When Life Changes In A Blink, Resilience Begins | Episode 410

When Life Changes In A Blink, Resilience Begins | Episode 410

What do you hold without noticing until it’s gone? We sit down with David to unpack the moment an eye injury shattered daily life and what it takes to rebuild from the inside out. He speaks openly about relentless pain, the dizzying loss of independence, and the grief of being a writer who suddenly can’t write. Then the conversation turns—toward mental health tools, faith, and the stubborn promise to keep moving one day closer to better.

We explore the nuts and bolts of coping: how ADHD and autism traits shape focus, why structure can calm chaos, and how small environmental changes make hard days survivable. David shares how his wife’s ADHD journey offered a toolkit—timers, checklists, voice-to-text—that keeps creativity alive when screens and light are brutal. Justin adds lived insight from his own health crisis, naming a mindset shift that changes everything: count hours of progress, not months of waiting. Together, we frame resilience as a practice, not a mood—anchored by gratitude, forgiveness, and the courage to start again.

We also protect what fuels the mission: creative work. David leads Mythical Creatures Around the World under Voices for Voices, and we address brand misuse, credit, and why defending IP matters to survivors and communities alike. If stories spark change, creators deserve their names on the work. Throughout, we return to a simple, urgent invitation—don’t take sight, movement, or time for granted. Share help when you can. Accept help when you need it. And hold hope with both hands.

If this conversation moved you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs strength today. Help us reach new listeners across countries and cities by tagging Voices for Voices and inviting a friend to tune in.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Global Reach And Listener Challenge

3:35 Introducing David And Today’s Topic

4:20 The Accident And Sudden Vision Loss

7:50 Pain, Triggers, And Daily Limits

10:25 Consequences, Reflection, And Forgiveness

14:40 Identity, Writing, And Starting Over

18:03 Mental Health, ADHD, And Coping

21:10 Justin’s Parallel Experience And Perspective

27:20 Faith, Resolve, And Words To Live By

30:45 Mythical Creatures Brand And IP Protection

34:40 Community Goals, Support, And Closing

#LifeInABlink #ResilienceJourney #BounceBack #ChangeIsGood #StayStrong #EmbraceTheShift #KeepGoing #LifeLessons #UnstoppableYou #ThrivingThroughChange #justiceforsurvivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices410

Chapters

• 0:00 Global Reach And Listener Challenge
• 3:35 Introducing David And Today’s Topic
• 4:20 The Accident And Sudden Vision Loss
• 7:50 Pain, Triggers, And Daily Limits
• 10:25 Consequences, Reflection, And Forgiveness
• 14:40 Identity, Writing, And Starting Over
• 18:03 Mental Health, ADHD, And Coping
• 21:10 Justin’s Parallel Experience And Perspective
• 27:20 Faith, Resolve, And Words To Live By
• 30:45 Mythical Creatures Brand And IP Protection
• 34:40 Community Goals, Support, And Closing

Transcript

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 0:02

Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on this in every episode, over 400 episodes. Uh really close. I believe this actually might be episode 410. So we're uh first week on the second week in January 2026, and like I said, we're we're not taking our foot off the gas, we're uh continuing to uh share content, share stories, uh, and uh help as many people as possible if you're able to. Uh if you could reach out to 25 of your closest friends, our followers, and let them know about the voices for voices, TV show and podcasts, that would be greatly appreciated. It's something that's free to do, just like following us on our social media and subscribing and liking and following and all that great stuff, our uh voices for voices podcast and and TV show. We are uh officially, as we have done, over uh a hundred countries and provinces and over a thousand cities, and we are in the challenge now uh because we know we can do it. Um there's no reason we can't reach uh 300 countries and territories and 3,000 cities worldwide. Uh it's because you were here and and we know that we can continue to reach more and more people on that uh on that road to helping 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Uh we really hope that you're uh you're you're enjoying the episodes, and and so uh again that this is your first show. We have over 400 uh and 410 episodes. So there's at least maybe 30 or 40 episodes at the very least that uh uh really would you know talk to you uh as far as I guess and topic. Um we we just recommend that if uh you want to check this out if you're gonna come running. Uh you can watch us on Rumble on YouTube, and you can listen to us everywhere uh we're gonna we're gonna jump into uh we we we do try into uh as uh in the foundation of voices for voices, uh with her guest David Sullivan, and we have on uh multiple times uh talking about multiple topics. And the topic today is uh David will be explaining logistics in a little context. He's gonna be talking about his mental health and how that relates to uh an injury, uh an ice cream um that uh has happened, and so he's gonna talk from you know what that is, what the healing process is, how it's it's affected his mental health, and really to be again an inspiration as he always is on our show. So, David, welcome again to the show, and uh thank you for joining us and feel free to take the floor.

