military. Uh, you're an author, an entrepreneur.
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Speaker 1: Did anything that you did the military? Uh? What impact
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Speaker 1: did it have on you as an author? What impact
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Speaker 1: did it have on you as an entrepreneur? Um? The
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Speaker 1: military impactful. I'm always grateful for the military because it
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Speaker 1: open my eyes to not only see different parts of
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Speaker 1: the world, but just understanding people different aspects of the
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Speaker 1: like different background, supernationality, um. Right, and became a for
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Speaker 1: medicanism because I wasn't good at communicating my feelings because
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Speaker 1: when I tried to keep my feelings when I was
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Speaker 1: younger to my parents when bad things were happening to me,
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Speaker 1: it fell on deaf ear because in those times, we
7:13
Speaker 1: didn't talk about mental health, so they just swept things
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Speaker 1: under the rugs. So writing became the only way I
7:21
Speaker 1: can live out how I felt because I would just
7:23
Speaker 1: get angry, I get watery, and I don't feel like,
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Speaker 1: you know, I can relay my message verbally. So writing
7:32
Speaker 1: became the way I was able to live off some scene.
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Speaker 1: And I've always been good at writing and putting together things.
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Speaker 1: But the book thing, I don't know how. It came about.
7:42
Speaker 1: When I was a contractor and I was out an Afghanistan.
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Speaker 1: Um I was like very nervous because we were getting
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Speaker 1: bombed a lot, and I just I started writing. And
7:55
Speaker 1: that's when my first book, Alphabet Dreams, came about. And
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Speaker 1: I vote that and I started liking it, and I
8:02
Speaker 1: just kept going right. You found a fashion, you found
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Speaker 1: your passion, you found your gift because, like I said
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Speaker 1: in the in the Moment of Fear, you you were
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Speaker 1: able to become creative and that became a positive thing
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Speaker 1: for you. I'm talking to Ashley Wood. She's an author,
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Speaker 1: an aspiring, motivational teacher, and a mentor to many people.
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Speaker 1: She served uh United States Army and their National Guard
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Speaker 1: Reserve from two thousand to two thousand seven. She was
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Speaker 1: diagnosed with PTSD in twelve and right off the box,
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Speaker 1: she just let us know. PTSD is not a military problem.
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Speaker 1: It's a problem that whenever you're involved in anything traumatic.
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Speaker 1: Whether it can be an injury, you can accident, It
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Speaker 1: could be a moment in your childhood that you still
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Speaker 1: flashback with something appears that that made a negative reaction
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Speaker 1: in your life. So defining could be child abuse, could
8:51
Speaker 1: be molestation, could be a rape, can be anything that
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Speaker 1: really just triggers you into a very negative state immediately.
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Speaker 1: That's of PTSD can do you. It just throws you.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be a physical force on you.
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Speaker 1: It's a mental challenge to your mental psyche can paralyze people,
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Speaker 1: can emotionally traumatize people, can make them breakdown, and can
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Speaker 1: make them suicide suicidal. When you go to that state
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Speaker 1: of suicide, what what what takes a person there? And
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Speaker 1: am I trying to be uh insensitive when I say that,
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Speaker 1: I'm just saying, but it has to be a degree
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Speaker 1: of helplessness or hopelessness to go to a state of
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Speaker 1: considering suicide. Correct? Actually, yeah, and what takes the person
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Speaker 1: there is different? Um myself, Um I did so. Hopelessness
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Speaker 1: I didn't feel like, basically feel like how these young
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Speaker 1: children when they can make suicide these things, they kind
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Speaker 1: of feel like for me, I think the kids feel
9:55
Speaker 1: like there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
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Speaker 1: They can't They're getting buoyed school and they're like in
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Speaker 1: force for the spread, and they're thinking like, I gotta
10:04
Speaker 1: go through how many years it is? Is this ever
10:06
Speaker 1: gonna stop? I want to end them? And so in
10:09
Speaker 1: my life, I came to a night where I just
10:12
Speaker 1: thought that it's not gonna get my butter. I can't
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Speaker 1: escape these soon. Because I didn't know. I was so
10:18
Speaker 1: ashamed to admit that I had, you know, some type
10:22
Speaker 1: of mental illness issue that I didn't have a way
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Speaker 1: of coping with it. And so because I didn't know
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Speaker 1: how to cope and I didn't try to get treatment,
10:31
Speaker 1: I was trying to hide it when all emotions came
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Speaker 1: at once and I just didn't know how to handle
10:36
Speaker 1: things across the board. I did so hope that I
10:39
Speaker 1: felt like because a lot of pain and trauma came
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Speaker 1: from the hands of my own parents, and you know,
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Speaker 1: and a lot it wasn't it wasn't physical abuse. It
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Speaker 1: was just you know, mental you know, neglect not hearing
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Speaker 1: me when I think you that, Hey, I am a
10:55
Speaker 1: cousin uncle that keeps trying to have sex with me.
