Episode 49: Keeping Hope Alive, featuring Chris Hodges

In this inspiring episode of The Hope Matrix Podcast, Kathryn Goetzke sits down with Christopher Hodges, a faith coordinator and special events employee for the Mayor of Chicago. Christopher shares his powerful journey of overcoming adversity—including surviving a life-changing car accident, battling depression, and losing over 300 pounds—all while maintaining an unwavering belief in hope.

Together, Kathryn and Christopher discuss the importance of faith, community, and resilience in navigating life's challenges. Christopher opens up about his work in mentoring at-risk youth, his role in Mayor Brandon Johnson's faith initiatives, and his personal connection to Reverend Jesse Jackson’s call to "Keep Hope Alive." They also explore the role of hope in mental and physical health, the power of positive thinking, and the need for seeking support during difficult times.

This episode is a testament to the transformative power of hope, reminding us all that no matter the challenges we face, we can rise above them and inspire change in our communities.

About Chris Hodges:

Christopher Hodges is currently the Policy Analyst at the Office of the Mayor in Chicago.

Christopher Hodges was born and raised in Chicago, IL to Pastor Jeffrey D. and Evangelist Virgie M. Hodges.  

Christopher’s employment began with the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office. Where he served for the past 15 years in the capacity of Assistant Chief Deputy Clerk. He currently serves as the Policy Analyst for the City of Chicago. 

Christopher is most famous for his work in the political movement with Faith Leaders across Cook County. He served on serval campaigns such as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Dorothy Brown, Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Marianna Spyropoulis Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.  

Christopher has been a motivational speaker and a mentor for over 16 years. While being a mentor, he has become very active in his community and church.  

He also served as a music choir director and add to Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Push Coalition. This environment has fired up his passion for community activism. Since his partnership with Rev. Jackson, he has participated in various protests, jail ministry and various community outreach events. 

Transcript

0:01

This is Kathryn Goetzke, host of The Hope Matrix podcast. We are here to share science, stories and strategies for how to hope. I'm the Chief Hope officer of the Shine Hope Company. And SHINE is the mnemonic for how we teach hope. So when we talk about hope, we talk about how we use Stress Skills, Happiness habits, Inspired Actions, Nourishing Networks and Eliminating Challenges which are thinking patterns that get in the way of our ability to hope. Hope is a skill. You can measure hope, you can teach hope and you can start practicing skills to activate higher hope in your life today. And on this Hope Matrix podcast, we aim to bring in guests, experts in science, people with stories, and those that have strategies for activating hope in your life. Hello. Welcome everyone. This is your host Kathryn Goetzke, host of the Hope Matrix Podcast. Thank you so much for joining with us. I am so grateful to, introduce to you, a new ish, a new ish dear and dear friend and someone I've been working with at the city and someone that knows quite a bit about hope we have today and Mr. Chris Hodges. Chris, how are you? I'm well. Okay. And thank you for having me here. And, you're just a joy. I appreciate you, Thank you. Well, I appreciate you, too, so much. It's been really great getting to know you better. And, you know, we've had a few meetings and the story you told me, I think it was our second meeting. Maybe, just about, you know, your journey and challenges and and really, all of the amazing work that you're doing in the world, I knew that I had to have you on here to speak more. All things. So. So. Yeah, I appreciate no problem. No problem. I, I consider it an honored for an opportunity to share, my testimony and the experience that, I have experience, with positive thinking and and, looking up and and having hope and keeping hope alive as my mentor, Reverend Jackson says. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's a process. So it's a it's an active process. Yeah. Yeah. So really grateful, to have you here. So why don't we start by just you turn, to our listeners a little bit more about yourself. Okay. Well, Christopher Hodge is, of course, an employee with the city of Chicago with Mayor Brandon Johnson. I work as, one of the faith coordinators and, special events for the mayor's office. And, what we do is we work with the community, with faith based initiatives. so I'm right up the alley with hope, you know, faith, hope all things work together, right? yeah. I, my, I grew up in church, with, my father being a pastor, and, I was the. Or I am the music director for the church. where, my father. Yeah, my father is the pastor. And, for 17 years, I, I served as the, I work for the Dorothy Brown clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. 