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Saying Good Bye to 2024 and Looking Towards 2025 with Hope and Possibility · All About The Joy

• 0:00
  Carmen Lezeth: Hey everybody, welcome to All About the Joy.
• 0:02
  Carmen Lezeth: This is Carmen Talk and I just wanted to do a year-end and year-beginning podcast and share with you some thoughts I had about what's happened in the past and what's going on in the future and not that I think anyone really cares what I think so much, but I encourage you to kind of maybe think about doing just a re-evaluation of where you're at and where you want to be and see if there are ways in which you can move forward, and I think that's the exercise I'm kind of doing right now.
• 0:30
  Carmen Lezeth: I do encourage you to go check out last week's live stream.
• 0:33
  Carmen Lezeth: It was so much fun.
• 0:35
  Carmen Lezeth: We had Cynthia and Rick and Mario as well, and we talked about a lot of different things, primarily a lot about Beyonce's performance.
• 0:43
  Carmen Lezeth: But we really had a good time and we encourage you to continue visiting us on Thursday nights at 6 pm Pacific, 9 pm Eastern.
• 0:51
  Carmen Lezeth: It's a live chat.
• 0:52
  Carmen Lezeth: It's hanging out.
• 0:53
  Carmen Lezeth: You know the drill.
• 0:54
  Carmen Lezeth: We hope to see you there this following week.
• 0:56
  Carmen Lezeth: And yeah, let me just talk about 2024.
• 1:01
  Carmen Lezeth: For the most part, I'm going to say it was a mediocre year for me, and the reason why I say that is because I don't see that any of the highs and lows kind of outdid themselves, and what I mean by that is it kind of balances out.
• 1:12
  Carmen Lezeth: In the end.
• 1:13
  Carmen Lezeth: You would think that's a good thing.
• 1:14
  Carmen Lezeth: But I always like to think about my years as movement forward, and I think the first thing I need to acknowledge is that I had some loss.
• 1:22
  Carmen Lezeth: This year A couple of friends passed away, but I also lost friends in my life because I had to move away from them, and I don't mean physically, I mean energy-wise, and I think that's the harder thing.
• 1:32
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean, when somebody dies it's a terrible thing, but it's something out of our own control, and so you have to deal with that sadness and that grief, and so you walk through that to the best of your ability, and I'm doing that every day, especially with one of the people that I lost was so unexpected and we were just becoming better, better friends, and so that hit kind of hard and I kind of dealt with that silently and on my own.
• 1:54
  Carmen Lezeth: I think the more important thing was realizing that people that I absolutely love and admire and considered family I had to push away from.
• 2:02
  Carmen Lezeth: A lot of it has to do with just the way in which they choose to deal with things, but it also is because of an alarming ignorance in politics, and I think what 2024 was really important for me to realize is that people make decisions selfishly based on what only matters to them, but it's the ignorance of not doing the research, of not understanding things better and more in depth that, I think, angers me more, and so people know I'm not a Trump supporter.
• 2:33
  Carmen Lezeth: This is no surprise.
• 2:34
  Carmen Lezeth: But what was alarming to me was to listen to people who are so ignorant in my own life becoming not just supporters of Trump but triumphing in that situation.
• 2:45
  Carmen Lezeth: And unfortunately, I do believe they're going to learn the hard way what's about to happen, and there's nothing I can do about that, because this isn't about that Trump won.
• 2:55
  Carmen Lezeth: This is about people in my own circle that I am shook by, that are this ignorant and this stupid, and I am calling it that and I've had to push away.
• 3:03
  Carmen Lezeth: But it's not just that either, right, it's not just that the Trump factor.
• 3:07
  Carmen Lezeth: It's like you start to see the unfolding of people as you are able to step away from them a little bit, you can see how people, the layers come off right, because we're all much more in depth than just the surface area.
• 3:23
  Carmen Lezeth: And unfortunately, what I realized is that that's okay People are complex and people can change their minds all the time, and that I also get as well.
• 3:31
  Carmen Lezeth: But it's just been so disheartening to lose people, not just to them passing away, but losing my faith in who they are.
• 3:39
  Carmen Lezeth: I think that's probably been the hardest thing of 2024 for me, and this goes across the board work-wise, friendship-wise people that I love-wise like just losing faith in people in general in 2024.
• 3:53
  Carmen Lezeth: And I also know it's to protect my own space and that's, I think, the kind of balancing part of it.
• 3:59
  Carmen Lezeth: The reason why I have to walk away from people is because it's not my job to fix people or teach people or to keep telling people the same thing over and over again.
• 4:09
  Carmen Lezeth: People want to stay ignorant.
• 4:11
  Carmen Lezeth: Then they can stay ignorant.
• 4:12
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean, and I've always said this and it's something that irks a lot of people in my life because it's true, but it's also very arrogant on my part.
• 4:21
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't talk about what I don't know, and there are people who I consider geniuses in my life and there are people who I consider absolute ignorant idiots in my life, and all of them hate when I say that, but it's because it's true.
• 4:32
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't talk about what I don't know.
• 4:34
  Carmen Lezeth: And so when I know something and I share it with you, it's going to be really hard for you to fight back and argue with me that I'm wrong, and you better have really good backup, because you're not going to win, because I am solid on those things.
• 4:47
  Carmen Lezeth: And I think that's what kills me is that I have proven that to be true over and over and over and over and over again, because that's how I live my life.
