Joshua Coburn: Random Acts of Kindness
Sandie Sedgbeer: You created the Relief and the Resource Center for teens and adults to get educated on their struggles, overcome limitations, clarify purpose, and live to their true potential. You create videos on different topics. How is this being received?
Joshua Coburn: The Relief and Resource Center is getting awesome feedback. It’s a place where, if a kid is anxious or nervous about something, maybe suffering depression or having suicidal thoughts, they have somewhere to go where they can get help and answers. The topics were suggested by student and parents, and some school administrators. It offers articles, blog posts that I write with the National Suicide Hotline, and videos I make to help them feel less alone and to show them that there’s hope on the other side of this darkness; they can get through it. We created it toward the end of the last school year, and schools are using it to open up conversations about hard subjects, especially the suicide episode. It’s the longest one we have, but it’s my entire story, and it’s honest, and parents are sitting down with their kids to discuss those thoughts. The number of schools using it as the reference is really starting to grow.
Sandie Sedgbeer: Tell us about the inspiration behind your “Know my Impact Campaign.”
Joshua Coburn: Essentially it is a “Pay it Forward” type of campaign, which allows you to see what kind of impact your one single good deed is having on the world. We have little cards with tracking numbers that can be passed along to an individual whose life you have positively influenced, and you can track how far that goes. The reason it exists is that schools were very appreciative of the impact we made, allowing their students to see the vulnerability of the others around them and understand that despite our difference, we’re all the same. Many school Principals said they wished they had a way to measure the impact of that. So, when I go to a school, each student can have a card, and their principal can track the good deeds being done in his or her school. How cool is it, to quantify the goodness that occurs in your school or community long term? I’d never seen it done. So we did it.
Sandie Sedgbeer: Of all the things kids are accessing on your website – and you said that suicide is one of the biggest – what have you learned is bothering them the most?
Joshua Coburn: In many ways, the same things still come up. The insecurities: “I’m not good enough.” The bullying, etc. The difference is now it doesn’t begin at 8:30 AM in the morning and end in the afternoon when school’s over. Because students now have access to one another 24 hours a day, it doesn’t really end, and that’s the problem. There’s no safe place unless you shut your phone off. You can’t even turn on the television because all the negative news that’s going on is just adding more anxiety, fear and more pressure on students and young people. So, while the issues are the same, they’re compounded way more at a much, much younger age, and it’s relentless. It doesn’t let up.
Sandie Sedgbeer: You talk to kids about the five points of empowerment. What are they?
Joshua Coburn: Vulnerability is always my number one. Failing forward. Taking chances. Facing challenges – it’s important to remember that when you’re facing challenges, other people are facing them too; pick them up along the way, because they’ll help you. Communication is the biggest thing next to vulnerability, in my opinion, and that’s simply because if you’re vulnerable, and you’re willing to communicate, everything else seems to fall in line. Because if you have a good team, if you’ve communicated, if you’ve reminded them of their value, they’ll constantly lift you up and they’ll remind you of yours.
Sandie Sedgbeer: So, what else do you want to do?
Joshua Coburn: For me, it’s about taking everything bigger. I look at being in schools as a major accomplishment because if we want to make the world a better place, it starts with our youth, with education, and empowerment, and confidence. And the more students I can reach, and the more growth that they can have, the better the legacy I’m going to leave. So, I want to make this bigger. Manners and Motivation Events right now are assemblies in schools. Sometimes, they’re for small schools of 150 kids, sometimes large schools of 2,500 or 5,000 kids. That’s wonderful, and I appreciate it, but bigger arenas have yet to be filled. That’s my goal.
Sandie Sedgbeer: And what do you need to fulfill that goal?
Joshua Coburn: That’s a great question. What do I need to fulfill that goal? Reach – the more people I can help and network with; the more people I can help grow and fulfill their destinies; they’ll help me fulfill mine. That’s what it comes down to. Continuing to help, continuing to do what I do; hitting the streets. I mentioned earlier the “Smiles in your City”; that’s a simple thing where I travel the different cities all over the United States, holding a massive sign that just says “Smile.” I don’t want your money; I don’t want you to drive past and have pity on me standing at the side of the road in the cold. I just want you to smile, and I want to make the world a better place. Through those simple things, I think we can do that. So, that’s really what my goals are; to simply make things better and make a bigger impact.
