6. Trappin, Mappin, and Zappin

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Ep 6. Transcript

Alisa Manjarrez: We are kicking off season two.

Merary Simeon: Yay. Glad to be here.

Alisa Manjarrez:  Hello. Hello. We have a special episode of me, Merary and Rosa talking about COVID-19.  It is a crazy time in the world right now. And we wanted to do a special season where we talk about what’s going on with us, and then we interview some powerful women who are still being powerful in a worldwide pandemic. It’s pretty amazing. We’re really excited for you guys to hear what’s coming up for us.

Rosa Santos: So let me ask you guys, I know there’s a lot going on for ourselves, but I just want to know how you guys are doing. What’s going on? Where are you and how you are showing up to this environment in which we’re living right now?

Alisa Manjarrez: I had a workshop with about 20 business owners,  a lot of female founders, a lot of multicultural women actually,  and the conversation within one hour had a really incredible shift because it started out with people saying, my business is over.

Or I had to close down my bakery, or I had to completely reinvent myself. And a lot of people started out in misery. Honestly, as a facilitator, I was shocked to hear so much negative in about three minutes, but then the more people shared, the more they said, but you know what? Now is the time that I’ve come to realize I never want to do what I did again in the way that I did it.

I had 20 years in a business where I didn’t see my family. I didn’t enjoy the house that I lived in. I never decorated my house. Just basic things that because of this pandemic, they’re able to enjoy people and enjoy their families and their homes and they don’t want to leave going back to the same thing. And I was really inspired hearing their stories about, this time being a time of, real hardship, but also a time to appreciate  what they do have.

They don’t want to go back to the hustle and now they’re forced to enjoy their lives. I mean, you know, I say enjoy with quotation marks,

Rosa Santos: Forced to enjoy your lives. Right?

Merary Simeon: It’s just eye-opening, right? How we spend most of our lives pursuing those things that make us happy and in reality, none of those things really fulfill us.  They end up taking so much of our time that we forget what really matters is those friendships, right?

Those family members, even time with the pets. I’m like, I actually get to play with the dog now. Right? I think he knows who I am now. So I thought that was powerful, Alisa.

There’s definitely a lot of hardship around us. We’re really blessed. But you know, I have friends and family in the front line as nurses, or you know, working in the factories or in the supermarket. So you think about what they’re going through and what their families are going through.

And for me, what keeps me going is, I look at it like this, I am covered by the blood of the lamb. So I’m good. So fear doesn’t attack me. However, it opens up my heart even more to feel for my family and friends who are out there. And I’m finding that. I’m starting to speak to people more, about it, but I’m trying to figure out how I can also help and how to be helpful not just with my family, but also their communities.

So not having fear, again, as I mentioned, I just feel that I’m covered by the blood of Christ, doesn’t mean that you don’t follow the laws of the land. We do, right? I take all the precautions because you’re supposed to, right.

You’ve got to have wisdom. But it, makes me really sit back and look at the suffering around us and it makes me think how blessed I am and I have to, I need to do something for those communities and for those people who are faced to go to the front line every day, I mean, those family members that are, that are being impacted day in and day out.

Rosa Santos: Hmm.

Alisa Manjarrez: And you’re in Texas Merary, right?

Merary Simeon: Yes, I am. most of my family is, in New Jersey and New York, and we have some in, Puerto Rico. So they’ll all over in Florida, but my brothers are in New Jersey and they’re out in the front line working in the factories or you know, essential roles. And that’s something that you think about every day, right?

Because they have families that have to come to each day. So it’s, it’s something you think about and you’re like, okay, how can I help?  Because it’s one thing to have an essential job, but a lot of, some friends and other family members, they’re laid off, so how am I using those resources I’m blessed with to help them?

And that’s what I’ve been trying to focus on versus waiting for somebody else to do it. I would challenge people, whatever you have, even if it’s just to listen to or have a conversation with somebody that is, going through some difficult times right now. That is a way to help. that’s what I’ve been trying to do, at least on my end.

And I feel that when I’m able to help, I feel a little bit better, that I did something and actually I learned too, I’m like, okay, this is what’s really happening out there because I’m not in the front line.

Alisa Manjarrez: And you can help by just being there, like virtually being there. You don’t have to go anywhere. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. You can literally help by making a phone call.

