Here We Go Again..

In today's episode, we discuss a variety of topics, such as how to stay mentally tough throughout the parasite outbreak and current affairs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome to the Art of Conversation. It's your girl Alicia C. And we outcha recording live y'all. Happy Friday, everyone. Good morning. I hope you're feeling fantastic. This Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Been gone for a minute, but I'm back with the jump off. You know, there's been a lot of things going on in the world, man. Sometimes you gotta, sometimes you gotta let the world, let time, let things cook and then resurface. You know what I'm saying? How you feeling, how you live, and I hope everybody has been enjoying. I guess what's this, the beginning? Starter pack of summer. It's been hot as hell. The United States seemingly went straight to you know where because this kind of heat is inhumane and very intolerable. Um, and you know, the heat brings out the worst in people. Like, you see the worst behaviors when people are overheated, hungry, and freaking tired. I hope everyone's been doing well. I hope you've been productive, having fun, enjoyed your June, enjoyed your May, enjoyed your April, enjoyed your March, your feb and your Jan. Because I just feel like we gotta recap. Now we're in July, like, oh my god, we're in our seventh month. That means time waits on no one. Alrighty. You don't have time to waste. So enjoy, cherish, make great memories, live. They they say live like tomorrow isn't promise. True facts, because you don't know. But live live the way you know your older self would want you to have lived in your prime when you had the time and energy and strength and the mind, the the well, all of the above, the finances, etc., to do it, right? It's so much stuff happening in this world. It's always been a lot of things happening in this world, but you know, just from having several and mutual conversations with others, it seems that more and more people are agreeing. Hey, you know, we get it, and we're in the last days. I say all that to say that the title of today's episode is Here We Go Again. That's the title. That's it. Like more so a gesture, really. Because what is this? What is this? What's up? Let's play catch up. What's up? What's been going on? What's up? I know you guys have been checking in. Um, sometimes it's good to take a break from the media and the outsider world. We talk about self-care, mental health, wellness. We talk about this a lot on this platform. Um, it's what I advocate for. It's part of the reason why I even got into entrepreneurship, and the list goes on. It's just a plethora of things. We can all agree. Shit hasn't been the same since 2020. COVID, post-COVID, a whole new reality we got zapped into. Like, I don't even like back up for a second. I don't want to call it reality. A whole new matrix, right? And it's for you to break yourself out of the matrix. Self-care, mental health, wellness. Mm-hmm. So, what do we mean by here we go again? I mean, listen, y'all. Are y'all paying attention or nah? Are y'all being safe? Have you been safe? You know, I gotta always flip the questions on you guys. We're in July now, right? It's summer. Fair enough to say. Have you learned anything since this year has started that you did not know in previous years? Maybe you didn't know in 2025, 2024. Maybe you didn't know as of the month of July or the month of June. Maybe you learned something new in February, March. Like really sit and think. Did I learn anything? Has there been anything new, new information, a new way of thinking, a new perspective, a new way of like lifestyle? Like, is there if you were to sit down right now and just think back, it doesn't even have to be like a shitload of things. Like, if you can sit here real quick, what have you learned anything since this year started? Have you learned anything about yourself that you didn't know about previously? Let's take it a little higher. It's Friday, right? Have you learned anything new this week? You know, I like to challenge people, get you thinking, self-reflect. There's something to put on the back burner, and the reason why I say that is hey, are you guys paying attention or not? Seriously, are y'all being safe? Are you being grounded? Are you making sure mentally you're checked in? Are you aware of this nonsense, this parasite that's causing symptoms that cause severe explosive diarrhea, cramping, and fatigue? All right. I know, I know, that was a shift, right? But that's what I mean by here we go, because we're getting tossed so many different things at once. And you want to sometimes disconnect and not feed into it as you shouldn't, right? So you take heed, you know, you proceed with caution, but you also know that you can't let it consume you. However, when it's things that's happening that can be a threat to your health and other things, you pay closer attention. So I I think uh what is it? Cyclospiasis. Yeah? Cyclospiriasis is the name of this thing. I forgot there's another term for this type of worm, aka parasite, but