Oswald Perez: Navigating Cerebral Palsy to Unlock Creative Potential

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the thing podcast. This is your host, Stacey Lauren. Well, you guys, I love these moments because I have the most incredible community. And when I get to see the members in my community shine and the growth that they have through the challenges that they go through, it just makes me so happy. I can't even tell you how excited I am to be able to see the growth and the evolution with the things that they're doing. And I met my next guest through our bucket list challenge with the incredible Laura Carney. So it's kind of cool, because if I hadn't met Laura, I wonder if I would have met him without her. And it's kind of like that moment where you realize the people that you end up meeting are just the people that you want to meet at the perfect time. And then since then, he's been a part of the do the thing community. He's done the find your voice challenge, and he's currently in it again. And I am just super excited to get to talk to him and then have you guys meet him as well. And so I am welcoming Oswald to the show. Hi, Oswald.

Hi, Stacy. Good evening, everybody.

So excited to have you here because there was a moment during the bucket list challenge where I think you had everyone speechless. I don't know. Do you remember what that was?

Probably. Probably not. It's granted that was back in January, and way this year has been going. January. January feels like this. Like a. Like a year has gone by comparison to the fact that we're gonna be starting October tomorrow.

Yeah. And so there was a moment where I don't even remember what the dare was, but I know you were talking about one of your biggest goals was to be on an airplane and to fly it. And just the way that you kind of brought us into your experience of what you were wanting for yourself, I just think we all felt it so deeply, and it's just been incredible to just be a part of your experience through all the different things that we've been doing.

I mean, given the fact that I live.

Within the shadow of one airport and driving distance of the major international airport here in New York City.

Learning to fly has been.

It's not hard to see why learning to fly came up as it did.

Yeah, definitely. Well, I'd love to.

Yeah.

Let's talk about your story and your background, because I know you recently released your poem book, which I think I have it here. Yes, I do. Right here.

And so do I. And so do what? So do.

That's one thing about this, it's like, whereas previous years, it really, really come up where, like, people ask me to read all my poems, but now that the paperback copies in my hand, like, if anyone asks, I have it within easy reach.

And I love that. For anyone listening, Oswald shared it for the first time in one of the do things sister communities. Vicki Poole has Stand up and stand out where we were doing a kind of like a rotation of our elevator pitches for the things that we were working on. And that's where he was able to release that he had just put the book out into the world. And so it's.

Couldn't help. Couldn't help myself. Like, I got wind that Amazon had already approved it and it was a guy.

This has been quite a while in the making. Instead of me having this poster that's, like, way in the back of my shot here that's been hanging on the wall for the last four years, now that it's actually physically in my hands, I couldn't hold back from, like, it was the type of shout from the rooftops type moment that happened there.

Yeah, let's talk about that for a minute too, because it does feel like that, right? It's both exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. Right. When you're having to put yourself out there. But I feel like it'd be great if you could kind of, since it's still relatively new, maybe share a little bit about what that feels like.

Well, first, it. Admittedly, it was overwhelming. For starters. Like, Stacy last Friday had the kickoff call for the. For the find your voice challenge. There I am watching it because I couldn't be part of it at the time. And there to find out, she, A, bought a copy of my book and B, I see the page of awakening posted it to. Posted into the call. It was just, oh, my God. For a brief, I thought, oh, my God, what did I. What have I done? And I mean, it's not just that. Like, it's close family too. Like, not long after the book initially came out, it was a Saturday morning, my dad asked me also, do I need your help? I need to make a purchase on Amazon. Can you help me? He wanted to buy a book. I. So, like, bit of a jaded eye because, like, okay, but is he gonna ask me to book it for him? And he's like, I went in my book and he said, your book? I.

So left speechless at that moment.

Yeah, it's amazing, right? When you know you've just worked so hard on something and then you feel so Supported. Right.

I do. It's just like, it's just everyone, like just. It is overwhelming to like see all the support that kind of this. Granted, this is the second goal around with this book as it was initially released solely as an ebook back in 2020. But the timing never felt. I mean because much of the fact. Why just have it in the out in the world part of me was still a.

At some point I want to get this.