Merary Simeon: Absolutely. I mean, just to give the listeners an example, those that are able to contribute just, you know, Uber eats card, right? I sent that to a few friends that I knew they were working hard in the kitchen every day because they have kids and families, they didn’t even know about it. I just send it to them because in talking to them, I just knew that this could have been something to make them smile. You could do that online. They’ll get an email and be able to enjoy something and not have to be in the kitchen every day.

So that’s just one example of some of the things that I’ve been doing. But to your point, it doesn’t have to be monetary. It could just be having a conversation or even just venting. Cause I know there are people out there that have listened to me vent and hey, they’re helping me whether they know it or not.

Alisa Manjarrez: What about you Rosa?

Rosa Santos: Hi,  I was reflecting yesterday about being this the fourth week into this and I think I was late to the party or what, I mean late to the party was really late to realize that this was going on. I happened to undergo major surgery right around the time when everybody went shelter in place.

So I didn’t really realize this is, it’s funny that I’m laughing about it, but I, we didn’t even show up or had groceries in the house. So I was a little late to realize the gravity of the situation. And I have to tell you, I’ve had a lot of different emotions going through it.

And, I’m from Spain, so Spain has been very hardly hit. Very close friends and family have been impacted, either they are suffering through it as we speak right now. We’ve had a death in the family and we continue to hear how folks are being, really very challenged in the way that, they are dealing with it, overall. so it really, breaks my heart, being here, but at the same time being far away from those who I love and I appreciate and I have high esteem. And to be perfectly honest with you, I’m angry. I’m disappointed, I’m anxious.

I mean all of those things, and at the same time, I’m hopeful as well. Right? I am hopeful that I think we’ll come out of this in a better place than we went into it. That’s, I truly, truly believe that.  And I think we try and maybe I’m not strong enough. This is hard.

This is really hard. And I’m usually a very optimistic, very positive person. And I really am making the choice every morning and making the choice for my mom who happened to also need some treatment in Spain. And I know she’s alone. And, it was very hard. And I’m making that choice for her to show up every day when I speak to her in a, in a good mood.

I’m making that choice for my sisters and for you guys and for my sisters at large. Right? And that’s why we’re here doing this episode. But I also want to acknowledge that it sucks. It really sucks.

Alisa Manjarrez: I think it’s important to acknowledge that it does suck, and it is hard. I’ve been saying, you know, this, we’re going to be so good at resilience and perseverance after this, and that doesn’t come after something that’s easy.

Rosa Santos: Right.

Alisa Manjarrez: You know, you don’t build these skills through, you know, smooth time.

Rosa Santos: And also, I’m very aware that I am in a very privileged position in comparison to our country right now. And all those who are suffering and the fact that I am sheltering in place, the way I am allows me to enjoy my home, enjoy my family, and, still do my job, from the house.

And at the same time, I am very aware that my situation is, as Merary was pointing out, is another situation of, I think the vast majority of those who are around us. And exactly to what you were saying, Alisa at the beginning, all those, all those, the small business owners who are suffering quite a bit.

And that’s why I think we need to be able to make some choices to help,  to what Merary was describing earlier. And there are many, many different ways of, going about helping.

Alisa Manjarrez: One of the things that the three of us have talked about before is just making choices in what media we consume. And I’m not even talking about news sources, I’m talking about how other people are interpreting this pandemic, and a lot of the voices out there are voices of privilege because the people working are working.

Rosa Santos: No, absolutely. And it’s interesting, and I think we’ve talked about this before, you guys, we’ve talked about how a lot of people say this is the great equalizer, right? Cause the virus doesn’t see, and I would challenge that. I’m not sure it is the great equalizer. I think, again, especially for those of multicultural backgrounds and less privilege, context and situations are suffering greater than than we are.

I think this is a moment where we can actually consider who are we being influenced by. Who are we listening to? What choices are we making that are maybe dictating the outcomes that we produce in the world?

And this is a great moment to really do that and consume, call it media, call it friendships, call it family and friends, consume what fills you up, and what really helps you inform those choices and that choice-making and that decision moving forward.

Merary Simeon:  I think you make a good point. I think first and foremost is we have to acknowledge that people are experiencing different ways, right? Whether it’s economic, whether it’s mentally and emotionally, and there are different waves that we’re going through and going through those experiences, it’s okay to cry or be stressed or be mad, is absolutely fine, is being able to rebalance from that. And recognizing that, and what’s important to me is when we see these things to be able to recognize it so that we have that person that we could call out for help that could bring our spirit up,  that can speak positive into our lives.

