Imagining Tomorrow: Diana Colleen's Call for Action and Hope

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball. If you believe, you can achieve. A show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today I am joined by award-winning speculative fiction author, Diana Colleen. Diana has her debut novel They could be Saviors. And we're going to be talking about her lived experience with psychedelic assistant assistant healing. And you know, when you read her book, it leaves the audiences feeling different about billionaires, psychedelics, and the future of our planet. So we're going to be talking to her about the book and everything that she's up to and gonna be up to. So Diana, thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you so much for having me on your show. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Sure. Um I am a Canadian currently living in Seattle, Washington. I never dreamed that I would ever publish a book. So that was never on my radar. Um, so my life really hasn't followed a path that I ever could have imagined. So I'm I'm very um humbled to to have an award-winning book. Yeah, that's that's about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Well, uh, what what what made you want to get into writing and and write this book?

SPEAKER_01 1:51

It kind of found me. So um in in 2018, I I hit a I would I was in a point in my life where I no longer wanted to to live. Um that's a really dark place to be. And um I was very fortunate to find an underground psychedelic assisted therapist who I 100% believe saved my life. And um since that experience, I've become a trained psychedelic facilitator myself. And I've also learned other tools that have um sort of kept me alive. And one of those tools is meditation. And um about four, well, I guess maybe five years ago, um, when I was meditating, this fully formed concept of a of a book came into my came into my head while I was meditating, and I didn't really think anything of it. But over the course of probably six months or so, um, the idea just kept coming back to me every time I meditated. And it it kind of I I kind of thought the universe was asking the wrong person to write a book because, like I said, I've I've never imagined that um that I would write anything. I know I at that time I knew nothing about the craft of writing, I knew nothing about the publishing industry. So it was kind of a shock to me that that um the universe was asking me to write a book. But I was in a um in a job that I was really, really unhappy in. And my partner at the time, who's now my husband, um said, you know, I can support you. If if you're this unhappy, I can support you and you have this book idea. Why don't you take some time and try and write it? And that was a really scary kind of proposition because I I'm fiercely independent. So um trusting someone else to support me was was a big kind of risk for me. But um I did, I quit my job and I sat at my home desk for eight to ten hours a day, every day for it's been it's been four years since I quit my job. And every day I'm I'm working on writing and um writing and publishing. So that's that's how it all started.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Well, congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Let's talk about climate change. Why do you feel that billionaires hold the key to fixing climate change and what would it take for them to do so?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, um, I I really do think that humanity is kind of looking at climate change um kind of in the wrong way. So we're we're basically asking eight billion people to change their behaviors. We're we're being told, you know, take shorter showers, don't use plastic straws, use reusable shopping bags. We kind of feel guilty if we don't recycle properly. But there are roughly 3,200 billionaires in the world. And they produce more emissions than 5 billion people combined. So it doesn't make any sense to me why we're trying to change 8 billion people's behavior when if we just changed 3,200 people's behavior, it would have a much, much bigger impact. And the billionaires are also the ones in control of things. So while we're being asked not to use single-use plastics, the billionaires are not being told not to produce them. So as consumers, we, you know, we can only choose from what there is. And if if they're only producing things that are killing the planet, we kind of have to use them. And um, I think it the onus should be falling on these billionaires not to pollute the planet in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Well, talk about how you balance hope and despair when you're writing about crises like climate collapse and wealth inequality.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

That's a tough one. Um I think that I think that as a whole, society is lacking hope. And um partially I think that authors are they're not to blame, but if you look at a lot of climate fiction and um you know dystopian fiction, there's um a lot of these books are pretty doomsday-ish, right? Like they're they they're presenting our future that's already broken. And um it kind of makes people fatalistic and cynical. Um, I know that you know, younger generations are thinking, well, why am I bothering to go to college if there's no future for me? And so I want to write fiction that brings hope to people. And um, and and the act of writing the book for me gives me hope. And and I always say that hope is the consequence of action. So if you want to have hope in your own life, you actually need to do something. And so for me to give myself hope, I wrote a book. And and it it makes me hopeful, you know, every time I talk about it. So coming on your show, you know, I don't know who's who's out there listening. And, you know, it only takes a couple of people to to spread the word um and give more and more people hope.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

We'll go ahead and talk about that book, you know, and describe to listeners uh what they can expect when they read it and where they can get it.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Sure. Um, so it is it's kind of a dystopian-ish. Um it's it's near future. So the the world is very similar to the world that we're living in now. So climate change is progressing, but um not to the point where society has collapsed. It's still very much like what we're living in now. But there's a lot of technology in the book that doesn't exist. Um, so it kind of makes it a little bit sci-fi light. Um, but it's about it's about kidnapping billionaires and coercing them. I don't want to say forcing because it's a little bit different than forcing, but coercing them into psychedelic assisted therapy so that their egos kind of dissolve and they can see what they've been doing to the planet and what they've been doing to society. And then um, once they can see all of that, they actually want to work together to solve climate change.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Well, why do you feel like psychedelics have the potential to influence not just individuals but entire cultures and societies?