• 4:54
  Carmen Lezeth: I do not talk about things I don't know because I realize that's why people look so stupid.
• 4:59
  Carmen Lezeth: And I learned that as a really young kid, navigating the world, especially on my own, trying to figure out how I could understand what was going on, and I realized I understood absolutely nothing.
• 5:11
  Carmen Lezeth: And so the best thing to do when you don't know something is to ask a question or to shut up and learn.
• 5:16
  Carmen Lezeth: And I think that's what has completely thrown me for a loop in 2024 is knowing in my heart of hearts that people, people that I care about, still did the wrong thing, even though they knew what the answer was, because not only did I tell them, but it was right in front of them.
• 5:32
  Carmen Lezeth: All they had to do was a little research.
• 5:34
  Carmen Lezeth: So I think 2024, as far as loss has been really big for me, and not so much in death but just loss of people that I believed in and thought greatly of and really had faith in.
• 5:45
  Carmen Lezeth: And not so much in death but just loss of people that I believed in and thought greatly of and really had faith in, and I don't think I'm going to get that back.
• 5:49
  Carmen Lezeth: But in the same breath, I've protected my space, I've pushed away from people who are unhealthy for me.
• 5:57
  Carmen Lezeth: They're great people in the world and they're amazing human beings.
• 5:59
  Carmen Lezeth: Don't get me wrong.
• 6:00
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm not trying to act like if you're not for me, you cannot exist.
• 6:03
  Carmen Lezeth: But I realize more and more in my life that I just need good energy around me.
• 6:09
  Carmen Lezeth: I need good and uplifting spirits, and that doesn't mean people who agree with me, but that does mean people who understand how to make a point and how to argue something with me and how to come with information to at least let me respect.
• 6:26
  Carmen Lezeth: You See, I don't respect people who don't have background information on anything that they're talking about, and so that's been hard, but it's also, I think part of the process of relationships.
• 6:37
  Carmen Lezeth: I think it would be really creepy weird if all my relationships in life were perfect and wonderful.
• 6:41
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean.
• 6:42
  Carmen Lezeth: So in that sense I feel really good.
• 6:45
  Carmen Lezeth: But again, 2024 is just kind of this mediocre year, like everything I'm going to talk about today is just really kind of balanced out and blah.
• 6:53
  Carmen Lezeth: You know, when it comes to my health and wellness, I've had some ups and downs.
• 6:56
  Carmen Lezeth: This whole thyroid situation came at me from nowhere.
• 7:00
  Carmen Lezeth: Nobody knows why it happens, but my thyroid went crazy and I am now on medication.
• 7:06
  Carmen Lezeth: I take no medications none and I've now had to figure this out with a doctor on a regular basis, going in and out, and I know I'm complaining about nothing, because at one point they thought it might be cancer and it wasn't cancer.
• 7:20
  Carmen Lezeth: So I'm grateful for that, I really am.
• 7:22
  Carmen Lezeth: But I'm also like what the hell, you know?
• 7:25
  Carmen Lezeth: Like when you ask why does this happen?
• 7:26
  Carmen Lezeth: It happens more times than not, and so now I'm on this medication for the rest of my life because my thyroid's a mess and I guess it's like a normal thing and I'm just shook by that.
• 7:37
  Carmen Lezeth: The other thing medically that happened to me this year was my hand.
• 7:40
  Carmen Lezeth: I've been wearing a brace for a long time.
• 7:42
  Carmen Lezeth: I just took it off this holiday break because it's been about a year now.
• 7:47
  Carmen Lezeth: But that was also kind of a bad thing in that I was in so much pain and I had to wear a brace while I slept during the day.
• 7:55
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean, I wore it all the time and it's fine, I'm good and I'm okay with it.
• 8:01
  Carmen Lezeth: But it really was sad and I had to get x-rays and MRIs and ultrasounds and I spent so much money because, also, insurance sucks, as we all know, and I wasted a lot of money because a lot of places that I had to go to get these things done were not covered under my insurance plan and I didn't know that they weren't.
• 8:18
  Carmen Lezeth: So that angered me and frustrated me, because not only do the doctor's offices not have information to make sure you go to the right place, you're supposed to ask every single thing, like if my surgeon says I need to go to this place to get an MRI, why am I even thinking I have to question?
• 8:34
  Carmen Lezeth: It's not like I go get an MRI all the time, you know.
• 8:37
  Carmen Lezeth: But that was one of the mistakes I made.
• 8:39
  Carmen Lezeth: I didn't question every single thing and so I ended up paying $914 for a frigging MRI because I went to the wrong place.
• 8:46
  Carmen Lezeth: That wasn't covered under my plan and it still is bothering me.
• 8:49
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm angry about it and people are like, oh yeah, you need that was the other thing.
• 8:52
  Carmen Lezeth: Talking to other people about it, just sharing my frustration, and then having people tell me what I should have done Duh after the fact, but that's a whole other issue.
• 9:01
  Carmen Lezeth: I also had issues with my teeth this year.
• 9:03
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean, that's a whole other issue.
• 9:05
  Carmen Lezeth: I also had issues with my teeth this year.
• 9:06
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean not to go down all of the medical stuff.
• 9:07
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm just saying this was a weird year and I'm fine medically.
• 9:10
  Carmen Lezeth: These are all to me, kind of really topical bullshit kind of things.
• 9:14
  Carmen Lezeth: Even my hand and even my thyroid it's not cancer, it's not all these other things that could have been.