Because it’s not that I don’t think it’s, you know, people should be afraid. It’s okay. It just cannot be the driver of your life.

Alisa Manjarrez: Your every day.

Merary Simeon: Yes, exactly.

Alisa Manjarrez: That’s no way to live.

Merary Simeon: No, absolutely not. So, yes, let’s recognize it. There’s something that we are not used to going on around us, but right now we need to pay attention to those emotions because I think those emotions are going to be able to guide us into what you were saying, Alisa, to understand what are the things that I want to go back to or not go back to. But to me to answer your question, Rosa, who do I choose to listen to? I mean, you all know, I’ve been, spiritual, and I have a relationship with Jesus, but I’ve been choosing to spend more time trying to connect with those friends who I know are going through difficult times or that I know that are alone and I am making an effort to bring the good news to them, so I’m making it a point to be somebody that other people listen to. I’m trying to do that versus listening to others in the media.

I actually tape through that or listen to the news or less where my mom and dad tell me,

Alisa Manjarrez: My mom sends me text messages of like screenshots of the news to make sure I’m getting the high points.

Rosa Santos: The highlights.

Merary Simeon: Exactly, so  I do stay updated with the news because of the type of work we do. We know what’s going on out there. We know how bad it is, but I deal with the facts. And at the same time, I also decide to, I know the facts, let me move on and do other things and input other things into my mind versus just, all the bad stuff that happened.

Because it’s not that it’s negative stuff, it’s just bad. That’s the reality, right? So let me deal with reality, but not overflow myself with reality and let me not let reality be the one who’s gonna, you know, point me to tomorrow. I need to be able to have a balance and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

Be a voice of hope for somebody else, but also, listen to their reality around us because we can’t just be like, oh, everything is great. No, it’s not great.  not for many, but we can definitely bring that hope that many need.

Rosa Santos:  Do you know, I tell you what I am doing, and I know you guys are going to laugh cause I’ve mentioned this before.

Alisa Manjarrez: We love you, Rosa. We won’t, we won’t laugh at you.

Rosa Santos: Because I know everybody’s connecting, right? It’s like all of a sudden we’ve discovered that we can connect to people. We can talk and we can pick up the phone and have conversations right?

Alisa Manjarrez: Who would have thought?

Rosa Santos: So here’s what I am doing. I’m actually being very, choosy as to who I allow to enter into my life at this moment in time. So by that, I guess what I don’t mean that you have to be mean or that I’m being mean to people, right. No, I don’t mean that. By that what I mean is, in the same way that we want to give, at the same time, I think we need to be cognisant upon the fact that the person that might want to hear from us may not want to hear from us. And the other way around. So that’s why I’m saying in terms of I’m being purposeful in terms of who do I pick up the phone from? And you know, those friends that I had, 25 years ago or you know, the ex-boyfriend that all of a sudden is popping up.

Alisa Manjarrez: Yeah I’ve had a lot of friends get ex calls and it’s like, no, I didn’t want to talk to you then. I don’t want to talk to you now.

Rosa Santos: Yes, and I’m going to give you this analogy  which is, in fact, my mother used to talk a lot about this in terms of friendships and connections. It’s like books in a bookshelf. There’s only so much room in that bookshelf and they are for you. You need to make sure that if you like some of those books and you like the books that you have on the shelf, you need to check and you know, open them up and make sure that there are still, the ones that are relevant and the ones that you still enjoy having a good time with. Right? And those that you’re looking at and you go like, gosh, I haven’t read that book in a long, long time. Wasn’t giving me the joy that I thought it did. That, you know that you take it out and you make room for newer friends cause I think that is what I’m trying to do right now. I’m just trying to also look at that bookshelf and, and not necessarily allow everybody who’s, as I said, it’s all of a sudden realize that we have telephones and that we can call each other, right.

That I am really purposeful in terms of who I allow back into my life if I need to allow anybody back into my life, but also who am I opening my life to at this moment in time?

Alisa Manjarrez: Yeah. I think you’re referring to self-preservation, really. I mean, you can’t afford, to have influences and people in our lives that aren’t lifting us up or supporting us. If they drain us. there’s a difference between giving and you know, all of that. But there is an aspect of protection that I think women don’t always do because they feel selfish and there is a balance of making sure you’re still taking care of yourself with the people you’re surrounding ourselves with.

Merary Simeon: I can’t remember where I heard this, but it said, it’s relationship management, right? You want to be around people that are going to take you to the next positive level in at the same time treating everybody right doesn’t mean you treat everybody the same.

