Real Talk on Destigmatizing Mental Health Challenges

Summary

In this episode of the Do Life podcast, Layla Dawn discusses the importance of mental health awareness, breaking the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and the need for open conversations about mental well-being. She explores the differences between mental health and mental illness, common mental health challenges, and coping strategies. Layla emphasizes the significance of recognizing signs of mental health struggles, the role of community support, and available resources for those in need. The episode concludes with a call to action to break the silence on mental health and support one another in the journey towards mental wellness.

Takeaways

Mental health is about how we think, feel, and behave.
It's essential to break the stigma surrounding mental health discussions.
Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Mental health disorders require proper care and treatment, just like physical health.
Recognizing signs of mental health struggles is crucial for support.
Coping strategies like exercise and meditation can improve mental well-being.
Community support plays a vital role in mental health.
Social media can impact mental health positively and negatively.
Open conversations about mental health can help normalize the topic.
Together, we can make a difference in how society views mental health

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mental Health Awareness
01:31 Understanding Mental Health vs. Mental Illness
04:40 Common Mental Health Disorders
08:08 The Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
14:35 The Importance of Open Conversations
18:02 Recognizing Signs and Symptoms
20:45 Seeking Help and Overcoming Barriers
24:43 Coping Strategies for Mental Well-Being
27:42 Mental Health in Different Communities
31:06 The Role of Social Media in Mental Health
34:02 Building Support Systems and Resources
34:54 Breaking the Silence on Mental Health

LINKS

Self Care https://youtu.be/f3B2zEKNF8M?si=jmQjcZHtBnUO5_KX

Boundaries https://youtu.be/31emlrbCi0o?si=AyQHx9J8uBLVOfm4

Sleep Optimization https://youtu.be/iohvUusvVgo?si=CqIV4oCA_nDo8_d_

Do Life Website

www.layladawndoeslife.com

Certified Life and Business Coaching

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087296620862

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/layladawn/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BPgTMeoJKSceLs9UXfCGN6g%3D%3D

