Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Club podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Mr. James Patrick, also known as jp, a wellness instructor, exercise slash massage therapist, mental health advocate in Columbia, South Carolina. He was born and raised in Columbia.

Mr. Patrick is considered a jack of all trays,  but every hat that he wears is the same label of mental health and wellness. JP has a lifelong career as a personal trainer and wellness consultant. With over 15 years of experience as a fitness professional. Mr. Patrick has had a pleasure of serving as a wellness partner.

For the former mayor Steve Benjamin's community wellness initiative move with the mayor. He's partnered with Columbia Parks and Recreation, as well as Oak Street Health, a national FRA Franchise Physicians Clinic to provide community classes for all to enjoy. James believes that the more he educates others, the more he desires to learn.

As a recent recipient of Columbia's business Monthly best and brightest under 35, James has always believed that education is the platform for growth from owning his own gym to now being a freelance fitness guru, James' brand, aspire Wellness has impacted many fitness enthusiasts.

You can catch him alongside Ms. Billy Jean Shaw every Wednesday on Soda City Live Wellness Wednesday, as well as performing his own. Future segment. Yeah, in Charlotte. 

It's really going drop down. Charlotte. We didn't drop it. Okay. We didn't drop it. Promotions. 

We guys promote that thing time. So how are 

you today?

I'm great. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for being here with us. I feel awesome. How y'all looking? I bet you do. I feel, listen, listen. I bett, you do Listen. I'm on a Saturday self-care, you know, and so that includes working and cooking and making mimosas. So it's been nice, you know? It's a good day.

Great day. Care of everybody else though. Yeah, that's true. Listen, you gotta take care of you. You gotta take care of you. So 

just to start off, a lot of our audience may not know you, so can you tell us a little bit about your childhood experiences as well as who influenced you growing up? 

Yeah, so I'm from Columbia, South Carolina.

I am a southeastern boy. I am the part of the 48 48. I'm from Bluff Road. Let's see. I'm the, I'm, I'm the product of a really hardworking. Single mama who had me by happenstance at 43. Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah. My mom was like 50 when I was in fifth grade. Straight up. Yeah. And she's a super, she's a super sexy Virgo though.

Like she's in her mid seventies. Yeah, y'all damn Virgo. You know why? Because Hellraisers don't ever get old. They just continue to evolve and become more, more and more hellraisers. But no, she she's single handedly raised me. She married my stepdad when I was six and they were married until I was 18 and I graduated from high school.

So I graduated high school. A year earlier than I walked. So I left high school a year early and I spent most of that time in Mapleton, Georgia back and forth doing dancing stuff. And I got a scholarship to AMDA which is in New York. Oh. And when I was 18, I, I walked, I graduated and six weeks after I graduated, my stepdad died in a freak accident.

And he was at work. he owned his own business. He owned a welding fabricating business. And so he was, he was the first person to make those spiral staircases. And back in the day, like nobody was making those. So he was like making those and. So he was holding the staircase up and it pulled him down and he held it up long enough to get people out of the way so that nobody else would get hurt.

Oh, wow. And it pulled him down with him. Had a, he had a he had a brain injury, and the next day was, he was pronounced dead. That was the beginning of my adulthood. Gosh. So I went from, you know, having ambitions of, you know, going to school to now we need to get a full-time job.

We need to figure out, you know, what life is gonna look like. And yeah, I started doing a lot of freelance dancing and I got a certification in group fitness because I had gotten a job at a gym. And when I got the job at the gym  I was working at the front desk and there was some lady teaching class in the back and she was so loud and she was playing outcast, b o b, and I was like, what is going on back there?

So I snuck in the back door and I looked and it was this lady named Michelle Austin who worked for Hot one, 3.9. Yeah. She, Michelle passed away last summer, but she was the person that introduced me to group fitness. So I got into group fitness at an early age. I knew I wanted to work at a gym cause I lost a bunch of weight as a kid.

Yeah. Tell 'em that story cuz they really don't know. Yeah. So I was a fat kid. I was a fat kid. I was a size, listen, I was a size 40, so my mom would have to take me to Dills at Richland Mall and she would my aunt was a, like a world now seamstress, like this lady could sew anything. So she would take me to get the husky jeans.

Yeah. And my aunt would cut the jeans and they would That's how I would wear my clothes. Yeah. Because I was wearing a man's 40 shut the front door. Yeah. And I was like a, I was 10. I was 10 or 11. Yeah. Oh Lord, who am I looking at right now? 

He tells that story. I'm like, people need to hear that cuz they really don't know that about you.

Yeah. And they admire your body so much. So it's you need to see the work. I say that's 

motivational. Mm-hmm. Yeah. it was a little backwards for me because like I went from like still hating my body up until like my mid twenties. Oh wow. I still had a very, I wasn't in a place where I understood like the psychological effects of losing a drastic amount of weight and like being, oh yeah.

I didn't really start liking my body until I was maybe 26, 27 when I got 31, 32. Honestly, like I was like, shh, I am fine. I'm good. And then Bo boys, you know, just men in general all over the world started more body positivity. So I'm like, oh, everybody's body is a body. It's great. It's your body.