17 years there. I became the chief deputy clerk there. and there I was able to, really see firsthand, people, that are hopeless. And, I am so grateful, for, for have had having the opportunity to instill hope in those people. There was a time where someone came to our counter and she wanted to get in order protection against her child's, father. and she was so broken, just so down and just just just out of it, you know? And we had a ton of paperwork. We had to have her fill out and I told her, I said, but stop. I said, Mister, let's take a deep breath. She took a deep breath and I said, let's think about what your life looks like in a better light. And I said, just imagine it. And she begin to think. I said, you have to choose to think this way. And she began to think it. And I literally saying her by even her countenance, her her, her spirit, her face, her of course, she had a smile. She started talking about, you know, her children going to school, preparing for, you know, she started talking and I seen it firsthand. I have several stories of bad men coming out of jail, getting the, running into problems, trying to get stuff expunged. and then their, you know, when, when they fill out the paperwork wrong, they like, oh, you're too close, too quick. Let's go, let's go. Everyone and I, I, you know, a lot of times, you know, after conversating with you, I didn't realize the impact OHP had on the human mind and the human body. Physically. I didn't realize that you brought that to my mind. And you brought that to my attention. Even working with Reverend Jesse Jackson for pretty much all of my life, my grandmother was, his, chef for many years. She served, in the, bread basket. She serve with Rainbow push. and she did Saturday morning breakfast is any dinners? They did. She was a coordinator. So, I was forced to go to Rainbow Push. and then over time, I developed to love, you know, anywhere your parents take you to go, you really don't want to go. But I developed a love, and they became a family. And. Reverend, well, every time he get up, he will say I am somebody and keep hope alive. So I've heard that my entire life. And it wasn't until, I had an interaction with you, thankfully, that I. I noticed what that was, you know, that that continued remembering, choosing to keep hope alive even in my own situations where two years ago, I was in a car accident. I moved to Texas, and I became a worship pastor there. and I was in a car accident where I broke my leg. I had to get a rod, and I broke my wrist. and I was unable to take care of myself. I was in a very low place, and, my faith in God was still there. But when you see reality, you know, the church wasn't financially able to continue to pay my salary as well as hire a new worship pastor, because it was going to take, like a long road for me to recover. And they could not, you know, handle that burden. So, after, you know, exhausting my savings, I was at the you know, the barrel. So I had to move back to Chicago and stay with my parents, which is for me, was humiliating. I thought, you know, were in there. but, I had to think two different ways. Either I had two options, either I was going to wallow and the reality of where I am now, or continue to choose to keep the hope of a better life, the hope of a brighter future, the hope of a better physical. life during that time, I was 500 and I want to say 30 pounds. but all during that process, I decided that the people that we have to make a decision. I know we should. There's a decision that has to be made. And it's just one decision. That one decision is to keep hope alive. And you will be surprised how making that one simple decision will literally change your life. I am now down to 300. 2 years later I'm down 310 pounds. Kathryn, when I get to at the scale say 299, y'all don't know me, you hear me? I'm a be stuck up now. Just planned, but, I decided, but not only did I make this decision, then I noticed , that Kathryn, I'm sorry that I have to continue to make that decision almost to the point where I have to make it on a daily basis when I wake up in the morning and we have thought my reality hit, life happens, you know? You know, life happens. And, I choose to, to have hope and it is contagious. Did you know that? Yes, yes. Like that. Joy. I know. It's contagious. So me being, the way I was raised, I was raised, in the church, and, you know, I don't know what people feel about, like, the signs and all that stuff, but, one of my friends says, oh, you're a Libra. You're a kind guy. You're so kind. Whatever. But I love, like, people. So when people are down, I don't like it. You know? I don't like confrontation. I don't like none of that stuff. I'm not like, you know, saying that. Oh, my God, I'm all happy go lucky all the time. No, I deal with problems, but I deal with it. Yes, in. Making the choices. But, I noticed that when people would talk to me and they just get to spilling their, you know, their life stories, and it's all negative and it's all that's all. You don't have to be that way. Here's another way. There's another option. And I'll never forget Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson. That's Reverend Jackson's wife. She says Chris, in every situation, you have to always remember there's a God factor in