So just because I treat you right, doesn’t mean I’m going to bring you into my inner circle while I’m in my highs or I’m in my lows. So being so careful about how we’re managing those relationships is it’s important. I’m not judging you, but I know where I need to put you in this moment, right at this moment, you’re not going to be somebody that’s going to come into my life and lift me up, and right now I need somebody to lift me up.

So being able to manage those relationships that way, and, that resonated with me, and I can’t remember where I heard it, but treating everybody right doesn’t mean you treat everybody the same. And that comes whether it’s friendships or even family members. If right now what I need is positive is because of everything that’s going up, because the world is falling, you know, all around us.

I gotta be able to manage those relationships for my mental health, for, you know, just for my own joy. Because other people come into your life they can steal that joy from you. And we gotta decide who we allow in and who we don’t.

Alisa Manjarrez: Yeah. I had a friend that told me that I was one of the only positive people she followed on social media and I said, Oh my gosh, who are you following? Because. Like, that’s a bad thing. I should not be the only one there.  this is a time to think about who you’re letting in and, a lot of aspects and you might have a big shelf or a small shelf,  I think it’s awesome, Rosa, to be choosy and picky and that’s self-respect and like keeping your own dignity.

Rosa Santos: I think it’s interesting you say self-respect, but I also think it’s self-care, right? We talked so much about self-care and when we think about self-care, many times, particularly as women, we think, oh, we’ll go to this spa, we’ll get our nails done. It’s like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Is, what about your mental health?

What about your mental, emotional health and self-care, and how are we managing through that and who do you need to, you know, reach out to, to really to have that check-in with yourself and make sure that you’re not going, off the rails. Because all of a sudden you feel that you’re the one who has the world on her shoulders.

You need to feel great with yourself. Before you actually start lending a hand to others around you. And I always remember many years ago when I happened to go to therapy, I was told, you know, when you’re on an airplane, they always tell you, put your mask on first before you can even put it on your own child.

Because if you are not able to breathe for yourself, there’s no way you’re going to be able to help the one who you have next to you and I really believe it’s fundamental that we carve time for ourselves and for what we need.

Merary Simeon:  Mental peace, it doesn’t have a price. Right? So our emotions are our messengers, and we have to listen to those messengers. Don’t judge, but also don’t ignore.

Alisa Manjarrez:   In this time I realize the power of receiving uh, last week, I think I coached 30 new people that I’d never met. They were like popping up in my calendar and I thought that was just my way of giving back. And I started getting snappy and had a bad attitude towards other people in my life and I realized..

Merary Simeon: Not you.

Alisa Manjarrez: I know.

Rosa Santos: The most positive person on social media.

Merary Simeon: I know.

Alisa Manjarrez: I’m falling apart guys. No, I was just like, I texted a friend and I said, I just need to vent. I’m so over the world. And I was angry and my friends said, okay, I’ll give you a call. Let me support you.  I literally said I don’t want support. I just want to vent. And this friend basically forced me to get out all my feelings, talk things through, and  I was so empty, I didn’t know how to receive it. And this person had to basically force me to receive their care. And after that, I bounced back to normal, but it was difficult for me to accept that I even needed help in that moment.

Rosa Santos: Right.

Merary Simeon: I love that it’s phone a friend or text a friend or whatever. I know I did that this week as well, I text one of my friends and I’m just like, hey, I just need to talk before I even respond to the situation that I’m going through. And we spent over two hours on the phone. Rosa, that’s the day that you asked me that I call five people. I’m like, no, because I spent two hours with one, but honestly, I needed the therapy and that’s okay. That’s okay. It’s okay to talk to somebody else because number one, they know you. They’re like, oh, that’s not you. Right? that’s not the positive and happy person, but it’s so critical because I think you said something important, Alisa, and I don’t want to lose it, is that you were being the intake and you were receiving all this, you know, sad or negative things that were coming on to you, right? And you were pouring out all this positiveness and then you ran out, so now you needed to refill your cup. And I think that is so important because sometimes we spend our time giving, giving, giving, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but you have to fill your cup.

Somebody has to call you and tell you how amazing you are, how positive you are, how this too shall pass. Somebody has to feed you some positive,  not things that are unrealistic, but positiveness so that you could continue to be that positive to the next person because I think, and this happens to a lot of women, right?