You gotta love it. I gotta love my body. Exactly. Yeah. Dang. Yeah, man, that blew my mind. Yeah, man. Wow. Yeah, I gotta leave with that more. No, seriously. 

Please do. Yeah. Because you know, a lot of folks they don't, they don't see themselves in this particular light mm-hmm. And they don't realize that it is possible mm-hmm.

To do. 

Or, 

or it is not like people that didn't look a certain way to, it's not just natural to them. They don't have ego there. You an easy way to get there. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The idea that you could put forth effort in, in such, I don't know, and get results, right? Yeah.

I've always been like scrawny uhhuh, but now I got a dab vibe, so now I gotta actually like work for it, you know what I'm saying? Cause it used to be I could eat whatever I got eat contest and it would just disappear. Oh, yeah. But it changes over time, 

so you gotta, yeah. Jp, I'm gonna start chasing you, man.

I'm gonna start chasing you. I know. My, my wife she really wants to do some group Group fitness things, their exercise. That's her big thing because she says it's better. She says, she said she has a better response when doing that as opposed to working by herself. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the gym. And I told her I agree.

Some 

accountability. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I agree. Somebody else there. Hey, 

where were you at? You we have fitness, love languages too. True. You know, like I see that. Some of our fitness love languages include, you know, isolation. Like mine is more so isolation. So I can teach group fitness all day. Uhhuh. I do not like working out with people.

So you still gotta do it by yourself. I have got, I don't, don't call me. Don't don't. If you see me in the gym, dun. Just, and like I need the isolation for myself to recoup. Gotcha. But hers might be like more social. Yes. You know, group fitness speaks to a lot of women in a social regard. You know, they can go in there and cackle before and after and there you go.

There you go. It just, yeah, that's where she gets her socially at. I'm telling you, I like to be by myself too. Yeah, she's 

a loner too. It's if, cuz some people's drive is not as hard as yours. They like, why are we doing so much? And it's didn't you come here to work out? I don't care if we're here for two hours.

Stop complaining, I'll complain. But it's just I'll do it. Yeah. And it's like some people give up and just man, I'm never going to the gym with you again. 

And see, I don't want to be the person, like I'm, I'm generally known as like the good guy. Mm-hmm. And so I don't want to be the, the, a-hole in the gym, bad cop, because you know, I bought you in the gym.

Yeah. Anticipating that we're gonna work and now you're complaining. And now I'm like, you can go sit down and 

it's like I'm on a schedule 

recording 

that good. 

But you gonna have to do something, but you can't in some type of way. Shape or form? Especially 

if we rode together. If you roll with me? Yeah.

Like we're not 

leaving until, until I am done. It's my turn. Okay. But may. 

All right. So this is a question I have for you. I know we're gonna go into education and professionalism. Mm-hmm. Speaking about how that's important to you as well as making sure that you're, and, and this is a, question I have because as a, as a fitness coach, right?

Mm-hmm. Do you, do you ever have to, do you also deal with what's the word I'm trying to use? Nutrition and eating habits as well? 

On with my clients. Yeah. Yes. I practice intuitive eating. Okay. And I, and so intuitive eating, talk about that. Lord, the intuitive eating is the belief system that.

Being present in your body helps you to understand exactly what you need better. Mm-hmm. Facts, then basing it on your, your needs or form of instant gratification. Mm-hmm. So listening and when I say listening, I mean like, actually I really think I need some vegetables. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I, and that's, so that's where I am. Yeah. When you start paying attention, it's there. It's there, it's really all there. So I Practice intuitive eating with my clients in relation to mental health. Wow. And so when I pair those two components, what we start to learn is that mental health is directly affected by the things that we consume.

Mm-hmm. And we're not just talking about you are what you eat. We're saying like on a cellular level, the macronutrients that you're consuming. Are either conducive or harmful to your neurons, to your neuromuscular system, to your endocrine system, to you know, to your frontal lobe. Mm-hmm. All these mm-hmm.

These, literally, these nutrients are making the fabric of how we feel about ourselves. Mm-hmm. And how we, you know, how are active in our lives. And then 

we brought that lunch and Learn mm-hmm. Into mm-hmm. The Senior Citizens facility with LaShondra Wack, my friend against the Wack 

and Vegan.

Oh 

yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Afraid of the show first season. Yeah. Yeah. 

She 

was 

on our 

season and she does the, basically teach people what to buy, how to cook it, and the benefits of it. Mm-hmm. And try it right then on the spot, and people are like, oh my God, this is 

vegan. They love it. Mm-hmm. They love it. So to teach elderly people about, you know, the importance of just healthy eating, not even veganism.

Yeah, yeah. You know, the food just happens to be plant-based because I don't know which allergies are Right. You know, but smart. Yeah, you gotta be safe. Not my liability insurance. But yeah. You know, teaching elderly people, you know, someone who's 77, 78, 85, you know, the benefits of plant-based foods or just eating healthy.

That's what we're achieving here, you know, with. With Oak Street and other things, man. That's so 

dope. Mm-hmm. Man. Yeah. 