everything. And having a God factor increases your strength to hold on to hope and faith. And when she said it, it's like a light bulb. You know, those cartoons with a light bulb come over your head might come. Down right, right. And and she said to me, you know, you have to keep the God factor ever before you, you know, it can. Your life can be turning down hill. But as long as you have God, there's a possibility that your life can change. Now, for those that do not, you know, whatever God you serve, whatever you know, there's rules in life, period. We have people that don't believe in God. That's okay. There's a rule of thumb, period. What you sow, you reap what you give. You get back. So if you keep giving positive thoughts out there, you're going to start experience and you don't start experiencing it. Whatever you say out of your mouth, positive life and death is in your tongue. Whatever you say out of your mouth, that's positive. You're going to it's going to manifest. It's going to come back. Listen, I am 40 years old now. You can't tell me no different that it don't work. So that's a little bit about me. And, you know. Oh, let me just share this. upon coming back to Chicago, not knowing where I would. Get my job from, I went to a job interview and they told me, you know, unfortunately, you know, you seem to be overqualified. I said, oh, wow. Like, you know, I was either getting overqualified, underqualified, and I was in a wheelchair so they could not discriminate. You stay discriminatory. You know, reasons why they didn't hire me, but I'm almost sure, at least that's what I thought you know? And I'll never forget, mayor Brenda Johnson came to my home. Supernatural. He came to my home and asked me to serve on his campaign as the, faith advisor and a faith coordinator for his campaign in my wheelchair. I was taking him to pastors. of course, I, you know, gathered me a team, and I started taking him to pastors. And and before I knew it, we were polling at 2%. And I looked up one day, we won the office. It was just so crazy. You know how that happened. But if I was in a place where all I thought was negativity. Yeah. And I didn't see a brighter future and I didn't see a, or keeping imagining a better life for myself. Yeah. I do not believe that God would allow those things to come to me, because I would never appreciate it. Yeah, because my expectation, yeah, would have been negativity. Yeah. But because I'm grateful that I had a mind and I surrounded myself around people that spoke positive, that spoke, encouraging, that spoke about the God factor, that spoke about, I am somebody keep hope alive that my father preached every Sunday. You know, I surrounded myself around that. It wasn't just me choosing. I force myself to be around people that were speaking positive. yeah. And God allowed today. Whom. God allowed me to experience where I am now. And now, looking back on it, I realize, like I didn't label it as hope then. like having that. I didn't label it as hope. I just thought I called it positivity, I guess I don't know, right? but but now I know, it it was hope. yeah. I had a sense of hope and, that hope was manifested, so. Yeah, that's a little bit about me. That's amazing. Yeah. And that's what we know about hope, right? Hope is a belief that your future can be better and the ability to make it so you've got to feel good about it. You've got to believe and you've got to take action. So if you just sit around and don't do anything, you know, how can it improve. And and I think too, bringing up the hopelessness part of it. I mean, it's so easy when you look at hopelessness, it's a despair. So you feel bad and helpless to do anything about it. So when you're injured, when you lose a job, it's easy to dive into hopelessness. Oh, yeah. You know, and and to get stuck there. It's easy when you live in communities that are oppressed. It's it's easy when you have health conditions. I mean, there's so many reasons that we can be experiencing hopelessness. Half of our country right now is is experiencing a lot of hopelessness. And it's really about learning what it is and learning. Yeah. How do we activate hope even in the most challenging of times, even in the hardest of times? I mean, I've, I find it fascinating with you that you are able to lose the weight during a time of such transition for you, too. That's usually when people gain a lot of weight, you know, because of the stress and not managing the stress well. And so I want to dive into that a little bit more. too. And, you know, I it was a really meaningful experience for me to spend Christmas at the prison. Where do you all. Yeah. And to see and to see the reverend. Yeah. I've never seen him do that. The I am somebody and, I mean, our first of the shine, you know, the shine framework. And the first thing is the stress skills. And then affirming beliefs is a stress skill that we use. And to me, every child believing that they are somebody, every human being having that belief that they are someone is, it is foundational for hope. