Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to youo Odyssey Podcast, where your guides, Tara and Karen invite you on a transformative journey toward wholeness and personal growth.
Each week, we'll discuss topics related to the human experience and offer insights to help you along the way.
Please note, this podcast should not replace medical care or advice. We are not licensed health care professionals or mental health therapists.
If you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe so you don't miss out on our future discussions.
So, explorers, let's dive into today's episode.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Welcome, explorers. It's Tara.
Today we're going to explore the complexities of mental health, shining a light on some common misconceptions that many people hold. Karen and I are diving into a topic very close to our hearts.
This episode may be in a slightly different format than usual, as we'll be incorporating more personal stories and experiences to illustrate our points.
We believe that sharing these narratives can foster understanding and connection.
So grab a comfy seat, maybe even a cup of tea, and let's get started.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: Part of me is thinking it could be heavy, and also it could be light. It could be helpful. There's something really beautiful about talking about these things, things that get swept under the carpet. And yeah, I think it's great that we're talking about it. So I'm thrilled.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: All right, so let's start with what inspired you to start focusing on mental health or what led you to its import.
What is your mental health origin story?
[00:01:59] Speaker C: I would say it has a lot to do with my family, my siblings.
My oldest brother was always a little bit quirky, a little bit different.
He had a hard time, you know, social things were hard for him. His school life was tough. He didn't have a lot of friends. I look now and I think, oh, my goodness. I don't even think it was necessarily any kind of mental illness prognosis. I think it's more along the autism spectrum. But because he was so misunderstood, it really ended up doing a number on him. And he had a lot of rage and he had a lot of what presented as mental instabilities, if you will. And that very much affected my life. The calmness, the serenity of our household and my sanity and mental health. I felt like I was the only one that saw it or felt like they had to or could do something about it. And there was a constant struggle for me. How do I help this person? I don't think I can help this person, but I know this person needs help. Why is nobody helping them? And that was probably my first real dip in the toes. In the water. And it was not something that I enjoyed. It was very, very hard, very traumatic for me. There was definitely moments where it seemed like he could potentially commit suicide.
It ate at me, and I felt really responsible for him. As I got into my early 20s, I realized, well, well, hell, there's a lot of unresolved, you know, grief and pain related to that and also related to my father's death. When I was 11, I was experiencing bouts of heavy depression, and so much of it stems from these experiences and not knowing how to express and process those really dark and heavy emotions. I would say that was a really impactful upbringing for me. I was born into a situation where there was a lot of turmoil and angst in my family of origin. Yeah.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: All right.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: How about my friend? How about you?
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Origin story?
As you were speaking, speaking of your experience, what stood out to me was the trauma related to your childhood experiences of your brother. I'm going to look at it in decades. So my first experience that I have with mental health is my mother's manic episode when I was 10. I'm 10 years old, so I'm old enough to understand something is off. Now, of course, when I look back, there were signs that we were almost at the apex of a manic episode. But in the moment, I didn't know until it got to the peak of the episode, I knew. This is my mom. This is how she is. So it's not something that I would define my mother as. This is my mother. She's bipolar. Like, this is my mom. This is how she is.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Right?
This is how she is. That's a really big statement because you come up not knowing any different.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: I didn't know any different about my brother, so that's so interesting. This is just how he is. I'm like, I think something's off. I don't know.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Maybe. Maybe. Maybe it is. I don't have no idea. So, like, for me, it was that. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Until the episode that divined, like, I feel like my childhood. So as a result of the episode, like, we moved away from the place I could remember. This is my childhood. Up until 10, I had friends and schools, and then we had to move, and it was like, oh, so this.
That episode is wrapped up into, like, a big transition. So, you know, it's the last year of elementary school, Then I'm moving to middle school. It's a new middle school, and around the same time, my dad's getting remarried. This storm of very pivotal things that happened.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Just going from elementary school to middle school was a big.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: And halfway through fifth grade year.
[00:06:04] Speaker C: Oh my God.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: It was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That is what I remember. So that's 10. Let's fast forward to 20 round thereabouts. And dealing with my grandmother as she's battling dementia, becoming less and less of the person that I've known her to be for my entire life to this person that I love. And now I'm trying to figure out how. How do we navigate grandma now? And during that time, I'm also like a new mom. I can't just have these instances, like, where they're just like, singular.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: You really gotta just put them all together in this giant snowball. You're like, let's just do all of that.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: Let's just do them all. I might as well knock it out. If we already dealing with a major event, let's just go ahead and get them all together at the same time.
