Latest / RealTalkwithMikeD / Episode 49 - Growing up in a Small Town!

Transcript

Episode 49 - Growing up in a Small Town! · RealTalkwithMikeD

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Real Talk with Mike D. Alright, welcome back
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to Real Talk with Mike D. I am the one,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the only, and the original, Mike D. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: today we're talking about growing up in a small town.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And you don't realize a small town is shaping your
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: entire heart until you're old enough to miss the sound
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of your own childhood. When you're a kid, you think
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: everybody lives the way you do. You know the streets,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you know the neighbors, you know which houses belong to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: which families, you know where the kids hang out, where
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you can ride your bike, where you can get into
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a little bit of trouble without your parents finding out.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And somehow, even though the town feels small, your world
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: feels huge. Now I grew up in a small town
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and looking back now, I realize that small towns gave
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: me something that money could never buy. It gave me memories.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I remember being a kid and waking up in the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: morning without a cell phone sitting next to my bed.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: There was no social media, no emails, no text messages,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: no one worrying about how many likes they got. You
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: just woke up, you got dressed, you ate something, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: then you went outside. That was the entertainment. Maybe you
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: rode your bike, maybe you played ball, maybe you walked
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: around with your buddies, and then maybe you knocked on
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: someone's door and said, hey, you coming outside? And if
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: they weren't home, you didn't send them a text message.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: You went looking for them. That is how life worked.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: And somehow we survived. But you know, in a small town,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: everybody seemed to know everybody. And that wasn't always a
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: good thing. Because if you did something stupid on a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Friday night, you better believe somebody's mother probably knew about
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: it by Saturday morning. And somehow, your mother knew about
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: it by Saturday afternoon. And by Sunday, the entire town knew.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: You couldn't get away with much. But there was something
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: comforting about that as well. People looked out for each other.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: If somebody's car broke down, somebody stopped. If an elderly
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: neighbor needed help, somebody was there. If a family was
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: going through a difficult time, people brought food. You didn't
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: necessarily have to be best friends with someone to care
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: about them. That's one of the things I think we've lost.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: We live in a world where we're more connected than
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: we've ever been. Sometimes we feel more alone than ever.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Growing up in a small town taught me that community
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: isn't about having thousands of friends. It's about knowing that
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: somebody would show up when you needed them. And I
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: remember the simplicity of those days. Summer nights seemed to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: last forever. You'd hear kids laughing outside. You'd hear cars
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: driving down the street. Maybe somebody was mowing their lawn.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Maybe somebody was grilling. Maybe you were sitting on a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: front porch talking about absolutely nothing. And somehow, those conversations
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: meant everything. There was no rush. Nobody was trying to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: build a personal brand. Nobody was trying to become famous.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Nobody was worried about whether their life looked impressive. You
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: just lived it. And maybe that's what I missed the most.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: We weren't constantly comparing ourselves to everybody else. Because there
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: was nobody else to compare yourself to. You knew your neighbors.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You knew your friends. You knew your family. And you
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: learned to be comfortable being yourself. Of course, growing up
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: in a small town wasn't perfect. There was gossip. There
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: were people who judged you. There were people who thought
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: they knew everything about you. There were people you liked
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and people you couldn't stand. And let's be honest. There
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: were probably people who thought they were way cooler than
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: everybody else. But that's life. Small town or big city,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: people are people. We all have our insecurities. We all
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: have our struggles. We all have our moments when we
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: wonder if we're good enough. The difference is that when
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: you're growing up in a small town, those experiences become
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: part of your story. The streets become part of your story.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The old buildings become part of your story. The people
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you grew up with become part of your story. Even
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the places you couldn't wait to escape become places you
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: eventually miss. And that's the strange thing about getting older.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: When you're young, you're desperate to leave. You think there's
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: something better waiting somewhere else. You think the world is
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: happening everywhere except where you are. You want to get out.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: You want adventure. You want excitement. You want to see
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: what else is out there. And then one day, you
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: look back and you realize you didn't know how good
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you had it. You realize those ordinary days weren't ordinary
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: at all. They were your childhood. They were the days
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: you would spend the rest of your life remembering. Maybe
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: that's why small towns have such a special place in
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: people's hearts. Because a small town isn't just a location.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: It's a collection of memories. It's the house you grew
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: up in. It's the school you couldn't wait to graduate from.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: It's the street where you rode your bike. It's the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: field where you played baseball. It's the restaurant where everybody
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: knew your name. It's the person you had your first
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: crush on. It's the friend you thought you knew forever.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: It's the old guy down the street who always waved
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: when you walked by. It's your parents telling you to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: come home because it was getting dark, and somehow you
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: thought those moments would last forever. Well, guess what? They didn't.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: And that is the hard part about growing up, because
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: people move away. Friends lose touch. Parents get older. Maybe
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: your parents pass away. Businesses close. Houses change hands. Places
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that were once full of life become memories. And eventually
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you realize that the town you remember probably does not
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: exist anymore. But it's still alive inside of you because
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: you carry it with you every place you go. The
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: lessons you learned there, the people who influenced you, The
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: mistakes you made, the laughter, the heartbreak, the good times,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: maybe even the bad times. All of it becomes part
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: of who you are. And maybe that's the greatest gift
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: of a small town can give you. It teaches you
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: where you came from. And knowing where you came from
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: helps you understand where you're going. So if you're listening
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to this and you grew up in a small town,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: take a moment and think about it. Think about those streets.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Think about those summer nights. Think about your friends and
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: your family. Think about the things you thought were boring
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: back then because chances are those are some of the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: things you'll miss the most. You know, growing up in
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: a small town taught me something I didn't understand when
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I was young. We don't need a big place to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: have a big life. You don't need millions of people
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: around you to make memories. Sometimes all you need is
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: a few good people, a familiar street, a little time,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and a place you can call home. And maybe that's
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: what growing up in a small town really means. It's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: not about how small the town was, it's about how
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: big those memories became. And no matter how old you get,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you can always go back there. Not necessarily by getting
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: in your car, not necessarily by walking those streets again,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: but by closing your eyes and remembering that Because sometimes
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the places we leave never really leave us. And that's
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the beauty of growing up in a small town. Ladies
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and gentlemen, that is going to do it for today's episode.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I greatly appreciate you being here. I appreciate you listening.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: And I hope you enjoyed my discussion on growing up
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: in a small town. But until the next time, in
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the next episode, Please be the reason someone smiles and
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: be kind to each other. Peace.