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it really is. I would say that, the reason why your platform is so, imperative in this time, right now, is because, you know, there are so many people that are hopeless for so many different reasons. and, you know, there's a lot of people, hearts that are really turning cold towards humanity and there's carelessness, people killing people just randomly, you know, Reverend Jackson went to I go every year with him to the jail on Christmas. And I tell my family, hey, you already know the rules. Chris is going to the jail and to see those men and women in their here, the, inspirational messages and songs from the people that we bring with us. And we go to the door and we stand by, we smile, we shake their hand. We remind them that they are somebody and we give them hope. Do you not know that after speaking to one of the sheriffs? Because I also have a friend who, his name is Larry Roberts Junior, he goes into, the jail, the county jail, and, trains inmates how to cut hair. He has a barber school, and and he does it for free. They can sign up for his program. He trains them how to cut hair and, one of the guys that were that was there said, hey, man, guess what he says? What? He said, I met Reverend Jackson. He says, really? He was like, yeah. And he was. He said, speech. You know how you say, keep hope alive? I am somebody. He was like, man, he made repeated he like he made a fed, I said. And then, he was like, really? Really. He was like, yeah, man. He says, man, you you pretty charged. He's like, I am. He was like, why? He's like a lot of, you know, like, I don't know. He says, I guess if he believed that I shouldn't do, you know, like if he believe in me, I should too. So when Larry told me that testimony, I said, I have a responsibility to not only keep hope alive for myself, but to try to encourage others, to keep hope alive. So, while I was working at the clerk's office, I also had a mentoring program in our church called Clergy Warriors, and we would, take guys from off of the street, and bring them into the church. We would do steps, you know, like drill team steps and, you know, teach them life skills, get them back into school, get them into college, give them a trade, you know, just really help them out. And one young man said something to me. He says, Chris, if you can help me to get a job, I'll stop selling drugs. So I don't want to sell drugs, he says. I do this because that's all I have to do. I said, well, you do know that you don't have to do that. He says, what if I don't sell drugs? I will eat. And I said, no, I get it. I said, but that's what we're here for. To give you another, option. You know, there's another chance, there's another opportunity. But if you don't have the power within you or the decision made to change your decision about your life and deciding to keep hope alive and within your heart, then you you won't see it. Yeah. This I went, I went to Texas. and this gentleman is getting ordained as an elder, and. Well. I right now, I, I'm still all about, you know, pushing, for, you know, people to to to gain hope, pushing the message. I am somebody's personal message keep hope alive. But right now, I'm recruiting people to, help recruit people to keep hope alive for other people. Yeah. And also, God has blessed me with favor at the mayor's office to lift organizations that do that, like the Bible college. like these different trade schools. And having your curriculum to teach us how to communicate hope, give us guidelines. So if anybody's listening to me. This woman here has a phenomenal curriculum around this word Hope, this movement. Hope I'll call it like that. that is phenomenal. That I think everyone, every city in the state of Illinois, every state in the United States of America, needs to sign into it, because I know for a fact that if you can keep hope alive, you can also encourage someone else to keep. And the the change starts trickling down to the point where you can start seeing a real change in your neighborhood where you live. Kathryn, the mayor went to, he did some, an initiative called The Day in a Ward. And there was a young man, it was like a group of them on the, on their Graham on his grandmother's, porch. And it was just hanging out. Just being just hanging out. And so, the the, neighbor two doors down told the mayor he knew him. Boys over there, that's all they do is hanging on the street. That's all. They they ain't no good. Hang on. Never beat. Y'all need to take a look at it. So the mayor walked over to the and says, hey, guys, what you're doing? What do y'all do on a daily basis? Like, you know, what's going on? A positive note, he says, hey, if any one of you all want to change what you're doing and don't want to do this anymore, contact this person. So as one of his handlers, one of the young men took the handler's card. He says, I've always wanted to. He was a I'm an artist. And he says, I don't know what we can do. He was like, well, can you draw? He was like, yeah, I can draw. He was like, have you ever thought about drawing like haircuts? Like, you know, like it's the same kind of, you know, skill? He was like, oh, that's easy money. I'll do it. I'll do it. He's he was, he's 19. So we hooked them up with Larry Barber College. Larry Barber College has an opportunity where they can get federal federally funded to pay for the school housing, and they get a stipend. This