It's up. Stop playing. 

I 

do. Stop playing real, real, real quick.

I was made aware of and I, I started messing around with a little bit, is just holding your hands over your food for a little bit before you eat. Mm-hmm. And then paying attention to what that feels like and what your body thinks about that. Mm-hmm. And sometimes something that you might be about to really, really enjoy.

You put your hands just, you know, you don't touch it, you just kinda put your hands just a little bit over the top of it and just see, see what happens. And You know, it's interesting. I don't know. Mess 

my later 

today. Find the most slop thing you can say. That's what, yeah. People 

at Thanksgiving. 

Oh yeah.

You 

vibrational plate,

man. Love it. Ajp. 

Question, so do you believe you, do you, are you, do 

you see yourself as a spiritual person? I'm very spiritual. I'm, I was raised in the Baptist church, you know, like every other boy in Columbia. You're right. And you know, my, my dad was a preacher. My mom was, you know, an usher. Ah, they were not in relation to one another.

They just happened to both be in church. Oh, okay. And But yeah, I'm, I'm super spiritual. 

Does that affect the way in which you go about your, your business of fitness and 

nutrition? Absolutely. I have, and I'll say, I'll say in specifically the past two and a half years, I've really honed in on my spirituality.

Mm-hmm. And I have seen a direct result of that. In my own business. And so I've incorporated without being overly spiritual or being biased to your beliefs or your beliefs, just bringing a very I bring my spirituality with me when I walk, you know, when, when I walk in the room, when I come in, I think that, I like to think that that vibration sets the tone without me having to, 

everywhere I go with him, it's just people just gravitate towards him.

I'm like, you're like a celebrity. 

Like I just walked up to him. When, when I said, oh, that's who I need to go see. That's it. What's going on? I was like, yep. That, that's the person. See, it's just, and I think, you know, it, it speaks volumes for, it precedes, you know, the the rapport that you build with people.

Mm-hmm. You know, yeah. I, I take it with me everywhere I go, but I don't, Phil date, I don't feel obligated to inundate my clients with. Thank you. I 

understand that. And I, and I know our, our audience listening to it, a lot of 'em in our age, age range. Mm-hmm. They.  They seek to be in a good physical and mental area.

Mm-hmm. And of course the fitness and the nutrition aspect, but that spiritual aspect also does sometimes work into that. Mm-hmm. To help you get to that plateau, get to that level. Yeah. And so I like for them our audience, anytime we have a guest sign who can speak from, from wi speak some wisdom to anything that we're talking about on those subjects, I'd like them to talk about these things.

Yeah. Yeah. And that the audience, 

it's all, it's 

all connected. 

Yeah. Because if you want exercise every day or on a regular schedule or whatever, you gotta maintain the motivation. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So do that. You gotta like, not be depressed. Thank you. And you gotta have the energy to be, to do it. So you gotta be eating right.

And you gotta have some kind of a understanding of how all of that shit fits together. Mm-hmm. So that you're not going crazy, just going what the fuck is all this about? Mm-hmm. Exactly. So you gotta, yeah. You gotta, you gotta work on all of it at the same time. Yeah. 

Yeah. That goes back to Dr. Shari Day that we have on our team.

She's a Uhhuh licensed therapist. Yeah. And she does set consultation with each of the clients. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And give them realistic goals, like what are mm-hmm. You gotta be realistic about what you wanna accomplish. Mm-hmm. Especially being 

in the gym with James. Yeah. You gotta be realistic.

How do you, how do you get people to get to that. Realistic 

expectation zones. So I have, I like to leave a lot of room for ERA when it comes to people. Thank you. And that, that is just in my general like life, because like I, I'm hard on myself and I don't think I ever need to be hard on anybody else's, as hard as I am on myself.

But you just have to let people, you gotta give people like, here's here is your like, Here it is. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna teach you this, that, and the third. But you gotta barter with folks. It's weird because people have to feel like you're, they have to know you're invested in them in order to feel like they're going to continue with anything.

But I find that that's with like in personal relationships, like my interpersonal relationships. Yeah. If people don't feel like they're invested mm-hmm. Or if they don't feel like you have an investment in them mm-hmm. They will fall. By the wayside and blame it on you. Yeah, because they assume that. Good point.

Yeah. Because they assume that you're not staring at them for 45 minutes. Yeah. And you know, it, it, it's weird people's perception of how important they feel like they need to feel in a room in order to be You made good point. And 

I know like you saying, you're having to deal with it on the sense of assisting some somebody with their physical health, but.

Man, I didn't even think about that. Yeah. People, they really, I see what you're saying. Mm-hmm. Like they want you, if they don't feel that you're giving them a certain amount of FaceTime. Mm-hmm. Then it don't count. Mm-hmm. It doesn't count. Appreciate it. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna let myself go. Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. I just, it's not working and it's just not gonna, it's not hopping.

I just, it's not for me. I just don't, it's not working with my schedule and you know, and now you know, it's your schedule. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is your schedule? What you do? What is what? Yeah. What are you really doing? Yeah. Yeah. You signed up for this, you signed up for this, like you paid for this, you came to me.