Physically made into a physical book. It's not. Doesn't feel quite the same to be able to hold it on your Kindle or your device and see and read the pages, whereas having it physically in your hand took a while to finally. The timing felt right to do it and the persistence. My dear friend Tina Wilson, who run who Key Publishing House, like it was her. Like, she kept. She kept the idea afloat all these years, even though I was like dragging my feet. Say yes to the idea.

Yeah. It's so good when you're able to see it. All that hard work. Right. I'd love to know.

Let's talk.

Let's kind of go back a little bit. Let's talk about your story. So tell us about you.

Well, I live in New York City, live in Queens. I have cerebral palsy.

I have cerebral palsy since birth. Like my sister and I were both born six weeks premature and the odds did not look good that either of us would survive by some the goals my parents love to tell this one tell this @ our birthday every year that all the babies in the NICU were passing away.

Around us, yet somehow we.

Survived.

Wow. Well, what an amazing. Just to know, right that you are here and how that. I don't know if that's something. If you felt that purpose where.

The chances were every like, like every, like I. Even though like all the mountain of complications that came after the fact, I still felt that.

If I managed to survive the initial, the difficulties at birth, there must be some sort of purpose behind all this. And even though, like, it took a while to eventually.

Eventually come to grips with the fact that I have had it because I could read my old individualized education plans from school that were still hanging around the house and it was like, okay, now it finally began to make sense. Like, this is Wiley everything and everything is what it is. It didn't have like that used to be full of oblivion to hold on to that I did for most of childhood.

Either.

Yeah. So as you were growing up, how did you get through the harder times? Do you want to talk a.

Little bit about That I do. It's just that. It was just the sense that I kind of figured there was no way, like, I guess, like, I kind of push it. That the mild version of cerebral palsy, meaning if you didn't know what to look for, you might assume, oh, he's perfectly. He's. He's a perfectly normal person. But it was just all the going through, all the surgeries, doctors appointments, all the therapies you can think of. All I wanted to be was like, everyone else. Like, that was my. Like, if just, like, get to at least a normal.

A normal existence later in life, it'll be worth all the struggle that growing up went.

Through. Yeah. So with the kind of, like, the struggle part of it, have you kind of figured out how you're able to tap through those more difficult times and be able to push? Because you've been doing so many things just since I've known you, from number one, signing up for the bucket list challenge. Right. And then doing find your voice. Now you're in that again. I've seen you doing improv. You've released this book. You're traveling to Croatia. There's so many things that you're doing. I'd love to know, because a lot of times when you have that many things in common of you doing these massive comfort zone stretches that a large majority of people would be like, I could never do that. There's something in you that is different. And I'm feeling like it's coming from this time when you had to fight for your life, Fight, Figure out who you are and all of that. So stuff in.

Between. Yeah, that's where it. Like all the years where I pretty much. The quiet. The quiet years, because I wasn't always. I was a bit of a hyperactive little monster as a kid. You wouldn't know it from me now because of all the surgeries kind of have mellowed me out. Mellowed me out to a great extent. But I was more of a. A bit more of a active and borderline hyper and a lot more, like, more athletic as a kid that I am now. But I kind of figured I shifted my mindset with, like, okay, I might have certain physical limitations that might, like, keep me from being the athlete, but maybe I could find something else to switch it to. And eventually it turned to my academics. And then eventually after. After all that was said and done, I began to focus on my.

Creativity. Yeah. So as you're focusing on the creativity, then that ends up being a tool where you're able to express yourself process. Right. And then sort of starts opening up this expansion for you. I'd love to hear more about.

That. So with the creativity, initially, it was the type of thing where it only do it in the presence. Like my parents, like Mother's Day, Father's Day, and birthday cards. Just writing messages in them simply. Although in my mom's case, I would have to, like, translate it into from English to Spanish at first so she can understand what I'm trying to say. I never thought of it as poetry. Like, I just purely said what was in my.

Heart.

Hmm. And they eventually were the first ones to notice that, oh, this is actually good.

And it was just like that very first step, way before I even realized that I possibly had something here.

Mm. Yeah. Even that line that you just said, how do you actually say what's in your heart? Which then follows through with, how do you do what's in your heart? And now, because you're doing it, you're starting to notice it. That there's a gift there with the creativity side of.