Transcript

0:00

Hi friends, welcome to the Do Life podcast. I'm your host, Life Coach Layla And today's episode is really important. We're gonna talk about something that affects everyone, whether we realize it or not. Mental health. So whether it's something that you've struggled with personally or you've witnessed someone around you struggle with, mental health plays a huge role in our everyday lives. So in this episode, we'll break down the stigma, we'll discuss common mental health challenges and offer strategies to help. maintain healthy mental well-being. Mental health doesn't need to be something we avoid talking about. And it's time. we start opening up. So let's dive in. My name is Layla Evans and I am a certified life and business coach. am a facilitator of the six phase meditation system, specializing on forgiveness. And I am currently studying NLP, RTT and hypnotherapies. I have struggled with mental health personally and every single person in my family, surprise, surprise has also dealt with it. And I've dealt with it on every level from just a little anxiety, seasonal depression to full-blown asylums stays and not me personally, but family members, friends, children, people around me. So I am not a stranger to mental health and I would like most people to not be a stranger to mental health. I want to break the stigma of talking about it, of having conversations around it. of people thinking that you're weird because you're medicated or like all of the negatives. To admit that you are struggling mentally and need help is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. And I think more people need to be aware of that and ready to take on their own challenges. with that being said, let's start with the basics. What is mental health? When most people hear the term mental health, they think of mental illness. But mental health is actually about how we think and feel and behave. It affects our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. And just like physical health, our emotional health plays a big role in how we handle stress. relate to others and make choices. We often use the term mental illness to describe conditions like depression or anxiety or schizophrenia, but the reality is mental health is a spectrum. And I think of like the same spectrum as like autism. I used to think it was like a graph, like a scaling spectrum of, all these bars and you're a little autistic or you're a lot autistic. Like you have a little mental health issues or a lot of mental health issues. And the more we learn and the more I learn and the more I research, I realize that the spectrum is a wheel and like a pie chart mostly where you're a lot of this specific type of autistic side effect and a little of this one. So where you can have three different people in front of you that are, and autism isn't a mental illness. saying that it is, but it just, think of the spectrum. hear most people describing people with autism as being on the spectrum. So that's what made me think of this. But when you think of like, you have three different people and they have three different types of autism and they could be equally autistic according to the brain scans, but it just depends on what features they have, if that makes sense. And so I feel like the same thing applies to mental health. You could be riddled with anxiety. You can have a little bit of schizophrenia. You can have a lot of depression and somebody else can have kind of the same things, but different variations of it. And you guys have both have the same mental wellness and mental health issues. Well, no, you don't have the same issues, but you could have the same level of mental health wellness. If that makes sense. hope that I hope I described that right. I hope that makes sense. So you can have good mental health with or without having a diagnosable disorder. And the two are not mutually exclusive. You can be mentally healthy and still go through periods of severe anxiety or stress. So mental health is really about balance and taking care of your emotional well-being, just like you would take care of your physical health. Like you can be physically fit and still have a broken bone. And that's kind of the same thing. basically mental health is a broader concept that encompasses. overall psychological well-being While mental illness is a specific mental medical condition that causes a significant amount of distress and impairment. Hopefully that kind of clarifies things for you a little bit maybe. let's talk about some common mental health disorders. We often hear about conditions like depression and anxiety and... and manic and bipolar disorders, but there are many others that affect people's daily lives. For example, depression is more than just a feeling of sadness. It's not the big sad. I mean, I guess it is if you're younger. But I mean, it's your ability to function. It's from getting out of bed to taking a shower to going to work or doing standard daily activities, cleaning your house. I have a five minute rule in my house and that's... that my house should not take more than five minutes to tidy up. If someone was to call me and say, hey, I'm on my way, I'll be there. It shouldn't take more than five minutes for me to clean my house. And if it does, probably going through a bout of depression. So if you come over and my house is not okay, then you know I'm not okay. It's almost like a direct reflection. And then of course, because my house isn't okay, that just adds to my not okayness and it's a whole snowball effect. Anybody who struggles or suffers kind of understands. And then you have anxiety. I don't have anxiety, but my partner and two of our children, maybe three of them have it really bad where they're just completely overwhelmed by the thoughts of what if. And I'm like, I don't understand. Like you guys are stressed out and hyperventilating over a hypothetical scenario that you made up in your