again, it causes symptoms that are severe. And some people have already reported having this and needing antibiotics. And people are enraged, of course, like many other things. No proper warning, protocol, preventative, what's the intervention, right? Where is it coming from? What what what are the preventative measures, right? So we hear about CDC reporting that, hey, uh, we're under surveillance for this parasite outbreak in the United States is so far as of June 30th, running reports of 145 cases thus far. People started becoming sick, so to speak. And you know, you gotta say allegedly, so to speak, because we don't really know for sure. We're just seeing the outbreak, right? As of May 1st through June 16th, and then you know they do the data extraction, and as of June 30th, that's what they're reporting, and sick people range in the ages from 5 to 86 with a median age of 42, and coincidentally, 61% were female. So we go back to preventative and intervention. Where's it coming from? How you stop it? What what how how long it lasts? What what is this shit? According to the CDC, as of June 16th, there have been 45 cases where the people who became sick and reported this sickness are people who ate or drank food or had water that made them sick while they were traveling outside of the United States. So then here they come, traveling back to the United States, yeah, with whatever they caught, whatever attached to them, and they brought it here, and come on. We all witnessed how some people were with the social distancing. You catch something in another country, you bring your ass back into the country, and you're not it's like a mix between you're not a responsible enough adult to thoroughly wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, uh-uh. You know, there's no age range, right? There's no age range. So things that we would assume adults would be doing, they don't always do, unfortunately. And it's a matter of protecting yourself because others aren't. Yeah, there. I listen, you got you gotta call it for what it is. You know what I'm saying? It's just like being a, you know, I don't want to go too far off, but it's like being a great driver, right? I'm a great driver. I know many great drivers, but you still have to be cautious as fuck on that road because there's other not-so-good drivers who's not paying attention, who has road rage. You have pedestrians, people who think they're invincible and walk on water, just walk in the street, just walk in for the cars and expect, hey, you need to stop. We have the right of way. There's so many things, right? And you again, you can be a phenomenal driver, always on point. You like, uh. And you can have an accident because of someone else. Listen. There was people I knew who caught COVID and they wore a mask every day. They even, you know, some of them wore gloves. Oh, no handshake. No. I mean, I don't blame them because again, it goes back to you shake your hands, giving fist pumps, yo, give me pounds, son. What up? What up? What up? What did you wash your hands? What's up? I've seen people walk out of bathrooms. I've seen people's hands end up in between their ass cracks while waiting for checkout online. I've seen videos and caught people digging up their ass, their nose, smelling, digging whatever particles is under their nails. No bathroom in sight. Wipe their hands in their d I've seen all type of shit. This is why people don't really really fancy holding rails and holding stairway like ugh. Again, you clean, you wash your hands, you clean, but other people ain't. So I know that there was a lot of protocols in place during the COVID pandemic, and I feel like we never really exit the COVID pandemic, so it's kind of weird to say like post, because although that may have seemingly fade out, another variant came, another variant came, another variant came, and another variant, it came, another variant. So it's like every other week you're expected a new variant, and now you know. Oh, excuse me, I'm going too far ahead, right? We had the the the bugs, um the what the hell was it? It it was something. See, I don't even remember because after a while you just lose track, like it's so much things, and who's keeping track of all of that? Hell no, I got better fish, no, better things to do, bigger fish to fry. All right. I say all of that to say preventative and intervention, right? I keep emphasizing that. Alright, so it's prior, you know, just like COVID. Whoever traveled during the pandemic, and you know how you had to quarantine, and if you got sick, you're quarantined before you can get, you know, those kind of protocols in place. We're trying to find out, we haven't heard as of yet, what are the protocols with this parasite, you know. New York having the most cases thus far, because it seems to be more, I guess the the numbers are higher, more so East Coast-ish. I want to say New York, again, is reporting with the most than Texas, Illinois, uh, PA, etc. There's hearsay that it might be related to food, specifically fruits and the water, right? That's all they really give us. They just