But they must think that I'm, like, really into woodworking or carpentry.

Or like, there she is with her woods and ship going to build herself a ladder like Okay, weirdo.

Well, I thought to myself perfectly appropriate to this Kobe 2020 sucks theme do this year.

Sex.

Maybe this is the perfect time to not just explain what build the latter is and how it helps me out of miserable situations.

But I can also show you what I've been doing to build a ladder, so this might sound a little bit negative at first, but it's not the concept.

And build a ladder completely accepts the reality that things were gonna suck.

That's right.

Life is gonna deal you some sucky hand.

Some unfair things are gonna happen.

And you are absolutely gonna have really hard, dark days.

But build a ladder is all about getting out of that pit.

It's like having the escape map to a jail that you've been imprisoned in. It's like waking up from a dream and being like, You have no power over me David Bowie! I'm talking about the labyrinth.

There's a part in the labyrinth, Um, I talking about literally building a real ladder.

No, I'm not, but I mean, hey, you could do that, too.

If you want my approach to life, my approach to dealing with feeling upset and being depressed and pushing through difficult times is build a ladder, which means taking life step by step or rung by rung.

It means appreciating every little thing you've done along the way, just like you would if you were to, like, watch a TV show.

If you put on your favorite Siri's, you don't start the first episode and then jump to the final season eight ender and go.

I don't understand what's happening.

No, you have to appreciate the characters growing the stuff that they go through, the stuff that they face well, we should apply the exact same mentality to ourselves.

You could end up with so many little tiny, itty bitty inconsequential winds that it feels like you've had a very positive day despite maybe having a not so great day.

But, Martina, how do I even begin to build a ladder when everything around me sucks?

Yes, it's true.

Things will suck.

It is challenging.

I'm not gonna lie.

Building a ladder is like any skill.

You can't just sit down in front of the piano and be like play the piano.

I'm gonna join soccer or football, and suddenly I can play with the pros, know it takes training and it takes practice on There's a B a L squad and they have been practicing and they have been working at it all the time.

The ball squad, I'll get back to you on if I like that name or not, that's all those people that I talk about on instagram that hashtag build a ladder.

The ball squad can prove to you that if you train every single day, you can squeeze some kind of goodness out of the day.

If you sit in that pit of depression, you're not gonna get out of it.

You cannot get out of your own head.

But if you see things in a different way and you appreciate life in a different way, you start to slowly build your way on Lee.

You could do it.

You build your way out of this pit.

I want to show you what I have been doing.

Remember, every single step counts as a win surrounding myself by things that I think are pretty and uplifting lighting.

I I love lighting.

You ready?

Oh, amazingly in it.

It's a galaxy projector.

I got this beautiful twinkle wall.

I've got a tiny lamp.

Don't small slam piss.

You could turn it on and off with a satisfying but bush.

I have excellent neon lighting that I have a fixed he using hooks and tapes and glue, and it actually changes to the beat of music.

Turning on all the little bits and pieces of lighting makes me really happy.

It helps me build a ladder.

I have Christmas lights down the hallway that I gotta bend over and plug in every single one of these steps.

Turning on lights and lighting up rooms always kinda makes me go when I see it.

I'm always like pretty, and all these things are steps of me pushing myself further out of this pit by adding different runs to my ladder.

My love for miniature items makes me very happy now.

I won't bore you with all the details are well, I I don't know what There isn't toe love about a miniature item.

I mean, look at them mhm.

Look how tiny the spoon is.

What is there in a non love Look at him Count.

Small, small.

It is just carefully and place it like that For me, it's almost like building little tiny islands or villages.

The same We have someone might, you know, collecting build Lego or have figurines or have a train set or playing animal crossing.

You're kind of like creating and vibing.

I like to put that together with my fairy garden and my window ledges.

Any part of your laundry room that just looks ugly.

You got a boring washroom that you can't do anything with? Any old boring window ledge?

I try to, like, scatter them around to bring me little bits of cheer and happiness as I go. Sometimes you feel like you're falling and getting really negative,

and then I'll look up and I'll see like a little calcium for with his little all your braking burn and it kind of gives me a laugh.

So these were kind of like little things that I'm setting up for myself.

You know, what it reminds me of? Have you guys ever seen inception?

