This month, we are very excited to have comedian, TV personality, model and influencer, Fats Timbo on Point Made to discuss overcoming obstacles. Fats has had to overcome many obstacles in her own life and one of the biggest challenges she had to overcome was accepting her disability and developing confidence. She talks to our host Jamie and panel of young people to discuss this topic and offer advice to other young people and people in general.
This month, we are very excited to have comedian, TV personality, model and influencer, Fats Timbo on Point Made to discuss overcoming obstacles. Fats has had to overcome many obstacles in her own life and one of the biggest challenges she had to overcome was accepting her disability and developing confidence. She talks to our host Jamie and panel of young people to discuss this topic and offer advice to other young people and people in general.
The podcast from centre by young people for all people. Centerpoint is the UK is leading youth homelessness charity. at Centerpoint. We believe no young person's life should be defined by homelessness. We give young people the support they need to heal and grow no matter what. for over 50 years, we've been the centre point for change, personal and political. Everyone has their part to play with young people leading the way. This podcast has been created by young people with lived experience of homelessness will be shining a spotlight on some of the issues that affect us. We hope to challenge and change some of the stereotypes and bring others with us as part of a movement to end youth homelessness for good. This podcast was recorded on Zoom due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Welcome to point made Centerpoint podcast by young people for all people. I'm Jamie and I will be hosting this month's episode, which is focusing on overcoming obstacles and finding a way to carve out your own path. This is very important subject for young people supported by Centerpoint as they have to deal with more than their fair share of obstacles in life. And building resilience is so important for us. So hello, everybody. My name is Jaime. I'm 27 years old, and I'm a former Centerpoint young person. I currently run a project called moving upwards, which helps young people explore their trauma using dance as a way to heal and move on. I would say one of my biggest obstacles would be loving and accepting myself. And also not forgiving myself for letting go of my past. And I think that I've often taken what's happened quite personally. So blaming myself for the things that have happened, and not being able to truly fully love myself because of that. And I think that's one of the biggest obstacles that I face every day. But yeah, I've learned a lot of things to help me cope with that. And I'm sure we'll go into more of that later. But that's one of the reasons why it's quite close to me. And we are so excited to have a very special guest this month. Her name is fats Timbo. Some may know her from the Undateable ears, but she's also a comedian, model and influencer. However, I'd like fats to have the opportunity to introduce herself and explain why this subject area has personal significance for her. Ah, hi. So like you said, my name is fats, Timbo. I am a model comedian, dancer, influencer TV personality. Gosh, like, sounds like so much. But yeah, over the years, I've just delved into so many things like I feel like I should be called Jackie of all trades. Almost. But this subjects touches like my heart quite a bit. Because I feel like my whole life I've just been dealing with obstacles. And it's important to let young people know that. Yes, you will face obstacles. And yes, you can overcome them. So for me, I've definitely like learned over the years, how to overcome them. And the more great things come your way, the more problems as well. So I've definitely learned how to just overcome them really? And do you have any, like further insight on what it is that you do to overcome those obstacles? Yes. So for example, my biggest thing that I've had to overcome was accepting myself and giving myself self love. So I feel like how I did it was through actually doing things that I never do before. So for example, modelling I never thought I'd be doing modelling in my life. So five years ago, when I saw an ad, basically saying, Oh, we want people with autism, albinism, people, all types of people with disabilities. I thought to myself, Okay, I basically call in my name. So let me try it. You know, my parents have always encouraged me to try new things and always like delved into things. So I thought to myself, Okay, let me try it. And this was like a whole under I campaign. So this was from zero to 100. And I feel like it changed my life that day when I did it because I was so nervous to do it. So, so nervous. And then when I actually did it, I felt so proud of myself because I realised that I can do things that make me uncomfortable. And afterwards, I'll feel fine. So I learned that that day. And that was one obstacle. And then when as soon as I started doing more things that my brain told me I couldn't do. It gave me more confidence. It gave me more higher self esteem. And it gave me the self love that I needed. That's so empowering. I love that so much. Thank you. Yeah, I can, I can really, really relate to that as well. But I actually probably need to introduce everyone. That is on the panel today. So we have a lovely panel of young people. Please can I introduce Joshua? Oh, yeah. My name is Joshua Anis a, I'm a community communications on business developer Muslim. I'm also an ex resident at