David Solomon: 3:52

Thank you, Justin. Um let me say this has been a life-changing, altering event. Um you can hear my voice probably. One moment you can you can see and you can write and you can work, and you can do the things that you normally can do, and then the the the second that's taken from you, you you can't do that anymore, and you don't realize what you have until it's gone. And that's that's kind of where we're at. And um thanks to my wife, um, she's really uh she's really helped out that way with uh with trying to make me see that you know you're gonna make it through this. And um, she herself has battled a diagnosis of ADHD, which is attention deficit disorder, and she has been looking at um how to better help herself, and it's really opened my eyes as to how to help me, and we've been battling that. Um and when this happened, um, it was an accident and Christmas, and um it just happened overnight, and one moment you can see, and you can look at light, and you can write, and you can watch TV, and you can look at your kids, and and you can eat, and you can you can do all these things normally, and then within a split second, everything is just taken from you, it's just ripped from you. All of it, just ripped. And that's what has happened now, is it's been ripped, and it's just been um it's been life-changing and and heartbreaking. The pain that I've endured is non-stop. The triggers that trigger the pain are non-stop. The emotional distress of not being able to write for a very long time is non-stop. And it's it's just so hard on the body. We we take for granted, we take for granted the the things of life, like being able to see. We don't think of how that affects us. It affects us in life because you you gotta see in order to live. There are blind people out there, don't get me wrong, there are, but you have to see in order to live a normal life. You have to watch TV, you have to read, you have to write, you have to cook, you have to clean, you have to help out, and you can't do these things if you can't see and that's been life-changing and life altering, and it hurts. The pain that I've been in there It's fifty times worse than I've ever been in my life. Any light your whole side of your face pulsates and it's just been eye-opening that you you get everything taken from you just like that. How this happened was an accident. I'm not gonna say everything because it's not my place. But I'm gonna say let this be a lesson to some people, because part of it was my fault, but another part was someone's anger getting out of hand and not thinking about the consequences of what happens next. That's what I'll say to that. Actions have consequences. A week ago I was watching the New Year's, you know, show and my eye was hurting. It didn't start hurting right away, started gradually getting worse, and vision started blurring, and on New Year's Day it, you know, that's when reality hit in that you you woke up to a hell. So it's not fair. It's not easy. You start looking at the little things in life that you've done to make a difference. You look at all the people that you may have wronged in life, or maybe they wronged you. We're in a a lawsuit for stupid reasons. You you sit back in your bed, you close your eyes because it burns to open them. You have a lot of time to think. What a waste of time. What a waste of life. Life is so precious. Why are we wasting time in this? Just eight days ago, I was writing a book in San Bernardino County. It was based on San Bernardino County. And I'd been there with my mom. And out of nowhere. The next day you can't see to do it. It's been so emotionally draining to go backwards as a writer and as a creator, and as a father and as a husband, and to watch yourself decline before you get better. This type of injury takes a long time to heal. So I don't know when I will write again. Thankfully I will. It takes a lot of treatment. A lot of rehab. It's so hard to think. All these people so much hate on me, like for being a survivor of human trafficking and then this happened and just close your eyes and take for granted the little things in life. I was talking to an old friend today. Known him since I was a kid. He reminded me of why I write. And why I'm in a lawsuit with the people that took me and the people that continue to take others. Why I'm ridiculed. Why others are ridiculed for telling their story because it makes someone uncomfortable, because it makes a difference, because it starts a revolution. It starts a movement. All night as the pain got worse. No sleep. Then you start to forgive your enemies. Stephen Reimers number one. Brian Davis number two Mindy Davis number three. Scott Minor, number four. We start going over your woes of what could I do better and when I get my sight back, what can I do to improve? What can I do to make a better life for my family? And not fail them. It's hard. But you have a lot of time to think. So you can take your eyesight away, but they can't take your brain away. It doesn't hurt to think, it just hurts to see. Or to move. Or to walk. Because you get dizzy and you fall. But it's been an eye opener. It's hurt. It's also made me stronger to appreciate things. Appreciate precious little things in life. Appreciate where people are coming from. We don't think about that. We are so blessed to live in the United States and not Africa. Where they're scrounging for a banana for dinner right now. Kids are they're doing it. So bless Don't take for granted your life. You never know when you're gonna lose it. It can happen in the blink of an eye. Look at me. Now I can't even put a word on the paper. And all I know how to do is write. So it's very hard. It reminds me of when I came back from being trafficked. Wasn't it? Car accident. It isn't I have my family now, but back then it was just my mom. Nobody visited me in the hospital there for a long time. I had to learn how to do things over. I had to learn how to read again to write again. I had a lot happen to me. It was so hard. This feels like a repeat of history. Mental health awareness, number one. Another thing. Don't be hard on yourself. That's something I've had to learn. I blame myself for everything. And like talking to God and just thinking, learned a lot. My wife has really opened me up.