young man went there, been in the program, is on the verge of graduating and has been enrolling people in his neighborhood to this program. They're living on the campus. I so when we go back over there. That neighborhood does not look the same. You want to know why the mayor could have took what that lady said and had the the police officers investigate that area, but he changed that. And I'm not I'm not giving a shameless plug for the man. I'm just telling you what I can experience of what hope can do for a community. And that's why I appreciate you taking your curriculum to the government side of it and getting this legislation and giving this and the career, the curriculum in the government side to help us with this, because it can literally change, and it also dives into mental health. Yeah. It does into mental health. It ties into physical health. so yeah, you know, Kathryn, you have a huge responsibility and you're literally changing the world. So I applaud you. I, I appreciate you taking this. Yes. living out your purpose, and encouraging others to do the same. It's so inspiring to see you do this. And, you know, be bold enough to go. I mean, let's be real. When you first came to me, Kathryn, you said Chris, I have an idea about hope. I was like, oh, good. Like, you know, I just love be to. But when you start talking. About about it as passionate like as you did. And then you start, you know, peeling back the layers of how positive hope can, a positive role hope can play in the lives of people I start seeing in my own life personally, where I didn't know what to label it, I didn't know what to label it, but it was hope all along, and it was hope that got me to where I, you know, I'm not saying I have arrived. I am still growing, but I am not where I used to be. I'm not what I used to be. I think I'm not what it says. I'm not what I want to be. But I thank God I'm not what I used to be. It was hope the whole time. so you in this paper, I am committed to help you push this narrative. You know this as it takes this person. But don't tell him I gave you my this, my, I do this, you know, I want to. I want to help this because, Reverend, he must have known. He must have known about it. He must have had a a prophetic strategy to to continue this work with, you know, not even really peeling the onions where you did it. See, everybody got a purpose. and your reference purpose was to get that word out. and you can stand on his shoulders. But now, with a day and age where we need to see and understand and explain, this generation needs to know we're in the of the know. oh. Don't just tell me what to do. You need to tell me why I'm walking down the street this direction. And your platform and your curriculum is doing that. And if mayors around this country would adhere to and really embrace it and really take time to hear you out. They'll be bought in. They just need to hear you out. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. You are so sweet. I mean, this is not a plug for the hard work. I mean, I'm so grateful you're making me cry. You know, I'm. I know in a good way. And just such a touching, meaningful way. I, you know, I want to tell you when we do, you know, we've been doing this work around the world and in the US specifically. I have teachers come to me to say, and we have them create their nourishing network, like right down, you know, fill this out. Who's and and identify at least one trusted adult in your life that you can count on in times of need. And, you know, half of our kids don't have anyone. And when you think I know, think about you. Think about what Mayor Johnson going up to that youth. That's potentially the first time that kid ever had someone that believe in them, that believed in their potential. And to me and and, you know, I want to work to get more of the reverend some of what he did into how we teach up around the world. I mean, I think it's, you know, making that claim of I am somebody having that belief that the future can be better than the person's identifying people that you can count on in times of need. It's so critical. How can we expect our youth not to be in jails when they're not getting guidance from adults and love from adults? Oh, yes. And you know. Absolutely. Wow. Yeah. So I know, I know, it's not like, I know you're asking the questions, but I do have a question. Can I ask. Okay. Of course you can. Yes. what made you dive into creating a curriculum around, the idea of hope? And I know this podcast might not even be about hope, but I'm sort of. Yeah. Okay. I'm just so excited about. Yeah, this newfound revelation that you brought to our table, I'm just excited about it, but I, I do want to know, like, what made you say, okay, there's strategy around here. There's there's there's a possible movement here. Like what? What took place. Yeah. Well, I mean, it came from looking at why do some people die by suicide and others not when they have, you know, similar challenges. What what really is it that drive. So I initially wanted to get to the root cause of why do people choose to take their lives. And so I got into the research and looked at study after study after study that was done and and suicides and hopelessness came up as the single