brain that's not even real. But it's a disorder I don't understand. Just like they don't understand why I can't get out of bed to feed myself. There's a lot to digest there. And then you have things like PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. It affects those who've gone through something severely traumatic and it causes nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, all kinds of crazy things. And then bipolar disorder, is, it involves extreme mood swings from high euphoria to deep depression. And it can be just as challenging to live with. And a lot of times if you're manic on top of that, you get super high bouts of energy and you want to do all the things and you feel like you can rule the world and you create these crazy... crazy chores and things that you've been meaning to do. You start decluttering a closet or tearing down an extra wall and you've got these great ideas of grandeur. And then when that manic wears off, you're left with this mess if you don't get it done in time and you're just like, what did I do? Hi, also me. And again, that's just a part of it. It's not saying that if you have any of these. disorders or diagnosis that these are your symptoms. These can vary greatly from person to person. It's also important to mention... Conditions that are sometimes underrepresented like ADD ADHD OCD ODD BPD or Eating disorders like body dysmorphia bulimia anorexia these can have a profound impact on a person's life, too and I don't want to spend all of my time going through different mental disorders because there's a lot and These are just the more I don't say popular ones common ones, perhaps But there's a lot, there's a lot, a lot of disorders out there and it's really hard to diagnose because some of them overlap, some of them share symptoms and so there's a lot to go into that. So we're not going to have that conversation today, but I just want to bring to light some of the different disorders and their struggles and And really what's crucial to remember is that mental health disorders are medical conditions like any other physical condition. They need proper care and treatment if you... break a bone, you go to a doctor. If you have a mental disorder, you go to a doctor. It should be that common and unfortunately it's not. And with that being said, full disclaimer, I am not a licensed professional doctor. I am not doing this episode to treat or diagnose anything. Please don't start or stop any training or treatments that you're currently on without speaking to your regular doctor beforehand. This episode is more focused on getting comfortable with having conversations, having open conversations about mental health disorders and the medications that people may be on and some of the different side effects to be aware of. And then that leads me into my next point. Let's talk about the stigma around mental health. One of the biggest barriers to mental health and the stigma that surrounds it is too often people are afraid to seek help. or they're afraid to even talk about their struggles because of what they might be. They might be labeled as crazy. And are they fear? They fear judgment from other people. And I really, I really want to eliminate that. That should not be the case. There should be no reason that we are afraid to seek help. If you break your leg, are you afraid to go to the doctor because someone might see you as weak because you went to the doctor to fix your broken leg? There should not be this stigma around mental health. It's part of your overall wellbeing and we're doing what we can, right? And basically, like, I met a friend over the weekend and we were messaging back and forth and they sent me a picture of, like, a pile of books or something and I couldn't help but notice this stack of medications in the background and I was like, whoa, are you okay? And they were like, yeah, this is for my mental health, for this ailment, this disorder, whatever. And I was like, cool, like, what are you on? What are they for? If you don't mind me asking, like, no, no judgment, I'm just curious. And it got me thinking about this episode because like, I loved how they were just so open, like, yeah, this is for my mental health. And I was like, I love that you can just say that. And the fact that they were like, it took a long time to find the right diagnosis and find the right medications to go with it. One of the things that most people don't realize, they think that... people that are on medications for their mental health are crazy is because when you're trying to find the right medications to fix the misalignment in your brain, the medications that you're trial and erroring with are oftentimes gonna make you crazy. They make it worse. Like I took sleeping pills when I was a child and they made me psychotic. I've had sleep disorders since I was like two months old. It's been fun. Anyway, but a lot of times when you're trying to find the right medications, they can make your symptoms worse. So when someone's like, I'm on this medication and you just you hear, this person's on Prozac and they're losing their mind, it's because they're not on the right doses, which because that's not the right medications for them. And so I can understand where that stigma kind of started is when we didn't know a lot about the different medications available, the diagnosis, the doses to give or the symptoms we were treating and we were just kind of prescribing things to people like, and see what sticks, see what works. Well, this is what most people get. Let's give it to you and see if it works or not. Not knowing that most of these medications, if aren't treating the right thing, they're they're making the symptoms worse. And so I just I wanted to bring that to the table to let you know that Anybody who's tried to be medicated, it is a process. It's not like the doctor's like, here's this thing that's gonna fix your brain and make you all better. That's