Centerpoint. I used to stay at Fairbank in Manchester as well, for about a year. Currently, I work a lot with the advocacy side of anything. I'm working with a creative industry, but we are nonprofit, meaning that we do a lot of work in order to provide opportunities to a lot of the youth or people that are overlooked in that demographic within the creative industry. Or we look for people to educate about the creative industry, because a lot of people believe you have to be able to draw to be able to do it. So right now my main goal in life is to go out and kind of give back what I was given from some point, which is education opportunities, and a bit of encouragement to actually be able to move on and faster and better to do. Thank you, Joshua. And why is this month's podcast episodes important to you? It's important to me because it gives me a chance to express and make aware that even though there are obstacles in life, and everyone's life is gonna have them. If you don't give up and you keep pushing forward, and you strive, and you find self confidence in yourself to move forward. Fundamentally, there's gonna be new opportunities out there, it's just sometimes turning right instead of left and meeting the right person can change your whole life. So this is important to me, because I know I'm not the only one that struggled. And it kind of gives me over people that I could connect with, and a chance to share my story at the same time. Thank you so much. So we also have Noddy. Hi, sir. I'm naughty. I'm 21 years old. And I'm currently a college student going into uni this September. And also currently a young person in Santa Fe, and I've been here for a year, but I'm also in my moving process, going into independent living. As a young person living in centre pain. I felt like for a very long time, even before I came to centerpoint, I was going through a lot of obstacles and facing a lot of things. And because of my background, and my community, mental health wasn't really a thing. So I had to kind of teach myself about my feelings and what I was feeling and come out these obstacles alone. And you know, try to understand. I think this was really important to me, because I know that there's a lot of people that suffer with this, but don't know what it is or how to come over these obstacles. Yeah, 100% agree. That's why I think it's important for me as well, just just to reiterate, like, I think it is really important for me as well that we do things like this because we need to shed light and share awareness on like, exactly what the challenges are what you can do to help yourself out of them, right? Yeah. Hi, I'm a shanty. I'm 19 years old. I'm a current young person at some point. This subject is really important to me, because I'm a person that really looks at other people situations, and kind of sees if I can relate so that I could offer the best advice or kind of relate in a type of way. I feel like a lot of the stuff that I do is kind of a healing process for me, I guess, because hearing other people's experiences and seeing how they got through it, I would say has definitely helped me and surprised me in a way. Hello, I'm Ben. I'm 22 years old. I'm a former Centrepointe resident, I was sent to point for two years. So one of the biggest obstacles I had to encounter was going into hospital into an inpatient unit at the age of 15. And sort of working on myself for about two and a half. For years, we've ran the clock therapy, which is an obstacle in itself every single time that comes around. And then leaving that and going into the world itself was was another obstacle in itself and finding a sort of place to live. And that's when sort of Centerpoint came in, and was able to help me find that place to live and support me further to now where I am now, which is just a sort of, as still as certainly supported but a different accommodation. So it's quite nice. Oh, that's really good to hear. Thank you, Ben. So that is everyone introduced, I believe. So we're going to move on to the areas of discussion for the episode. Now, how would we define what an obstacle is? And I have put down here, I've defined an obstacle, that's something that puts an emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, ecological burden over yourself, what would you define as an obstacle in life facts, I would define an obstacle as something you have to overcome. Obviously, you touched on it be an emotional, spiritual, all of those things, something one of those, but to overcome it, you have to find a way to see what that challenging thing is, and basically, move past it or find ways to just reach an end goal to it instead of letting it stop you. If that makes sense. Because an obstacle is basically something that stops you from doing something. But you have to find a way to navigate out of it. Yes, they say the only way out is in Right? Exactly. Amazing. Thank you so much, Josh. obstacle to me is something that is between you and your ego that is no more than a hurdle or bump in the road or a pothole in the road, something that you can manoeuvre around something that you will have to sometimes climb over. Sometimes you might need to prepare a bit more. Sometimes you might need help. But it's something that doesn't stop you just challenges you to see or determine kind of thing you are to actually achieve your goal. And honestly, I think the main time ahead or obstacle really does stop here is if it becomes mental. And then you start to tell yourself that you're not capable of achieving what your actual goal is, or capable of actually getting to the end of the road, so to speak, where you