Things. Even though I would not discover it until end of high school, when of all, like. So it was a senior year of high school. We had a found poetry exercise, which you get a set of words on your sheet of paper, you turn them into your deal. What is to turn them into a poem? I think it might have worked a little too well because when I got my paper back from my teacher, she wrote in the left margin, oswald, you're a poet. And I was like. I had no, like, had a dumbfounded look on my face, like, really, Like, I had no idea what I was doing. I was just merely trying to turn the works that I was given into something. I didn't like anyone to.

See anything more than into.

It. So you're just following what is in your heart, which is now starting to get noticed.

Right?

Yeah, it is. Honestly, it's surprising that, like, people notice my work. Even after all all the posts that I, like, put on my Instagram, be. It still surprises me.

Where, like, where some days, like, some pieces tend to pick up a lot more momentum than others. There's no exact trick or science involved. Like, just write the pieces, pick the day that I, like, feel like, okay, this is. This will be good for here. Write the caption and press share. After that, it's up to the universe. Like, I held up my end of the bargain by putting myself out.

There. Yeah. So, okay, so tell us about the book. How did that end up coming about? You're starting to write and then you put it in an ebook. But I'd like to hear the process a little bit more too. So there's so many people that are listening, including me, that want to write a book and they're being held back by something. Help us understand how you did it and what called you to do it.

Too. So we have to go back to January 2020, even though the guy was reluctant to sign up for the author and podcast host Kathy Heller business course, me to do this because that same time I just put down the deposit on the trip to Italy, which would later be delayed for two years because of the pandemic. Of course it was still.

I mean it was still January. None of us saw that coming. So I was hesitant to make the investment in me to do this, thinking there's no way I'm going to pay that much money twice in succession, even if I have to pay it off gradually. And also that sense of doubt, it's a business course, I am a writer. How is this exactly gonna help me? I had no idea. But Kathy saw something in me because on the day of the program started, it was 3:30 in the afternoon. I was at the Javits center attending the New York Times travel show. I just happened to open, check my phone because I was using the camera at the moment, my email and there's the message from Kathy Eller herself offering me a partial scholarship opportunity intimate to do this because I took her five day challenge and apparently made left quite an impression on.

Everyone. Oh.

Wow. She, she thought of me off of the scholarship and I took it as a sign from the universe. Okay, you have to do this, you have to go through this now. Like what, what more signs do you need to go ahead with it? So I hurried through the silent process and got dropped. A quick introduction because the call, that first call was at 8pm that night. So I had to scramble to get myself prepared for the 12 weeks that.

Followed. And so what.

Happened? So after an eight weeks I was kind of like plotting.

Like I wasn't, didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. Enter the night of March 22, 2020. So it was in the 10 o' clock hour, it was called 38 that night at 10 o'. Clock. So usually at that last hour recall there's something called the hot seat, meaning if you've done the homework, you get the chance to be in the hot seat, which is essentially a one on one conversation with Kathy with everyone looking on. I got selected, the chat zoom call exploded and I freaked out. After I Had the panic attack. And two of my colleagues were messaging me at the same time. They were reminding me like, Kathy called on you because I wanted nothing to do with it. I was terrified that I would embarrass.

Myself.

Okay. In front of Kathy and everyone. But with little technical difficulty involved too, I was able to calm my. Calm myself down enough to have the.

Conversation. So you really, like when you said freaked out, you really freaked out. It was like you couldn't cause. So she called on you to. To do a hot seat, but you were like, this is. I cannot. It's too much.

Right? No, I'm gonna. I was terrified.

Wow. Yeah. Well, it's just amazing. Cuz I've done that to you before and you've been fine. So it's just amazing how comfort zone, right? As you're doing your comfort zone now, it's easy for you. It feels like, at least from the way that I see it.

It'S. It's worse. It's less. Less nerve wracking now than it was back then. Now it's like sometimes I kind of go out of my way to want to apply to be a guest on. On podcast. Some cases, depending if it's something that seems like it's right up my alley, I'll make the effort to do it. But that was totally not me at that moment in.