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 18:40

You're robotic now. Whatever you did.

David Solomon: 18:44

Podcast and diagnose. My wife, um, she's been helping me understand her diagnosis with ADHD as this eye happens, and I've been learning so much about myself because I have ADHD and I have Asperger, which is a form of autism, which is why I write so fast. I write so fast because my brain is hyper-focused. I I'm too smart for my own good. So life has changed. Seasons change, seasons come and go. It's like that song I wrote. Um it's called Birds. You know, it goes, seasons come and change, seasons come and go. Life will never die, die, die. Anyway, I wrote it. Um it talks about death is always temporary, and sometimes you have to let go in order to fly. And then I know that we will make it. I know that it's not easy, but we have to make the change. And as the seasons change, life changes with it. And it will get better. I wrote that. I wrote that when I knew my mom wasn't gonna make it. It's by Imagine Dragons. It kinda reminds me of now. You don't know where you're gonna go in in so many circumstances I've been in where you just find yourself and you don't know where you're gonna go from here. That's where I'm at.

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 21:00

Sure, no problem.

David Solomon: 21:03

Justin, you can ill uh reelierate what you uh what you think of mental health for a minute. Give me one.

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 21:10

Yeah. Uh yeah, I don't want to uh interrupt because you were you're definitely getting into the mechanics and how one minute we have something, another minute we don't, and having something similar, not entirely exactly the the same of what you're going to about twenty years ago. Uh I had something again similar, uh not not exactly the same, but I I remember the same feeling. I didn't have the I didn't have the same appreciation for the mental health uh at that time, but I did have uh afterwards the appreciation of being able to begin this like David said, just do regular to us regular things. And when when it's there, we take it for granted sometimes like oh well that just that's just how things are, and and we go at it at that route, and then when it is taken, whatever that is, um I had uh again a similar a similar but not the exact same that David uh has and and is and will be going through for a while. Um it's it really it really does. It just teaches you like one one day you could have something, and the next day it could just be gone, just like a snap of a finger. And it's uh it's very hard, it's it's tough, it's hard to explain to some people uh who haven't gone through something similar, not that it has to be the specific part of the body, uh, but when there are certain faculties that are taken, whether it is permanent, uh, because there are, as we know, there are individuals we we do know that it is permanent, that they uh won't be haven't been and won't be able to see. And so we're we're just automatically thrust into that area, and it's like, oh my gosh, there's people that are living like this every single day, and I've just been taking it for granted that whenever I wake up, like my eyes are gonna open, and I am going to do what I'm whatever I'm gonna do. Um and and to have that gone for any period of time uh is so hard. And and now with my mental health journey, uh I can I can now fully appreciate my situation when again 20 years ago, something very very similar where one day had it and next day didn't, and it it took a a good long while for for it to um for it to heal, and there were. There's so much there was pain, there's awkwardness, and uh it's uh it's a true testament of being a human being and and deciding okay, I'm I'm gonna get through this at some point. I don't know when it's gonna be, but I'm gonna get through this, and I'm one day closer to getting through this than I was yesterday. And so when I started, I forget the where I heard that or who actually said it. Uh so I I I would give credit where where credit is due for that quote, but I I don't I'm it's not coming to me at the this this this moment. Uh but it's it's so true. It's like we can look at things like, well, I'm one day closer, I'm one hour closer to being back to whatever normal is for me, or I can look at it and go, oh, it's it's another not not so uh not so great day. Uh so David, I uh uh well not knowing exactly how you're feeling having a similar life-altering event, uh again, and and for me the same thing. Half of it was my fault, and half of it was wasn't it was it it it was it it's just crazy to to to look back at that and then and then to see how similar we are as as human beings that uh we're not infallible. We're we're we're just human beings. And so you can finish this out, dude.