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Sure. So um I think that humanity is disconnected. I think we suffer greatly from disconnection, and I think that we're disconnected from ourselves, we're disconnected from nature, and we're we're disconnected from everyone else. And I think that billionaires suffer from that at an extreme, like even more so than than us normal people. Um and psychedelics have a way of showing you how everything is connected, and once you've seen that, it's really hard to unsee it. So I think that um it it really has the potential to show people that um one person can make a difference and that um it's kind of a butterfly effect. So what I do affects everyone else. And if billionaires could actually understand that and care about everyone else, I don't think that they actually care about everyone. They only care about themselves and and the elite. So if if their minds were expanded and they felt a connection to everyone else on the planet, I think their behavior would change.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

What do you hope that readers take away from your book, especially those who are frustrated with the billionaires and the climate crisis?

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Um I want them to see that it it is possible to make change and that it isn't as difficult as we think it is. So, like I was saying before, you know, if you think about trying to change 8 billion people's behavior, that seems really daunting and like something that could really never happen. But if you think about it in terms of changing 3,200 people's behavior, that seems a lot more manageable. And when you look at the effect that it would have to change just their behavior, it really does give you hope. So, like one private jet, so a billionaire's private jet, just the jet alone, um, creates more carbon emissions than 5,000 people's entire life in a given year. And that's just their jet. And um I think I think the top 10% of the like um the top 10% in wealth globally, um, they create 75% of global emissions. So changing 10% of people's behavior seems a lot more reasonable than changing 90% of people's behavior. So I I want to I want people to understand that we do have hope for our future that like don't give up, don't don't think that we're past the point of no return. We we have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. We have no idea what somebody might discover tomorrow, you know, like there might be some kind of a breakthrough um just around the corner that you know saves everyone. So I just don't want people to to give up and um fall into complacency.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

If you could sit down with today's most powerful billionaire, what conversation would you want to have with them and why?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I would talk to I would want to ask them about their legacy. I think that um, you know, like these these billionaires who are shooting rockets into space thinking that that's their legacy, oh, space, space travel. And I don't understand why why they're spending all of that money and resources on something like that when you know they could they could solve climate change and make this planet even better. And and that's kind of where the the title of the book comes in, they could be saviors. You know, they they could do all of these things with their money and they're not. And why wouldn't they want to be the savior of humanity? You know, like if everyone's gonna die because of climate change, wouldn't they? I don't understand why they don't want to be the person who who solves it and and humanity survives because of them rather than oh, I colonized Mars so that 10 people can live there with no resources. It just it just doesn't make any sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

What misconception do people most often have about psychedelics and how do you address the misconceptions in your work?

SPEAKER_01 14:33

I think a lot of people are afraid of them. Um I grew up in the 80s, so the war on drugs was a really big thing. I remembered the egg in the frying pan. Um, you know, and I grew up thinking that all drugs are bad. And I didn't, I didn't touch drugs until I was in my 40s. And um I think that when people think of psychedelics, they think people kind of go crazy and do crazy things, and and then, you know, you can have a bad trip and it's terrifying, and you can have a psychotic break and never come back from that. And some of those things are true, but psychedelic therapy is very different than just having a psychedelic experience, sort of, you know, I know people will take psychedelics and go to a concert, and that's a very different experience than psychedelic therapy. And um, most of these substances are incredibly safe. You're um they're you can't overdose on them, they're not addictive, and if you're in a safe place with a facilitator who is there to support you, there's very, very little that can go wrong. And yes, you might still have sort of an experience where it might be scary, but the facilitator is there to keep you grounded, to sort of bring you back to reality, and also to help you understand what you're learning in the experience.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Do you see psychedelics as a spiritual experience, a medical experience, uh somewhere in between?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

I think um it they have the potential for for both. And um, and there's nothing wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong with people having psychedelic experiences for spiritual reasons. So um, like having a mystical experience is is an incredible thing. Um, and I I don't see anything wrong with that. And some people really do believe that they they see God, they understand God differently after an experience. And um, I know I certainly understand God in a very different way than I did prior to my experiences, but as far as like medical stuff, the potential of these substances is incredible. So um for things like treatment resistant depression and PTSD and addiction, the the studies that that are being done are absolutely incredible. The the VA is is currently doing a study on MDMA, and we're really hoping that the FDA clears it for therapeutic use. But there's a lot, um there's kind of a lot holding the FDA back, and some of the reasons why um these substances haven't been cleared, it's kind of hard to um work around why they're not clearing them. For example, um, one of the reasons that that the FDA hasn't approved some of these substances is because you can't have a control group. So with most drugs, you know, you have the the group that gets the substance and the group that gets the placebo. But with psychedelics, there's no way to have a placebo group because if you're on a psychedelic, you know you're on a psychedelic. And if you're not on it, you know you're not on it. So there's no real way to have a control group. So that's that's something that um they're trying to figure out a way to to sort of get around that.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Well, as someone who critiques billionaires, what would you say to listeners out there who admire and aspire to be like them? Like the billionaires.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Yeah, I I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to have lots of money. Um but I don't think that we should look at these people with billions of dollars as heroes, as as successful. I believe that um I say billionarism is a mental illness. And once you have that much wealth, it becomes hoarding. So, you know, if we if we see the TV show hoarders, we can see a person who is clearly mentally ill, and that illness is affecting them and their family, but it doesn't usually spill out into society. But with billionaires, they're hoarding at, you know, they're they're hoarding so much that it's affecting every single person on the planet and the planet itself. So I don't really see that as something to strive for. And I also feel like it's immoral. Um, you know, if you have more than you could ever possibly spend in a thousand lifetimes, and you're walking by people who have no home and no food, and you're doing nothing about it, I just think that's immoral. I I don't I don't think it's evil. I think it's immoral because morality is human and morality is something that can be changed, but evil I don't think can be changed. So I want people to to think of it as something that these people are actually choosing to do and like they're choosing to be immoral.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Well, talk about let's talk about the writing process. To talk about what surprised you most about the writing process and what did you learn about yourself doing the process.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

