Summary: In this episode of The Tragedy Academy, we meet Christian Valera. Christian runs a YouTube channel where he dives deep into the Marvel and DC universe and details each superhero. Christian used art and superheroes to escape his reality, which later blossomed into a love for film and creating. His story is one of self-exploration and self-discovery; through years of being raised by movies, he takes a peek into the outside world and experiences the endless possibilities it holds.

Key Points:

🎨 Dealing with loss in childhood and turning to art

🗡 The double-edged sword in life

👨‍👩‍👦 Surrogate parental figures

📈 Growing into the person you've become

🦸‍♂️ Entering the superhero world

🚚 Constantly moving as a child

🎭 Sadness to appreciate happiness

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:33] Christian shares his experience growing up with parents who had children out of wedlock. His mother passed away at the age of 5, being raised by his father and grandmother. During this transitionary period, Christian had trouble comprehending the severity of losing a parent while rarely seeing his caretakers due to work. He grew a latchkey kid leaving tv to raise him.  

[00:07:41] Christian credits his love of art to his art teacher. He describes being on a first-name basis with him and details a moment when he even helped him purchase a book at the scholastic book fair. His generosity made a lasting impact on Christian. In addition to his teacher's kindness, Christian also pulled his value from movies. He describes it as a window into other people's lives.

[00:13:47] Christian describes being raised by tv as a double-edged sword; on the one hand, it gives you a peek into the world, and on the other hand, it gives unrealistic expectations. As he grew up, Christian realized that you could not apply everything to real life, one example being a hopeless romantic. He would obsess over girls, and it left him feeling confused and lost without reciprocation.

[00:18:25] Growing up, Christian had different surrogate parental figures. His grandmother raised him until 15 and from there was raised by his aunt and uncle until he moved out. As a result, he never experienced a stable one-on-one connection with someone, which was amplified by constantly moving around. In addition to the loneliness, Christina had no one to turn to when he had felt to express and resulted in keeping everything bottled up.

[00:24:44] The first film Christian ever saw in theatres was Spiderman in 2002; his father took him for his birthday. Since then, he fell in love with creating ideas in his head and seeing them come to fruition through self-directed videos. When he got to high school, Christian took every film class they had available to dig deeper and learn more about his passion.

[00:28:17] Christian admits to being an impressionable kid with a good heart. He looks back to the people he has helped, even reluctantly. Jay points out the importance of allowing yourself first before helping others.

[00:35:39] Moving a lot as a kid made a significant impact on Christian's life. It changed how he perceived himself; he often felt unwanted and homeless. During this time, he perfected the use of "the mask." Every time he moved found himself displaying different parts of himself to other people.

[00:54:00] Jay points out the reality of needing to experience Sadness to appreciate happiness. Without adversity, joy loses its meaning and becomes a disposable feeling in life.

[00:57:44] Christian shares the concept behind his YouTube videos. With his friends, he noticed a need for an explanation for...