10:57
Speaker 1: I'm only twelve years old, and I'm constantly I'm constantly
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Speaker 1: happen to be around this person that's trying to do
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Speaker 1: bad things to me because they pushed us. When I
11:09
Speaker 1: got to a point where I just I just felt
11:12
Speaker 1: like it would be better if I'm not here, because
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Speaker 1: me being here it seems like I'm a burden, I'm
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Speaker 1: a problem. I can't do good enough. And I just
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Speaker 1: didn't love myself enough to understand that even if certain
11:26
Speaker 1: people didn't value me being here or I didn't understand
11:30
Speaker 1: my word, that somebody else out here would. And so
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Speaker 1: thank god I started getting treatment and I was unsuccessful
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Speaker 1: in that suicide attempt because I know, you know, what
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Speaker 1: I might not get from somebody else, I don't get
11:43
Speaker 1: from another person. And that's the thing people from around us,
11:47
Speaker 1: that's who you surround yourself with, because some people might
11:49
Speaker 1: not get you, and they might be in your very
11:51
Speaker 1: own homes that won't get you, but they don't mean
11:54
Speaker 1: give up. These other people out there, they go through
11:57
Speaker 1: the same problems even worse and that you can lean
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Speaker 1: on to. And so once I just started just going
12:04
Speaker 1: to counseling and therapy, I got better and understanding that
12:09
Speaker 1: something don't work out my way, or I'm feeling this emotion,
12:13
Speaker 1: how to handle it differently so I won't get into
12:16
Speaker 1: that bad space. Well, they're bad, and I'm gonna just
12:19
Speaker 1: tell you I've been in that bad state, you know,
12:21
Speaker 1: because of the fact that there is a I'm in
12:25
Speaker 1: a high pressure business. I'm always expected, uh not to
12:30
Speaker 1: fail because people depend on me, and that can take
12:32
Speaker 1: you into that state of being boxed in because you
12:35
Speaker 1: don't know who to turn to sometimes because you don't
12:37
Speaker 1: admit you don't want to admit what you don't know,
12:40
Speaker 1: because sometimes that can be considered a sign of weakness,
12:43
Speaker 1: and it can be people. People can start doubting you,
12:46
Speaker 1: especially when you consider the leader and the responsibility. Being
12:49
Speaker 1: a leader can be very lonely a lot of times,
12:52
Speaker 1: and because a lot of times you have to make
12:53
Speaker 1: decisions best on for people's expect of you. And when
12:57
Speaker 1: I hear you talking like my what calms me? I?
