Experiencing Amazing Transformation
Welcome to the Experiencing Amazing Transformation Podcast, where we dive deep into the power of personal growth, spirituality, and the incredible journey of transformation with God. This podcast is a beacon of hope, designed to encourage and inspire individuals from all walks of life.
Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of ordinary people who have overcome extraordinary challenges through their unwavering faith and connection with the divine. Through their experiences, we discover that no matter what you're facing—be it hardships, doubts, or insecurities—there is a path to victory and a way to conquer any obstacle with God by your side.
Each episode is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the limitless potential that lies within. We bring you conversations with thought leaders, spiritual guides, and everyday heroes who share practical insights, tools, and strategies to help you navigate your own transformative journey.
Through honest discussions and heartfelt stories, we provide a safe space for self-reflection, growth, and empowerment. Our mission is to remind you that you are not alone and that your connection with God can empower you to rise above any circumstance, no matter how daunting it may seem.
So, if you're seeking inspiration, encouragement, and the unwavering belief that you can overcome anything with God's guidance, this podcast is for you. Join us on this transformative adventure and discover the amazing possibilities that await as you experience the profound transformation that is within your reach.
Experiencing Amazing Transformation
The Voice That Refuses to Be Silenced: Josh's Journey
What happens when someone transforms their darkest struggles into art that heals not just themselves, but others? Josh, a recovering addict and gifted poet, takes us on a profound journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and ultimately, the power of human connection.
Speaking with raw honesty, Josh shares how he defied the devastating statistics—only 2% of people recover from methamphetamine addiction—while still living in Highland, the very community where his addiction began. Rather than running from his past, he faces it daily, becoming living proof that escape is possible for those still caught in the cycle.
"When sunflowers don't have access to the sun, they turn towards each other and share their energy," Josh tells us, perfectly capturing his philosophy of recovery. His work at a Circle K gas station might seem ordinary, but Josh finds profound meaning in being part of people's daily routines. This connection to community became his lifeline: "The minute somebody knocks on the door, it's like a cure-all." For Josh, poetry transformed from private processing to public healing when he began sharing his notebook with others. The unexpected gift? As his words lift others, their responses lift him in return.
The episode crescendos with Josh performing two powerful original poems that leave everyone breathless—"Mental Health Awareness" and "Revival Mode." His unflinching verses about overthinking, depression, and ultimately finding resilience reveal why his voice resonates so deeply. "Resilience is born when one's strength is depleted," he writes, offering hope precisely because he acknowledges the depth of suffering.
Follow Josh's continued journey @xocoverguyxo on all socials and witness how one person's vulnerability can create ripples of healing far beyond themselves. Have you discovered the healing power of sharing your own story?
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Just straight, tell it all, just straight, tell it all. All right, guys, welcome back to Experiencing Amazing Transformations. And we are sitting here at wind down Wednesday, here at the Squire, and we have our lovely Josh with us today. Hi, how are you, our poet, josh the poet?
Speaker 2:Do you?
Speaker 1:go by that? Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think that's what the flyer says at one time Okay.
Speaker 1:So, josh, if you wouldn't mind, just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:So my name is Josh, I'm 33. I am a recovering addict and I work at Circle K. I like something about working at a gas station, getting to see people every day. It just it gives me something that I need in my life. It brings a lot of positivity. And like when you like I take the bus I don't have a car yet, but like I take the bus and when you see other people sitting on that bus and they've got a circle cake coffee in their hand, it's like you're a part of their existence, you're a part of the things that keep them moving every single day. And it's just like this is that circle, this is, this is and I get to play a small part in that and it's just, it's a, it's humbling but you have a serving heart I waited tables for 20 years yeah like the worst part about this world is the best part about it, and that's people.
Speaker 2:And I couldn't function if I wasn't around people I love that like when I get in my depression and I can't get out of bed.
Speaker 1:It's like the minute somebody knocks on the door.
Speaker 2:It's's like a cure-all. It's like the presence of somebody else in your life gives you what you need to have, and I don't know. People make the world better. They make my world better. I mean, I can't speak for other people, but I can speak for myself, and they make my world better.
Speaker 1:That is so profound. That really is because of, of course, the Bible tells us man should not live, it's not good that man should be alone and just to hear you say that other people makes you happy. That's exactly what God was saying. Doesn't matter who it is, it's just people, and you're a people person and with that that's a gift. A lot of us run from people because we don't understand each other or we don't want to take the time to learn each other. But you're willing to just be a little part, just just a smile, a glimmer of hope. I mean, you are such a delight just seeing you. I didn't even get to speak to you when we were setting up, but just to feel your energy is amazing. That's a gift from God and do not take it for granted.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you yes.
