A (31:25)
So you can't pour from an empty cup. So you gotta definitely pour into yourself one day. Can we get an album for you guys? Everybody keeps asking me this. I love music. I love to sing. I'm singing all day. Like anybody who's around me, I'm gonna be singing. But when I moved to Atlanta, I was pursuing music. And I feel like I'm finally living out my true passion in acting. And I love music. I would love to do musicals, I would love to do Broadway, maybe one day. But I don't want to like actually do an album. I thought about it even in the strike. I was like, maybe I should put out a little EP or something. And I was like, I don't know. You know, I've had people call me and ask me, let's do some work. But it has to really be the right moment. It has to be with people that I'm inspired by. Has to be good energy. So I'm not gonna say never, but it would have to be on my terms and it would definitely be like an independent route. I would wanna have full control of it and have fun with it. Cause sometimes when you get under these big labels, you lose the creativity and then it's not fun anymore. So I'll never say never. But not today. We'll see. If you could redo any moment of your healing journey, what would it be? Mm, that's a good question. I guess it would be when I first started therapy if I could redo that part and maybe not redo it because now I'm with the right therapist, but I would have been more honest Because I was not honest with her. Like there was so many things that I was not willing to share because I just didn't feel comfortable sharing it. But I do feel like if I had to change anything, I would have tried to be more honest in that moment to possibly get further in my healing process. What's your go to strategy for fighting self doubt? It's been a major block in my productivity. You know what, I did a movie where I played the first lady and I sang I can't talk about it, but you know what I'm talking about. And there was so many amazing singers in this film and I was recording with the CEO of the Recording Academy, Grammy winning producers. And I don't feel like I'm the best singer in the room. You know, I know I can sing, but like you put me up against some other people and I'm like, I can't do what they can do. And I remember walking into the studio really kind of doubting myself and just like, lord, just let me hit the notes, let me sound good, let me impress them. I hope they like me, I hope I do a good job. I hope I don't get cut. And ended up being one of the producers and the actual producers of the movie. It ended up being one of their favorite songs of the soundtrack. And I remember that moment. I really, I knew I could sing and I, I walked in and did the job. And it had been so long since I had been in the studio. So I had all these feelings of self doubt going through my head. But once I got in there and they were like excited, I was like, okay, Crystal, you got this. Stop thinking that. Don't compare yourself to anybody. And that's what I was doing. I was literally comparing myself to all these amazing singers that were also in the film. And that was stealing the joy in that moment. So I had to put that out. And it was such an amazing experience after I let go of that self doubt. When dating, how do you know when his concerns about me are valid or when he is insecure? That's good. Honestly, I feel like insecurities show up in how they present it to you. You know, you can kind of tell like the way a man, if he continues to bring up something, whether it's really about how it made him feel or if it's something that he's really not comfortable or insecure about with his own situation. I have had situations where I've dated a guy and my success may have been an insecurity where it wasn't in the beginning, but eventually it ended up being one. But then you have situations where your guy expresses and communicates to you in a healthy way and says, hey, babe, this is bothering me, or, hey, babe, you think we could do this a little different? That's not an insecurity. That's him letting you know, hey, this bothers me. Because we all have those situations where something bothers us and we want to express it to our significant other. But I feel like it's a way to tell your partner what's bothering you. But you can tell between when it's like a valid point or it's coming up because it's an insecurity. At least for me, I can. You said that you're on a healing journey. What was the painful yet beautiful thing that you had to do? Oh, that's a good question. Hey, Jade. I just realized. Who wrote this. Hi, Jade. On this journey, I feel like being honest with myself, being transparent about my past with my therapist has been the hardest yet most beautiful thing. Because when you start unpacking what you've been through, a lot of times as a child, you don't even realize the detriment and how, like, bad some of these things were that you went through until someone starts to explain it to you. So I feel like that's the hardest part, but the most beautiful part is realizing that you are healing past it and that you're able to forgive those people, you know, without holding on to some of those memories. That was a really good question, Jade. I lost a parent when I was six months. It affects me. Did your mom passing affect you? It did. I was 2 years old when my mom passed, and I. At that age, you don't really remember. Just like you. You were six months. You don't remember the moment. You just hear the memories of what people have told you. But as you grow up, there is something about having your biological mother or father in your life. And