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Speaker 1: On my property? I bought a property and that a
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Speaker 1: little lake and back and actually it's like that's the
13:05
Speaker 1: rippling of the water calms me, that brings my whole
13:09
Speaker 1: personality down, and so it makes me relaxed. And so
13:14
Speaker 1: that's what you're talking about as well, finding places that
13:17
Speaker 1: can taking a positive state when you're suffering these dramatic
13:22
Speaker 1: rushes that can come crippling. Like I'm just telling you
13:26
Speaker 1: some of these attacks that can hit you. Some of
13:28
Speaker 1: people call them panic attacks, some people call them physical
13:31
Speaker 1: jar mental assaults. But they're all formulated from some basis
13:36
Speaker 1: of a drama that has happening, our trauma that has
13:39
Speaker 1: happened in your life, and now you're playing it out
13:42
Speaker 1: and you can't always control it. So that helps me
13:46
Speaker 1: from from going to the next level to be calm
13:49
Speaker 1: because I can always tell when it when that moment
13:52
Speaker 1: is getting a little bit too big for me, and
13:54
Speaker 1: I go, wow, okay, you know it's not watching another
13:58
Speaker 1: Marvel movie, is not watching the food on the cooking channel.
14:02
Speaker 1: I just gotta go and let my mind just see
14:04
Speaker 1: simple things. How do how do you? How do you
14:07
Speaker 1: cope with it? Ashley? Um? I cope with being able
14:13
Speaker 1: to I'm I'm like when I'm doing them, being able
14:17
Speaker 1: to help other people help because I'm still struggling with
14:24
Speaker 1: certain battles. I don't want people to think I got
14:26
Speaker 1: it all together. I'm piecing it together. I'm doing better,
14:30
Speaker 1: and I wake up just trying to win the day. Overall.
14:33
Speaker 1: I don't try to think too far ahead. I just
14:36
Speaker 1: try to win the day. But when I'm able to
14:38
Speaker 1: talk to people and people like yo, I needed to
14:41
Speaker 1: hear that that it makes me keep going. I didn't
14:44
Speaker 1: next to try to be the face of this well.
14:47
Speaker 1: I just I'm just serving my purpose that God placed
14:50
Speaker 1: upon me. And he said, hey, listen, I think you
14:53
Speaker 1: got a voice, and you got a story that people
14:55
Speaker 1: are gonna listen to and they're gonna connect with and
14:58
Speaker 1: they're gonna respond to you, because sometime people don't respond
15:01
Speaker 1: to people that are just coming in with a suitain
15:02
Speaker 1: time say hey, you can do this. You can turn
15:04
Speaker 1: out like me. And I'm just showing people listening, I'm
15:08
Speaker 1: where are you at. I might be doing a little
15:10
Speaker 1: better than you might be doing, but let me get
15:12
Speaker 1: you there, and what you do, what you're doing, you
15:14
Speaker 1: might can help me get to other places myself. So
15:17
Speaker 1: I'm just bringing I just want to bring people along
15:19
Speaker 1: on my journey and let's all help each other out.
15:22
Speaker 1: So me being able to talk to you and your
15:25
Speaker 1: listeners might somebody might be sowing the same way I'm
15:29
Speaker 1: doing my job, and it's helping me when I help
15:32
Speaker 1: other people. Because I always used to think that I
15:34
Speaker 1: was long, and now I don't think that no more right,
15:38
Speaker 1: And I agree with you. I'm just letting you know
15:39
Speaker 1: that that from a standpoint of I'm one of these people,
15:43
Speaker 1: you know, my my, my triggers are tied to you know,
15:46
Speaker 1: people expectations. I guess, uh, not being able to show weakness.
15:50
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe I'm just taking upon myself to say I
15:52
Speaker 1: can't show a weakness and I can properly show it
15:54
Speaker 1: and just everybody's cool with it. But I do know
15:56
Speaker 1: when you lead and you're at a high level, then
15:59
Speaker 1: people will look at you differently if you admit flaws,
16:03
Speaker 1: and they would once they started questioning you based on
16:06
Speaker 1: that flaw, then they can lead to other things. And
16:08
Speaker 1: so what gets me is like I want to just
16:11
Speaker 1: emphasize to you, if you ever come down to the
16:13
Speaker 1: Atlanta area, please I'm gonna give you my number and
16:16
Speaker 1: come by my come by my backyard. Actually we were
16:19
Speaker 1: just sat out there and look at the water a
16:21
Speaker 1: little bit and I got some real and Rodd. I
16:24
Speaker 1: don't know if you've ever fish, you know when you
16:25
Speaker 1: catch the fishery throw it back in the water. So
16:28
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's just it's just fun and relaxing.