usually 99 % of the time, not how it works. It's like, okay, well you have these symptoms, let's try this medication at this dose and see how you work. After three months, if you're stable, then we'll add this one to fix this problem and then, that threw everything off and now this one doesn't work and now we have to start over and try something else. And I know this because my children are medicated. My oldest daughter, waited till she was an adult until she decided to get help for her anxiety and some, I forget what else she has, but I know anxiety, and ADD. And it's not that I didn't want to take her and get her diagnosed and treated as a child. I didn't recognize the signs and symptoms in her when she was younger because she's always been very chill and calm. She doesn't have the standard signs of someone with ADD. And because me and her father both have it, didn't mess, and we were both running around completely undiagnosed, raw dog in life with no medication or anything. We were completely unaware that those were things that she could have been medicated for and that would have made her life a lot easier. So we didn't know. And she wanted help with her anxiety and found out that she had like severe ADHD and then got medicated for everything. And now she's happy and calm. and everything's great as long as there's not like a nationwide shortage on the medication that she needs. My youngest child is still kind of going back and forth with what medications work for them and we're in the process of finding a new doctor because they've told their doctor multiple times that this medication doesn't work for them and then they put them on something else and then put them back on this medication and it's like you're not even listening. So now we're finding a new doctor and I'm saying all this because this isn't uncommon to anybody who's had this struggle. But if you're watching this and you don't understand what it's like to have a mental disorder or to get treated or to have a diagnosis or medication, this is just more for your understanding, not to frustrate everybody who's been through this. But it's really a process. when... I talked to this person and they're like, yeah, I'm happily medicated. It's forever and we got it figured out and now I'm happy about it and I don't mind talking about it. I was like, I love that we can have this conversation. I don't know you. Like I don't know this person. And then to just have this conversation openly is amazing because talking to them about their struggles and what they've been through can help me kind of navigate things with, you know, with my children and their medications and their doctors and stuff like that. And we'll, we'll get into that a little bit later too, but. But I just think that the more we talk about mental health, the more we normalize it. You shouldn't feel afraid to see a counselor or a therapist if you're struggling mentally for any reason whatsoever. And like I said earlier, it's a sign of strength, not weakness, to admit that you're struggling and you need help. To ask for help is probably one of the hardest things that I have to do as a strong independent woman. You know, I want to do everything by myself. I don't need anybody. I've never needed anybody. All these, you know, these are the thoughts that I've had in my head for years. So being able to surrender and be like, OK, I can't do this on my own. I do need help. I do need assistance. I need something. As hard as that was for do has hard as that was for me to do Made me so much stronger in the long run asking for help is a sign of strength not weakness and I don't know whoever started it the other way around but I Hope their death was no, I'm not gonna say that We're So whether you're talking to your families, your coworkers, your relatives, your friends, your kids, we need to make mental health something that's okay to talk about. Like, I talk to my kids all the time about it, you know, hey, how's your new medications doing? How do you feel? How are these working? Especially my youngest, because we're still experimenting with things. But even my oldest, like, hey, how's your mental health? Like, I actually say that and... I say that to my friends too, you know? Like I'll call up a friend and be like, hey, I haven't talked to you in a while. How's life? How's your brain? It's important. I care. And I care about their mental health just like I care about their physical health. If somebody's in the hospital, you send them flowers and well wishes. But if they're in the hospital because they had a mental breakdown, why don't we do the same thing? Why aren't we just as concerned and care? It's like, Carrie had a rough day. She's not doing okay. We need to... Leave her alone. No, you need to be there and support her. So having conversations, talk to your friends and people that you love. How's your mental health? Like, when was the last time you talked to anybody about it? Like, are you struggling? Are you good? Do you know if you're struggling or you're good? I have an episode, I don't know if it's posted or not, but I have an episode with my friend Joel and no, it's not posted yet, but he lost his youngest self. he lost his youngest son to self-harm. And the message he wanted to convey to the world was that we need to be having these conversations with our children, just like we have the sex ed talk. You don't necessarily wait till your children are showing signs or symptoms of being sexually active before you have that conversation with them. You talk to them way before that could be a thing. And I think the same thing should go. It's actually probably easier to talk about mental health and suicide to your children than sex. At least in my preference, I would rather have the mental health conversation all day with my children as opposed to the other. But, you know, these are things that we should do. And especially in a parent who doesn't have Any mental