consistent predictor across every study. And then not just suicide, also violence. Violence is driven by hopelessness, a sense of despair and a feeling of helplessness that you have the power to change anything. Wow. And the primary symptom of depression. Yeah. And I said, well, then why don't I have a suicide attempt myself? My dad decided when I was 18 years old. So I super committed to really understanding this at the root cause of it. And if we want to solve it, you know, how do we do that? And so once I found out it was hopelessness, I thought, why don't I know what it is? And why don't I know how to get to hope? And, you know, they were measuring hope, but they weren't teaching you how to hope. And I thought, well, if they're measuring it and if we know what hopelessness is and and when you break down hopelessness, it's emotional despair. So you feel sad, angry, afraid. You can always manage those emotions. You can. Yeah. You can learn how to manage them in healthy ways. And you can always get out of helplessness and into action. Might not. Yeah. The action might not be the goal you want. You might have to wriggle, you know. So I realized you can it's something that you can teach as a skill. So I had the hypothesis and I proved out the hope. And as we increased hope, anxiety and depression went down. You know, confidence went up. Connection with others, with all of these things. And I thought, if you can teach, this is a skill. We have to teach the like, we have to ensure, everyone knows what hopelessness is, how to manage it, and how to get to hope. And you know, that's a building. The whole framework is I want people to just, you know, the more challenges you have, the more you have to shine, the more you have to practice the framework. Do. It's like you say, it's an intentional decision every day. You know, it's and biology comes into play. So you have to understand your stress hormones, how they work and what they do to your health. And you know, when you're in stress, when you're in chronic stress and you're violent, you get dopamine, you get a dopamine hit from that violence. Well, that feels better from your place of despair. And so you know what you all are doing, and what you illustrated perfectly with your example is you're giving kids other ways to get their dopamine. Really? Yeah. Help your ways, you know, through art or through drawing or through connection with others or through actual work. But it's, you know, so but it's about teaching these skills to kids and not shaming them for ending up in jail because we're not teaching them. And these are all, like, really important things to learn at a very young age. What is our stress response? How do we manage it in healthier ways? You know, what are our happiness habits? How do we get our happy hormones and healthy ways versus unhealthy ways? You know, all of all of these things. And until we start doing this and society and ensuring everyone knows and we practice together as a community, we can't expect for violence to and we can't expect for addiction. You know, all of these things. So yeah, from a very it comes from a very deep spiritual place too. I mean, I just I feel so called to and to learn from the most brilliant minds and then incorporate it into a way that the normal person can understand. You know, as much as possible. So yeah. And I feel like we all have a right to hope, you know, we all have to dream of a better future for herself and her kids. so I want to ask about your Shine skills quick. We won't go, like, deep into it, but I do want to know them. Yes. So your stress skills. So how do you manage your stress then? And especially the way, I mean, losing that much weight. I mean, so many people struggle with that. Yeah. Daily basis, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So you know we get triggered by things sadness, anger, fear. Like how do you manage those emotions in healthier ways? when I was about, I would say like 17, 16, 17, I was in high school, I was overweight, very depressed. you know, and then you come, you come to a place of when you want to kill yourself, there's no reason to live. And you label it and it's labeled as hopelessness. There's no hope to live. There's no you have no expectation of a any positive coming to your life. But my mom, my dad called my mom and this is the scar I want to, you know, so the scar on my wrist, I don't know if you guys can see it, but it's there. my dad called my mom and was like, you know, hey, I'm bringing McDonald's home for the kids. And so she told everybody, clean up, you know, you know, you put your toys away, dance, coming home with some McDonald's. So I she yelled that through the house. I'm sitting here bleeding, and I'm like, I have McDonald's coming. I don't want to die, you know, like, oh, it's so embarrassing. But it heals my struggle at the time because food was a struggle for me when I was a teenager to save my life. What that taught me was. Whatever state I'm in. Because I have hope. I know there's two things I can have. I can either fail and learn, or I can succeed and learn. Either way I go, I'm winning. When when my mother died, I was very hopeless. My heart was broken. She was my rock. My father is my rock. But I'm a mama's