• 9:19
  Carmen Lezeth: I understand the blessing and the grace in it, but I'm just talking about my little tiny, itty bitty frustration.
• 9:26
  Carmen Lezeth: Let's talk about the world of entertainment, because that was a fantastic one for me.
• 9:30
  Carmen Lezeth: I have to say one of my favorite things that I did this year was go see the movie Wicked, and what an exciting time that was.
• 9:37
  Carmen Lezeth: I also enjoyed just being on TikTok and participating a little bit more in social media and also just being entertained by some incredible talents, not only in, like the entertainment world, but like dancers and people on TikTok who you know, are gaining strength as content creators.
• 9:55
  Carmen Lezeth: And, you know, I don't think it'll ever equal Hollywood, but it is sure giving it a run for its money.
• 10:00
  Carmen Lezeth: You know just different types of celebrities and people doing different things.
• 10:04
  Carmen Lezeth: Some of the storytelling on TikTok especially is just incredible.
• 10:09
  Carmen Lezeth: I also say the same thing for Instagram, but TikTok seems to be the one and look at.
• 10:13
  Carmen Lezeth: I hope we save TikTok because I think TikTok is an incredible social media platform and I also think this is just me.
• 10:20
  Carmen Lezeth: You know, if you're going to come for TikTok, for all of its problematic issues regarding identity and information on Americans, you need to go after Facebook, instagram, google, youtube.
• 10:33
  Carmen Lezeth: Well, I guess Google and YouTube are the same thing, but you see what I'm saying.
• 10:36
  Carmen Lezeth: Instagram and Facebook are the same thing.
• 10:37
  Carmen Lezeth: Like all of these companies have all of our information and I have to tell you, I'm not sure I trust anybody with the amount of information everybody has on all of us.
• 10:46
  Carmen Lezeth: So I think there actually needs to be some kind of restraints on all social media, but pinpointing TikTok seems to be a really ridiculous and very slimy kind of thing that we as Americans are trying to do in order to own a part of an incredible platform that was not made in the United States.
• 11:04
  Carmen Lezeth: I think that's the other thing.
• 11:06
  Carmen Lezeth: Learning more about my country this year in 2024 has been not only enlightening but devastating, very, very devastating.
• 11:14
  Carmen Lezeth: This has been an ongoing trickle just learning about who I am as a Black and Latino woman in this country, especially after the murder of George Floyd, just kind of learning more about my own history and who we really are as Americans in the United States of America and how the outside world actually views us, because we have this arrogant idea that we are the best at everything and we are not, and I don't need to go down the entire line or subjects in this podcast about what we're not great at, but suffice it to say most everything we are not the best at, you know.
• 11:49
  Carmen Lezeth: And even this kind of idea that you can come to this country and become somebody is actually also being dismissed because, especially with the Trump administration coming into office in January God help us all, you know the idea of immigrants is just right out the door, this angry hatred for immigrants, especially if they're brown skinned, because, let's be honest, that's what this is about.
• 12:12
  Carmen Lezeth: It's about the brown skin.
• 12:13
  Carmen Lezeth: And for people out there are like no see, we're not racist here, at the end of the day.
• 12:17
  Carmen Lezeth: I've never heard anyone talking about the immigrants from Poland or the immigrants from any other country that is white, except for immigrants that are coming from Mexico and El Salvador and Honduras and anybody who has brown skin.
• 12:31
  Carmen Lezeth: So spare me.
• 12:32
  Carmen Lezeth: This is straight up racism.
• 12:35
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know, I'm so sad because the outside world sees us in such a poor light now because we just don't have the ability to get out of our own way.
• 12:45
  Carmen Lezeth: And yeah, had we voted in someone like Kamala Harris, vice President, kamala Harris, I think it would have started making a change, right, that we were going into a new era, into more youthful, more open, and just having a woman be president would have been an incredible change.
• 13:05
  Carmen Lezeth: We are one of the last countries to never have had a woman be in charge.
• 13:10
  Carmen Lezeth: It is so pathetic that so many women have been better prime ministers and leaders of countries.
• 13:18
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know we're still here with the old white men.
• 13:22
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm sorry, and in this case, as everyone knows I have to say it over and over again Trump is just not up to par as far as being the leader of this country, and suffice it to say it'll be Elon Musk, which is scarier on a whole other level.
• 13:40
  Carmen Lezeth: But you know, we're just going to move along because I don't want to talk about that so much.
• 13:44
  Carmen Lezeth: But I think that's the other part too is just realizing who our country is in the outside world.
• 13:49
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know, I have a friend I just spoke to in Spain who is from the United States but has lived in Spain for most of his adult life.
• 13:57
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know he is just saying he just has no regrets ever having moved, and he moved like right after high school.
• 14:04
  Carmen Lezeth: So it's not like you know, it's not like he just moved recently.
• 14:11
  Carmen Lezeth: So I'm looking forward to hopefully visiting him in Spain this year.
• 14:13
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm very excited about that possibility.
• 14:14
  Carmen Lezeth: So that's something I'm looking forward to.
• 14:14
  Carmen Lezeth: But I want to talk about technology as well.
• 14:17
  Carmen Lezeth: Technology and innovation.
• 14:18
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean the invention I shouldn't say invention, because I guess it's been around for a while but AI, artificial intelligence.
• 14:25
  Carmen Lezeth: I use it every single day.
• 14:27
  Carmen Lezeth: I know people are afraid.