[00:06:45] Speaker C: That's hilarious.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: I think about that. And in my 30s, it's coming to terms with all of these events. I had to grow up really fast. I was a young mom. So I'm like, oh, I got these people looking towards me and trying to navigate my transition from childhood to adulthood while also being a mom. And now I feel like there's this.
I don't know if it's pressure or burden because we've talked about what our fears are and things like that. It's more like a responsibility to be as mentally well as I possibly can. Not just for my family, but for everybody that I encounter.
Not saying that. There aren't times where I'm like, baby, I'm real low energy today. But I have that awareness. Like, I'm low energy today. I can recognize that.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Right. That means I need to do something different to take care of myself. I don't have to keep running it.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Exactly. And not lean or not even lean. Like, not run away from being joyful 100,000% of the time. And what the looks like. And being everything to everybody. Because I've seen what being everything to everybody could lead to.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: If you don't take care of yourself.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Right.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: So there's this responsibility to be.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: I think responsibility is the right word. Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, we all have that responsibility.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: We should.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: We don't.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: We should actually be mindful, paying attention. At the end of the day, our mental health is our responsibility. Our mental wellness should matter to us as a facet of our being 100.
[00:08:17] Speaker C: So, yes.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah. There Are all of these experiences. There's bipolar and schizophrenia and all of these things in the people that I grew up with in interactions I've always been very familiar with.
[00:08:30] Speaker C: You're probably very attuned to.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yes. Which made me very sensitive because I had different experiences with actual diagnoses and.
[00:08:40] Speaker C: What that meant with people you love and were around. And so you saw the humanity of it and the. And the challenges of it.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. Yes.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: I have to just tell you, when you were speaking about all of that, especially, like, 10 and then 20.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Your physiology changed, and you started breathing really shallow. Did you notice that?
[00:09:03] Speaker B: I revisited every time, and I was.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Like, who I am, I don't think.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: But I. Yeah, but I carry it differently now.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Doesn't make it any less heavy or any less.
What is the word I'm looking for?
[00:09:18] Speaker C: Tragic.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: I don't even think it's tragic.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Maybe tragic.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: It's not any less heavy or any less problematic. I just carry it differently.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that. I'm not sure that you and I have ever had that conversation.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: Not in that level.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: To that level, because I've never seen your physiology.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: But even when we talked about it during your podcast, like, yeah, that portion of it was about the mask impact. Like, this is from a different awareness. But when did this shift for me? When did I stop taking these things on as part of my identity? Growing up with my mother, who had different episodes, and how that impacted me as a teenager growing up and definitely carry that into adulthood. About wearing the mask.
[00:10:08] Speaker C: Yes. Everything's okay.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: It's fine.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Like, I'm like, we are great. We're good. We're good.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Until I got to that moment, we're like, baby, we are actually not good. Please send help.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Sos. Like, send up the flares. The idea of masking and not recognizing and not addressing or speaking it and getting help, that was a period of time, Right. Just like, why aren't we saying something? Same in my family. Like, nobody's sitting like, these. This person. And all of us eventually are struggling so much. Can we please talk about the elephant?
[00:10:44] Speaker B: At the very least, acknowledge it. Yeah.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: Like, what is happening? And you know what's interesting? I don't know if you felt this way, but I felt like, am I the only one that sees this? Am I the only one?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Because we talked to my.
There are certifications for the people. Oh, yeah, we talked about it. But, like, oh, that's how such and such is. Yeah. Because they get. We. We can prove this before documented this is documented. And then there are other instances where it wasn't documented. And, you know, this person that's probably at this point, I feel like they were battling agoraphobia. Like, that was not language that I had then, that now looking back, I'm like, oh, this. They don't never leave that house. That's what that is. And then it leads to the other question is of, like, what. What happened?
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: And then I think about the Oprah book. Like, what happened to you? How did you get stuck in this place? So all of that is my mental health origin story and why I am so passionate about it and so intrigued by it.