health disorders isn't aware of it wasn't around it So they didn't grow up around mental disorders they might not recognize it in their children and sometimes their children might not even show signs or symptoms So it's really important to let your children know that you're there for them and that you're a safe space and they can seek guidance if they ever need it and have that conversation before it's too late because they might not have signs or symptoms and you might not recognize them if they do. So then that brings me to my next topic, which is signs and symptoms. And again, sometimes it's really hard to know when someone's struggling. Sometimes there aren't signs and symptoms. Sometimes there's not just a telltale sign. They don't just have depression over the front of their face that tells you that they're struggling. So the signs aren't always physical or visible or available, but some of the signs that you can look out, like for example, someone might withdraw from social activities, from groups, settings, normal, normally planned outings. They might experience mood swings or lose interest in things they once loved. Changes in sleep patterns like insomnia are red flags as well. And other changes might include. changes in eating patterns or random unexplained aches and pains, I said, mood swings, migraines, anxiety, hopelessness. So if you notice any of these signs or symptoms in yourself or someone else, it's important to approach the situation with care and compassion. It's always better to reach out than let the situation escalate. So if someone's not sleeping well, ask them if they're okay. Make it a common conversation. Like I said, it should be okay to talk about someone's mental health. And if you have concern, see how they respond to your concern. That's also something to look out for and just kind of be mindful of. And again, reassess these things in yourself, like are you okay? Like I'm asking you right now, are you okay? Do you need help? Do you have a friend that you can reach out to or talk to if you're not? Message me, I'm your friend, I'm everybody's friend. I'm Life Coach Layla, I'm here for you. All my friends, all my kids' friends call me Miss Mom. Like I am, I'm everybody's mom, I'm everybody's friend. I'm just, I'm here for you guys. The whole reason I'm doing this podcast for free is because like I just, I want to help you guys and help you and take care of you. And yeah, and that's why I'm here. And I think this is so important for all of us. So, I did want to reiterate that it's really important to note that not all mental illness comes with signs. My friend who lost his son to suicide, he didn't have any signs or symptoms of depression. He told the girl at school he would see her the next day. He had a party and laughed and hung out with friends and like had zero signs. There was no change in behavior or diet or sleep or anything. There was no way of knowing. And I think that's why his dad's so adamant on spreading the word that it's just as important to have mental health conversations with your kids. Because if, like I said, if we can just change one person's lives, then we feel like we've made a difference. And so I want to talk about seeking help. It's one of the most important steps that someone can take in improving their mental health. But so many people avoid it. because of fear or shame or even lack of resources. I'm not gonna act like therapists aren't expensive. But again, just like you go to the emergency room in an emergency situation, you go see a doctor if you need to, you go see a doctor if you need to, and you worry about the expenses afterwards. It'll figure itself out. It always does. And it's more important that you seek help than worry about the bill. because therapy is a safe space where you can talk about anything without fear of judgment. You can talk with an actual professional who can help you understand and manage your mental health. They can send you to someone who can prescribe you medications or some of them can prescribe medications themselves. They can help you with standard coping mechanisms for everyday things that you don't necessarily even know are a burden to you. There's so many things that happen in your life and your brain that you're not aware of and then when you start talking to Somebody else about it. You're like, wow, this is This is real. Okay. All right So, yeah And yeah, if they're prescribing you medications, there should be no shame in taking the medications. And like I said earlier, talking to someone about your medications and your struggle in your journey and finding the right diagnosis might save them months, weeks, years, lots of mental brain anguish. You could be helping them with their journey. Like I said, I talked to the random person. We were texting back and forth and asked them about their medications and what their diagnosis was in an attempt to gain information that might help my youngest who's still struggling to find the right. combination. So having open conversations with people can kind of help catapult that in the right direction, if that makes sense. And I get there's a lot of barriers to seeking mental health. You've got your cost. And like I said earlier, your leg was dangling, you're going to the emergency room. You're not worried about how much money that costs. If you're in dire help mentally and you need help, get help. Don't worry about the cost. Get help. There's also a lot of access. There's also not a lot of access to mental health resources. I called the suicide prevention hotline a few years ago because somebody I was concerned with was telling people that they were going to do things. And I called them for assistance and was put on hold and hung up on after like 40 minutes. And I was like, wow, if I was seeking help, I would have seen that as like an omen and been like, well, the suicide prevention hotline doesn't even give a about me. guess I'll just and