it recently occurred to me that a lot of
viewers of this channel hear me say that
i'm gonna go
build a ladder people that don't
actually know what i'm referring to but
they must think that i'm like really
into woodworking
or carpentry or like there she is with
her woodsmanship going to build herself
a ladder like okay weirdo
well i thought to myself perfectly
appropriate to this
kobe 2020 sucks theme boo this year
sucks maybe this is the perfect time to
not just explain what build a lottery 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 of build a
ladder completely accepts the reality
that things are gonna suck that's right
life is gonna deal you some
sucky hands some unfair things are going
to happen and you are absolutely going
to 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
talking about i'm talking about the
labyrinth there's a part in
the labyrinth am i talking about
literally building a real ladder no i'm
not but i mean
hey you can do that too if you want to
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 wrong 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 series 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 can end up
with so many
little tiny itty-bitty inconsequential
wins 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 i can play the piano
i'm gonna join soccer or football and
suddenly
i can play with the pros no it takes
training and it takes practice
and 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
going to 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 only
you can 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
[Music]
amazing look at it it's a galaxy
projector
i got this beautiful twinkle wall i've
got a tiny lamp
look how small this lamp is you can turn
it on and off with a satisfying button
push
i have excellent neon lighting that i
have affixed using hooks and tapes and
glue and it actually changes to the beat
of music
[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 kind of 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 rungs to my ladder
my love for miniature items makes me
very happy
now i won't bore you with all the
details
i don't know what there isn't to love
about a miniature item i mean look at
[Music]
them
[Music]
look at how tiny this spoon is what is
there to not love it look at it
look how small how small it is just
carefully place it like that for me it's
almost like building
little tiny islands or villages the same
way how someone might
you know collect and 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
[Music]
you got a boring washroom that you can't
do anything with
any old boring window ledge
[Music]
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 calcifer with his
little
all your bacon burn and it kind of gives
me a laugh so these are kind of like
little things that i'm setting up for
myself 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 wins 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
[Music]
i 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 bloomy and you can smell it you're
like it's working
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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
bunged up
trust but maybe you're a tea person
enjoy
the process of doing that even if it's a
crappy morning you don't enjoy what's
happening or it's cold or things are
stressed out if it's instant coffee when
you add your milk when you stir your
spoon and you watch it swirl and
dissolve
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
[Music]
so
[Music]
how super beautiful is this that's like
the 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
this is the prettiest snowfall i've seen
in a bit
so really anything in your life can be a
win anything can 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 oh we almost got it
or we almost did that it's 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 win for yourself to
build a ladder 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 win
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 food
whatever it is all of these can count as
wins
for somebody who has eds like me washing
my hair is like exhausting
if i wash 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 rungs on the way
down and catch it with your arm and be
like oh my god i've 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 butt 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 to 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 it's a one-day pity
party
you don't hurt other people you're not
mean you're not rude but you
are quiet or you're cranky or you want
to crush a little tower of styrofoam
cups you want to throw marshmallow at a
wall watch a sad movie wrap it up in a
blanket feel
super miserable eat a cupcake do
whatever it is to make yourself feel
better with the
agreed deal to yourself that the next
morning you're going to wake up and
you're going to start to build that
ladder
so how do you build a ladder well you
build it one wrong at a time i would
love to hear in the comments section
different ways that you guys have been
building your ladders
no one ever really knows how to end
these videos um oh thank you for those
of you that have been supporting the
kingkoby.ca shop that's my new shop i
made this
shirt 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 want to um
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 see you
guys in 2021
hopefully a less crappy year