Yeah.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: The idea of a person coming into the world with their mental health, it's more what happened to you. It's more like the things that happen that impact us in ways that we don't even realize. It takes a while to unravel it.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness, if we ever fully unravel it. And I know we've had conversations with friends about the prevalence of dementia and explore is dementia unprocessed or unspoken trauma?
Like, what that does. Because science is going all over the place. And I was like, well, maybe if we talked about the things. Things.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah, because something happens with Alzheimer's and dementia, filters come off. I know that with my grandmother, my mother's mother, she was like a little saint. She would go to church every morning. When she got to a point, she was cussing at people and pissed off. She was so angry. And all this stuff came out, I'm like, oh, wow.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Never expressed it.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: It was always there. Her father was an alcoholic. She had all of this pent up anger. And I'm thinking, did it cause the neurological condition or is the neurological condition now freeing her to be able to speak all of these things and really, you know, process this emotion?
[00:13:03] Speaker B: And then you think too about. There are definitely situations where people are open about their mental health, their mental wellness, and some people are still very reserved about it. I think about all of the unspoken conversations. There are people. I'm like, have you. Do you maybe.
Can we talk about possibly. No, I don't even want to. I don't want to force someone to tell me their story.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Right, right.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: But I would love it if they did.
[00:13:27] Speaker C: Right. And do you think that's, you know, they know when they're facing it in their own way, or do you think that they're just in, like, they're in denial and they don't see? Yes and, yes and yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I mean, each person's Journey is their journey. And you can't force someone to take. Lay off layer by layer and look at trauma and expose emotion that they're just not ready to. So you just have to love them.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Yep, I see it.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: That's the answer to everything.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Just love them.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Okay.
Well, I am late this way. I'm ready to go home. Let me out of this episode.
I need to go to bed, and you're, like, so tired.
Okay, but before we do that, let's get to some common misconceptions about mental health.
First, misconception, anxiety is just stress.
There's this widespread misunderstanding that anxiety is simply a stress response and that it will go away once the stressful situation ends.
Let me. Let me go ahead and clear that up right now. It does not. In reality. Anxiety disorders can be chronic and sometimes require ongoing management and treatment.
Before this, you said you had experiences with anxiety that you wanted to discuss in this episode.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Well, I have people in my family that live with anxiety.
It's real. It's a way of responding to challenges, and it does feel neurological and also chemical. It's an interesting loop that plays.
Someone is highly anxious. I'm trying to be sensitive.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: And you know. And don't.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: What we just said about telling someone else's story.
[00:15:30] Speaker C: Exactly. I think it's interesting because as someone who has lived with depression throughout my life, I now see that depression is a lot of unprocessed, unexpressed emotion that I was turning inward. I'm not saying I don't have depression, but I understand it better now.
I didn't have a lot of experience with anxiety, so to have people in my life even knowing what I know about mental health and mental wellness, it's a little hard for me to understand because I want to just be like, just breathe. It's all just. Just relax. You know what I mean? And I know better. But anxiety is tricky, man. It's insidious, and it's slippery.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. As someone who suffered a panic attack as a teenager, rationally, there's nothing wrong. I see the. What is it for your heart? Ekg. Whichever one it is like, I see it's normal. And they're like, well, I'm like, in the er, I'm like, but I can't breathe. I cannot take in here, not breathe. So I understand from a different level that experience had me even more in tune and very protective of my mental health. So when things get to be too much, I can't hold this in because I like the alternative. I like breathing. I Actually like it. It's great.
So as an adult now, like I definitely speak up. There are, there have been times professionally where I'm like, this doesn't work for me. This is why I feel very comfortable sharing my story about why I'm speaking up in this situation. Why this doesn't work for me, why these cycles, we can't keep doing this.
[00:17:04] Speaker C: Do you think that anxiety and depression are produced when we internalize or stuff down emotion and don't have to be.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: There got to be a study about it. Like I'm sure somebody somewhere we need to consult the people. But I'm pretty sure as soon as.
[00:17:19] Speaker C: You said panic attack, I'm remembering that I have had probably four or five really intense panic attacks in my life and they were pivotal times, like early 20s. And I remember I literally, I was like, I'm dying.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: This is how, this is it. This is how I got talked about in our panic was our episode.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Yeah. Like just like just to the point where I get right on the cusp.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Of passing out because I breath is not coming.