actually go realise, so that's to me what obstacle is, but I agree, it can be mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, is just something that's in between you and your goal. But I don't believe that obstacle is something that stops you just takes a bit of preparation to get around or over. I completely agree. I have to say, I don't think that obstacles are there to stay forever. But obviously, it is something that's been created that needs to be dealt with. So I think these kinds of challenges almost turn, turn out to be lessons in life so that you can get to the next level. Not even a shanty. What would you guys define as an obstacle? And I'm not easy. I think for me personally, an obstacle is nothing more than like a step on the way like, it's just another step that you have to take. And it might be bigger than the step before or you might be more challenging than the step you did before. But you have to get through that step so that you can get to the goal that you're trying to work towards. So I feel like even though obstacles are sometimes a negative thing, there's always a positive outcome because you've been through it. You've learned from it and it's like, now you're wiser from it. A shanty here, an obstacle to me, I definitely say is a challenge. And I thought like everybody has to face challenges in their lives. And I feel like an obstacle gets your brain thinking. It gets you thinking about the next step. It gets you thinking about how can I get through this? How can I overcome this? Yeah, I saw like an obstacle definitely gives you more power. And it kind of I feel like obstacles make you to drive in a way because at least you can say oh, to get here. I went through this and I got through this and I'm strong. So that's an obstacle T thank you so much santi 100% agree with with that that you always come out stronger and wiser. The end. So thank you. Finally we have then could you please tell me what you think? You will define as an obstacle for moments just running inside? Sorry, it's just been windy. I didn't expect that. Okay. Oh gosh, it's decades. Okay. That's another obstacle. Go. Okay, I think I agree with everyone on the I like Joshua's driving metaphors. I like everyone's examples of the obstacles, and overcoming my breath. So I've just had to deal with the obstacle of the stairs, I'm extremely out of breath and not as healthy as I once was. By obstacles physical health. Anyway, I agree with everyone on the on the on what they've said, so far being lost is quite difficult in this sense, because everyone sort of said, everything that I wanted to say, and that's fine. obstacles, I think obstacles allow us to grow, and to develop as people. And I think they're quite important in our lives. I think an obstacle is a challenge, propose something that we have to tackle in order to grow. And in doing so by learning how to overcome those challenges. Now, we can learn how to overcome them easier in the future and adapt to that, so that we're able to continue growing and continue overcoming these challenges to become the person that we are in the future. Yes. I'm like clapping for that response, I love. Yes, to make you become who you're meant to be. I love that. Thank you so much, everyone, like I really genuinely resonate and relate to everyone's responses. And thank you for being so open. And just honest, it's really nice to have just an authentic conversation about real life. So yeah, thank you for that. So I'd love to ask your opinion on how you think the best way is to navigate social media. I was looking online earlier. And it says here that 40% of young people 26% of young boys and 54% of young girls have admitted that images on social media caused them to worry about their own body. Could you agree, or relate or just share? You definitely agree? Because, you know, it depends on who you'll follow in, to be honest with you, because you can follow the most beautiful people in your eyes. And think, why am I not skinny enough? Or why am I why don't I have a beautiful nose or like this person, but I feel like it definitely can make you feel insecure, and feel like you're not doing enough as well. But we need to remember, everyone shows their best pictures. They don't show the whole cup or roll of what they did. You know, and most of these pictures are face to face, as well. So people need to remember that as well. That they're comparing themselves to basically something that's not real. Nine times out of 10 it's just better to just tell yourself that, okay, they might look like they look better than me, but just see it as inspiration. See, as Oh, they're wearing nice clothes, where do they get their clothes from? I can get the same clothes as them. For me, I like to follow people that don't make me feel insecure, as well. So there was a point in time, I didn't want to look at my feed because it just made me feel like rubbish. And then I thought to myself, I'm gonna unfollow the people that make me feel a type of way, you know, and I started following people that have disabilities like me, I started following people that have big personalities. And that made me laugh and people that have amazing arts and things like that, not for not accounts that are all about the image and luxury and things like that, because that's not me, you know. So, I feel like to navigate social media, you need to make you feel good, basically. So follow the people that make you feel good. That's the best way to navigate. Thank you for that. 100% I need to take some advice from what you're saying there myself, because I can definitely relate to, you know, comparing