Speaker 1:So you set the vibe tonight, you went on first, you showed out first.
Speaker 2:So tell us how did that feel.
Speaker 1:What does it mean to you to be on a stage like this and set the vibe the way that you did? Because the night is going off without a hitch, because you started it like that. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's right. So most of what I write about is obviously it's from my, my perspective.
Speaker 2:But if it's my perspective, then it's somebody else's perspective and somebody else can relate to it in some kind of way, and if I can touch somebody and they can feel what I felt and know that there's somebody in their corner, that they're not alone, then that's all that matters, and so most of what I write about it is I've overcome a lot and I've been through a lot, and so I used to work at a treatment center and they always preach about you needing to tell your story.
Speaker 2:I never did that, because it's my story Okay, right, okay, and the only safe space that I've ever had. And Then getting on a stage and sharing my notebook with other people Wow, it's. It's to know that something that I said or did uplifted them, because I got through it. They don't realize that that's the reciprocity that I'm getting from that, because they're uplifting my life, because that was never my intention. Yeah, that was never my goal. Like it was, like I was just trying to get through my day. That was the only way powerful that's you're you're actually exactly what this podcast is about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I told God that I wanted to tell my story because I wanted. I wanted to be the me that nobody had, that I didn't have. I wanted to show someone that I would be there for them because I didn't have anyone. I wanted to show someone that I would be there for them because I didn't have anyone when I was going through my depression. So for you to be that person that's what this is about. We want to hear your voice. There are people out there that look just like me and you and they need you. They need you. You're needed because you overcame something that some of us have no clue how to get over. We are paralyzed in our situation because we just don't know. We don't know anybody that's gotten over it, because people don't talk, we don't tell our business, we keep it to ourselves and we need help.
Speaker 2:I'm a cancer. I will always tell you exactly how I feel. I love it. I can't not. So then then that that becomes a thing that's problematic in my life because, like, people don't want to speak up, but they don't want you to speak up either wow and I'm not gonna not, I'm not gonna not speak like I'm not gonna know. Yeah, I, that's what I have and that's If. That's all that I have, and that's what I have, and that's enough.
Speaker 1:You can do a lot with the boys so about being here tonight, I about being here tonight what do you want people to know about you before you read your poems Like, what do you want people to get from you?
Speaker 2:So I still live in Highland and it's a place where I'm surrounded by what I got through every day.
Speaker 2:I'm still surrounded by, I still see people that I know that are still there and not where they're wanting to be, or maybe they're not wanting to be there, but to know that I'm surrounded by it but I got out of it. That means that they can get out of it and you know, it's the smallest things in life that mean the most. And my mom is still in her active addiction and I don't want to. I don't want my hurts or what I'm going through, my struggle, to be forced onto somebody else in that capacity and like I want people to know that you know like if you want it, like you can have it, like you don't.
Speaker 2:Somebody posted this morning on Facebook that only 2% of people recover from meth. That's such a small statistic. Right, and in the Highlands, the statistic for how many people are on meth would far exceed 2%. Wow, on a magnanimous scale, like humongous. And to just be a small part of that change. I have this firm belief that when I start doing better for myself, other people start doing better for themselves, even if I've not met them.
Speaker 2:Like it's just made a change, so either change you want to see yeah, somebody once told me that when sunflowers don't have access towards the sun, to the sun, they turn towards each other and share their energy. They do. That's the message that I want to preach every day. So I bought a website and it's called the sunflower. It's gonna be a newspaper of kindness, because it takes your effort to perform an act of kindness, and that's that positive energy. That's me sharing my energy even when I feel like I don't have any. That's me. That's me giving my voice. That's put me in a box, lock me away, bitch, you're still gonna go hear me like I mean. That's what.
Speaker 1:I've got, so while we have you, let us hear.
Speaker 2:For those of us who have suffered past traumas, overthinking is nothing more than expressing our love and showing someone that we care. Nothing more than expressing our love and showing someone that we care, only to get overtaken by the guilt of having been walked all over emotionally instead of being self-aware. Instead of reciprocation, we receive humiliation, as if we were nothing more than an egg in someone's con Overeasy. Then people like you will look at us with shame in your eyes and talk all about how our decisions were unwise, as if they had something to do with you All. Because we overshare and attempt to gain some common ground that we find relatable. You find that to be debatable. Well, because it's empathizing. You say our three-person circles, if that are too big.
