Twenty-three-year-old Aaron Martinez grew up going to school in Espanola, New Mexico, a city with a population of about 10,000. You'll pass through it if you're driving between Santa Fe and Taos, two tourist towns known for its art scene, winter skiing and opera. Unfortunately, it also sits in a Northern New Mexico region where it's known for having one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths. For Aaron, he can speak about it first hand. Within a space of a couple of years, he lost both his oldest sister and father from overdoses. He says growing up both his parents were addicted and family members kept telling him he was going to grow up to be an addict too.
But for Aaron, miraculously he didn't follow the same path. Where his only role models were heroes in action movies, he made a choice to stay away from drugs in spite of being raised in an environment where it'd be easy to see why anyone would.
Today, Aaron is a youth mentor and gymnastics instructor in the same town he grew up. He also speaks to kids about his experience and how it is possible to choose a different and positive path.
Mentioned in this episode:
Moving Arts Espanola100: Dr Glenn Livingston: "If you have 6 problems and then you overeat, then you're going to have 7 problems."
000: Intro to The Inspire Cafe Podcast
099 Greg Zakowicz: From Stocking Shelves to Senior Commerce Marketing Analyst at Oracle
098: Chris Norton: After Becoming Paralyzed From a Football Accident, How This Man is Inspiring Others
097: Ryan C. Greene: Living Your Life's Purpose
096: Saherah Khan: Escaping an Imprisoned Life at 16
095: Winston Ben Clements: From Suffering Over 150 Bone Fractures by the Time he was 12 to On His Way to Inspire 1 Billion People
093: TShane Johnson: From Almost Having Died 3 Times to Running Across America for the Fourth Time
092: Dartanyon Crockett: An Underdog From Inner-city Cleveland Turned Bronze Medalist and Destined for Greatness
091: Eli Brown: Entrepreneur Shines the Light On Mental Illness with his Inspirational Clothing Brand
090: Betty Jean Bell: When Doctors Told This Aspiring Opera Singer She Wouldn’t Sing Again, She Turned Her Adversity Into Being Badass
089: Jessica Key: Why This U.S. National Dragon Boat Team Racer Says to Be The Champion of Your Own Life
088: Briar Harvey: "I expected to come home with a baby and I came home with nothing."
087: Eric Christiansen: How Surviving the 1990 Painted Cave Fire Turned This Editor into a Messenger of Hope Through his Award-Winning Films
086: Justin Birckbichler: Using A Ballsy Sense of Humor to Spread Awareness About Testicular Cancer
085: Stefan Weiner: From Believing He'd Never Play Music Again to Releasing New Music with a Whole New Perspective
084: Susie Reynolds Reece: Making the Topic of Suicide More Comfortable
083 Marisa Boasa: How Even a Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis Won't Stop Her
082: Tracey Maxfield: Why Escaping Depression Became a Gift
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