16:31
Speaker 1: And I think that that's what I'm just offering to you,
16:34
Speaker 1: is that you know, these interviews are great, but just
16:38
Speaker 1: finding that moment where you can just control it, because
16:41
Speaker 1: these interviews don't happen all the time. Like I said,
16:43
Speaker 1: I just know that if if it's if it's going
16:47
Speaker 1: left for me too much, I just walk in my backyard.
16:50
Speaker 1: I want the cable don't have to be working, and
16:52
Speaker 1: I don't have to have a I don't have to
16:53
Speaker 1: open the refrigerator. That backyard is there. I can walk
16:57
Speaker 1: out there. If it's raining, I can walk out there.
16:59
Speaker 1: If it's snowing, I can walk out there. And so
17:02
Speaker 1: that's what helped to me. And so if you ever
17:03
Speaker 1: get to the Atlanta area, you come on down with
17:05
Speaker 1: Shawn's property. Okay, but Mr McDonald, let me tell you something.
17:10
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with being vulnerable. It's not weak, it's human.
17:17
Speaker 1: You have a lot of responsibilities and I know you
17:19
Speaker 1: have high expectation, high expectations of yourself, and sometimes we
17:23
Speaker 1: put so much person in ourselves. You know that we
17:26
Speaker 1: put our own selves in the corner. But I'm do
17:30
Speaker 1: that is okay. You're doing great and you have to
17:34
Speaker 1: know that. And it's okay if people understand like people,
17:39
Speaker 1: we've gotta understand, mistakes is gonna happen because we from those,
17:44
Speaker 1: we become better because of mistakes. Who becomes better? Sometimes
17:48
Speaker 1: we think everything is how I can't take a loss,
17:51
Speaker 1: I can't make a mistake. That's how we become a
17:53
Speaker 1: better version of us. So I'm telling it's okay to
17:56
Speaker 1: be vulnerable. Well, you know, I want to agree with you.
18:02
Speaker 1: You know, and I and that's why. But it's hard
18:05
Speaker 1: to lock it into this old brain. Okay, to just
18:08
Speaker 1: show a sign of weakness. That's why I have honest
18:11
Speaker 1: conversations on my show because of the fact that I
18:13
Speaker 1: bring I continue an expert, and in the process of
18:16
Speaker 1: being an expert, I'm able to have honest conversations and
18:20
Speaker 1: allow myself to be challenged because I love it. I
18:22
Speaker 1: love your tone and voice. You stepped up, you know,
18:24
Speaker 1: a little bit extra levels of Richard. Hold up, now,
18:26
Speaker 1: it's all right. Now you almost went into preacher mode
18:30
Speaker 1: on me now, and I was like, my girl stepped
18:33
Speaker 1: up on me, girl, wow, and uh and I love it.