Speaker 2:Have you heard of Marie Kondo Girl? You should try downsizing. We have cried ourselves sick and our walls become so overgrown and thick, hiding the heart we once offered up so freely. You say to get out of bed. It's not that bad. Stop victimizing yourself. Let me stop you right there. Bitch Really.
Speaker 2:Now, if you wouldn't mind, please excuse my profane digression. It was brought on by a combination of things, including stress, anxiety and depression. You'll say it's alright, we'll talk all about how. You know what it's like, though You've done nothing more than sit here comparing an apple to a potato. Now, our situation could have turned out differently, if only we'd taken things at face value instead of playing what you like to call the red flag game. Ironically, overthinking is one and the same. You'll say it's our fault and we're simply a quitter, followed by how we're just being overly bitter. Why? Because we refuse to agree with what we consider to be an absurd and distorted take on reality that by no means reflects what we've been through but it's super cute how this conversation is now all about you.
Speaker 2:You've sat here overlooking your own narcissistic toxicity by masking your judgments with false positivity. This conversation's like these and people like you that push our buttons and limits because you have no clue the struggles that we now face every day while trying to pray our own demons away. Most of us don't even understand why. So to say that you get it, that's a fucking lie.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry again, that was just careless.
Speaker 2:I wrote this, however, just for mental health awareness.
Speaker 1:Snap. Oh my gosh, thank you, oh my gosh, thank you, josh. Josh, that's something you gotta. That's hippie, josh. You just gotta sit in this, josh. Josh, that's something you gotta. That's heavy.
Speaker 2:You just gotta sit in that yeah yeah, oh, my God, you gotta sit in that you can't just get at the people you can't go weird.
Speaker 1:Jesus Woo, josh and you went on first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you said that, but if I may, I would like to read something I didn't read on stage.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:This is called Revival Mode. Finding myself has been quite the journey. Hell, it's been an ordeal, because I was at this point in my life where I couldn't tell the fake from the real. Survival mode blinded me, sort of numbed, all that pain allowing me to tolerate the things that I couldn't change, couldn't or wouldn't. You see, that line starts to blur here, where there's no fight or flight, there's simply just Fear. Fear of what's happened, though it's now in the past. Fear of accepting this time won't be the last. Fear of that feeling you've let everyone down. Fear things might get better if you're no longer around. You see, fear is a mindset. It's those unanswered questions where we judge our self-worth based on life's circumstances, and I started to think this might just be the end. I had no one to turn to, not family.
Speaker 1:Not friends.
Speaker 2:And then I got angry seeing my life up in flames, and that was the moment when everything changed. Because if enough is enough, then I was surely defeated. But resilience is born when one's strength is depleted and I don't know where I'm going yet. So this might come as a shock, but invest in yourself, please. It's worth more than stock. I'm not just building a future, I'm creating my legacy, overcoming the obstacles that were put here to test me.
Speaker 2:Now we might call them hurdles, but that doesn't mean they will hurt us. It's life challenging us, so we can walk on our purpose. See, I won't aim for perfection when I can't hold a candle, but I will never be given any more than I can handle. The best advice I've ever been given if you're sitting inside, then you're not out there living. I've stood on stages like these and brought people to tears by sharing the experiences that I've endured over the years, and that was never the goal, much less my intention, but it sparked something inside of me and it gave me a mission to keep shedding light on struggles too often overlooked. I just never knew how much courage that took.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, oh, thank you, all right, all right, yeah, y'all have any questions in the audience, right? Because, uh, that's, you just told my story, josh, josh, wow, wow, woo. You're powerful, that's. It takes a lot of courage to do this, to share your story, to first overcome it and get out of that anger mode and just put it into words.
Speaker 2:I feel like if I had never gotten on a stage, I wouldn't have gotten out of it. Like it's one thing to put your thoughts on a piece of paper and it'd be your safe space, but you say that you want to change the world. Isn't changing the world if you're? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So, josh? So where can the viewers find you, follow you, listen to you, get the book that got birthed and out of you Like, where can we get to you? So you can follow me on my social media at xo cover guy xo well, thank you so much for coming on, thank you for being here, thank you for sharing and I hope to see you again. Thank you, guys like that. Yeah, yeah.