Cause I'm not even, I literally don't advertise myself. That's what I say. As, as I, I don't, I don't advertise myself. They, they, she knows. They just, they, you know, they come and so I'm like I didn't. Ask you to come Linda.

So 

how do you get, how do you get, alright, so like 

getting to, you know, you're dealing with people working nine to fives out here. Mm-hmm. Living their life, have children set, or whatever's going on. All the stresses in life. But they want to be, I want to pay some attention to my physical wellbeing. Mm-hmm.

And so they're looking to come to somebody. May not be you, but anybody coming, looking for some assistance. How should a, how realistic should a person who's working at nine to five have children? How should they think about building this strategy to get physical assistance? Cause that's why I'm calling it now.

They need physical assistance. Physical assistance? Yeah. So like when you deal with folks like that, do you sit with them and say, Hey, this is what you realistically need to do. You can be seen, I can see this many times a week. It looks like this will work for your schedule. Mm-hmm. Like how do normal people get around that?

Cause I know that's the biggest thing. I'm not gonna lie. I'm 

guilty of it. Assessment and consultations. Assessments and consultations. I'm sitting down vetting you really, and Yeah. And it gives me time to just screen you and judge you and judge you, and judge you and judge you until I feel comfortable enough to know that you're stick with this, or most the time I can tell if a person is, is.

People nowadays come to me for a couple of reasons they either want to be associated. Okay. Which is really weird. Yeah. But that's, that's, you know, it's cool. Whatever. Turn into a little bit of celebrity, it's a little weird. Yeah. Celebrity or, and, and that doesn't stick, in two months, three months, You know, you realize I am not loud in, you know, jumping off of I am not. Yeah. I am. You know, this, it's not business. This is a training in real life. Real life. Yeah. And then they're like, oh, I, you know, I shouldn't, I shouldn't meet my heroes or and they come because they think that there's some magic.

Yeah. 

That's what I think. Yeah. They think, yeah. When they get into that room with you. There's, there's no 

change. Yep. And tippy tie and sa, start sweating to five 

of these, eight of these and 

call me in the morning and call me in the morning and tell me how you love your body. Yeah. You know, so there's, there's normally a initial and unrealistic expect expectation.

So I set that expectation and make it more, more pragmatic for them by shortening their workout times and varying those timeframes so when they come in Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's not always for you to ex. Expect like a 45 minute just grueling ah, you know, murder. Murder. Yeah. Yeah. Some days you're coming in and I, and also you being a trainer, you gotta, a lot think, a lot of times we have the, we feel obligated to give our clients the beat down that they need.

Hmm. This is n this, it's not that, you know, this is an educational platform, so some days you're gonna come in and you're gonna learn, you might sweat, you might not, right? Some days you're gonna come in, I'm going to wear that ass out. But it just, it just varies. And so I think stagnating it a little bit, yeah.

Has helped create a more realistic environment for people. That you don't have to come to the gym every damn day and and just you kill yourself. You don't have work, works hard education. 

Yeah. Mm-hmm. You can get 

education. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That goes right into the next topic. You do offer a lot of services.

Yeah. So can you tell people the services that you do offer in the education that you've. Accomplished over the time. 

Yeah. Okay. Whew. All right. I don't, I don't get off on talking about myself a lot. Yeah. So I will normally like, consolidate all and be like, I'm, I, that you're taking a but, so I'm, I want you calling exercise therapy specialist.

I'm an s e t, so I'm the guy that you would see after you finish physical therapy. Yeah. Okay. Or after you've come out of a post-op or something like that. I specialize in mobility, so I help people, like I've worked with blind clients, paraplegia clients a lot of special needs clients over the.

Past few years. And I'm a group fitness instructor, so I started off, people know me from teaching Zumba and you know, at this point I'm a, a lot of mamas out in, out here in Columbia. They, they know me from Lord Jesus. So I, I started off teaching group fitness and I'm a licensed massage therapist. So I've been at LMT since 2008.

I graduated in min from Southeastern. So you even, you 

putting in the work on, on body work? Mm-hmm. Basically. Mm-hmm. 

You'll 

transform your body like. No. Tomorrow 

how much All so how many years of education because again, our audience, a lot of folks Yeah. Are learning, learning how to be adults. Yeah.

You're always in 

your, how always educating yourself certifications 

and stuff like that. Yeah. So give some, just give our audience a little bit of understanding of the pathway of how long it took for you to start without any certificates or degrees in this, to be able to professionally do it, because that's gonna blow people mind.

I think they 

won't realize. So I have licenses and certifications in what I do. That gives me the autonomy to be in a room without being a liability. That's what I was wondering. Oh, I see. Explain it. Being an exercise therapist, that's a license that I carry and that allows me to work with like people like geriatric patients or Right.

You know, special needs or special populations. Mm-hmm. What I've done is I've taken an alternate route of what a personal trainer would look like and started working in correlation with healthcare agencies. So this past, and Lord, she's been with me l I literally talked to her more than anybody but she's been with me.