• 14:30
  Carmen Lezeth: We're always afraid when something new comes along, and I agree with that.
• 14:33
  Carmen Lezeth: I get it.
• 14:34
  Carmen Lezeth: People are going to lose jobs, things are going to change.
• 14:36
  Carmen Lezeth: It's going to be really bumpy and hard and scary, but the thing about the human spirit that I love is that we're always trying to find the next thing.
• 14:44
  Carmen Lezeth: We're always trying to be better than we used to be right.
• 14:46
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean, that's why we, you know, invented, you know the wheel and then had a car and then you know like there's always something.
• 14:53
  Carmen Lezeth: We have airplanes.
• 14:54
  Carmen Lezeth: But I think artificial intelligence, to me, is the next step and I am embracing it to the best of my ability.
• 15:00
  Carmen Lezeth: You can have more than one thought process on this.
• 15:03
  Carmen Lezeth: You can love the idea of it and how it assists you, and you can also hate the fact that it can do more damage to us than not.
• 15:10
  Carmen Lezeth: So you know, I'm not a tech genius by any means, not even a tiny little bit.
• 15:15
  Carmen Lezeth: But my God, I love AI.
• 15:16
  Carmen Lezeth: It's helped me so much in so many different ways personally, work-wise, just creatively, just creatively.
• 15:27
  Carmen Lezeth: It really is an assistant in a lot of ways right now, and I think there's a lot of flaws to it at the moment, even while I'm like I hate that I use AI and it doesn't remember what we talked about, you know, two months ago and I have to keep reminding it.
• 15:35
  Carmen Lezeth: But they're doing that because of security reasons.
• 15:37
  Carmen Lezeth: And then in the next breath, I'm like, yeah, that's going to change soon.
• 15:39
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean Like, but it's fascinating.
• 15:42
  Carmen Lezeth: To me, technology is amazing.
• 15:43
  Carmen Lezeth: I also got a new phone this year, which was awesome and I had waited for almost five years to upgrade and I upgraded and it was free, so that made me happy.
• 15:52
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't know.
• 15:53
  Carmen Lezeth: I feel like those are kind of the big highlights.
• 15:56
  Carmen Lezeth: You know, I didn't do a lot of traveling personally this year.
• 16:00
  Carmen Lezeth: One of the books that I just read over the holiday is you Don't Need a Budget.
• 16:03
  Carmen Lezeth: This is not a fiction.
• 16:05
  Carmen Lezeth: This I just read over the holiday is you Don't Need a Budget.
• 16:07
  Carmen Lezeth: This is not a fiction.
• 16:08
  Carmen Lezeth: This is not an adventure story.
• 16:09
  Carmen Lezeth: This is a book about money, but it was so well done.
• 16:10
  Carmen Lezeth: It was written by Dana Miranda and she was on our show recently, so go check that out on YouTube and the book came out and, seriously, it is a different mindset and a different thinking process about money and I love it.
• 16:24
  Carmen Lezeth: I thought it was really well written, really easy to read, which is not true about most books about money.
• 16:29
  Carmen Lezeth: So that was kind of the big book for me this year.
• 16:31
  Carmen Lezeth: I know that sounds weird.
• 16:33
  Carmen Lezeth: Sports and fitness I got nothing for you.
• 16:35
  Carmen Lezeth: I have really been on this trying to walk 10,000 steps a day.
• 16:40
  Carmen Lezeth: I have failed.
• 16:41
  Carmen Lezeth: I said that already over and over and over again.
• 16:43
  Carmen Lezeth: I am maybe making 9,000 steps a day just on the regular, but it's not enough to get myself back on track fitness-wise.
• 16:50
  Carmen Lezeth: I need to be doing that plus more, because I need to do that for my own spirit and I'm working on it.
• 16:56
  Carmen Lezeth: As far as other more important things, like my personal achievements, I think that was kind of lackluster this year.
• 17:04
  Carmen Lezeth: I do have my company and I do have my trademark and I'm really excited.
• 17:05
  Carmen Lezeth: Personal achievements I think that was kind of lackluster this year.
• 17:06
  Carmen Lezeth: I do have my company and I do have my trademark and I'm really excited about that.
• 17:09
  Carmen Lezeth: I talked a little bit about that on the show last night and I am excited about that.
• 17:14
  Carmen Lezeth: But I'm still doing work I hate.
• 17:16
  Carmen Lezeth: So I need to figure out a way to change that, and that's my hope in 2025 is to move along from doing work I hate to doing things that I love to do and finding myself back in the spirit of what I am intending to be doing with my life.
• 17:32
  Carmen Lezeth: So it's a tough call because we all want that paycheck and once you get used to a certain kind of lifestyle even though my lifestyle is very simple at the end of the day, it's really hard for me to be like you know what?
• 17:42
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't need the money, I'm just going to quit.
• 17:44
  Carmen Lezeth: I could quit several of my clients, but it's going to affect the work that I do, that I do love, which is this podcast, the live stream just doing.
• 17:53
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm working on the second book and it's just this weird thing.
• 17:57
  Carmen Lezeth: I have played the lottery, haven't won yet, but I do think an influx of cash would propel me to a different place.
• 18:04
  Carmen Lezeth: You know I don't think anyone needs a billion dollars from the lottery, I really don't but damn, a few million would really get me to where I need to be and would really change the game.
• 18:12
  Carmen Lezeth: So you know we can all wish and dream.