18:36
Speaker 1: So it was a question that I wanted to bring
18:38
Speaker 1: to Why do you think it's so important to encourage
18:41
Speaker 1: uplive people, especially young people? This is the key in
18:43
Speaker 1: this conversation through words. Is this type of encouragement something
18:47
Speaker 1: you felt you didn't receive growing up? That type of
18:49
Speaker 1: encouragement Because I always tell people, you know, I have
18:53
Speaker 1: a daughter, you know, she's twenty four now, and I
18:56
Speaker 1: can remember all she was was just a blank slate
18:58
Speaker 1: and if I said something jarring to her did she
19:02
Speaker 1: reacted physically, almost stunted. So how important it is to
19:08
Speaker 1: have a positive lifestyle towards young people as they as
19:12
Speaker 1: they ascend into adulthood. It's very important. Words carry power
19:18
Speaker 1: and people can hold on words sometimes and people get
19:21
Speaker 1: physically abused. Sometimes some scars can go away and sometimes words,
19:27
Speaker 1: you know, the words can be internal scars in your
19:31
Speaker 1: heart and just kids gotta you know, when I vote,
19:34
Speaker 1: I matter. I voted in the base of what I
19:37
Speaker 1: wanted to hear, when what I needed to hear. When
19:39
Speaker 1: I was six years old, that I met that I
19:42
Speaker 1: deserved you know, you know, I deserve to be treated good.
19:46
Speaker 1: I deserved to be loved, that I am worthy. And
19:49
Speaker 1: these kids need to understand, especially the times that we're
19:52
Speaker 1: done with today. Um, we gotta push and challenge our children,
19:56
Speaker 1: but we also gotta let them know their love and
19:58
Speaker 1: they need to appreciate being themselves because so many children
20:01
Speaker 1: as aspiring to look and be like someone else that
20:05
Speaker 1: they're not even living in their own skin. They're living
20:07
Speaker 1: for other people. And so that's why we have to
20:10
Speaker 1: encourage someone be positive that you have something special about you.
20:14
Speaker 1: You got to bring it out because a lot of
20:17
Speaker 1: kids that are trying to just they know, I want
20:20
Speaker 1: to be this person. I want to be this person.
20:22
Speaker 1: Know be you and just be the best version of
20:24
Speaker 1: you and people gonna love you, and I matter. Which
20:29
Speaker 1: is a is an interactive is animation? Is an animated
20:33
Speaker 1: type book? Yeah, it's it's color it's a color book.
20:37
Speaker 1: Is gonna say it's animated, but its interactive books. They
20:40
Speaker 1: can write in it and they can change because their
20:44
Speaker 1: life can change. They can grow. It's like I have
20:46
Speaker 1: something that says I'm gonna be the next you to say,
20:49
Speaker 1: you know, politician, President, Lloyd, your doctor. It can always change,
20:53
Speaker 1: so they can always erased it and change because your
20:56
Speaker 1: dreams can change, or you know, your goals can change.
20:59
Speaker 1: So I made it interactive when they can write in it.
21:02
Speaker 1: I put a pledge in there noting that they can
21:04
Speaker 1: go by something like, you know, this is my mission statement,
21:08
Speaker 1: this is my pledge. This is who I am. You
21:12
Speaker 1: know when I when I see a book like this,
21:13
Speaker 1: and I see and I'm talking to you, and the
21:17
Speaker 1: whole process is that, Okay, you have an idea, correct Ashley,
21:21
Speaker 1: and then this idea has to be sold to somebody
21:23
Speaker 1: and convinced that this has value, you know, And that
21:27
Speaker 1: tells me you have a unique talent because a lot
21:29
Speaker 1: of people want to do what you do. They just
21:31
Speaker 1: start doing it at the level that you're doing it.
21:33
Speaker 1: What's the ultimate plan? Because you're you're a very good talker,
21:36
Speaker 1: you know your your your passion, you have motivation, and
21:41
Speaker 1: you want to mentor individuals to be successful or to
21:45
Speaker 1: come out of those lanes of darkness with a plan.
21:48
Speaker 1: What is your plan when you talk to people about
21:51
Speaker 1: going to the next step? Ashley Woods. I'm talking to
21:53
Speaker 1: Ashley Woods her book I Matter, which is just released
21:56
Speaker 1: book New Book, which is an interactive book of affirmations
21:59
Speaker 1: for the youth Utilize in the alphabet, explores positive words
22:03
Speaker 1: and uplift and encourage all readers. I Matter allows you
22:06
Speaker 1: to customize the confirmation and reinforce to our youth how
22:09
Speaker 1: great they are. Wow, you make me understand that they're
22:16
Speaker 1: more actually is needed in this world. It's woods. Thank you.