recommend washing and scrubbing hands, scrubbing the fruits, any pre-wash produce, you should be still washing them thoroughly. And I feel like these are things that kind of like the inevitable. We we we yeah, we were doing that, you know. Some don't understood. All right, that's cool. What else do you have for us though? What else? All right, how long does it stay in your body? Some people reported being sick for excuse me, sick for two weeks. Others saying that they had to go get antibiotics, they had to hydrate, they became very I mean, yeah, diarrhea, anything. You're gonna become dehydrated, especially how they've explained it. Um, and it's just constant, constant. Uh sounds pretty horrible. Uh but again, like, what do you guys? Here we go. It's we're going through a heat wave, it's hot. One variant kind of passed, but kind of lingered, but you don't hear about it anymore, really. Now it's this parasite, and I just feel like here we go again. Like, like that's clearly not enough, right? There's still a mix of subvariants actively circulating the United States and globally. They mutate, they're unleashed, they've so conveniently forgot to mention the brain-eating amoeba that's been found in tap water and the flesh-eating bacteria in the water along the east coast. How do you not mention that? And I wonder why you haven't, just like how you've withhold much, much, much, much, much, much, much, and many, many, many, many, many, many lots of information from the US citizens. And clearly it could be con it's connected. It could be. Why? Because uh brain-eating amoeba found in tap water, then there's flesh-eating bacteria found in the east coast, and we're seeing high cases along Central, especially East Coast. Just said that New York has the highest. Then comes Texas and Illinois, and it's just like you you're posting on your website, you're making these reports, you're sending out notifications, letting us know now, um, after the fact. And it's just like with COVID, we know that this shit started way before 2020. Okay, and they just we were just the last to find out, just like these things. You know, once it's already out spreading, people in cases already accumulating, that's when we get notified, and then it's like, all right, so they can't specify really, you know. There's some articles and reporting saying it's lettuce and be careful of fruit, and and and and be careful of like the waters when you go out, and when you this and when you that and that. But my thing is how do you not let people know that other part? Because clearly that's why people are getting this parasite. And if you're talking about all these cases, and you know, 45 of them are from people who travel outside. What do you do when you travel? Hell yeah, you're doing excursions, you're at the beach, the pool, you know, these are all like community petri dishes, I like to call them adult-sized petri dishes filled with fucking germs. Yuck. But you have a good time, right? You take the precautions. You're eating food that maybe you're not accustomed to. You're smelling and inhaling air, different from our air. Water's different, density is different, depending on where you travel to, of course. What they use in their food, the spices, everything is different. You don't know how your body's gonna adjust to that. Yes. Um, if you're someone who loves water like myself, I'd be up in them pools, the beach, water, love it, but you don't underestimate, right? And then we had the World Cup. So then you have people traveling, traveling, traveling, and the world, these big events with large quantities of people all at once. Some people don't know that they already have something, they have a bug, it just hasn't presented itself, the symptoms that is, it hasn't surfaced as of yet, so they don't know if they're sick as of yet. So there's that, and you know, and then there's people who have COVID and brush it off. There's still those things that are still going around. Uh, they claim the pneumonia that was going like since this year started, but this is not a surprise. This is what happens every year, just a clusterfuck of events, phenomenons. And we always talk about trying to remain grounded in self-care, mental wellness, and the chaos, making sure you're good because if you're not mentally strong, you'll crumble. How you can be handling and kind of tying up the loose ends with certain things, and then here comes the dodgeballs the emp the unemployment rate, the job market, living cost, the trains, this. Carefully this this person shot violence food costs this is fake what you're eating is fake what you're eating is fake social media this this now this this now this is gonna happen they're gonna do this rent freeze this that next one this like is a whole bunch of stuff that's been going on within the what the past month month and a half two months have you been able to stand firm well have you braced yourself if you're traveling take the necessary precautions to keep yourself and your loved ones and your friends safe if you're coming back from your travels take the necessary measures and