But we have been shopping ourselves to rehabilitation clinics. Aetna. Mm-hmm. So like we, city of Columbia, we, we do Columbia Recreation. Mm-hmm. So we've got like different partnerships now that basically I do the same thing for all of 'em. I do programming and I implement and execute classes.

Oh. And then I use people like her and other specialists to make a program, to make a program. I take it out of the gym and put it into where it needs, where pizza you take it, 

you take it from, literally take it from the gym aspect and you bring it 

to the, to the people. 

Mm-hmm. And it's like free.

Mm-hmm. I'm gonna bring my mama and we make it free. Mm-hmm. I do the chair yoga. I didn't know that you Yeah, I didn't know. And then, yeah, he does chair fitness. Yeah. I think there's so much that I do to the point where I'm like, People know there are people that only know me from working in nightlife, like working in, you know, as a, as a host.

As a host. He does a vet host on you. The vet host? Yes. That's what, see, I dunno, 

this part about all I knew Waso. Yeah. 

I was like, I enjoy grabbing money. So I was, I started off in City Columbia. I was I was bugging Kim Mitchell to do this nine years ago, and she was like, I don't know you. Why don't you come to an event and I'll just see what you, what.

So I got, I came this kid's day and it was like from 11 to eight one day. This was eight, nine years ago. And I talked to her. She looks at me and she's Hey, I, hey, here, grab this mic. Do me a favor. Grab this mic. Read this. Don't cuss. Don't cuss. And yeah, six hours, right? That's the first thing I said then I'm like, pop.

And literally six and a half hours. I worked for free that day and that's how I got into event hosting. And so from there the weekend, if y'all remember the weekend, it was on two Natch Road for a couple of minutes. The weekend was The, a lady who was the I don't know, she was the manager there.

Anyway, she put me on a couple of years ago 2018. And so I worked nightlife for a year at the weekend. That was a lesson learned. But I did that for a year. So yeah, I've been doing event hosting and now I just do like special events and we also 

teach people how to dance. Choreography. 

You know, dancing is my, dancing is my, that's my forefront.

That's, that's where everything started with, that's where everything started. Yeah, I, I'm always gonna be a dancer. I hope to be a dancer until I'm old. And do you still, you 

act, you know, you're actively doing choreography 

for folks. Yeah. What did I just. The Marcus Island video. Yeah. I just mm-hmm.

Marcus Allen artist out of Charleston. Yeah, I know exactly who you're talking about. Okay. I created the slide routine for him. Shut the front door. Yeah.

Carolina 

like that. Shut up. Yes. With Candace Saxon. With Candace, yeah. 

She created a dance routine and I was one of her models. Yes. And that's how I first met James. Probably like what? 

Oh my Lord. That was like 10 years ago. That was 10 years ago. Yeah. 

That's when he had his own studio. 

Yeah. Oh my God. He just drew him all the way back.

Took me all the way. Yeah. I was choreographing for a, a lingerie line. Mm-hmm. And yeah, question. Do, do you do TikTok videos? You know what, I am overwhelmed by social media. I was about, that's why I had ask. Extremely overwhelming. Really. I have TikTok. I've done, I have three videos on there. I, I just find it to be ex as much as I do.

Yeah. I don't. I don't do it 

for 

the don't do. I keep running the same thing. It's I know it's important, but like I never want to do it and I never like, I'm never like doing the thing and being like, oh, I should share this with 

everybody's. That's why he has me. 

Oh yeah, she pull. That's what you do.

Yeah. You gotta get, somebody 

else is 

good. I catch everything and just, here you go. 

There you 

go. You know, he needs to teach us. He needs to get us a good TikTok dance. So we can do it for the Hilltop Club 

and we dance. Y'all need, yeah, y'all need, y'all a stop do do it and then put us up there and then somebody comes out.

Seriously. Oh no serious. I'm think slide and then just come down like if somebody can teach me something to do, I could do it. That's it. 

I wanna know what were you do after your 

wedding? What were you doing on your wedding day? I'm dancing. 

You was. 

I don't know what it was looking like, but 

it was, I was dancing.

You can ask everybody. I was 

drinking. Yeah. I was taking shots of Ray and Nephew. Oh Lord. What? So our course was, look at it. He know I was a dancing man that night. I 

bet you were. Yeah. You passed. What time did you pass out? Do you know? Two 30? Yeah, 2 45, right? A little bit before three o'clock.

Yeah. You just got real quiet now. It got real quiet. Didn't you know how you don't talk? Nobody. 

I didn't say 

wife 

there. My face. I slowly folded my stuff, put everything away. I didn't say nothing to nobody. That's I it woke up the next day. Everybody was out. She was out the room. Just left me in there 

by myself.

I said, what's going on? Yeah, you can't do it. Can't do it. Oh, no 

more. No.

Gosh, this is 

interesting. All right. All right. So moving forward, of course, we're gonna talk about spotlight moments. In terms of media and being the spotlight, of course, you gain attention by being on television in the newspaper. Mm-hmm. Or publicized on blogs and social media platforms, which you're just talking about for people with social anxiety.