We are known for being givers and we give, give, give, and sometimes we forget that you know what? I need to make time to receive. I need to make time.

Rosa Santos: Can I give you guys a quick, super quick tool to manage emotions? And I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but it’s “trap it, map it, zap it.” Do you know about it?

Alisa Manjarrez: I’ve never heard of it. I love it already.

Rosa Santos: I really like it. The “trap it” aspect is, you feel a strong emotion coming on, whatever it might be, you might feel anxious or there’s something like, rage inside, whatever it might be.

So you feel it. And, the “trap it” is trap it,  pause. Pause right there. And engage in reflection like what are you feeling? And ask yourself, what am I feeling once you’ve done that, go to “map it” and map it is, really identifying where that emotion, is coming from.

What’s causing it? So I know what it is now. I trapped it. I defined it. I know what it is. That’s the mapping aspect. And then you “zap it.” What you’re doing is challenging yourself. Challenging that negative thought and really just trying to get out of it. Like, okay, I got it.

I’m feeling it, I know what it’s coming from. Now I need to “zap it” and I need to tell myself what can I do about it? And the power of the, what can I do about it, might be I need to call a friend because alone, I’m not going to be able to get out of this.

Alisa Manjarrez: Yeah. You can’t address it unless you actually know what it is.

Rosa Santos: Exactly, exactly.

Merary Simeon: It’s assessing it, it’s what’s going on and how realistic is it? Is it as bad as I think it is? What’s the worst thing that can happen? And I think we automatically go into the worst-case scenario, but then you got to go into a, what’s the best thing that can happen?

Rosa Santos: Exactly.

Merary Simeon: Yeah. Even if you don’t think it’s a possibility, you’re like, let me just imagine. Let me just imagine what is the best thing that can happen. And I think. Many of us, including me, sometimes we just get so stuck in the worst-case scenario that we forget to imagine the best-case scenario.

Rosa Santos: Exactly. Yeah, that’s awesome.

Alisa Manjarrez: “Trap it, map it, zap it.”

Rosa Santos: Yup, that’s right.

Alisa Manjarrez: I think that’s what my friend did with me, made me trap it, like seriously forced me to feel the feelings. Then map it, where are these feelings coming from, and now what are we going to do with it?

Rosa Santos: Yup.

Alisa Manjarrez: And either you realize it is a big deal and wow, this needs to be addressed or you realize it was nothing and you can zap it really fast.

Rosa Santos: Yeah.

Merary Simeon: I love that.

Rosa Santos: What are you guys doing that you weren’t doing before this came on? I mean, is there something new that you first started or any new hobbies that you..

Alisa Manjarrez: I started eating more luxurious foods. Like I was telling you guys, okay. I never ate rice before because I thought it was like so high carb and then I bought it to stock up and I love rice. I never knew how much I loved rice.

Merary Simeon: We eat rice every day here.

Alisa Manjarrez: Yeah, rice. And then, I was telling you guys earlier, half and half in my coffee, usually drink it black, but I’ll put sugar and cream now, although I will be switching to whole milk. Thank you, Rosa, for that tip.

Rosa Santos: I’m glad. I’m glad. I love how rice becomes luxurious for you. When you said that, I was like, oh, what is she gonna say? It’s rice.

Alisa Manjarrez: Rice. It was like a quote-unquote bad food, like too carby and so for years, like just avoided rice and now I’m like, you know what? I’m going to eat this rice and it’s good.

 

Merary Simeon: You got to try my Puerto Rican beans. You love it with rice, that’s what we eat every day. My kids eat that every day.

Alisa Manjarrez: I want that.

Merary Simeon:  For me, definitely two things. Cooking because all the people that know me, including my husband knows that I don’t like to cook. So that has been new. And my kids, it’s so cute.

They’re like, mom, you are the best cook in the world. And I’m just like, Oh my God. All I do is making rice and beans every day. But they love it.

They don’t even eat the actual beans. They just eat like, you know, the gravy of it. But they love it. So just to hear them say that is cute. And it honestly, and it’s not that I didn’t spend time with my kids and my husband before, but I feel it’s more quality time. Like, it’s not like we’re just home dinner and, hey, did you do this?

Did you do that? It’s like, we’re laughing, we’re playing. The kids see me and my husband playing and laughing and you know, he’s lifting me up in the air and the kids are like, Oh my God, mom and dad, they didn’t see that before. And not because we don’t love each other, but because we’re so busy just trying to get the day’s done.