22:23
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. That's a good thing. That it really do.
22:27
Speaker 1: And and that's the thing when when people say things
22:31
Speaker 1: like that, it drives me. It wants me to see
22:33
Speaker 1: and get back more. When the plane is just to
22:37
Speaker 1: have people that don't know, you know, don't know their
22:40
Speaker 1: words or value or don't feel like you know their
22:43
Speaker 1: life is not a mountain uphing anything that it can.
22:46
Speaker 1: You can always change the story. You can change your story.
22:50
Speaker 1: You's gotta believe in yourself and you gotta put yourself
22:53
Speaker 1: around you know positive people. You gotta Yeah, our focus
22:59
Speaker 1: is it's are It's easier said than done. But um,
23:03
Speaker 1: the goal is when I speak to people, whether they
23:06
Speaker 1: feel like they should be diagnosed or not, did they
23:10
Speaker 1: have a better understanding mental health that they don't judge,
23:12
Speaker 1: they don't stigmatize. They don't look down on people, don't
23:14
Speaker 1: look down on themselves, and you don't have to understand
23:18
Speaker 1: everybody's story and path, but just resuspected. That's how we
23:23
Speaker 1: want respect when it comes to equality and racism. You know,
23:27
Speaker 1: people dealing with mental health issues want the same respect
23:30
Speaker 1: as well. We know, doing the pandemic or a lot
23:34
Speaker 1: of isolation, a lot of things you wanted to do
23:36
Speaker 1: you couldn't do. Cut you were shut down for two months?
23:39
Speaker 1: How did that? How did you deal with that? And
23:42
Speaker 1: how did the people that you mentored along the way
23:44
Speaker 1: to stay positive deal with this whole pandemic that's ongoing.
23:49
Speaker 1: Civil rest is ongoing. Uh, the economy is fractured. Were
23:53
Speaker 1: you at mentally and the people you're trying to support
23:56
Speaker 1: that mentally? Doing this really period of unresting more really physically,
24:00
Speaker 1: financially and health wise. That's why role I mat her
24:06
Speaker 1: and that's where it came out. During the pandemic. I
24:11
Speaker 1: talked to people through social media, whether it was like Facebook,
24:15
Speaker 1: Messenger or within the d M. You know, I post
24:19
Speaker 1: up funny stuff on my page and I just made
24:22
Speaker 1: myself successible to people. I always told people, if you
24:25
Speaker 1: need to talk to me, if you want to vent,
24:28
Speaker 1: I'm here and that's the most you could. You know,
24:30
Speaker 1: you could though, And I try to, you know, stay
24:33
Speaker 1: busy during the pandemic. Too much time on your games.