I was so off put that that was a thing that happened. So there's there's not a lot of resources as far as good mental health awareness. I'll post some later and we'll talk about them. But I personally haven't used them. They were just things that were given to me by other people. So I'm hopeful that they're helpful. But But we need to make it clear that mental health is part of overall health. A lot of your insurance companies will pay you to go get a yearly physical. They should be paying you to go see a therapist regularly. Like this should just be part of health care is mental health care. And while I don't know of a lot of resources, I do know there are a lot of groups. There's a lot of support groups. There's like group therapy. There's different platforms. in our list. And I'll list a couple of those down below. So I want to talk about some coping strategies if you're not suffering from a diagnosed disease, if you're just struggling with little bouts of certain things. So again, I'm not a doctor. Professional help is essential. There are some ways that you can take care of your mental health. on your own. And this is where self-care comes in. I did a whole episode on self-care. I'll link it in the show notes. We're not going to get into all of that specifically, but it is more than just bubble baths and facials. It's about taking care of your body and mind in ways that nurture your wellbeing. So number one is exercise. Exercise is the most powerful tool in your toolbox. And it doesn't have to be hours of hardcore cardio. It can be Tai Chi, yoga, Qigong, just stretching, strength training, martial arts, any kind of movement. You just need to move your body strategically. Even if it's just getting up once an hour and walking for 10 minutes, that's movement. That's going to take care of your body. It also releases endorphins, is the body's natural mood booster. Mindfulness practices like meditating or deep breathing. can be very effective in reducing stress and giving you a calmer peace of mind and boosting your mental wellbeing. It's also crucial to maintain a healthy sleep schedule. Sleep is the cornerstone of mental health And poor sleep can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. I also have an episode on sleep too. I'll link that in the show notes, but it goes into great detail on how you can optimize your sleep and why it's so important. And of course, nutrition, nutrition plays a big role. I personally notice when I eat an excessive amount of sugar and carbohydrates and alcohol, my depression and lethargy just kind of kicks in. So and I've also noticed the opposite if I eat a lot of leafy greens or things that have been in direct sunlight so like not root vegetables but like fruits and vegetables that get grown outside in the sun i feel more energized and vigorated and when was the last time you paid attention to what you ate and how it made you feel um because it was very eye-opening when I noticed it. But yeah, eating a balanced diet can have a direct correlation with your mood and your energy levels. So try being more mindful in the future of your eating habits and how you feel before and afterwards. I know you've probably heard of the diary, the food diary, where you monitor when you eat, what you eat, what you're feeling before and after you eat. Maybe you haven't heard of that. Maybe that's just for people who've done dietary restrictive studies or things like that. But keep a food diary. It's really helpful. There's several apps out there that you could... You can also download I used to use my fitness pal forever and it let you track your moods and your times and your what you ate and things like that. So look at different apps that are available. And then. I want to talk about mental health in different communities because it looks different for everybody depending on where you are, not just in America, but all over the world. So. Different communities face different challenges when it comes to accessing mental health care. or even talking about it for some situations. Like for example, in some cultures, mental health may still be a stigma. It may be something that individuals fear judgment or ostracism from, and they can't open up. And for others, there may just be limited resources, particularly in low income or rural areas. And so, you know, how we deal with mental health is different. There's a lot of different jobs. We'll have some. some mental health options, but they don't advertise it. They're not very well known. There's things that you have to dig through in the HR resources center to find, but it's worth that dig if they exist. So like my partner's job, let anybody who lived in the household access mental health care for specific incidences. And that was really helpful to know and have, especially with the kids and things like that. And because I'm not... Legally married for personal reasons That I'm not gonna get into in this episode but we've been together like 15 years it was easy to To be like yeah, we live in the same household and I was able to get some help for some things and that was It was a resource that we wouldn't have known existed unless we were digging and doing some things trying to take care of the baby. So also look into if that's an option for you. You never know. Because workplaces, schools, some of them can contribute to mental health solutions. Some of them contribute to mental health problems. We're not even going to get into. the majority of the problems caused by workplace or school stresses, not offering adequate support while creating environments that exacerbate stress. is probably the worst and also most common thing found in America. And I don't know about as many other countries. I haven't worked in foreign countries other than I've worked for like American companies in foreign countries. So I don't necessarily know. So I can't speak for them. I'm not saying it doesn't exist there. I'm just saying