[00:17:45] Speaker C: I can. You cannot take a deep breath. It's intense. And honestly I sort of forgot until you described your panic attack. I was like, oh my God. I've had really intense ones.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: So when I know someone is in a panic attack, I try to remind them of their breath. Like come back. This is a story that you're spinning up in your head. There was something I read recently in the book that leading with my life group where it said anxiety is very self focused. At first, like it didn't like I felt like I had issue with that, but then I didn't resonate. But then I was like, well wait a minute. It is self focused because none of these things have happened. But we've spun up all of these stories about what it is, what it is and what it could be, what it was, what it should have been like that wasn't the experience. This is something that I'm telling myself. So I have a different sensitivity to make sure. Like hey, that's a story. If you just breathe, focus on your breathing. Let's return to your breath for it spins up.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: So you coach someone through it differently than absolutely.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: If I had not experienced. I'm like, because again I like breathing. So I imagine that you person that I love and care about also like breathing.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: It's very life affirming to breathe, to breathe normally and well.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: So yeah, it's having that experience. It's a different awareness for me. Yeah, yeah.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: And isn't that Interesting too, though, that the things that we have experienced, challenges we've gone through, traumas we've experienced, internalized.
They really do shape some really important things and some really beautiful things.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Empathy and depth and intuition. There are a lot of silver linings and beautiful things that come out of these experiences. What it means to be human.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: I just realized we've been all the time. That was the first misconception, y' all.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: Oh, my God. That's hilarious.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: All right, wait, we got more.
There's two more that we can maybe get through. The second misconception is therapy is only for severe issues.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Oh, goodness. People don't think that anymore, do they? They. No, they don't.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Yes, they do. There is this idea that therapy is only for people experiencing mental health crises or disord baby.
Therapy can benefit anyone and everyone, whether you're facing significant challenges or just need some tools. And there's this personal growth thing that I'm aspiring to do, and I need additional help or someone else to help me get there.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: More like a mentor, a coach, A therapist is someone that you can bring ideas to and talk to about just things that you're working through or questioning or wondering about. And it's just another set of ears in perspective. Right.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: And for me, yeah, I go to therapy. I feel like therapy keeps me accountable to myself. I do therapy for me so I can be the best me for other people. I'm not doing it for anyone else. Especially now in this season. What drove me back is because I was getting to that point, I'm like, listen, my mental is not going to be able to survive this. This is not sustainable. Which now is spilling over into my physical. So I need more tools and tricks and some heal the wagons on this.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: Hey, bring it all in. Yeah. When stressors like that come in, the extra support is just.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Helping us navigate. You know, there are some tricky pieces to this human existence.
I'm telling you. Some of us is a little like, really?
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, number three. Third misconception is that once you get treatment, you're cured.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: Well, that's hilarious.
I don't know that I've ever heard that. I'm like, cured of what? Being human.
Normal life stuff. Challenges. I don't know what that means.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: So the misconception that seeking treatment will lead to a quick and complete recovery. Okay, we did that. Oh, that's done. And now we're better.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: You know what complete means to me. You're dead.
Like.
Like I'm ain't nothing complete. It is Moving and flowing.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: When it's finished, that's when it's complete.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: Is like the end, like the end of the book. That's it.
Like, I'm fixed. That's hilarious.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Fixed it. No, you didn't.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: Can I just point out that I do have a few people in my life that have been to therapy and now they're better. They're. Now they're fixed. They're the ones that are healthy.
And I'm like looking around going.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Really?
I don't like that definition at all.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a really interesting attitude to have.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: We gonna move right along.
[00:22:27] Speaker C: Yeah, move along.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Okay, so let's. This question before we go into our song for this episode. What do you hope for the future of mental health awareness and the conversations around it?
[00:22:42] Speaker C: Can we just normalize it across the board? It's getting better. There's more recognition of chemical imbalances and actual diagnoses. Mental health is an aspect of our health.
Why do we need to close that in a closet and not talk about it?
I do have mixed feelings about the pharmaceutical industry and how things can be prescribed left and right. I think we need to be mindful of problems that are being created. I just think we have to have more honest, open conversations.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: I would hope for the future of mental health to goes back to what I said earlier about being responsible.
