Speaker #0I'm Coral and welcome to The Road Leads Back to Me. Today we're going to be talking about Bad Bunny, the Super Bowl, and why all of us need to really clock the importance of it. Let's talk about it. So I just finished watching the latest promo for the Super Bowl and I couldn't help but notice Bad Bunny dancing with people from all over the world and it not mattering what they looked like. If they were male, if they were female, what color they were. And the emotions are still very fresh because the promo just came out and I hadn't even seen it yet. And I've been in my feels a lot as a not only therapist in the field, I'm a trauma specialist as well, but also as a very tired millennial and overstimulated millennial. So. Getting to watch Benito pose in the way that he is and position himself to being someone that is just reminding us of unity and humanity and to see so many people oppose that makes me kind of stop and pause and it's outside of even being a fan. of his because clearly I am a huge Benito fan. I love the guy. I feel like a proud tia when I talk about Benito, like el orgullo that I have of him. And that is because he is from my motherland, Puerto Rico. I'm also Cuban and I live in Miami, as you can tell by my beautiful accent that is brought to you in part by sacrifice that came from my mother and my father. having to shift and move from across the world. So I take umbrage with anybody having some sort of negative thing to say about him with regard to him performing at the Super Bowl, when all he's trying to do is promote unity. But we have had to assimilate, and I'm talking to Latinos here right now. We have had to assimilate and learn to quiet our voices. to not talk too much because it would be too much. And here's what I'm going to tell you. Yo soy de pefoquineros, and I'm very proud of that. And I have felt oppression run through my blood and in my veins. The pain I feel when I think of this and the trigger I have surpasses me. And I'm not alone in that. But we've been taught to assimilate and not think of ourselves or to stay quiet and to stay small. So we're going to talk about Benito, the importance of him being who is the performer now and where we as a nation need to take a moment and just ask ourselves why we're thinking the way we're thinking. This is a call to action. I'm a trauma specialist and I'm waving every red flag. When I think of Benito, Mantonio. Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny. I don't think of a Latin superstar, the most streamed artist in the world, as evidenced by his world tour that is sold out everywhere and people flying to a country to go see him. So when I think of him being the performer, February 8th, like I mentioned, proud Tiamont. Although I have never met him yet, I've seen him multiple times, Bye. getting to witness and getting to experience the concert this summer with my husband my best friends my nephew and his girlfriend who also now i'm going to be a tia sorry if he's listening he's gonna be like titi and i'll be like yes this is the one time i'll actually play into my stereotype because anyways that was honestly the diaspora that I had needed in my life. And since we're all learning Spanish for the Bad Bunny concert, we're going to talk about what a diaspora is and why now more than ever it's necessary. When I think of Bad Bunny, I think of him as a repair figure. I think of him as someone who allows us to integrate all the things that we've learned and not... quiet them down, not mute them for the sake of needing to assimilate and not be made fun of. When I think of bad money, this surpasses music. And music, especially Caribbean music, is actually profoundly healing because it's rooted in our beautiful roots that unfortunately do stem from colonization. And as a clinician, I'm noticing a lot of the same oppression that took place on the islands that I'm from. are now taking place here. And my grandparents and father and mother did not do what they did to come over here and sacrifice everything they knew. And I am not someone that was made to pledge allegiance to a flag where I would fight for liberty and justice for all. This doesn't really give me that, the current state of the world. And it's scary because that's not what we've learned. That's not honoring thy neighbor. This isn't loving another or helping someone else. It's weird. And I can't be the only one thinking that. And when we think of Bad Bunny and why everyone is now against it, how is there not pause for thought on, man, I wonder why I'm thinking this. Who's teaching me this? How far back does this go? Because a lot of this stuff is also systemic. And it's things that we're taught to not acknowledge that they're just part of life. But what's going on now in Minneapolis and here in Miami is not okay. It's not okay at all. And I physically feel ill whenever I read anything or see anything. And I can't be the only one that feels that, even if I am an overstimulated millennial mom. I can't be the only one that feels like that. And I have a slew of coping skills, knowledge, and a therapy team and support system. And some of us don't have that. So that's what this podcast is for, to help clock these things. And now we're addressing them head on. And that's why I wanted to talk about it with Bad Bunny. I know that a lot of the things I'm saying right now are... Probably bringing up feelings of that got really deep real quick. That's not what I signed up for. But I have to get your attention because your attention span has been reduced significantly. And that is by design because we're all so rushed and hurried. We can't think of anything. So we just normalize. That's fine. So it's not fine. If it wasn't finding your value system and who you are, that requires being mindful of yourself. Hence why I have recently taken up bedazzling. It's a great coping skill. Everything's