I can't speak to that currently. But either way, we need to create safe spaces in these environments where people can talk openly about their mental health. Like your school counselors are not real, I don't wanna say they're not real counselors, there's some that are, but I have had zero good luck with any of the counselors. I'm just throwing that out there, and I'm not a fan. But mental health should be regulatory maintenance in your super stressful traumatic jobs like police officers, firefighters, emergency first responders, things like that. Hospital workers, anybody with a high trauma job should have therapy just included in their benefits. Like here's your vacation time, here's your therapist, you know, like, or here's your therapist options kind of things. I think it's not okay that people in high traumatic jobs don't get offered free or reduced mental health care because they need it in order to efficiently do their jobs. There's so many studies and things on the police officers in America and the problems that they have because they're not getting an adequate amount of mental health care. And that's where most of the problems lie. I digress. I also want to talk briefly about the role of social media in mental health and mental well-being. Because social media is a double-edged sword. It's on one end you can feel connected, you can find groups, you can find support groups, can have conversations with other people who gone through similar things. And then on the other hand, you're watching somebody else's highlight reel and it's making you feel bad about your own life and yourself. And it can add to your anxiety and your depression and your feelings of hopelessness and... they're cyber bullying or you're constantly comparing yourself. Like I said, you're comparing yourself to someone else's highlight reel. What you're seeing on the Internet is usually not accurate as far as what real life represents for those people. So if you're looking at that and you're comparing yourself, don't compare, I'm a loser. sit in the basement. I do this. Think of it as, I'm really happy that that person's out there doing those things. I'm going to use that as inspiration or motivation to do better. So I just. I just wanted to kind of throw that out there because social media is a problem. There is cyber bullying. It is important to set healthy boundaries. There's a whole episode I made on setting healthy boundaries, but I don't think I discussed, maybe I did discuss setting boundaries on social media. I think I did in that episode, but either way, it's just as important because. on most platforms you can curate your feed to show you positive, uplifting things, motivational content. But it's also just as important to unplug and disconnect and take mental health breaks from social media in general. So like I said, try not to use social media as often. Don't look at it as a comparison. Use it for inspiration or mostly for networking. Use it to find like-minded people who are going through the same struggles as you that you can communicate with and uplift and have conversations with and open dialogue, especially about mental health. Which brings me to my next point, which is your support systems and resources. having community, a supportive community, having people in your corner. If you don't feel supported by your inner circle or your friends and family, if you don't feel connected enough to have a deep conversation with them or to reach out to them. maybe do some networking and find a group of people that maybe understand you a little bit more, but you have to have people in your corner, humans or social creatures. We need to feel connected to other people. And if you don't feel connected to anybody in your inner circle, that might also be aiding to your mental illness in the first place. So again, finding a support group, group therapy or... even just a club or group online or something that you can talk to will help immensely. If you don't know where to start, there's, we've talked about hotlines, there's your social media apps, there's mental health apps online. There's like online therapy, there's like better health. Let's see, what did I write down? there's websites like the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, National Institute of Mental Health, Mental Health America, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for immediate support, along with organizations like Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the ADAA, and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, DBSA, there's talkiatry, there's Headspace, there's BetterHelp. So all of these things provide information and ways to get in touch with professionals who can help. And like I said, I don't know about the suicide prevention health line, but we're not gonna get back into that. So in closing, just want to talk about breaking the silence. Finally, it's time to break the silence. It's time to end the stigma. The more we talk openly about mental health, the less stigma there will be. Mental health is just as important as physical health. And the more we share, the more we can support each other. I want to encourage you. to share your own experiences or reach out to someone that you think might be struggling. because together we can make a difference on how we view and approach mental health as a society. I'm not gonna do a full recap because I covered quite a bit, but I really hope you found value in this. Like, share, subscribe, do all the things, go to my website, sign up for one-on-one coaching with me if that's something that you're interested in. And again, reach out to someone that you think is in need of support or... Reach out to someone if you need support. I love you, I thank you for being here. I hope this helped, I hope this resonated. I hope you can make a difference in someone's life. Thank you so much for watching to the end. Now let's go do life mentally well. Bye.