precaution that you need to make sure yourself your loved ones your friends are safe stay safe out there folks and you know it really sucks because many of us especially myself love a good adventure a great a great one a great adventure in fact right love being in the water love all that fun shit and I just feel like they just keep tampering with our shit and it just reminds me you know I'm always dropping this in most of the episodes when I say it's that good old delgation thing again right if I can't get to you I will give you the resources to take your own self out and take others out right and we're just seeing it it we're definitely in the last days for sure um we are cherish and make great memories y'all it's just mad shit and you we all know that like things have to get worse before it gets better so we're seeing just that they're tampering with our stuff the planes that we're dropping from the sky the attack the attack on bodies of water the food the technology the weed the alcohol the air we breathe hoo hoo who chat hoo we're experiencing a heat wave I gotta emphasize that again because it was awful and nasty yesterday it's going to be the same today because it's the same degrees and then from today straight through about what Monday or Tuesday gonna be hot as hell with rain so that's gonna be kind of sticky muggy nasty but yeah in addition to all of this people have been on their worst behaviors you know in the midst of chaos are you staying grounded like this is one of those episodes where it just we're just shooting like flying like FYI like we're all aware of this but it's like are you really paying attention to the stuff that's happening? Are you really like paying attention to not only the space you occupy in your communities but the people around you in the midst of chaos are you staying grounded? Are you mentally well? Are you still keeping up with your self-care on the chart one to ten mentally when we talk about mental wellness mentally healthy how mentally healthy are you and if you're not at a satisfying enough number what do you need to do to fix that well are you especially during times as such you should be making that your priority listen I just said in the beginning of this episode right you only live once live your life to the fullest bills are gonna always be there pain heartache disappointment betrayal is a part of the life experience but so is love joy kindness companionship you gotta take the good with the bad make the best of it you know when they say oh this is the cards I was dealt yeah we're playing cards we're playing dominoes how much of your time and energy you want to waste on oh oh my god oh my god oh my god when shit hit the fan where you gonna go you might as well just live and enjoy him and know that yo because like you see the direction of this country and this world and I keep and it's not to be repetitive it's just to emphasize the importance of remembering to pick your battles wisely does this really need my time and energy is so much else going on priority what's what do I value in this moment right now what do I value in this moment right now what do I value what's part of my core beliefs maybe that will help you navigate strategies on how to move forward in times like this because there's gonna always be times like this and it's okay the importance of being mentally healthy especially during these times is because the enemy likes to attack you during these times right the enemy loves to attack you when you're in a vulnerable state when your mind is not at peace when your mind is in an energy that's detrimental to and for you attacks when you're not mentally strong or at least test you when you're in between we've done an episode on enemies and how they come in so many different shapes and forms I'll let the mic drop on that because I want you to walk away with that question in mind who or what are the enemies in your life what do I need to do what do you need to do what strategies do you need to take implement everyone's definition of an enemy could differ however we can all relate that it is some sort of negative entity we'll use that because enemies is not always just a person right negative entity negative force whichever that actively opposes you in any any every shape or form right it creates conflict it seeks to do you some type of form but I always find it crazy that they love to attack our resources pay attention to what they're attacking folks pay attention to what they are attacking the food the water the way we communicate the way we think operate it's crazy like the plan is and has always been to escape that matrix that they unfortunately just put placed you in put you there forced you right the United States operates as if it's in a toxic relation a toxic just fucking abusive nasty narcissistic relationship that just never never walked away never ended it just just in it just cycling cycling and just basically consuming whoever is connecting or involved or active parties in this relationship it's fucking crazy listen happy Friday y'all enjoy your weekend be safe stay prayed and peace out