you start to wonder, I wonder what this would be like if they were here. I wonder what she would be like. I wonder what my life would be like. I wonder what our relationship would be like. You grow up with so many questions that you'll never have the answer to because you never get to experience them. And for me, I definitely deal with that. It's crazy because people are like, well, you were young. You don't remember that. Like, if I could, I could understand. If you were older and lost your mom, then that's different. But it's not, you know, it's not any different to Lose your mother or father at a younger age or an older age, it's still a loss, you know? And sometimes I feel like at least you got to experience your mother or father for the kids who actually got to experience them for the time that they were here, versus never getting to experience them. So I'm praying for you, because I know that is difficult. And some days you're good, and then other days you start to have questions. When feeling down, what are some things you do to help yourself get out of that space? I have a good friend, Nina, Nina Simone Wright. She is a hoot, y'. All. Like, I could call this girl anytime, any day, and she's gonna make me laugh. So anytime I'm feeling down, that's one thing that I can do. I also like to go sit at the bar at one of my favorite restaurants. I ain't gonna let y' all know. Cause y' all be trying to pop up where I be. Let me sip some tea. You know, I like to go eat by myself sometimes. Drink my favorite little lemon drop martini. Drink my little lemon drop martini and enjoy me a nice steak. And, you know, just sit with my other single friends at the bar. That's something I like to do. And I call my nephew. I have a. He's about to be two years old, I call him. And that little boy, he doesn't pay me any attention when I FaceTime him. He's running around trying to show off. Look if I can shoot the ball. But talking to him, I pretty much talk to him every day. And he lifts my spirits so much. Shout out, Hendrix. How do you patiently wait for the mate God designed for you? That's good. What's your name? Shay. Shay, That's a really good question. I had said this before you. Sometimes we get so caught up in God. When are you going to bring my man? Like, I'm so tired of doing this by myself. I want to be with somebody. I want a companion. I'm not supposed to be in this alone. And I finally reached a point in my life where I'm okay with whatever God has for me. I am. I genuinely am. And I've learned to be okay with being by myself. But if God does bring someone I know, with everything that I've had to go through, Lord, please let them be designed for me. Because as long as I've had to wait, I need you to bring them ready. Okay? That is what I am praying for in this day. And, Shay, I hope that happens for you, too. But I would say just stay Patient and know that if it's in the car shoe, it's gonna happen. But I'm telling you, the longer you just focus on that, it's only gonna drive you crazy. I know it did for me because I would be in here sad, like, for real sad, thinking, God, where is my man? So just don't fixate on that right now. Just enjoy your life. You are a beautiful girl or woman. And God's going to bring somebody just for you. I know he will. On a first date, do you drive your own car or do you let him pick you up? Honestly, it depends on who it is. I know on one first date that I had, he was an out of town guy. So I had my driver get him and then he got me because I knew we were going to go out to eat. And I don't do drinking and driving. I do not. I don't promote that at all. So I always like to make sure I have safety first. But most of the time, I would say meet them there in my own car. Because if it's a bad day, girl, you want to leave. So, yeah, I would say drive your own car. And then you just don't want anybody knowing where you live either. So drive your own car, meet him there, see how it goes. And then eventually, if you feel safe enough, then you can have him come pick you up like an honorable man should. But yeah, meet him there, girl. Cause if it's bad, you want to be able to dip. How do you navigate your anxiety through this strike? That's a good question. I've had my moments. And I've shared it with Jenora, my manager. She'll call me like, ooh, girl, I almost slipped today. Like, I had my moments of like, oh, God, when is this going to be over? You know? And every time I have a moment of doubt, God provides or he sends a sign that, hey, I got you. What are you worried about? And one thing that Delaina. Delaina Denor Delaina, my therapist told me, is that you have everything you need and you lack nothing. And when I took on that mantra and then just to know that as I'm studying the word of God, that everything God promised to me, no matter what, he's going to keep his promise. So why am I worried? So I started to actually practice the scriptures that I'm studying every day. And that has helped me through my anxiety. I'm happy to say that I have not had any anxiety attacks since I started therapy. I expressed to you guys my first one and I haven't had another one since then, so I'm grateful for that, but thank you for asking that. What advice do you have for someone who self sabotages? Listen, I feel like self sabotaging comes from a feeling of unworthiness. And when you don't feel like you deserve something, you'll mess it up yourself, you know, and we've got to get out of that mindset. We have to know that we are worthy, that we deserve whatever it is that we're going for. Sometimes we miss out on a really good thing, whether it's