They have that token that they have to spin or they have to do or whatever that allows them to realize they're in a dream and it helps them, like, step out of it.

You have no power over me, David Bowie.

I'm setting up these little positive winds and positive pockets to remind me to cheer me on.

I like to think of all kinds of helpers in our world, Mr Rogers.

So wholesome, really enjoy making coffee in the morning.

Now, I'm not talking about coffee because I just love to drink coffee.

I'm talking about the process of making coffee.

There's something I really enjoy about putting on the kettle and and, you know, grinding the beans.

I feel kind of like a scientist or like a wizard of some kind, you know, you're like watching it bubble, and you're like yes, yes, metal.

And then you pour it into another container or drips down onto the grinds that you're using and they get all gloomy and you can smell it.

You're like it's working to be.

Yeah, you just kind of feel like you're making something fantastical.

And let me tell you coffee is fantastical.

There's no other way to think about it.

It gives you the ability to have energy, which is the ability to be powerful.

And it also gives you the ability to poop, being powerful and pooping all very important things.

No one wants to be banged up trust, but maybe you're a T person.

Enjoy the process of doing that.

Even if it's a crappy morning, you don't enjoy what's happening or it's colder.

Things were stressed out.

If it's instant coffee when you add your milk, when you stir your spoon and you watch it swirl and dissolved, try your best to be enjoying those little tiny moments like capture them.

And those little captures are kind of like keeping you up out of that pit.

Yeah, yeah, Okay, right.

How super beautiful is this?

That's like mhm, perfectly iced pine tree.

It looks like it's covered in pine cone sugar, and it's fake.

But look at this.

It looks like it's covered in meringue thing.

This is the prettiest snowfall I've seen in a bit.

So really, anything in your life could be a win.

Anything could be perceived as like clearing a level when we play a video game.

We are so excited when our characters clear level or when we almost defeat something.

We're like, we almost got it or we almost did that enjoyable to watch a character from the beginning grow, become stronger and defeat something.

And that's what we should be doing.

We should be the video game character in our life by focusing on trying to get out of that pit.

And trying to not be miserable actually makes a wind for yourself.

To build a lot of for me is just a gentle reminder.

It means trying your best to help yourself through it by looking at every little thing as a wind, you can first start with things like getting out of bed.

Getting out of bed is already like taking two pieces of wood and being like I'm gonna get out of here walking down the hallway, maybe brushing your teeth, taking a shower, peeing, making coffee, going upstairs, eating for whatever it is.

All of these can count as wins for somebody who has E t s like me.

Washing my hair is like exhausting if I washed my hair Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything for the rest of the day because it's so difficult to lift up shoulders that have dislocated so many times.

If I washed my hair, that is a huge deal for the day.

But, Martina, how do I even begin to build a ladder when everything around me sucks?

There are days where you will slip off your ladder.

You might fall straight down to the bottom of the pit.

You might hit three runs on the way down and catch it with your arm and be like, Oh my God have come so far I can't believe this day sucks so much.

Things are really, really, really bad.

And there's nowhere else to go but up.

And now you already have the escape plan.

So you have to just continue to build and I have one rule of thumb, and that is you are allowed toe.

Have a huge pity party for yourself.

That's if it's 100% sure that you plan on building a ladder the next day.

You can't have a three day pity party.

Okay, that's a festival.

And you need a permit for that?

The one day pity party.

You don't hurt other people.

You're not meaning.

Not rude.

But you are quiet or you're cranky, or you wanna crush a little tower of Styrofoam cups.

You want a more marshmallow out a wallet, watch a sad movie wrapping up in a blanket feels super miserable.

Eat a cupcake.

Do whatever it is to make yourself feel better with the agreed deal to yourself.

In the next morning, you're gonna wake up and you're going to start to build that ladder.

So how do you build a letter?

Well, you build it one rung at a time.

I would love to hear in the comment section different ways that you guys have been building your ladders.

No one ever really knows.

And these videos?

Um Oh, thank you for those of you that have been supporting the king Kobe dot C, a shop.

That's my new shop.

I made this.

Sure, it's in the It's in the shop.

I haven't put up like a major instagram post about it yet, but it should be in the info box below If you wanna click over to see it and you can check out King Kogi, which is my instagram account for Just, like, artsy fartsy kind of things that I'm doing.

So you guys in 2021 hopefully less crappy year?