Sometimes there's this, well, I'm just insert diagnosis here or insert assumption about another person here.
It becomes just like a woke version of that's just the way somebody is. Or that's just what, like.
No. And also, could you please maybe get some tools? I almost feels like sometimes people are trying to get a mental health badge. Like this is my badge.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: Right. Like they're holding on to it. Like it's like really a part of the identity.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Right, Exactly. So like removing the identity badge of this is my diagnosis or this is my assumption about someone else's diagnosis and framing your experience of that person around that.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: Yes, that's.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: That's what I would want to shift and change in the future of mental health awareness. Because we have all like, we're open and we're talking about it, but what we going to do about it? Like, great, cool.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: What's next?
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Yes, what's next?
[00:24:22] Speaker C: Where are the tools? What are the resources?
Where are the support groups? I love that you took that a step further to that place of we are responsible for all the aspects of our well being, all the aspects of our wholeness and putting more effort into one angle and not the other.
It's just going to create imbalance. Right. Never a good thing.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:44] Speaker C: Well said.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Thank you. All right, so the song for this episode looks at the weight of mental health challenges and turmoil and things that could go on inside of our minds.
And it is Heavy by Linkin Park.
Check out this week's song on the YO Podcast playlist on Spotify.
[00:25:17] Speaker C: I liked that very much.
Why is everything so heavy? We have a choice. To an extent, letting go is hard for people, especially when we really identify with an aspect.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: The chorus of I'm holding on, why is everything so heavy? And then we get to the part of it's so much more than I can carry. It's like you weren't meant to carry it alone, right?
[00:25:44] Speaker C: There's help.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: There is help. You could probably just not carry it.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: Right?
There's that. You could just put it.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: Some of them bags ain't even yours.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the thing.
As kids and young adults, you don't really even know what's happening. Yours and what's not yours. It all. It's all meshed together and then you sort of unravel it over time.
From the 30s and 40s on.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. I went to breakfast with my friend and we were talking about how therapy should be free. If you were a kid from the 90s and earlier we looked at it like a commercial. Were you a child born between the decades of blah, blah. If so, then you are entitled to lifetime therapy for free. Like that. Like, that's what it feels like. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, this. I didn't even put it together. But yeah, that's what it feels like. When we are carrying things that we don't know we're carrying.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: It's the process of discovering that and like that inkling of something's not right. Something doesn't feel good or right.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: That's when you go, hey, person, professional, could you help me figure out what this is? Look at all the stuff that I.
[00:26:54] Speaker C: Brought in with 17 different bags.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Oh, that's not mine.
What am I doing with it? And then diving into that.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: I mean, it's not fun. Like I. It's not fun. Once you start going through some of the bags because some of the stuff that you packed yourself, you'd be like, why did I put that in?
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Yeah, why did I bring that? I don't need that.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: It's not even mine. I borrowed this from. You can have it back.
[00:27:15] Speaker C: This is what's so interesting about neuro linguistic programming because it serves to get at the subconscious and to rewire things and heal things.
Change states of mind and being.
It's wild. Having been working on it and with it, I'm not equating this to healing mental illness, but I'm just. It's fascinating to me how it all works together and how we've got these different layers of mind. There's some stuff in the subconscious that, I mean, you might have gotten it four months old, you know what I mean? And it's. It's in there. It's. It's written on your cells. That's the kind of stuff where I'm like.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: And I think about something in what you just reminded me when you said it's written in your cells. I think about generational trauma.
[00:28:01] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: How that changes elements of your DNA.
[00:28:06] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: So thinking through your mental well being and battling that chemical. Very real thing.
[00:28:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, another.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Like how, like my kids, they grew up in very different uteruses. Uteri.
They both came out of my body.
My. My singular. But like, who I was. Like, wait, what they incubated in was very different.
[00:28:35] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Mine too.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Does this speak to who and how they are? Yes, I believe it does.
[00:28:40] Speaker C: Wholeheartedly agree with that.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: And then there's all the studies about what passes between the mother and the child while they're in utero. I don't know which one of us had the bigger influence on the other, but yes. Yeah, definitely.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Right? Oh, yeah.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: Okay. That question of the other day. Okay, we didn't answer that. I told y' all this is gonna be a different format.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: We're just rolling.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: And we get to do this every year because Mental Health Awareness Month is every year. And then we sprinkle other episodes in during the year because that's just how much we believe. Yes.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: That's how important it is to us. Absolutely.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: The qotd.