And I think it was yesterday before yesterday, I was like, Oh my God. Like the kids are really, really loving this. And as we talk about, we want to create a different society like how are my kids going to know what love really is if they don’t see mom and dad show it? So I’ve been even more intentionally now, not trying to cook, but no, I’m actually trying to do that because it is beautiful.

It makes me happy. And I know, and you should see their faces is just so powerful. But those would be the two things I’m cooking. And that’s a lot for me. And I’m just spending more like natural time with the family.

Rosa Santos: No, that’s awesome. I guess I’m not as profound as you guys are you always so much more profound than me?

Alisa Manjarrez: Wait. You told us you bought 50 pounds of flour. I don’t think that’s your norm.

Rosa Santos: Yes, yes, yes we did. We did buy 50 pounds of flour because while you’re eating a lot of rice, we’re eating a lot of bread. So we’ve got gone back to making bread from scratch, only to realize, as I said at the beginning, we came into this really late and we didn’t have any flour so. I managed to find a mill up in Minnesota who delivered literally 50 pounds of flour on my door yesterday, which was sweet. We all got so excited. We got so much flour, but also I think like you Merary spending more quality time with family. So I do a lot of FaceTime with my European family and I’m doing things that we never did before, like really good friends that we have on the shelf that.

Merary Simeon: Yeah.

Rosa Santos: Uh, but just, we have a recurrent virtual dinner online where they have their own dinner.

We have our own dinner. We sit at the table and their kids and our kid, and we just enjoy a couple of hours just, you know, chatting. I really, really enjoy that. Just finding the time to enjoy this slow. It’s something that’s coming back for us.

And also my brother in law is Italian. He’s from Northern Italy and we had the pleasure to visit with them in Italy this last Christmas, and I started to learn Italian because I wanted to be able to speak to his mum and dad, and I was so bad. Of course, like, you know, you think you take like a quick course and then you know how to speak, but you don’t, but I’m, doing that right now.

I want to be able to have conversational Italian by the end of the year. Let’s see if we got there. 

Merary Simeon: You’re talking about that not be motivational. That’s awesome.

Alisa Manjarrez: All I said was, I eat more rice.

Rosa Santos: No. But you guys, but it’s amazing about, also being in the digital age, that everything comes to you if you want it to come to you. Right? So, you can download any of those, online teachers to teach you anything you want.

Alisa Manjarrez: There’s a lot of free courses out there. I signed up for a Yale course on the Science of happiness, and there was another one but I haven’t done it. I just thought like, this is what I’ll do.

Merary Simeon: I was like, you would sign up for something like that. That’s just awesome.

Alisa Manjarrez: I was like, Oh, I’ll take this Yale course. Of course. But then I’m like, Netflix, Netflix is my BFF right now.

Merary Simeon: Right? I think that’s okay. I think there’s a time for everything. You know, that’s a time to think about, hey, what’s the vision? And there’s a time to be like, you know what, there’s just too much going on. I don’t, I don’t want to do anything right now.

And that should be okay too, I think is just being mindful that you don’t stay stuck there. And if I had to give any advice to the listeners is don’t ignore the feelings, but don’t stay stuck in them either, right? Because there’s one thing about being able to be sad and cry and, and there’s another thing about making sure that you realize the joy that it is just to wake up every day and breathe.

I know some people may be going through depression and they may think that there’s nothing to live for out there, but there is somebody out there that wishes that they had what you had at that moment,  or that wishes to be able to walk or speak or even feel. So just even imagining those small things, if we have nothing to be thankful for, be thankful that you are even listening to this podcast today.

We need to recognize what’s going on. I don’t want people to come across like, Oh, we just happily here ever after.

No, we have to recognize it, but we cannot let that govern our lives. That’s not what we were made to do. We were not made to suffer. We were made to be happy and enjoy, you know, our lives even in the midst of chaos. So I would hope that our listeners can find today that one glimmer of hope of that sunshine or something out there, and if it’s raining, you know, that freshwater that’s coming down, just to be able to smile again

And I’m hoping that there is some light of hope that can bring you because I don’t want people to ignore their feelings. I want them to recognize them and I want them to be able to.

Alisa Manjarrez: Trap it, map it, and zap it!

Rosa Santos: You know, trap it, map it, and zap it, you guys.

Merary Simeon: Yeah. 

Alisa Manjarrez: Trap it, map it and zap it. I’m taking that home with me.

Rosa Santos: Of course.