• 18:15
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what can you say?
• 18:17
  Carmen Lezeth: Relationships I've already talked about that a lot.
• 18:19
  Carmen Lezeth: You know I'm not involved in any romantic relationships and, unlike a couple of my friends, it's not that I'm not interested in love.
• 18:26
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm just not looking for it, and I think that for myself, what's happened is I'm so disappointed in the quality of people that I meet around me just regular people, not even people I'd be romantically interested in that I feel dead inside.
• 18:43
  Carmen Lezeth: That sounds so horrible.
• 18:46
  Carmen Lezeth: There are certain men I absolutely love, and I think the world of, but I don't want a relationship with them and I feel like love is going to have to find its way without me trying so hard, which I know is.
• 19:00
  Carmen Lezeth: Every relationship coach out there is like, oh my God, but I really.
• 19:05
  Carmen Lezeth: It's been a long time since I've been interested in anyone and I know that's very standoffish and doing this podcast probably is going to help, but I don't see myself living my life alone.
• 19:16
  Carmen Lezeth: But I'm not alone.
• 19:18
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm surrounded by just wonderful, awesome people all the time.
• 19:22
  Carmen Lezeth: But romantically, it's going to have to be someone who is just so secure in who they are that I don't intimidate them, and it's going to have to be somebody that is a spark in my eye that I can't control.
• 19:37
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean.
• 19:38
  Carmen Lezeth: I think that's for everybody.
• 19:39
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't even think that that's something exclusive to me, but I just feel like you're either attracted to somebody or you're not.
• 19:45
  Carmen Lezeth: And I don't even think it's about standards, like I remember, my friend Richard used to say to me like your standards are so high.
• 19:51
  Carmen Lezeth: He would say that about anything, about people in my life, whatever, and I would argue with him so much because I knew he was wrong.
• 19:58
  Carmen Lezeth: Your standards can't be too high, you know.
• 20:01
  Carmen Lezeth: I think the problem is everyone's standards are so low.
• 20:04
  Carmen Lezeth: I am not willing to accept anything less than what I want in my life and I'm either going to be attracted to you or I will not be right, whether that's a romantic relationship or not.
• 20:17
  Carmen Lezeth: And I think the thing about men and me and friendships is I have never been any different than I am today.
• 20:25
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm just older and more bold about it, but I have never been quiet and submissive and someone who doesn't have an opinion.
• 20:35
  Carmen Lezeth: Those things are just who I am, and I cannot tell you how many men have told me I think you're amazing and great.
• 20:42
  Carmen Lezeth: You're just so intimidating.
• 20:43
  Carmen Lezeth: I think that says more about them than it does about me.
• 20:46
  Carmen Lezeth: So I think the men that I have had the best relationships with and that I'm still friends with today, even though it didn't work out for other reasons.
• 20:53
  Carmen Lezeth: Those men were never intimidated by me.
• 20:56
  Carmen Lezeth: Like other relationships.
• 20:57
  Carmen Lezeth: You move, you grow, you move forward, and I'm still in touch with them and we're still good friends, but never intimidated at all.
• 21:05
  Carmen Lezeth: And so finding men who are not intimidated by my regularness and then finding men who are just men that I connect with, it's just so much work and it's so something that I think has to be either a natural thing or a not forced thing.
• 21:24
  Carmen Lezeth: And so I think, when it comes to relationships, romantically, I'm just kind of like meh, I'm just going to.
• 21:30
  Carmen Lezeth: You know, I'm okay being on my own and I'm okay with the idea that I would die alone, meaning without a romantic partner.
• 21:39
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't think I will ever die alone.
• 21:41
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean, I think we all die alone, right.
• 21:43
  Carmen Lezeth: But I know that I am loved and I've known that since I was a kid and that is my biggest wealth.
• 21:51
  Carmen Lezeth: That is why I'm one of the wealthiest people I know to this day is because I have never been confused by the people who do love me and the people who are in my life and that are family, and so I've never been confused by that.
• 22:02
  Carmen Lezeth: So romantic relationships are just kind of like meh blah, and so I've never been confused by that.
• 22:05
  Carmen Lezeth: So romantic relationships are just kind of like meh blah, and relationships in general this year have been just interesting.
• 22:11
  Carmen Lezeth: They've kind of balanced out and again it goes back to that idea of just you know, I need people who get me and if you're too much work for me as a friend, I just don't want even my life right now.
• 22:24
  Carmen Lezeth: It's just too much work.
• 22:27
  Carmen Lezeth: If you're too much work to be my friend, if you need attention all the time, I cannot help you.
• 22:32
  Carmen Lezeth: I cannot help you.
• 22:33
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm sorry, and I am too tired to keep proving to you that we're buddies, that we're friends.
• 22:39
  Carmen Lezeth: It's just too much work.
• 22:40
  Carmen Lezeth: Like me, having to prove anything to you is part of the problem.
• 22:44
  Carmen Lezeth: That's probably why we're not really good friends.
• 22:45
  Carmen Lezeth: That's why I'm probably not in touch, you know.
• 22:47
  Carmen Lezeth: So I know this is a problem a lot of people wish they had.
• 22:50
  Carmen Lezeth: But I'm telling you I feel really comfortable that I have five good friends that I can count on one hand that if I needed something would be here in a moment's notice or would do whatever they could, and I am grateful for that.
• 23:04
  Carmen Lezeth: It is my greatest wealth and I will never, ever, ever do anything to hurt that or to diminish that, but I'm not confused by relationships.