The effects can be much worse to the point that it has an effect on your ability to work or feel comfortable around other people. Mm-hmm. What is it like for you to be seen by millions of people daily, whether if you're on TV or doing something or they put you on social media, et cetera, and how they view you in your life, like when they see you, does it bother you and do you handle the scrutiny of, of, of the social information?

Age with Grace? You know what, I don't even know if like I am like. I don't even think that like I have put my mind frame. Around the idea that people are talking about me. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I, I don't know how that sounds, but I just, I haven't you haven't grasped I haven't gra I haven't grasped it. And so Kelly Rowland was doing an interview and she was talking about like how people compared her and Beyonce and you know, why isn't Kelly Rowland do, why didn't, and why don't we see and.

And so I remember being on that bandwagon where I was like Keller Rolling could be this. Keeron could be that Keller rolling. And so she was sitting there and she was like, you know, I think there's a point of success where you're like, all right, I like what I'm doing. I like the work that I'm producing, and I like the ability to have the, the balance in life.

Mm-hmm. I didn't get that bow until maybe 10 months ago, honestly. Wow. So like I'm enjoying the balance of life. Yeah. And I enjoy it. That kinda the shit you wanna 

do. And not worried 

about the rest. And I'm not, and everybody, and I enjoy the whole life I have outside of, you know, Facebook and, and Instagram.

So I think I like that you said that. Say that one more time for the audience. You enjoy his whole 

life. Outside of this. 

Outside. Outside. And he enjoys it. Swear you're just bouncing. 

Yeah, just doing. All day long. And so when I come in rooms a lot of times like I'm really coming as like just James. Like I'm just, I'm just James.

I'm just here. I'm not here to entertain. I'll give you what you want, but I'm not here to, you know, and so people will oftentimes think I'm, yeah, you feel pressure. Oh my God. Unmitigated. So that was good work. I'm a people pleaser too. You okay? I'm a part-time people pleaser. Okay, yeah, I can understand that.

Mm-hmm. And it's hard not to be when you're in wellness because you can't be a bitch and be, you know, I mean unless you're Harvey cocktail, and you tell people special, special, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. So it people expect you to be nice and then 

you know how switch it on and off 

like that.

Oh yeah. You got a code. I don't even know if it's code switching. It's just like she just catches the authenticity. The authenticity of what I'm, where, who I really am. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we'll walk in w s and I'm like, man, look at this shit. Can't. And 3, 2, 1, literally. 

It's literally like that.

And, and he just, Catches on so fast and I'm like, 

dang, is that trained? I think it's just a lot of trial and error. I've, I've been in TV since Michael Jackson died, so I like the day I got on W L T X, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead. Good Lord. That's weird. So I've been, it is this so weird? Grieving on the air during the first 

interview?

I got it. 

Wta. That's the only, I remember how long I've been doing this Uhhuh. That's a while, man. Yeah, that's what, 2010? Yeah. Yeah. So it's been a long, A lot of me like practicing just 

literally while he's on the air and I'm holding his phone and recording him. People are on texting him. I see you on tv.

Good job. Like he can't see this. He, I can't 

see. It's hilarious. Live like every Wednesday. Like what? Stop. Yeah. That's so 

hilarious. I'm not gonna say I'm excited right now. Ain't know 

why. Cause it's like I talk to somebody, you, he's famous. It's 

course I'm up here watching y'all stuff. Cause she telling watch real person out isn't, they're famous.

He ain't gonna come. He ain't got stuff to do. He busy, right? He's sitting in the room with us. He's such a cool person. Yeah. So down the 

earth. Thank. Like you said, and I understand what you're saying, like you have that need or that field say, all right, I gotta go ahead, I gotta perform few, I gotta do this.

Mm-hmm. I gotta switch it on. I gotta switch it off. Mm-hmm. What do you do to relax? 

A multitude of things I do to help with my relaxation. But some of the healthiest things I think I'd say I do are I obviously I love to work out. Yeah. I don't even work out for like physical. I like, I, I may have a body, but I'm just, I work out.

I was about to ask you that cuz 

you know, you get to the point, like stuff's maintained. Yeah. So like you're doing it because it feels good, but you 

get, you get a, a chemical, right? Yeah. It's a 

chemical high. Yeah. Yeah. It feels good. Yeah. Muscle maturation for a man is gonna go until he's about 41, 42.

So I've got seven years more of just like getting as big and juicy as I want to before I got it. Speak on him before. That's it, buddy. Like whatever. However you look at 42, that's about. As good as it's ready. Ready, Mike? Ready. 

Hurry up. You gotta, when you find your nature, I need a consultation. 

Call you.

Im 38. Yeah. We gotta get you on 

consultation. We gotta get you on consultation. I don't want you to come to complain about your dad body. 

Get you on consultation's. A category for that. Hey, there is a category. Yeah. But also talk about your mental health and how you Yes. Yeah. I I'm really good at doing mindfulness.

I do a lot of body scanning with myself. Okay. And that is like where you basically like, you know, you start with one part of your body, like your feet. Mm-hmm. And you know, you see how your feet feel. Are you holding tension in your feet and. And so I do a lot of that throughout the day. And having bipolar disorder with a side of A D H D, it can be very like, oh wow.