2020. Wow. So you're going through that process and then what.

Happened? So that conversation, Kathy imparted the mantra of words are art, meaning your words. She read one of my poems into the zoom call, which that by itself, I guess that's. It was kind of like that sense of validation which for as long as I been on this earth, I've been trying to find is I never given everything that I had to deal with with cerebral palsy. Like the sense of validation myself was not there. Like, it was like I was looking for it somewhere else. I could not find it. No matter how many awards and diplomas I had. The sense of validation was missing.

And it somehow showed up that night in that.

Conversation.

So she saw in you what you had not seen in yourself yet.

Right?

Exactly. Yeah. It's so important what you just said, because I don't think a lot of people realize that's how we can actually help people grow into who they are by just being their ally and actually seeing in them what maybe other people haven't seen. And by her doing that, it kind of like moved you another inch. Right. And that validation really helped you continue to.

Go. And she, she said it right off the bat, she was serious about the taking a liking to me. I thought to myself, oh, she's just being nice. She was really serious about what she saw in.

Me. And so then what.

Happened? So the next morning I was well after the call, I was still getting messages from everyone at like 11 o' clock at.

Night.

Wow. Next day, so let's just say kind of intervenes. My previous employers ceased operations because of the pandemic. I was working in the thrift store arm my previous employer. So on the 23rd of March, we ceased operations. So I went after we, after I logged out, I just thought, look, I came back up here like I was writing the, like I still had the bolts of inspiration in my head and the poem which would ultimately become Awakening was written the next morning and like I downloaded Canva and posted the piece. Although I made the amateur mistake of not having my signature on the piece at first because I just like posted it, didn't like sign off on it. So it was like, you know, you have to your signature on it. So like nobody gets the idea to like freely like take your right, take your pd. So it's just I had to, I put my signature on it and posted on Instagram that Monday afternoon, not knowing of course that everything would drastically change. Like I was on cloud nine. But things kind of like went sideways.

In that same week when I got furloughed from my previous my job at the.

Time. And so now we have a book, right? So what was that like? How did you get. And it's so good. Just so you guys know the poems are. Each one is just so power and potent and it really just touches your heart in a way that it's hard to, to do something like that. So I'd mentioned this in that meeting that you had talked about and it's like I, I, that's why it's still here. I like grabbing it when I need some inspiration and I'm just able to go into it and read it. And you just really, I don't know, it's just so powerful each.

Piece. I never like, here's a thing when it comes to the I don't didn't never expected like to hear like that it was just me just writing because given the fact that like I had all the time in the world for like better half of four months, I just started and I still wanted to put something together. Sort of like graduate, like a thesis that you have for grad school almost after 12 weeks. I wanted to have something to show for my effort and the money that like I put into the course. But it was like I did it, had no idea what I wanted to do with it. So. But in May of that year, I reached out, put it into the made to do this students only Facebook group to ask. I wanted to put it wanted to create something from my poems. What should I do? And then eventually the answer like burst. One suggestion was I got Inch Magazine, Bull City Press. So I hastily put the manuscript together, not having the slightest idea how to do that, hastily compiled the poems that were in Poetic Journey into the regular Google Doc and sent it out. The next suggestion came from my friend and colleague Jennifer Rivera. She's a graphic designer that lives in Oxford, England. She had. She is a really good designer graphic designer, and she was willing to.

Hear me out on my idea of bringing a foic journey into the world.

And over the course of that summer, at numerous zoom calls between, between the United States and in England, the E book version of the book came together that.

October. Yeah. So it's happened so fast when you're like, okay, I'm going to just give this a testament to my people, which I thank you for sharing my TEDx talk. I appreciate it. But for anyone that doesn't know, it's a powerful talk. Stacy, thank you. And yeah, it's pretty much about aligning yourself with people that have a common goal. Right. And that's what my people is. And you've shown it with this group, with Kathy and, and then with the do the thing community by being with people with that shared goal. Now all of a sudden, look how fast you're going. And then when you wanted to ask advice, you're asking advice, you're getting advice, you're getting to take it anytime. I'm sure you struggled. You were able to just like what happened on that zoom where you're struggling and then they're not making fun of you because they get it, they're doing it with.

You. And yeah, this isn't childhood anymore. Where it's like a childhood. Like if you try to be yourself for like ask for help, you end up getting bullied by your classmates. Where as a, as an adult, when you be yourself and try to and ask for help when you need it as an adult, adults are a lot more receptive to it than children.