I've learned a lot about myself. Um, yeah, it's it has been probably the hardest thing that I've ever done in my life. And I've done a lot of things. Um, but yeah, it's been it's been really surprising how much work it actually is. And I I've learned that I I don't quit on everything. So in in my past, I have quit on a lot of things, I've quit on a lot of my dreams. Um, and this time I refuse to give up. I I'm in this for the long haul. I'm in this, and because because I'm so passionate about the message, like I wake up every day thinking, how can I make the world a better place and how can I help save humanity? And I wish other people would wake up like that every day as well. So that that's what I've learned about myself. Um, and I've learned so much about writing itself too. You know, like I said when I started, I didn't know anything about writing, and I'm kind of glad that that I didn't know anything before. So, like I wrote my entire first draft without knowing anything. And then I joined writers' groups, critique groups, and all kinds of um different groups to help. And I remember going into my first critique group thinking that my first draft was pretty good. And boy, did I learn it wasn't. So I I've also learned to have a thick skin. I it was really hard taking feedback, um, but now I'm really grateful for all the feedback that I can get. Um yeah, so you definitely have to grow a thick skin if you're gonna be a writer.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Well, how can readers use fiction like yours as a tool for their own reflection and growth?

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Um, well, I I actually wrote a discussion guide for this book. And um if you sign up for my newsletter, you get it for free. It's also available on Amazon for a small cost, but there's a lot of questions in the discussion guide that will make you think about what you actually believe yourself about um different things, like obviously about how you feel about billionaires, but also there's like um sort of male-female dynamics, and um there's there's a lot of um fairly deep themes in in the book that will really make you think about yourself. And I think that um, you know, even though we're not billionaires, I think we can all question our own privilege and see where we might be able to use our privilege for the greater good.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Talk about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Um, I I just got on Substack. So I've written, I think, three or four essays on Substack. My Substack is called A Reckoning of Sorts, and it's me, Diana Colleen. So I really enjoy writing the the shorter pieces. Um, my latest one that I published a couple days ago um is very philosophical and it's about God and and um house cats, and I think it will really make people think about their thoughts on God. And um, I'm also working on the second book. So um They Can Be Saviors has been marketed as a standalone novel, but it's actually going to be a trilogy. So it has a clear ending. So if you finish, if you finish They Can Be Saviors, you will have a definite end and it will be very satisfying that you've come to the end, but there's a lot that can still be said in the same story. So um I'm about halfway through book two's first draft. And because I'm a much better writer now than I was when I first started, it shouldn't take as much work to get it published.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

What though I had your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Sure. Yeah, I'm on most social platforms, Diana Colleen Author, and my website is DianaCollleenauthor.com. So yeah, I'm I'm pretty easy to find. You can Google Google me. I come up on a lot of things. So yeah, I'm very easy to find.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

We'll close us out with some final thoughts, maybe if there was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on. I any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Um I think we covered most things, but I just want to say again that hope is the consequence of action. So if you're feeling like the world, you know, isn't a great place and your life isn't feeling great, just do something. You know, like I I paint a lot. I'm not I'm not a good painter. I I throw things away, but just the act of creating something and doing something, something that you can see brings it brings me hope. I think it brings a lot of people hope. Um, just doing something that makes that makes the world a beautiful place and and being kind to each other. Um I think that people forget how much um, I guess, power kindness has. So if you think that one person can't make a difference, just think about um, you know, if if you if somebody gives you a compliment, how great that makes you feel. And then you behave differently because you feel good. So you might go out and give somebody else a compliment and make their day, and kindness spreads. And if everyone tries to be kinder, we will have a kinder world. And right now, I think hate is spreading a lot faster than kindness, and I I really hope that we can change that.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

All right, ladies and gentlemen, go pick up that book. They could be saviors and better be ready for the second book to come out and visit Colleen Substack and her website or Diana's website and her substack at Diana CarleenArthor.com. Please be sure to follow, rate review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Also, if you haven't done so, visit www.curveball337.com, sign up for the newsletter, leave me some voicemail. Possibility it might be played on the show, and you know, drop a line if you have any suggestions or anything, any kind of feedback for the show. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Diana, thank you for all that you do, and thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.curveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.