It can be very, very high, very low, very end, very out. Very up, very down. So I have to, my job for myself is to stay on a balance as often as I can, realistically stay on it. Gotcha. So I even center my work schedule around that. Like I know. My body can, like I know I can mentally go hard for two weeks.

Okay, pull back on the third. Normally by the fourth week, I take a long vacation. Ah. And so I is, I've learned how to work my schedule around you. Just, 

you, you can schedule your burnout. Mm-hmm. You know when it's gonna happen. Yeah. And then it doesn't happen Right when you're in the middle of a project.

Mm-hmm. That's genius. Dang. 

It's hard. Yeah. It's Cause you're like, no, I'm just gonna do a little bit more, just a little bit more, just a little more. And now I'm depressed. Text 

Tamaya. I need a day. I need you to call, I 

need 

you to call everybody schedule. Everything. And 

I'm like, I don't care what they say.

I don't 

care what they paid. Schedule.

You gotta do it sometimes though. You gotta 

do it man. And I have to ask you, since she said that and you open that up dealing with bipolar disorder and adhd. Mm-hmm. Does, and this is one thing I like, I want our audience to hear this cuz it's something that's interesting to me, I always tell folks, is now that you have to be all holistic and all, you know, eating, Rice balls and stuff.

Mm-hmm. 

She likes those. Yeah. Yeah. I think they 

taste it. 

There's always one of us 

bias, 

what a biased opinion you have, but do 

you believe that your your mode of business, the fact that you do physical fit, fit, fitness, and nutrition and education, does that help with your. Diagnosis, a bipolar disorder and h adhd, does that help you maintain a pretty good, good, I would say balance in, in, in relatively smooth pace of life?

Yeah. Education has really helped me on a personal level. Mm-hmm. Just educating other people. The more literally, the more I educate people, the more I want to educate myself. Smart. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I took, I, I really, my desire for this year. Last year was to put my place in this, put myself in a place where I was more of a student.

Mm-hmm. But it's wild because like I feel like I become more of a teacher than anything in the process of wanting to become more of a student. I was about to say, yeah. You are a teacher. Yeah. And I still, and it's, it's like the, you know, the universe is okay you know, I know you want to be a student, but.

You're learning so much, so quickly, like push that info out real quick so like you can learn more stuff. Mm-hmm. So I, I really just enjoy enjoy, enjoy teaching. My, my goal is to get more into that teaching. And it is helped my mental health in a tremendous way because I always feel like when I get done teaching and educating, I feel like I'm on a personal high I feel good.

You know what I mean? Like I poured into myself as I was pouring into other people. That's dope. It's shifting energy. Shifting energy, but you get it 

back. 

What? I know. Yeah. Yes. It's fresh in your mind now. It's cultivated. There's more being grown than it was previously. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Yeah. Teaching people how to fish.

Yeah. Hey. Mm-hmm. 

That is right. Me out here. Yeah. And that makes community. 

Yeah. Community. Community. Yep. And it's cool. Help me 

talk about what you have coming up next. A lot. 

I was literally about to say, why didn't you text me early and tell me to put the list of stuff, stuff that is happening. Yeah. Oh my goodness.

I'm going on Tuesday to support the Red Roses gala which is sponsored by Eighth Wonder Cuisine. And I'll be there just waving a hand. It's a benefit gala. You know, some people say galas. People say Gala. Gala. Gala. I don't know. Orange. That event. Apples gala's fun, 

isn't it? Gala.

Gala Gala's. Fun. 

I always like that. Sounds real. 

Southern 

Dipp. We have a the Queen's Ball. This is coming Saturday sponsored by SJP Sjb Entertainment, which is a new event management company mm-hmm. In Columbia. And I will be the the host, a k a, the Duke, duke, James, Patrick. And I don't know, I think Is that it for the year 

so far until we move into next year?

Yeah. Yeah. Cause 

it's, we have, yeah. We catch 'em Wednesdays. Yeah. You, oh, so actually, oh no. So this Wednesday. It's this Wednesday. Oh my God. So this Wednesday I will She's because she calendar, she literally sees it all. Like she's the only person that's yep. He be doing all that. Yep.

Yep. Cause I put 

it 

there. Yeah. 

But yeah, I'll be you can catch me every other Wednesday, starting next Wednesday at a Prime. 10 0, 10 0 2. On T Street. I will be your I will be hosting open mic. Shut the front door. Yeah, man, I start coming down the open mic on Wednesday. Every Wednesday got good food.

They got goods I heard. Yeah. And and so I'll, I'll be out there every other Wednesday. Soda City Live. Yes. Every Wednesday that also Wednesday. Soda City Live. Yeah. Soda City live from three to four. I'm on there every Wednesday. I'll be yeah, my lady be catching it. She be catching it, man. She told me about it.

Yo, that's, that's how I know about this. So she be keeping. My wife follows you and you Yeah. Hard. 

Yeah, that's what I know about these things. So you're telling me, she's yes, I'm gonna join on the group. Yeah. And I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. I love it. And you saw her doing her. Go ahead, Nisha.

Yep. Dope. 