• 23:15
  Carmen Lezeth: Relationships are hard, they are earned and, yeah, I think relationships for me in the past year have just been kind of mediocre.
• 23:25
  Carmen Lezeth: Let me think about memorable experiences from this past year.
• 23:30
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't think I have any.
• 23:32
  Carmen Lezeth: I think they're all a conglomerate of like many different things.
• 23:35
  Carmen Lezeth: That is so sad.
• 23:38
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't think I did anything fantastic this year that I'm proud of, so I'm going to work on that for 2025.
• 23:45
  Carmen Lezeth: I did go to Aruba, but it wasn't as much fun as I thought it was going to be because I ended up with a bed bug drama thing.
• 23:52
  Carmen Lezeth: And even those friends that I went with I kind of had to push away from because, again, they didn't do anything wrong and I will always love them for who they were in my life.
• 24:02
  Carmen Lezeth: But there's also this thing where you know when things are really tough.
• 24:07
  Carmen Lezeth: That's when I know the kind of friend or person you are in my life.
• 24:11
  Carmen Lezeth: It's not when things are easy.
• 24:13
  Carmen Lezeth: When things are easy, it's great to be friends.
• 24:15
  Carmen Lezeth: It's really easy to be someone's friend or family member or whatever.
• 24:18
  Carmen Lezeth: But who are you when things are really really tough?
• 24:22
  Carmen Lezeth: And I went to Aruba, unfortunately, I ended up with.
• 24:26
  Carmen Lezeth: Just when I got back, just bed bugs had just eaten away at my skin.
• 24:31
  Carmen Lezeth: It was a horrible experience.
• 24:32
  Carmen Lezeth: I had to get my whole place fumigated.
• 24:34
  Carmen Lezeth: I had to throw away thousands of dollars worth of suitcase.
• 24:37
  Carmen Lezeth: I mean it was just.
• 24:37
  Carmen Lezeth: It ruined everything and it really bummed me out.
• 24:41
  Carmen Lezeth: But, more importantly, what bummed me out was the reaction of all the women I went with, which was no reaction at all.
• 24:47
  Carmen Lezeth: There was no support, there was no help, there was no camaraderie in it, and I will never go on a trip with them again.
• 24:54
  Carmen Lezeth: And look, the truth is I don't think I would have ever done it again anyways, because I am not a group trip person.
• 25:00
  Carmen Lezeth: I was just really excited to see my friends who I hadn't seen in a long time, and so it was in that sense I was glad I did it.
• 25:06
  Carmen Lezeth: The bed bug thing was unfortunate and I don't blame them at all.
• 25:09
  Carmen Lezeth: It wasn't their fault.
• 25:10
  Carmen Lezeth: But I sure as hell know, if one of them had gotten the bed bugs and one of them had had to experience it, I would have been full on, 100%, in their corner, helping them in every way possible to make sure they were taken care of, and I think that was really sad for me on so many levels and it kind of changed how I deal with friends, especially friends from the past who I don't live near, who I don't talk to on a regular basis.
• 25:38
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know, I think that's good, I think that's a healthy thing.
• 25:41
  Carmen Lezeth: I would be really fake if I kept pretending it was okay.
• 25:46
  Carmen Lezeth: How this whole thing went down, and it's also not my place to have to explain to people how they behaved badly, you know what I mean.
• 25:54
  Carmen Lezeth: I think that's the other thing too, is there's no alarm or interest on their part to find out why I'm not talking to them again.
• 26:00
  Carmen Lezeth: So that says a lot too.
• 26:01
  Carmen Lezeth: And look, I don't think that's a bad thing either.
• 26:03
  Carmen Lezeth: That is their world, that is their friendships, that is their world, that is their friendships, that is their kind of thing.
• 26:08
  Carmen Lezeth: So you know, I'm not really part of their group and I acknowledge that I kind of I get it and I'm okay with that, and so that's an interesting thing.
• 26:18
  Carmen Lezeth: As far as memorable experiences, that was not a good one.
• 26:19
  Carmen Lezeth: It was a really really bad one, and then the deaths of two of my friends hit me really hard.
• 26:24
  Carmen Lezeth: So memorable experiences were not great.
• 26:27
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean.
• 26:28
  Carmen Lezeth: They were not great Acts of kindness.
• 26:31
  Carmen Lezeth: Well, I will say this I experienced a really beautiful act of kindness.
• 26:36
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't want to talk about it too much, but I will say this to the person that was so kind to me and helped me and lifted me up I love you, I care about you.
• 26:44
  Carmen Lezeth: I know you listen to this podcast on a regular basis, so that's all I'm going to say.
• 26:47
  Carmen Lezeth: That's all I'm going to say on that, because that was an amazing act of kindness on your part to me.
• 26:51
  Carmen Lezeth: Thank you so much.
• 26:52
  Carmen Lezeth: Love you with all my heart.
• 26:54
  Carmen Lezeth: I do have some new creative pursuits which I'm excited about, and people have heard me, you know, talk about the second book.
• 27:01
  Carmen Lezeth: I am working on that.
• 27:02
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm trying to do my business plan so that I can try to get some funding.
• 27:06
  Carmen Lezeth: That's the next thing I'm working on, and I've been working on another little project which unfortunately got a little bit delayed.
• 27:12
  Carmen Lezeth: Again, if I wasn't working 50 hours a week, if I wasn't working for it's not even the amount of hours.