24:36
Speaker 1: Sometimes not the camp he could or something that's I
24:39
Speaker 1: also try to stay busy, and I always try to
24:42
Speaker 1: just stay ready for whatever it's gonna come, you know,
24:45
Speaker 1: come my way, you know, paid attention what was going
24:47
Speaker 1: on news. And I also became you know, engaged in
24:52
Speaker 1: the movement UM George Floyd UM and the Brianna Teller
24:57
Speaker 1: and you know, I just learned a had a lot
25:00
Speaker 1: more and I just encourage people to a lot of people,
25:05
Speaker 1: you know, where everything was going on. Some people, we
25:08
Speaker 1: got some millionaires that's gonna come out of this pandemic
25:10
Speaker 1: because they dig deep down and found some hustles to
25:14
Speaker 1: make it and provide for their family. So the country's
25:18
Speaker 1: going through difficult trials. But I think some people, when
25:20
Speaker 1: it's all centers, that is going to really come out
25:22
Speaker 1: on top. But for me, I wrote and I spread up,
25:28
Speaker 1: you know, and that's that's the best thing that I
25:29
Speaker 1: can do. Spread love, be positive and write. Actually your
25:34
Speaker 1: new book I Matter. You utilize the alphabet why are
25:38
Speaker 1: the alphabet, Well, it's something that's like, that's my thing
25:43
Speaker 1: where it comes to kids, because I I, you know,
25:45
Speaker 1: I was a substitute teacher and I just used to
25:47
Speaker 1: see is for a food be it's for boy and
25:51
Speaker 1: I right, oh god, that's it's so cliche, and so
25:55
Speaker 1: I wanted to change it up. And so in my books,
25:59
Speaker 1: like the letters like I am Awesome, and there's like
26:03
Speaker 1: to be I Am brave. You know, I just put
26:08
Speaker 1: them I matter, I matter because I need the kids
26:12
Speaker 1: to write. Then you know why they mean a legendary
26:16
Speaker 1: words that they don't hear every day. Where is it
26:19
Speaker 1: they only see, like you know, celebrities and superstars say
26:23
Speaker 1: about themselves. You can say that about yourself until you
26:25
Speaker 1: gotta claim it. You gotta see things before they all
26:28
Speaker 1: they come, you know, come to nutrition who whom I try.
26:31
Speaker 1: I can't get the word out of my mouth, but
26:35
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta see it before it even happened.
26:39
Speaker 1: So I just went through the alphabet because I just
26:42
Speaker 1: felt like it's a creative way of you know, getting
26:45
Speaker 1: kids to still understand the alphabet or also learning new words.
26:50
Speaker 1: Average words now these words of information, and they're positive words.
26:53
Speaker 1: Words that some kids might not really here all the time.
26:59
Speaker 1: I just forgot ads for apphlebiers for books. If a
27:02
Speaker 1: cad df a dog, you know it's an elephant, you know,
27:05
Speaker 1: GF for draft. You know, I'm just going through. I've
27:07
Speaker 1: forgotten about all those words that was tied to a letter,
27:11
Speaker 1: and you just go, Okay, let's let's just just give
27:13
Speaker 1: different words. Let's advance is a little bit more. Let's
27:16
Speaker 1: let's word and means something. Who sees an elephant unless
27:19
Speaker 1: you go to a zoo, who sees a giraffe? Unless
27:21
Speaker 1: you go to a zoo? Put words in They're awesome,
27:24
Speaker 1: you know though, the these are words that that what
27:28
Speaker 1: kid needs to see. This is what we call uh as.
27:30
Speaker 1: They say you put on your mirror affirmation statements that
27:33
Speaker 1: make you feel good about yourself and make you embolden
27:37
Speaker 1: you to be a better person than you were the
27:39
Speaker 1: day before. That's awesome. I I really appreciate that because
27:43
Speaker 1: that that was a trigger for me, because I forgot
27:45
Speaker 1: when I asked you that question. I forgot that aid
27:47
Speaker 1: is for apphlebids for you know, I forgot that little
27:49
Speaker 1: simple rhyme that's stuck in my head all these years
27:53
Speaker 1: was really married to if you're you're trying to say,
27:55
Speaker 1: let's let's put new words in there. Let's put new words.
27:58
Speaker 1: And these new words are word that that matter emotionally,
28:02
Speaker 1: that they will uplift you, that will motivate you to
28:05
Speaker 1: be a better person and think you can do better
28:07
Speaker 1: things with your life. Awesome, awesome, Hello, Yes, Oh, actually
28:19
Speaker 1: I hope I didn't fright you that a's an awesome.
28:21
Speaker 1: I was just I was just chilly. Now, I was
28:23
Speaker 1: just that. That's I'm fired with that. That's great, that's
28:26
Speaker 1: really a. That's an impressive approach to the whole matter.
