Finding Strength & Growth From Dark Times | Logic

0:00One crunchy bite of a Hershey's cookies and cream bar and I'm taken right back to college move-in day. I was a little overwhelmed by the newness of it all. Boxes were everywhere. I needed a break from unpacking. But just as I was able to take a breath and open my Hershey's cookies and cream bar, my new roommate Rachel walked in. I offered her a piece, but she said no. Then after a beat, she said, actually, those are my favorite ones. We left. The ice was broken and we've been friends ever since. Hershey's, it's your happy place. Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.

0:42What was the age growing up that you feel like was the darkest for you? I got a couple of them. I mean, I just remember when my mom was locked up in a mental institution and my sisters kind of took over the house and they're like 14 and, you know, they're doing what 14 year old kids in the hood tend to do yeah so I didn't have anybody really and they kind of looked out for me which was cool but then at the same time one of my darkest and most times of feeling alone was when I was 28 years old and I had the whole world in the palm of my hands and uh nobody else understood what I was going through and a majority of people whether they were rappers other entertainers that I would go to would kind of be like oh yeah man yeah yeah no it's cool you'll be all right because they're also don't want to deal with what they were going through at the same time it's kind of gnarly uh how old were you then when at the younger age when your sisters were 14 like nine nine so nine and 28 when you were nine what was the thing you were going through the most what was the biggest challenge it's funny i knew that i wasn't like everybody else in my household um and yet because of coming up in my household, I also knew that I wasn't like all the other kids in the neighborhood or at school, which was kind of like a difficult thing.

1:55And don't get me wrong. Like I fit in. I had a group of friends and people that I would hang out with, but it was like, I also didn't fit in, you know, it was a difficult thing. I just want everybody listening and watching to know, like, I don't say any of what I'm going to say here about my family and my childhood with any malice. You know, it's just, I've forgiven these people for what they've done. But at the end of the day, the truth hurts. the truth hurt me as a kid and it is what it is. And though I may be brutally honest, is if they feel any type of way, they should have felt something 30 years ago before they treated a child like s**t.

2:30So that's, I just want to say that. I think it was extremely difficult. Like my mom is religious, but like not really. My mom's the type of woman to go, you know, don't take the Lord's name in vain, God s**t. And whenever you ask questions or, Or, you know, and kids ask questions. You should ask questions. But a lot of faith, which I respect and I understand it is faith. And that's why they call it faith, because you just have to have faith. But when you're a kid, you're like, yeah, but why? Exactly. And you're kind of told, you're told, no, we don't question. That was very difficult. Having these questions or these ideas and always just being met with because I said so was extremely difficult.

3:09That's not a good enough response for me either. parents and they still do this tend to treat their kids like they're stupid you know what i mean but it's like they're the ones who should be educating them so if they're asking a question instead of because i said so why not be completely honest like my wife she's the best mom and little bobby will take his toy and like throw it because he's like a year and a half and he'll just throw it and she goes no honey we want to be gentle and he looks at her and he's like because we don't want to hurt our toys and obviously we can't hurt our toys but we're teaching this boy to hold value in something i saw a lot of things in those dark times and it really shaped me and it's and has continued to help me as a father and a husband what do you think you would say if your nine-year-old self was sitting right in front of you right now what would you what advice would you say to him people have asked me that question in different ways like what would you tell the young younger version of yourself who's rapping or this or that you know i think the rapper i'd be like you're never gonna make it just to get him even more fired so he doesn't put his feet up yeah you know and just think like everything's cool it's like i don't really know what i would tell him i know what he needs is what he needs to hear what's he need and i don't think that's necessarily the same thing but he needs to hear i love you you're a good person you can do anything you want in the world you're really smart you know you're you're a good kid never heard that ever no i never heard that ever.

4:31What do you think would have happened had you have heard that consistently? Well, if I had heard that, I don't think I would have been in the house that I was in either. Right. You know what I mean? It just, it's like, I would have had a completely different life, which I talk about in this book. And I say how there was times that I really wished I could be a dog in a rich family. And like people would pet me and tell me they love me and play with me. And then I'd get maybe like a, maybe like 12 years out of it. And it would just be way better than what I was experiencing. So I remember having thoughts like that for sure.

4:59What would you say are the three biggest lessons you learned from childhood? How not to treat a child.

5:09That your household and your upbringing actually doesn't define you. It doesn't. It has a great impact on who you will become. But there are these anomalies. I mean, myself, right? It's like I came from, you know, violence and being surrounded by drugs and alcohol and all these different things. Yet I didn't choose that path. And then you could have, you know, kids who came up in great stable families and they're like Tony Montana. And then the third thing that I learned from my childhood, I think about how much I did alone. And I wish that if I had a parent there to support my love of anime, sci-fi and all this stuff, like it would have just been so cool.

5:51I remember being 14 years old and my mom was like, you cannot watch Kill Bill. You cannot watch Kill Bill. You cannot watch. And then so I watched it anyway alone. It changed my life forever. I mean, that whole that movie literally inspired me on so many insane levels, like discovering RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and then discovering Wu-Tang Clan, which is why I started rapping in the first place. Wow. Dude, a couple of years ago. Yeah, I did a song called Wu-Tang Forever and I have every living member of the Wu-Tang Clan on one song. It was like this crazy, amazing milestone for me.

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8:17Logic:At Strayer University, we help students like you go from, is it possible, to anything is possible by offering access to up to 10 no-cost Gen Ed courses. So you can reach your goals affordably and fast. Visit Strayer.edu to learn more. No-cost Gen Ed is provided by Strayer University affiliate Sophia. Eligibility rules apply. Connect with us for details. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Shev and as many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street North in Arlington, Virginia.