David Solomon: 26:59

I mean it's really opened my eyes. Um literally when you can't open one eye, it just It blows the mind what you do You live in the dark and you you pray to God that you can write again It's not easy It's just not easy I would encourage you to not take anything for granted that you have your eyesight or maybe you can walk. Let's not take that for granted. Let's be thankful that we can walk and not be paralyzed because you never know what happens tomorrow. My mom once said Is this the story of how you live and die? Or how you die and live's work from the wise word I'm trying to live by those quite the journey And I will I will overcome this because you can overcome all things through Christ who strengthens you. It's not easy and it's a lot of pain. Thank you. And a lot of hurt You you learn a lot. So thank you, Justin, for letting me uh come on.

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 28:54

You're welcome. Yeah, you're you're a day closer to getting back. We don't know when that day will be. Uh but again, yeah, wise words by your mom. And it's that that type of that type of thinking that's that's needed to help us get through every day and always have a spot to be able to share, especially when you know it when we were talking straight up about mental health, and it can't get more mental health than than than than this story. So it you know remain strong and wish as uh the healing goes that um you're just kinda at the beginning of of that. Um but you know better days are to are to come and and to our viewers and listeners, hopefully you know this touches somebody. We know it will. Um we just we say hopefully just because we're not God, we don't know a hundred percent of uh what what will, what won't, and when it will, and if it's right when we drop the episode, or if it's a week or a month or a year later. Uh but we uh we know that this is gonna help uh and help people all over the world, and and that that can't be closer to the truth of what we are with voices for voices with our podcast TV show. If you catch uh any of our TikTok lives, and the same with mythical creatures around the world, which we acquired uh just still under uh will still remain under David's leadership. Uh we did that towards the uh the the tail end of calendar 2025, and uh we'll be back as soon as humanly possible uh with with posts, but we would invite you to uh yeah, the the Facebook group Mythical Creatures Around the World, uh take a look at some of our most recent posts, uh, and you'll see some of the great work that uh has been completed uh in 2025, and then going into 2026. And if it so moves you, uh we asked it uh maybe make a purchase, and uh we guarantee that it's gonna be well worth it, and uh the work that we put out, all of it is intended to help. Uh and so any type of production or publishing, uh media, entertainment, uh theme part, even though we we had to come out with a a PR statement about uh uh theme park that uh was uh using um one of our subsidiary names, mythical creatures around the world, uh, without asking, just like it was like open source information, and it's and mythical creatures around the world is not open source, it's uh protected under Voices for Voices and the United States Patent and Trade Office. So that was part of uh the strategy that David and and I were looking at uh because it's uh it's a it's a uh a great entity in when people knowingly or unknowingly use your name, your organization without getting credit, and that's happened unfortunately just too many times to too many people, not just not just David and and us, uh, but it happens to to too many people where they don't get the credit, they don't get the royalties, and and so that's why we we we come out transparent and we talk about the issues that are happening as they happen, uh, because that's the organization we are. So as soon as we learn about things, we uh come out and we address them because that's that's who we are, that's how we we handle things. That's how a business, we are a nonprofit, but that's how any business handles things. We could either wait and wait and wait months and months and years, or we can come and we can talk about it right now when we're in the developing phases, so people know darn well that you can't use mythical creatures around the world without David's blessing and our blessing, uh, and especially not giving credit where credit is due. So uh yeah, you're you're gonna see a lot of voices for voices, a lot of mythical mythical creatures around the world. Uh here in 2026, yep, we're we are a little bit of a hitch um uh with with with David's injury. Uh but uh don't don't blink too too long because uh not trying to use that as an analogy or anything, but uh don't look away too long uh because uh you might miss something. So all our viewers and listeners here in the United States, across the world, help us reach 300 countries, 3,000 cities. We're currently at 100 countries, 1,000 and three cities across the world, and I know we can do it. And if you reach out to some of your uh some of your followers, some of your friends, and just just let them know about voices for voices, it's all free to do. Just get a group chat going or make a a post and tag voices for voices, uh, because we're on all the the main social media channels. So until next time, we want to thank David Solomon uh for his intense mental health and physical health um strength that he he has and uh and and learning as as we do over time when when certain events happen, um and we uh you know pray for his speedy recovery and anybody else who is going through something similar, or even if you're not, we're still praying for you, praying for us, or praying for the the whole world, whether you're uh a follower, whether you're our enemies. Um we're all human beings, and and and so we uh we pray for everybody every night, pray for ourselves, our families, and in the whole world. So until next time, this is Justin Alan Hayes with David Solomon, uh with uh the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show. Until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need. Bye bye. We'll see you next time.