Are. Yeah. Do you think it's all the adult thing or do you think it's because you happen to be in groups with people that have a shared.

Goal? Also, like, it happens to be. Bless you. Also, it happens to Be.

Like that. I found like a. Communities of people that are of similar interests like that. Like Instagram, for example, unable to font fact that I'm part of the first line poets community on Instagram that's run by the author Jane Barrow. So she. I don't know if you have like, you see that my Instagram being. And see the post at the Globe next to them. So it's the whole finding one community, no matter where it might.

Be. Hmm. Well, tell us, how have you gotten through some of the hardest times? What's something that you do when you're really struggling and you need to overcome.

It? So when I am. When I'm struggling and overcome it, I just step away from it for a second. Like, I just. Just try to write it down because the words seem to make a lot more sense. Everything seems to make a lot more sense to me when I have every doubt somewhere, whether it be in my notebooks or in my. Or the memos on my devices. And it helps me, like, okay, this is what's in front of me. So it's out of my.

Head. Yeah. Which is kind of like what finding your voice does, right?

Yeah. I'd love to have you share maybe what it's been like for you being part of the do the thing community and being inside the challenges.

Too. Okay. So for those. When it came to the find your voice community, it was one of those. For the fact that everyone says all the algorithm is nefarious or horrible. It's. In my experience, it's not necessarily the case all the time. I mean, it was back in January, I was just scrolling around and I kept coming across the find your voice challenge, like, seemingly every other day or so while I was scrolling around. And it's like, okay, it's January. Like, I just have that sense of, like, motivation. It's a new year, same new year, same me. And I figured, okay, like this. Try to give this a go. To see, like, without even knowing anything about Stacy or do the thing in the first place, I just, like, I just went for it and just still going through those dares, it kind of pushed me out of the comfort zone that much more. Going through each. Each one every.

Day. Do you notice the shifts that you make are even faster because it's like little tiny baby things. But then the compounding effect.

Also. Yeah, it does. Like, the small, like, everything inevitably adds up in the. In the end, it's just like, you know, you're kind of like the last person to realize it, even if everyone else around you does.

Mm. Yeah. I'd love to hear your advice to anyone that maybe hasn't done a do the thing challenge yet. What would be some advice to them if they're nervous about it and they're not.

Sure? Just. Just embrace it. Like, you're in a community. No one's gonna like, make fun of you. There's not an ill. No, no ill will whatsoever in that group. Everyone's supportive. Like, you don't need to be afraid to be yourself. Fear. You can just embrace. Embrace the dares as they come. Even if someday these are more of a struggle to get to. To answer them than others are. Just be yourself in the. In your. Be yourself in your answer and everyone will appreciate that.

Fact. Okay. As well. The time is here. What is your number one piece of advice for people on doing the.

Thing? Just be yourself. Like, I know I'm gonna friggin, like mess up the Oscar Wilde quote, but be yourself. Everyone else is already.

Taken. That is the perfect way to end this interview, I feel like. Because I think that's what I'm realizing is the secret to. I mean, besides being around people with a shared goal, but it's also finding your voice. Right. Being comfortable in your own skin and who you are and whatever that means in that way. And the more that you're able to tap into yourself and feel aliveness that we can feel by being ourselves, I mean, that's the more we can do because we no longer have fear about anything, really.

Right. Yeah. Or at least, okay, maybe not a little fear. A lot less fear than one would have going into whatever it is you're.

Doing. Yeah. Okay. Please share where people can follow you and also buy your book as.

Well. So, yes, primarily I post my poems. I'm on instagram @oswald perez85. And as far as my book, it's available on Amazon in the United States. It's available now, but come Saturday, October 5, the book launch is expanding the more countries on Saturday, October 5th.

So it's you. You could just put in the title Poetic Journey Staying at Home into Amazon and guarantee you'll. It'll take you straight to my book. It's available paperback and Kindle. So it's like as long as you have the Kindle app, whatever device you have, it'll.

Work. Well. Thank you so much for coming on and thanks for being a valued member of the community. I really appreciate.

It. Thank you so much for having.

Me, Stacy, and for you guys. Do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity. Create it. And hey guys, have you checked out my Facebook group yet? Go to do the thing collaboration dot.