beautiful now, but it's a lot. And I can't even sit still sometimes from how anxious I am. So that's why I figured, let me just talk about this today. And if this is bringing up stuff for you. I want you to know, number one, you're not alone. Number two, it's okay if it feels weird and if it has felt weird, that was your spidey sense still trying to talk to you. But the way of the world and how everything is has probably made you not be able to sit with yourself. So one way of starting to cope with this is, number one, clocking if you're idolizing any sort of movement. And I'm talking about the left and the right. This is to everybody. I don't care at this point because I can sit here and tell you I've never voted outside of Democrat straight up. And I almost did this last season. And I didn't because my value system didn't allow me to. And that is neither here nor there. But. I could tell you this much. Something I've noticed a lot in my clients are those that have voted and see the state of the world having feelings of stuff, of feeling wronged or feeling, you know, man, this is not what I voted for. And it's like one of the first things I've heard. And this is not my mother-in-law's Republican Party. I think acknowledging these things is true, as is the Democrats. I don't know what the fuck is going on. But I'm not okay with that. I'm not okay with either side. And I don't think any of us should be because they're extremes. Extremes are what allow for abuse, coercive control, and for you to be and fall victim to being played, to being cheated, to being stolen from. They want you to assimilate. They want you to just say no. They want you to have the, what we in Spanish call pena. And sometimes what we even call pena henna. And pena is shame. No, man, because, you know, that's this person's boyfriend. Or no, no, that's this person. I went to school with them. Please don't make it awkward. Also, they can make it awkward by disrespecting me. It is the steam. It is. So I'm going to tell you to clock it with yourself. And just be curious. Journal. Think about it. Where did I learn this? Is this really what I wanted? And if the answer is no, that's okay. You were lied to. That's what the Democrats, I don't think we're going to do that. If you are someone that hearing this message today has had feelings of, this isn't what I voted for. I don't know how I feel about that. I don't think I'm this. This is not to call anybody anything. This is just, hey, this is weird. We can at least agree on that. It's not normal what is going on. We shouldn't have to be driving with a passport to prove that we're a citizen. I'm brown with white children. My husband's a white Cuban guy. So. Yeah, I'm terrified. I don't want anything happening to me, even if I am a citizen. Because it's even happening to citizens. And that's not okay. You sure as hell didn't vote for that. And I promise you, my only crime is being blunt. Autistically blunt. Because I am. And I just say it how it is. And I'm that friend in the friend group that clocks it within five seconds. Ask any of my friends. Like this. I clock it. And it may not happen today. It may not happen tomorrow. But eventually, I get the, hey, you were right text. And I'm like, yeah, I know. So I'm saying that this is not right. And respectfully, it doesn't give God in any capacity or anything that I ever learned in Sunday school. So. One of the things I'm going to, you know, extend to or kind of share that I think you should try is being really honest with yourself on how you feel about this, barring any opinion about anybody else and reflect on that, journal on it. And if you're finding yourself feeling, man, this is not maybe like feelings of shame. This is not what I wanted. This is a, I don't know what to do here. we we have to do something i don't know what but at least getting into a humane space where we can have a conversation with one another is a start this does not need to be violent like people are violent now because everyone's on like something like i feel like everyone's just on and the concept of even taking a day off i think it's like the stages of grief None of us have learned to even grieve or acknowledge feelings because they're too heavy and it takes us out of being productive. But being productive is a way of coping. So if that's how you're coping, by overworking, I resonate with you on that. And I'm going to advise as a clinician to take some time and really reflect. I think that. While we are in this position right now, it's a space of giving yourself grace because life itself has just been so hard for all of us. I don't care what tax bracket you're in and what political affiliation you have. Respectfully, people need livable wages, period. That should be a human right. Duh. Why is that up for debate? Why is that? How is that an issue? And all of this was just from watching one video. Of me seeing this girl critique and say how anti-American it was if you liked Bad Bunny and were gonna watch the Super Bowl. I swear to you, I have done a lot of healing. I have done a lot of therapy. And I had feelings for that girl that I have not had since I was a small child. Very angry ones. And I was like, dude, what the hell's wrong with this girl? The girl looks just like me. And I was like, yo, in my head, I was like, this lives on the internet for the rest of your life. Where is an adult around this girl to just tell her, hey, don't do that. Don't post something like that. And seeing that was the biggest blessing for me because it showed me, holy shit, maybe I do need to say something. maybe just doing it the way I'm doing it isn't going to do it. Maybe I just got to do it head on. So as triggering as that was, that was information for me that helped me become reflective and led to this video. Does that mean that that's what you need to do? No, but if you want to do it