What do you do to support your mental health?
She laughing, y' all.
[00:29:22] Speaker C: I don't know why I'm laughing.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: What is that response? Let's dig in.
[00:29:27] Speaker C: Really funny. I do so many things. All right, where do you want me to start? I mean, what don't I do for my mental health? Yoga. I take walks in nature. I lean on my dear people who love me to share, you know, whatever going through my head at the moment. I. So many tools. My voice, I. I use it. I, you know, I sing, I scream.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: So what Karen is getting at. There is not much that we don't do in support of our mental health.
[00:29:59] Speaker C: Like, it's so important. It's so key. If that ain't right, ain't nothing right.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Like, that's the message for the billboard.
[00:30:05] Speaker C: Yeah. If, like, that's. You gotta get. That's gotta be right.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Like, you gotta support that all the.
[00:30:11] Speaker C: Way together because that affects every other asp.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:30:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:17] Speaker C: So many things.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: There are so many. So many things we just did. We just danced out. We just. We just was dancing and singing here as we.
[00:30:25] Speaker C: Yes. Getting into your body. Somatizing. Moving things. Writing and speaking and connection, you know, community.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So there are a lot of things that we.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I was just saying. Do you want to list any?
[00:30:40] Speaker B: I feel like we've covered a lot of them. There are definitely more. Like now for me, me, it's looking like I'm getting out of my garden.
I am. Which is, I guess, to your point of connecting with nature. I am being intentional about the time that I spend with my community. And then there are just those meaningful investments in myself, like quiet time. That looks like self care. That looks like getting in the Bible, that looks like corporate worship at church. That looks like compassion projects. It looks.
It's multifaceted, beautiful and amazing. So at the end of the day, I guess what Karen and I are saying is find the things that. That work for you to support your mental wellness.
[00:31:20] Speaker C: Yeah. And I'm going to just add and point out that one of the things that I think is really important for people to do in this age of computers in our pockets and constant connection is putting that down, putting the screens away and turning it off and just being in the natural world. Like, you know, my son will be playing video games or doing virtual reality. And I'm like, hey, can we take a break and have you come back to this dimension for just a little bit?
Yeah. I think it's a huge, important piece. Not to mention that if you're on social media, there's the comparisons and the, look what I'm doing. That's just not good for anybody. And we never need to compare ourselves to anyone. Our experience is our own. But it's really hard on kids, middle schoolers, high schoolers, college age, early to mid-20s. It's a lot. And I think we really need to intentionally unplug from that.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:32:14] Speaker C: You know, like when you and I started doing the, you know. No, no, don't check your cell phone. And no screens in the first, like, hour or whatever. You wake up and think about other aspects. Do some meditation, yoga, or journal.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Okay, explorers, thanks so much for sharing this space with us as we shared our personal stories, experiences and reflections on mental health and anxiety.
We believe that by connecting through our stories, we create a more empathetic community that supports one another through the ups and downs. I found a quote by English author and journalist Matt Haig. Hope that's how you say his last name. That's how I'm saying it. I'm not sure.
Matt said mental health problems don't define who you are. They are something you experience.
You walk in the rain and feel the rain, but you are not the rain.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: You are not the rain.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: So you are not the diagnosis.
[00:33:17] Speaker C: You are you in the purest form.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:21] Speaker C: I love that so much.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Explorers, we want to remind you to care for yourselves. Not just this month, but every single day.
Mental health matters and it's okay to reach out for help when you need it.
Until next time, take a deep breath, be kind to yourselves and remember you're not alone on this journey.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: I just love that so much. Reminding everyone that we are in this together and that we are more alike than different and that the human experience is a shared experience.
We love you so much. Thanks for being here with us. Take good care.
Thank you to Queenies and downtown Downtown Durham for the use of their community podcast studio and for welcoming us so warmly. Each week we'd like to give a shout out to Coco Cinnamon, the birthplace of 1023 Media and the yo podcast. Please support your local women owned minority owned coffee shop in downtown Durham.
Brought to you by Durham Baker based 1023Media, a heart centered woman owned multimedia company.