• 27:18
  Carmen Lezeth: Let me just say that I am tired of working for people who are so high maintenance and I'm tired of doing this work because what it's doing, it's just stripping my soul to have to deal with people who constantly are needy and cannot function on their own.
• 27:32
  Carmen Lezeth: Like doing this work is just not what it's supposed to be doing, it doesn't matter how good I am at it.
• 27:36
  Carmen Lezeth: It's stripping me of my creativity and I need to get back to it.
• 27:39
  Carmen Lezeth: And so 2025, that really is my only goal is to get out of this work permanently and just do the things that I love to do.
• 27:46
  Carmen Lezeth: And again, it's like I'm going to do that, but where am I going to get that money from?
• 27:51
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean, and I love Gary Vee.
• 27:53
  Carmen Lezeth: Everyone knows I really admire him and how he talks about things, but you know it's not about just going to garage sales and buying things and reselling them to make money.
• 28:01
  Carmen Lezeth: It's not going to work, but he has, you know, this whole hustle thing and it's like, yeah, not everyone functions that way, and so I need to figure out a way for me to move on to the next step, and so that's what I'm trying to do, and so I share this with you, not because I just wanted to kind of divulge all of my stuffage, although for me it is kind of a cleansing and it is kind of a way in which of wrapping up 2024 and then talking about 2025 and thinking on what my next steps are, but it's also to share with you that this might be a good time.
• 28:32
  Carmen Lezeth: Take all of January, take all of January to do that, to kind of think about what happened in 2024.
• 28:37
  Carmen Lezeth: Was it good, was it bad?
• 28:39
  Carmen Lezeth: Was it irrelevant?
• 28:40
  Carmen Lezeth: Did it balance out?
• 28:40
  Carmen Lezeth: How do you feel about it?
• 28:42
  Carmen Lezeth: What are your next steps?
• 28:43
  Carmen Lezeth: Possibly and I don't necessarily believe in New Year's resolutions.
• 28:48
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't think anyone ever accomplishes it.
• 28:49
  Carmen Lezeth: By the way, I don't think I've ever heard anyone be in like October, november, december, like you know what, I did this resolution and I'm still doing it now and I've accomplished my goal.
• 28:59
  Carmen Lezeth: I've never heard anybody do that, but for those who have ever done that, bravo to you.
• 29:03
  Carmen Lezeth: But what I do believe in, and what always does work for me, is to have like a little draft or template of what I hope the following year would be like right.
• 29:12
  Carmen Lezeth: So for me, I know there needs to be a huge change in my work life because it is stripping me of my creativity.
• 29:18
  Carmen Lezeth: That is very specific and it is something I am working on and it is going to take every part of my being to figure out how to not be in this situation in 2026.
• 29:29
  Carmen Lezeth: And the reason why it's so important is because I am not fulfilling what I am supposed to be doing here on the planet, and I know that because I'm not happy.
• 29:41
  Carmen Lezeth: A lot of people can't do what they need to do because they have responsibilities, you have children and a husband, or you have illnesses, things you have to, you have to buy your house.
• 29:50
  Carmen Lezeth: I have none of those things.
• 29:51
  Carmen Lezeth: None of those things at all.
• 29:52
  Carmen Lezeth: Thank God, like knock on wood, I made choices not to have children.
• 29:55
  Carmen Lezeth: I made choices not to buy a house.
• 29:57
  Carmen Lezeth: I made choices right To to be in this.
• 30:00
  Carmen Lezeth: I live very, very simply.
• 30:01
  Carmen Lezeth: You know, I, my car is 20 years old.
• 30:04
  Carmen Lezeth: It's the best car ever, though I'm never gonna get rid of it.
• 30:08
  Carmen Lezeth: I love this car.
• 30:09
  Carmen Lezeth: It's in mint condition, it's so cool.
• 30:11
  Carmen Lezeth: But I always think about that right, because I live in la and it's like how come I don't have a new car?
• 30:14
  Carmen Lezeth: And uh, it's so funny because I don't want a car payment, even though I could afford it.
• 30:19
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't want a car payment and I certainly don't want my insurance to be shot up.
• 30:23
  Carmen Lezeth: But my point is is that I make these choices, and all of these choices that I've made that I think are really good choices, to put me and set me up in a situation so they can be pursuing the things I love the most.
• 30:35
  Carmen Lezeth: I'm not doing that, and I'm not doing that because somebody asked me to help them with their company and then it became this thing.
• 30:42
  Carmen Lezeth: So I have put myself in this situation and I want to walk myself through it.
• 30:46
  Carmen Lezeth: So my hope for you anybody who's listening to this podcast is a couple things Just do a template, a reassessment of what happened in 2024.
• 30:56
  Carmen Lezeth: Be okay with whatever that comes out to be Balanced out, not what you wanted or wow, it was amazing.
• 31:02
  Carmen Lezeth: Be okay with it because we, as humans, do the best that we can do all the time.
• 31:07
  Carmen Lezeth: We can only do the best we can as we're walking in it right.
• 31:10
  Carmen Lezeth: 2020 is hindsight right.
• 31:12
  Carmen Lezeth: So you want to turn around and just do an evaluation.
• 31:15
  Carmen Lezeth: Why?
• 31:16
  Carmen Lezeth: Because then you can look at the future and be like okay, 2025, what do I want?
• 31:21
  Carmen Lezeth: To?