28:30
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm almost mad that I'm just stuck on
28:32
Speaker 1: that the whole process. I need these new words. Yes,
28:38
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just thought it is a better,
28:43
Speaker 1: a much better, much better. And this is what we're
28:46
Speaker 1: gonna do. I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna put your
28:48
Speaker 1: book link to purchase in my news letter that goes
28:52
Speaker 1: out this week because out thy thousand subscribers, okay, and
28:57
Speaker 1: I am going to post you on my social media
29:01
Speaker 1: because this is a brand that needs to be um
29:05
Speaker 1: taking very seriously the approach and then new and really
29:09
Speaker 1: kind of like re educating ourselves on a new approach
29:11
Speaker 1: of how to perceive or to understand what the approves
29:14
Speaker 1: and bring new value to us in twenty one moving
29:18
Speaker 1: forward now, Actually great, thank you for coming on my show.
29:22
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mr McDonald. It was a pleasure. Well,
29:27
Speaker 1: you know, it was honor because we have to have
29:29
Speaker 1: a good conversation. You got a conversation about me. You're
29:32
Speaker 1: motivated me a little bit. You told me to step up.
29:34
Speaker 1: Don't worry everybody with Sean. You know, it's all right.
29:37
Speaker 1: There's a writer to let down reality and let let
29:40
Speaker 1: other people know that you're You know that because we
29:43
Speaker 1: sometimes live a life of that. That pressure is interesting
29:46
Speaker 1: because you know you can get there and you go,
29:48
Speaker 1: I can't let people know that I made a mistake,
29:51
Speaker 1: or I can't let people know I'm flawed, and all
29:53
Speaker 1: these things lead to trauma. All these leads to lead
29:57
Speaker 1: to emotional setback and leads to dysfunctional behavior. Relationships can
30:01
Speaker 1: lead to you mistreatment or people that you love can
30:05
Speaker 1: shut you down from communicating with your kids. And that's
30:08
Speaker 1: all you're saying. That's all this interview was talking about
30:10
Speaker 1: was being able to understand these triggers. Sometimes you can
30:14
Speaker 1: control them if you recognize them early on. That's all
30:17
Speaker 1: you're saying. Correct, Yes, I'm saying that, and I'm also
30:21
Speaker 1: saying that I'm going to take you up on the
30:22
Speaker 1: back your session. I'm will just tell you right now,
30:26
Speaker 1: don't you play with me? Ashley? Don't you play? I
30:29
Speaker 1: will tell you something. Uh, when we hang up the
30:31
Speaker 1: phone here and then if you know you go nowhere,
30:33
Speaker 1: I'm gonna close out the show. I'm gonna give you
30:35
Speaker 1: myself number. I only have one self number. You can't
30:38
Speaker 1: rub me off my phone. Okay. I don't change phones
30:41
Speaker 1: and people. I'm so sety for me. Can you keep
30:43
Speaker 1: trying to bug me? I will just keep my number
30:46
Speaker 1: and keep answering going hello, and so when you when
30:50
Speaker 1: you when you? When? When we when we fined? Wrap
30:53
Speaker 1: up this call? What we're doing right now, Ashally, I
30:54
Speaker 1: want to thank you for coming on my show. You're
30:56
Speaker 1: a fantastic She has a new book called I Matter,
30:59
Speaker 1: which is an interacting book or affirmation for the youth,
31:02
Speaker 1: utilizing the alphabet. The alphabet is for apple, no no, no,
31:05
Speaker 1: it is for awesome. In her book, it explores positive
31:08
Speaker 1: words that uplift and encourage all readers. I Matter allows
31:12
Speaker 1: you to customize their confirmation and reinforced to are you
31:16
Speaker 1: how great they are? Ashley, thank you for coming on
31:18
Speaker 1: my show. Thank you cool. If you want to hear
31:22
Speaker 1: more money making conversations, please go to Money Making Conversation
31:25
Speaker 1: dot com. I'm Rashan McDonald. I'm your host