boy. I don't, I'm just. It is. I love. My mom to pieces. And I thought I couldn't imagine my life without her. But what I decided to do is because I. Because I'm a Christian, I decided I love her so much. Let me live my my life according to the Bible to see her again. So the hope I begin to live for is to see my mother again. so my tragedy. I find a way to turn it around to benefit my life. There's a scripture that I use that helps me deal with every problem that I face, and it says. It says all things, all things. It's very important to understand that all things, the good and the bad, work together for the good of those that love the Lord. Everything you go through can be a positive situation in your life if you allow it and choose to think that way, it becomes very comfortable to think and wallow and to embrace. Now don't get me wrong, when trials come and when frustration or hurt come, I don't ignore it. Like, you know, I acknowledge that hurts. Yeah. I know that that hurts. Yeah. But what's the next step for me? Yeah. So, I, you know, over time, the way I choose to handle my stress. And my problem is with the knowing, nothing stays the same forever. Yeah. And this five last fret, ninth business. So if you're in a bad situation, I promise you, I, if you're in jail, if you are in jail listening to this podcast, I promise you're going to have some enjoyable moments in jail. You will keep hope alive. And I practice that. does trials come? Does stress come? Does pain come? Yes. But just like my trainer said, Chris, no pain, no gain. And I'm like. I don't want to, you know, like, I don't care about that, you know? Like but he's true. In order to gain muscle, you lift the weights, right? Yeah, I do it the same way emotionally. But I will say this a captain out, and we're going to go there. I did, seek counseling. so I want to encourage everyone. You don't have to do this alone, because sometimes it can be very difficult to, in the beginning, you know, in the beginning stages, you try, you know, change my life. And and I was trying to do it alone. But, you know, you know, it's better to do it with someone that can help you dissect. How you feeling? You know, we may feel one way, and it may be the wrong way to view that you know, and someone can come along and help you. A professional can help you, and it don't mean you're crazy. And would you tell the world you got a cancer? Play your courage. I know you know, not everyone. Yes, everyone needs a therapist. My rich friend. yeah. And they help you train your mind? Yes, I know. You need we we we need that help. Yeah, we know that. That's the way I would. I go for help, I seek out help if my back is against the wall, I cry out for help because I refuse to. And and with negativity. Good for you. Yes. Yeah. And your your your happiness habits. Are you nutrition like? Did you have to change your nutrition, exercise, all of that to get on a regime for getting healthier? Yeah. So, so with eating, because I found out that it was a like a stronghold controlling my life. I did what is called intermittent fasting where I would not eat for a certain period of time. from I would only eat from maybe like three till like four hours within a day. And then the rest of the day I would find other activities that I enjoyed and I would do them. Good for you. Whatever. Yeah, yeah. I had to fall out of shape with food. Yes. Yeah. And with other things, you got to replace it with healthy substitutes. Absolutely. I was a smoker once. I had to run instead. And like when you can't run and smoke. Yeah, yeah. And it just, you know because it can't breathe. So. Yeah it was pretty amazing. Oh yeah. yeah. Definitely awesome. Yeah. Well, I am someone. Yeah. I was going to say this one thing about, healthy habits. my counselor helped me identify what I really enjoyed. I do what I enjoy, but she really said, Chris, you like to watch TV and watch movies. You like to read books? You. And she just tells me what brings me joy. Me. And she says, why don't you do that? And I was like, why don't I do that? I'm going to, you know, like, I know he did that for me. And so I urge, I encourage, I encourage therapy. Yeah, I do too. Absolutely. It doesn't mean anything's wrong with you. To me, it means you're smart. And, you know, when you look at all of the Ian knows all the challenges that our brain does to, like, trick us like automatic negative thoughts. And when we ruminate and when we worry and like, there are all of these negative, biased and therapists can help us see through, see through all that, and help us get to thinking more clearly, more rationally, getting present, helping with any trauma we all have trauma. It's just a matter of how much trauma, you know, and that stays with us until we really heal it. it really does. And surrounding yourself with people, that's positive. That encourages you to close you accountable. Don't let you wallow. You know, you have to surround. If you have friends that misery loves company. You run. You have to choose to run. You have to really find your life. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's, Yes. Yeah. It's not. Quantity of friends is quality, you know. Are they are they nourishing you. Are they getting where you, where you want to go in life. Are they are they holding you back right. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. And so wonderful Christopher talking to you. Do you have any final thoughts or anything else you want to share before we check off? I know I've kept you very long. I'm so grateful. I know you're very busy. I do want to encourage everyone, to, like, I know everybody have their religion and stuff. But for me personally, I have to speak on my relationship with God. And without having God in my life, I know for a fact I would not have hope. Like I wouldn't be able to see it, you know, and embracing and accepting the love of Jesus. I just want to encourage those that may hear my voice that are in a low place and that is down. I want to remind you that there is one that loves you exactly the way you are, right where you are, and to remember that his love is strong enough to pick you up from where you are, and supernaturally change your life and your situation. And I want to encourage everyone to lean into God. and I only can say that because that's what I mean. Find another religion that works for them, for you. Great. But I'm telling you my truth and my truth that Jesus Christ was a stitch changer for me. It's almost emotional because. He literally changed my life. And it started here, starting in my mind and my. There's a song that my mother used to sing. It says, my hope is built on nothing less. Than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. I dare not trust no other sweetest frame, but only lean on Jesus’ name. And I want to leave everyone with that frame that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Thank you Kathryn. Thank you so much. That was wonderful. So much from talking to you. I just adore you. I'm so grateful. I know you. Yes. And so I love working with you in Chicago. We're going to do so many great things together. I'm super excited. I, you know, let's let's set up a meeting. Yes. Get stuff going. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We will do that. And listeners listening in, thank you so much for for sharing this time with us. And please, you know, go ahead and share those that so inspired. And you are not alone. You know. Oh yeah. We are all in this together. Absolutely. And it does get better. I mean eventually, you know those emotions do pass. So you can't stay in that sadness forever or the anger. And we've got to channel that into innovation. Positive. Yeah. For humanity. So let's work together to do that. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right everyone stay. Thank you. Thank you all for listening in to the Hope Matrix podcast. We want to shine a light that hope is teachable. Hope is measurable and teachable and provide you with actionable insights for how you can start activating hope in your life today and provide a framework so you can start talking about hope with other people and practice these skills together because we are better with hope. Please feel free to check out theshinehopecompany.com, where we list all of our resources around how to Hope. We have a lot of free programs for how to hope, including the five day Challenge, our Hope infographic with a lot of skills that showcase how to hope and articles of how to incorporate hope in your life. We have The Hopebeat Weekly, which is a weekly newsletter that shares strategies for hope. We have a My Hope Story templates so you can write your own Hope story today. Also my Hope Hero so we can share what our heroes are doing to activate hope in their lives. And this is especially good with youth so they can start looking up to people that have overcome similar or challenges to them and seen how these heroes use the Shine Hope framework. We have a Hopeful Minds for Teens program and Hopeful minds Overview Educator Guides. We have a new evidence based college course so you can activate Hope on the college campus. There are programs in the workplace. Overview courses 90 minute courses for learning the what, why and how to hope. What I want you to know about hope is it's a skill. You've got to practice these skills to become hopeful. It's easy to fall into despair and helplessness when we deal with challenges in life, and it takes intentional work and practice to get to hope. And yet it is always possible. So no matter what life brings. Keep shining hope. Thanks so much for listening and have an awesome day. And of course, I've got to add this, that this program is designed to assist you in learning about hope should not be used for medical advice, counseling, or other health related services. iFred, The Shine Hope Company and myself, Kathryn Goetzke do not endorse or provide any medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I am not a medical doctor. The information provided here should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition and cannot be substituted for the advice of physicians, license professionals or therapists who are familiar with your specific situation. Consult a licensed medical profession or call 911. If you are in need of immediate assistance and be sure to know the crisis Hotline. 988. If you are in need of support. Thanks so much for listening. Take good care of yourself and keep shining hope.