and that's a way of expressing yourself, dive into stimming or creativity. Some of the most profound. work that you'll ever do is when you're stemming from the space of introspection, of actually allowing yourself to clock those feelings and to sit in them. You cathartically release it by writing. That's another way of coping. I like to think of this, and this is on trauma. I lost two people that I loved dearly in 2020. and it shifted me as a human fundamentally because it taught me the value of time and how precious life is and this is not the life that stands on liberty and what our forefathers wanted it's not and i'm still proud to be an american because i'm from puerto rico puerto rican citizens by the way mama He's a natural born citizen. I don't know if you're watching this, but hopefully you are. But what I can say is that there needs to be a conversation that doesn't lead with insults. It could be respectful, but it needs to be honest. And ego gets in the way of that. So that's something that you need to clock as well. What am I going to become defensive would be about if someone brings it up. And how about you just sit curiously with that and think about it. But one of the things I can tell you is that growing up here in Miami-Dade, because I am a 305 till I die girl, okay? I went to a little high school in the Kendall area called Felix Verona Senior High. And... I was radicalized by some amazing teachers there who taught me about oppression, taught me about what happened in the Holocaust, taught me about what has happened around the world. And this is just eerily parallel to World War II and what happened there. And I'm sure you all have heard the term history repeats itself. This is history repeating itself. And that is why I am waving my red flag. This is deeper than Benito. This is deeper than music. And I can explain to you why people have an issue with Benito. But that doesn't matter. It's the issue that people are so upset that someone who's Hispanic is going to be performing that they're making their own concert series during that time. This is a 30 year old young Latino man. Us as Latinos need to be championing him. Period. He's us. He's one of us. Whether you like it or not. So one of the albums, and now let's talk about something that's a little fun, right? And how and why. I'll share with you guys something. I'm a little bit of a conspiracy theorist. And I like... Wait, no. All right. So let's talk about something that's actually positive and kind of a little hypothesis that I have about why Bad Bunny chose to play in the Super Bowl. Let's talk about it. Hear me out or like the Gen Zers say, let me cook. So when I think of Benito and I think of the Vítir Alma Foto, which is the album that he will likely be performing, I hope he's performing. That whole album is a bomb. You can listen to it from the beginning to the end, and it is just perfect play, repeat. I mean, if you look at my rewind of 2025, it's top like everything, every song. But when I think of La Mudanza, which is the last song, and in my opinion, and especially if you're a Bad Bunny fan, you know that it is, to me, the... the part two of El Apagón, which was in one of his albums, Un Veneno Sin Ti. When I think of La Mudanza, and I think of the current state of the world, outside of Yo Soy De Pefo Quinerre, when he says that at the end, right? I think of the oppressive state that we're in, and how I, as someone that is from Puerto Rico, and... half Cuban, have had to live it and have had to hear stories about like what that was like. I can't help but see and feel the parallels to modern day today. And I think that that's a song, you know, the science will prove it. Your, your vagus nerve will, it's connected to what we call the parasympathetic nervous system. And when you have certain music, specifically if it's cultural, it tends to almost lift that within you and actually calm you down and give you a sense of connection with others. And we are not connected right now, even if we're on the internet, we're not connected. Now more than ever, we'll be sitting somewhere and disconnected on our phone or making a phone call or playing a game or doing something because we just don't wanna sit with them. And when I think of La Mudanza, I think of how he says, De aquí nadie me saca. De aquí yo no me muevo. Dile que esta es mi casa donde nació mi abuelo. And I said that very Puerto Rican on purpose. But it's true. And I'm very proud to be Latina. And I hope to be Latina in every single lifetime. And I really pray that I'm Puerto Rican again. And I really pray that I'm Cuban again. Because there is... nothing better to me than to being from where I'm from and the road that led back to me. And that's why my podcast is called that. Because if all of us follow our own road and journey, we will always come back to ourselves. So when I think of that, I hope that all of us can feel that. And even if you don't understand half a word that he's saying, you allow for that to play within your system and just let Let the music guide you. Practice some mindful perreo. Which, by the way, if you were at the concert, that's what he did. He had us practice mindfulness. And again, Bad Bunny is just great for psychology. I can go down that wormhole, but I'll do that on one of my TikToks. But I hope that you enjoy this February 8th, the Super Bowl with Bad Bunny, because my ass is going to be bedazzling. The cutest thing. And I can't wait to show it to everybody. So thank you so much for joining today. I hope that the... that this message and what we're talking about allows for you to just have a moment to mindfully let the music move through your soul because that's what makes us Latinos the way that we are. If you like this type of content and want more of it, make sure to like and subscribe. You can find me on all platforms. At the road leads back to me.