myself and my life to You know, people that may have way more money than me and way more resources or like, you know, better health better connections and we don't know what what someone has or how they've got it. They're showing the best five minutes of themselves, you know, as well. So many people say, oh my god, your story looks amazing. And then I'll tell them, the event I went to wasn't amazing. I just showed the best parts Yeah, it's an extremely filtered version of exactly. I just wanted to add a little bit on what facts were seeing. Because I feel like that resonated a lot with me. I feel like growing up, I wasn't on like Instagram for a while. So I came when I was wrong. I joined Instagram when I was 16. And then that time, I was just seeing things and pictures of people and like people that did not look like me. And I just always felt like, what's going on, you know, everyone looks like this. And it kind of had me thinking a lot. And I felt like I had to overcome and realise that, like I said, this is just the best five minutes of their life. And if I pose in a certain way I can get no wherever they're doing that. It's not that plus people pay for these things. And they're not always realistic. And there's not really the raw footage. I had to kind of tell myself that and it just be happy with what you've got. And it took me a while but I've definitely say now social media doesn't really affect me, because I've really took on understood that it's not real. And if I wanted to, I could go to the gym, but I don't really like the gym. So it's like, I'm just gonna like what I've got it, you know? So yeah, that's about it. Thank you. My intake on social media, honestly. I used to be kinda like everybody else, kind of competitor, myself kind of always wondering how everybody else has got it. And it took one conversation with the influencer, that actually changed my whole perspective on it, we will all compare ourselves to this one person that we will see go viral pretty much that being the main term, and we will see a handful of people on social media that are doing well. What we don't ever pay attention to is why have they got so many 1000s of followers? Why have they got so many millions of followers, is because there's Oh, there's more people in common with me watching that person, you know, I've gotten the business or I've got the luxury lifestyle. And there's probably a million of us feeling the same way. Rather than actually acknowledging the fact that actually, there's a million of us out here that are actually more common to each other than this one person that we're trying to compare ourselves to, just like you, everyone else is probably trying to learn from that person or see the influence from that person, or possibly even comparing. So now, it's just a state of just like faxes as well. The only people that I see on my social media are people that I've businesses, be involved with me, see me develop, or people I want to see develop, or I feel like I've got more of a, likewise in common with what you're saying about trying to make sure that you just focus on your own life, and not some stranger that you're never going to meet probably. Lately, I've just been trying to really, really stay present in the moment. And just literally basking in gratitude for my own life and for everything that I have in it, because the more that you think about it, the more that you realise how blessed you actually are, the more grateful that you can be for everything that you have, the easier life comes. There's a lot of different corners of social media. And there's like a lot of different things, you can see anything on the internet. But I've actually got a different corner of the internet that I follow, which is a lot of people's sort of brains in action. So I actually take part in what's known as speed running or a community where people play video games. And they try and beat them as fast as possible, which I think is absolutely fascinating. And just the technical skills and the competition. I just love following that, because it's its own sort of sport in a way. And one of the things I also like watching is it's sort of chess, and people's brains and the way they think about these situations, the way they solve these problems that I can also, after a period of time of watching them, I'm able to solve myself makes me feel so much more confident in my abilities, being able to be in this community and being able to run with the big boys in some sort of way. Obviously not there yet, but I would love to be there one day. But obviously, there's also the dark sides of social media, which, sadly, I've got a 13 year old sister and she sort of come across these dark sides of the internet. And it's like, it's just you find out horrible things. And I get these very awkward questions. It's just it made it very difficult because my sister is quite young, and I did when she's on social media, and learning all these things. Maybe she's learning the wrong things. If that is a thing to learn the wrong things. I think that we our brains can be conditioned in many ways depending on what we feed it. So the brain is obviously extremely receptive, so it can affect your actions. Ultimately, I keep my screen time on the front of my phone. And it's right there exactly how many hours or minutes that I've been staring at my screen. And I'm very, very conscious of it. Now I have time blockers on all of my apps. So it forces me to rethink what I'm doing and it If I really need to be on my phone in that moment, have you heard of the forest app, it gives you these little like little trees and plants that you can grow in the time that you don't spend on your phone. So it sort of encourages you to not spend time on your phone as much. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, I highly encourage anything to stop you getting off of your phone. So I really wanted to ask, we don't have very long at all. So I'd love to be able to ask, that's a question for when we finishing up, I would love to ask you, what advice would you give to your younger self, the advice I would give to my younger self, is to not worry as much. And realise that over time, you will learn how to face these obstacles. And these obstacles in the future won't feel like obstacles or just feel like, Oh, I've done this before. I know what to do, like, type of thing. Because in the past, I used to feel like I couldn't do anything or I was hopeless. I felt like life. It just wasn't worth it. Like, honestly, so to speak. I used to feel like that, like life is just what is the point. But now because I've overcome my obstacles, and I'm still facing obstacles, but now I face it with confidence. So the advice I'd give to my younger self overall, is you are going to be confident over time, you're going to know how to face your obstacles, and you're going to be a Barbie to say, yeah. Yeah, yes. I love it so much. I'd like to ask the same question like, What advice would you give to your younger self? Um, wow, I would think about answering that. But I guess, to just like, focus on the things that bring you joy and have appreciation for where you are, because you won't be able to reflect and look back and move forward. If you don't appreciate where you are. Don't lose hope and don't give up on yourself. Facts. The thing I will tell my younger self is life changes. And so we, at the end of the day, if you cannot pause for the small appreciations and to admire the small parts that make the bigger picture, you're never really going to enjoy the big picture, you're always going to be striving for something more. And that's when pride will turn to greed. So yeah, that's what I'll tell you as life changes. So we'll get into network and as soon as possible. That is fantastic. I used to be so scared of that work. And now I'm like just a chatterbox. Yeah, gotta love it. Gotta love it. Exactly. I've got something I'd like to say to my younger self. I feel like if there was one thing it would be to not overthink things, because I remember as a kid, every little small detail of life, I would just overthink it look my way I have a whole storyline for that just one specific detail. And I used to panic a lot. And just think about, like, if I don't do nothing, nothing will happen. But I feel like time did it all for me. Like with time, I slowly started to learn and flourish as a person. So it would just be a worry, that stretched itself. And time was it all for you take it one step at a time. I wanted to say that one thing I will tell my younger self is to be strong, hold tight, and it will be worth it. And definitely to stay focused on what you want. And never let anybody come in the way of that or anybody stop you from going on your journey and getting to where you need to be. That's a That's great advice, guys. Honestly, I wish I told myself that much younger. Took a while to realise and accept but we're finally here. Yeah, yeah. Love that. I'd give myself the advice that it's okay not to be okay. And communicate what you need when you need it. You know, and not not to delay it. Because the sooner you get the help you need, the better it is for you. You know and there's no need to be embarrassed about these things. And it's, it's communicating with people that you trust, to sort of understand that you're Not Alone attaches things quite important. And I wish I knew that a lot younger so I would be hopefully in a better place now. So I really liked what you said about say, you know, just just being okay with with not being okay. And I think it's a difficult thing to be able to actually really do, I really struggle to admit that I'm going through an emotional breakdown when I'm in the middle of like, feeling emotionally broken down, you know, like, I tried to power through it as if it's not as bad as it is. So I think just being okay with that is quite hard thing to do. And with you, you know, saying like, you know, not being embarrassed or whatever, I really hear that for the male use as well, not being able to feel like they can express what they're going through. But that's a whole other conversation. Thank you, everybody, for joining onto the episode today, four point made. Thank you very, very much to our special guests fat Timbo for joining us on this episode. Thank you so much for listening and please follow and subscribe. If you would like to find out more about the workshops that I run, please follow at moving upwards 2020 on Instagram, the next episode will be on its way to you next month by if you want more information, then visit our blog at www.centerpointe.org/blog. Don't forget Centerpoint offers free advice via the centerpoint helpline to anyone aged 16 to 25 who is homeless or at risk of homelessness call us free on Oh 808-800-0661 We're open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm you can also leave us a message on our website at www.centerpointe.org.uk/youth homelessness slash get help now. Thank you so much to our lovely guest fat Timbo for joining on this month's episode. And thank you to all of our amazing panellists that joined today and shared insight with us. And most of all, thank you so much to you, the viewer. Please continue to share support, like and subscribe. Thank you so much