• 31:21
  Carmen Lezeth: Maybe put a light draft template on to say to myself these are the things I would like to pursue.
• 31:28
  Carmen Lezeth: Possibly, you know, and the reason why I don't want it to be so concrete is because then failure is not an option, it is all just a possibility.
• 31:37
  Carmen Lezeth: I really need to be doing more creative work.
• 31:40
  Carmen Lezeth: I don't think I have the capacity or the energy.
• 31:42
  Carmen Lezeth: With the example that I've seen in the past year of how much work it takes to take care of my clients emotionally draining, physically draining, technically draining Brain fog is a thing for me.
• 31:54
  Carmen Lezeth: Like I get so tired of being asked the same questions over and over again, especially from one client who is just a different animal altogether and for me I have seen in the past year I can't do both.
• 32:07
  Carmen Lezeth: I can't then come home after a day of being drained from these clients and be like, oh, let me write a book.
• 32:12
  Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean.
• 32:13
  Carmen Lezeth: Let me write a chapter in my book.
• 32:14
  Carmen Lezeth: I can't do it.
• 32:15
  Carmen Lezeth: I've tried to get up at three in the morning.
• 32:16
  Carmen Lezeth: It's not working.
• 32:18
  Carmen Lezeth: I've done everything I can to keep being a creative human being and I can't do it.
• 32:22
  Carmen Lezeth: So I know my limitations and so something's got to give.
• 32:24
  Carmen Lezeth: And you know what's not going to give?
• 32:26
  Carmen Lezeth: My dream, my dream of doing something I love for a living, is not going to die, because it hasn't died since I was a little kid and it's not going to die now.
• 32:34
  Carmen Lezeth: It has changed form.
• 32:35
  Carmen Lezeth: It has changed form for sure, because I thought I was going to be a dancer.
• 32:38
  Carmen Lezeth: I thought I was going to be a dancer on Broadway and on music videos, because that was a big thing back then.
• 32:42
  Carmen Lezeth: And then I thought I'd be a choreographer, but that didn't work out the way it is.
• 32:46
  Carmen Lezeth: But I'm still, and will always be, a performer.
• 32:48
  Carmen Lezeth: So how do I get there?
• 32:50
  Carmen Lezeth: How do I get back there?
• 32:51
  Carmen Lezeth: Right now, the live stream, which you all know, is All About the Joy.
• 32:54
  Carmen Lezeth: Please visit allaboutthejoycom, buy some swag, support us in that way.
• 32:58
  Carmen Lezeth: All About the Joy is a hangout every week on Thursday night, 6 pm Pacific, 9 pm Eastern.
• 33:04
  Carmen Lezeth: It's a whole bunch of us just hanging out.
• 33:06
  Carmen Lezeth: You're welcome to join the show in the chat.
• 33:08
  Carmen Lezeth: We're going to have a guest once a month on the show.
• 33:10
  Carmen Lezeth: I would love to do that show three times a week.
• 33:13
  Carmen Lezeth: I think we need this.
• 33:14
  Carmen Lezeth: I think this is something we need a place where you come and chit-chat about whatever's going on in the week and then we find joy in it.
• 33:20
  Carmen Lezeth: Anyway, right, it's like hanging out on the stoop back in the day when you were coming home from work or coming home from school and everybody would be out in the neighborhood and we'd be chit-chatting about what's going on, right?
• 33:30
  Carmen Lezeth: I love that idea and sense of community and I want that to be a much bigger thing, right?
• 33:35
  Carmen Lezeth: The next book I'm writing about is also about being in circumstances and finding your way through to the other side to always find joy, because that is what I have done my entire life is.
• 33:45
  Carmen Lezeth: I have found a way to make it through, no matter what my circumstances have been and my circumstances have not been any worse or better than anyone else.
• 33:54
  Carmen Lezeth: We all have to walk through our own journey.
• 33:56
  Carmen Lezeth: But how do we do that?
• 33:57
  Carmen Lezeth: What are the skills, what are the tools, what are the things we need to do in order to make that happen?
• 34:02
  Carmen Lezeth: And I got information on that on so many different levels and I want to share that with people.
• 34:06
  Carmen Lezeth: But, yeah, check out the show on Thursday nights.
• 34:09
  Carmen Lezeth: Thank you for listening to the podcast for all of us.
• 34:12
  Carmen Lezeth: We are so grateful for our listeners.
• 34:15
  Carmen Lezeth: I love everyone who is liking our pages on LinkedIn and Facebook.
• 34:18
  Carmen Lezeth: Really, really grateful for people who follow me on TikTok.
• 34:20
  Carmen Lezeth: I know I don't do a lot of TikToks, but we do post on there, on social media, links from the show on a regular basis.
• 34:26
  Carmen Lezeth: So I'm really grateful for that too, and so thank you again.
• 34:31
  Carmen Lezeth: I wish you a wonderful and beautiful rest of 2024.
• 34:35
  Carmen Lezeth: And, more importantly, I'm excited and sending you so much joy, love and possibility in 2025.
• 34:41
  Carmen Lezeth: So remember, at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy.
• 34:46
  Carmen Lezeth: So remember, at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy.
• 34:47
  Carmen Lezeth: Thanks for stopping by.
• 34:49
  Carmen Lezeth: All About the Joy.
• 34:50
  Carmen Lezeth: Be better and stay beautiful folks.
• 34:52
  Carmen Lezeth: Have a sweet day.