relationships with good friends, whether it's relationships with significant others that you're maybe dating, or opportunities, you kind of sabotage yourself out of it because you don't feel like you're good enough. If we get outside of that, you'll realize that you'll probably stop self sabotaging yourself. What's been your favorite episode to record? Ooh, I got so many. It would have to be the Country Wayne episode. That was a good episode. Wayne is very insightful, he's funny, and I think we all saw a side of Wayne that we had never seen before. At least you guys commented that you had. So I would definitely say that's my favorite one so far. A very. Make sure you go back and watch it if you haven't. I watch all of them. They're all great. What has changed about you since you've gotten closer to God? That's a great question. I think the biggest thing that has changed about me is, honestly, a lot of things have changed. The type of music I listen to, I'm really conscious of what I allow into my body. We don't even realize that the things that we see, the things that we hear, how much they influence us in our decisions. And sometimes we don't even know that it's influencing us so much. So I would say that it's also allowed me to be more. Allowed me to give more grace to people, you know? And my friend Nina, who I just talked about earlier, she said to me, she's like, girl, you. You so patient with people. And I think I have gained an ability to see people for where they are. And sometimes you can tell, like, you're not a bad person, you're just in a bad space right now, or I actually know where you are because I've been there. And that allows me to give people grace, to find their own way. So I think that's the one thing that's happened to me since I've grown closer to God. Let's see how do you forgive people when you haven't received an apology? Well, I'm going to take a sip on that because my pastor just preached on this and he said, go in and forgive them. You know why? Because sometimes you're not going to get that apology and that's okay. And a lot of times forgiveness is not about the other person. It's about your own self healing. And when he said that, I said, ah, yes, baby. I said, that's it. It's about your own self healing. And when you can get over whatever the person did without receiving an apology. Because some people are just not going to own up to what they've done. And that is okay. Let them do. But don't allow that to ruin your heart for other people. Don't allow that to even harden your heart towards them. You know what? Pray for them. Wish them well. Forgive. You don't have to forget because you're not going to forget. You're never going to forget what someone did to you. But you can always forgive them for your own heart. And that's what I would say. Because a lot of times we don't know we're doing ourselves more damage than they are. Cause they not thinking about you, they hurt off hurting the next person that they not going to apologize to. So I would say make sure you just forgive so that you can move on with a pure heart. Y' all funny. Y' all so nosy. But I did tell y' all to ask me anything. So this one says, who am I dating at the present moment? I am single. And what I want to say is that we film these episodes 40 minutes. I don't know what I'm gonna be doing by the time you watch this. I might be in a relationship, you know what I'm saying? We don't know. So, like, people like, well, she was single, now she not. Now she in a relationship. It's kind of confusing, y'. All. But don't worry about it. It ain't your business. It ain't your business. But yeah, just know that I'm happy, you know, And I love that y' all care so much about who I'm in a relationship with. And it's not something that I will ever hide. But it also isn't something that I may overly share, you know, because I share so much of my life with you guys. There's some things that I do want to keep to myself until the time is right and I'm really big on. Until you're my husband, I'm not going to share that platform with just anybody. So when y' all see me walk down that aisle, then y' all will know, okay? But in the meantime, in between time, it ain't none of your business. All right? All right. Cause they do be like. Cause I'll say this. And then, like, I may, like, be in a relationship. And they're like, wait, what you just said, baby, it's called production time. Production time. Yes. Get it together. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of Keep It Positive. Sweetie. I really enjoyed this one. I hope you guys did, too. This is actually Dinora's idea to have you guys ask questions and me answer them. And y', all. Some of them questions y' all was asking. Mm. Y' all funny, boy. Y' all real funny. I ain't gonna tell y' all everything, but we went through them, and there were some really, really good questions. So I'm happy we got to do this, and I think I want to do this again. So if you guys want to write into our positive outcomes listener letter, you can Write in to keepitpositivesweetiemail.com and that's Sweetie with an IE. You can follow Kips on all platforms at keepitpositivesweetie, and you can follow me on all platforms at luvkristalrenae. And I love it when Dinora pops in. If you want to follow her, follow her on all platforms at Iamdenora. I'm telling you guys her stories are amazing. They always hit home. Make sure you check her out. In the meantime, in between time, you guys know what to do. Keep it positive. Sweet tea. And I'm going to keep drinking my positive tea in my Dior in my Dior tea set. Get into it. Do you respond to me?