Yeah. Yeah. What else you have going on? We got a lot of behind the scenes stuff popping off this year. Like the, you know, the the rehab stuff and the, yeah, the rehab. That's, so there's some big old projects that, that are underway on that end. And I, my goal with my whole career is honestly just to create things that I don't have to post on social media.

Dope. That's, that's literally, I swear to you, that's all I do. I just wanna create a life where I don't, if I don't post shit for a year, I'm still okay. You're still, yeah. I'm okay. 

I do have to ask this before we wrap up. This is a burning question I got. Mm-hmm. 

How do you get abs? I heard about this thing before.

I've heard about 'em, right? This is this one burning question. Y'all like these strange muscles found in your core? Yeah. What are the what? How do you get protruding from your midsection? 

Yeah, you gotta walk around not letting your gut hang out all the time. You, 

there's a study I do not know. Let me tell you though.

There is a, Study. There's a study, and y'all can look this up there, there have been a few studies that have shown that men who have stomachs, who have a larger bo, who have more bo body fat than say someone like me mm-hmm. Tend to have better sex. And they attribute because to the fact that, yeah, absolutely.

You're not concerned with how this is you, this is how you look by the time you get naked. You're in a comfortable state, which all of us will be. Hopefully, you know, but men who have yeah. Yep. That's why, that's why, that's why, that's why I 

seen the big boys out there 

with all them children. That big boy out there is behind.

See, 

look. See?

Wow. Yeah, man. I don't even know if I want them 

abs no more now, Mike. Yeah, you can 

put some work hell with him. Maya, you can put it some work. Listen, listen, listen. Some ways, doing some setups and eating right is a good start. I ain't got that one down yet. Listen some ways. Eat a salad before every meal.

Okay, that's drink water. Drink water. You're good. I do my water drinking. Yeah. A lot of water walking. Yeah. I get my steps. 10,000 a 

day. Nice. I want to be like Janet Jackson hanging from a ceiling. Doing straight, full, 

yo. 

Yeah. You don't want that. Don't want that. Did she ever move 

one of her ribs or something?

I, she removed one of her ribs in the nineties. Listen, I'm 

trying to get ass for a whole year and I've really been working And they still, 

they were, no, they were there. And lemme tell you what happened, tall. She started getting, she started feeling herself. You said her hair straight went my hair. Hair. I know right?

TA's not working out. Oh. Cause ain't sweating. She's not working out. Everything. Anytime I see their hair straight, you know what it is. I see the curls popping, nappy. Nice, nice. When I see them coils I like, mm-hmm.

Dj. 

Mike over here. Mike Chilling. Miss Tamaya. What up though? And then of course, our team yesterday. Mr. James, JP in the house. Thank you Mr. James. Patrick, I 

appreciate you joining us. Appreciate y'all how people can find you on social. Yes. Oh my goodness. Finally want, but go ahead find me@jamespatrick.guru.

Yeah, there's no.com.guru. You guys can find me on Instagram. Aspire dot wellness aspire underscore, wellness underscore cola. Mm-hmm. Or JP Fitness Guru. Find me on Facebook. James Patrick. And that's about it. I ain't got no Snapchat, no TikTok. No TikTok, just, yeah, no, you, Twitter, you tweet, you tweet, tweet.

No. I use my Twitter like the rest of concerning. Americans just for viewership. That's it. Y'all don't use, I don't be on scene. Lurk, lurk, dangerous. I just lurk. Yep. 

I just don't actually 

wanna tell everybody that much. Yo Plus. That's why I'm on a podcast. Yes, that's why I'm on a 

podcast. 

Thank you.

Exactly, though you can hear my voice up here. Hear how crazy I am up here. Yeah, yeah. 

Wait, wait. We forgot to talk about your podcast and then speak it. 

Speak it. Oh, 

yeah. Yeah. And you guys look out for my podcast. The Black Queer Culture Show come in January, 2023. We're talking all things black, queer and culture.

Looking forward to it. Excellent. 

Excellent. Yeah. Excellent. It's been a beautiful time speaking with you. I really enjoyed it. Thank you. I will try to get my abs working a little bit. I'll do my best. 

Do your very best, but if they don't, I like your realistic expectations 

though. Yeah. Cause like real expectations.

Yes. Tamaya. Yeah. Realistic expectations. 

Mm-hmm. It's my fault that I wanna be a sex kitten. See. See, nobody else needs to be a sex kitten. Thank you. Want, thank you. I'm sure my wife would appreciate it. She probably would like, yeah, don't say that. Cause they made me feel no quiet.

We gotta get, talk, talk with 

of of, of Mary's future. No, seriously. Alright, we gotta speak with you later, man. 

But as I always like to tell our audience, man, make sure you tell somebody out there that you love 'em. I want y'all to have a blessing, a beautiful time, beautiful day wherever you at. I know it's a Saturday for us.

I hope y'all enjoying y'all time and whatever you're doing, please listen to us when you are relaxed. And having fun, even if you're at work. I don't care. It's all good with me. This is Anwar DJing What with the Hilltop Glove Podcast, all my folks signing off. Peace. Peace. Peace.