Scott DeLuzio:    00:00:03    Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast, where we talk about issues affecting Veterans after they get out of the military. Before we get started, I’d like to ask a favor if you haven’t done so already, please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts. If you’ve already done that, thank you. These ratings help the show get discovered so it can reach a wider audience. And while you’re there click the subscribe button so that you get notified of new episodes as soon as they come out; if you don’t use Apple podcasts, you can visit DriveOnPodcasts.com/subscribe to find other ways of subscribing, including our email lists. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio and now let’s get on with the show. Everyone today, my guest is Jody Watkins. Jodie is a Veteran author and host of the Breaking Barriers Now podcast, which has a similar mission to this podcast.

Scott DeLuzio:    00:00:54    They talk about real life issues and stories to lift up others and support each other on their journeys, through whatever they happen to be going through. I have Jodi on the show today, which actually is Election Day and Jody told me before we started recording that she has a funny story about Election Day. Hopefully by the time this episode comes out, we have a clear winner of this election, but today is actually the Election Day. So we’re sitting here in ignorance of what the outcome is on this particular election. Anyways, welcome to the show, Jody; why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Jodi Watkins:    00:01:33    Well, Scott, thank you. I just want to say, I appreciate you for even allowing me on here. That means a lot. I saw that alignment as well when I was looking into your podcast and what it was about. And especially with me being a Veteran that definitely hit home with me. So my name is Jody Watkins. I was born Jodie Cheryl, from Fernandina Beach, Florida, which is a very small town, North of Jacksonville, Florida. I was born and raised there. I grew up there until I moved when I was 18. I moved down to Gainesville, Florida. I got into a lot of debt, learned how college life was not the greatest thing for me; I ended up in the military. Prior to that, just a little bit of my background.

Jodi Watkins:    00:02:19    I did grow up around domestic violence. There was a lot of just chaos. I watched my mom get beaten up pretty much every day. So that’s just what I grew up around, and it was kind of just normal to me. There was a lot of drugs, a lot of alcohol. There was some abuse in there and it was just life, and I never really thought anything of it. I just was very good at just keep going. I always just kept going. And so throughout my college years, and then the military, I never had actually healed from a lot of things and it finally showed up when I was 41, which was last year. I was that good at just continue; I tell people now I was just a professional at suppressing things and keep going and we learned that resilience in the military, but I already had it; so, then I just got even more.

Jodi Watkins:    00:03:19    I was like, okay, so now I really just have to hide it and keep going and so that was the backstory. Through that, I published a book and when COVID started, I said, Hey, I guess I’ll try this podcast thing out. And so, we did that and it is called Breaking Barriers Now. The premise behind it, like I said, it was the COVID times. And a lot of parents were learning how to homeschool. I had a friend, she was a homeschool mom and she was actually homeless and she was out on the road and they were in a truck. And I said, well, who better to have on the fir...