In this motivational monologue, Brad Schipke speaks directly to people struggling with depression, trauma, and feelings of hopelessness. He recounts his own darkest period—when he felt broken, worthless, and unsure of living—and shares the pivotal message he needed to hear: he is not broken and can heal. Schipke critiques the mental‑health system, arguing it is designed to help people merely manage pain rather than truly heal, and warns against placing faith in therapists, doctors, or external authorities. Instead, he urges listeners to cultivate self‑belief, block out negative inputs, and become their own savior. Central to his advice is the principle of relentless persistence: never quit, view every obstacle as solvable, and understand that quitting is the only thing that prevents recovery. Throughout, he affirms the inherent worth of trauma survivors, emphasizes personal responsibility for healing, and offers heartfelt encouragement, concluding with gratitude and a call to action.
Chapters
Hey everybody, Brad Schipke here, and today I have a very important message that I want to share with you. It's a message that I needed to hear a long time ago when I was in the darkest part of my life, when I was depressed, alone, and wasn't even sure if I was going to make it. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be here. So if you're feeling that way where you feel like you're hopeless, you feel like nothing will ever get better, That you've just experienced so much pain in your life that you don't even know if you're gonna make it. Maybe you've lost loved ones. Maybe you've lost jobs, dreams. What I want to tell you right now is what I needed to hear, is that you are not broken. You are not broken beyond repair, and you are worthy of that life. Where you can be calm, at peace, and happy. And not only are you worthy, but it's possible, and you are capable of achieving that. And that's what I needed to hear, because what I was hearing back then when I was so hurt was that you're broken, you've been through too much pain, this is just something you're gonna have to accept. This is just how your life is gonna be from now on. You have to accept that you are just going to be in pain forever. And the best thing, Brad, the best thing that you can expect is to just get by, is to just cope. So you better just accept that this is where you are. And maybe you've had people in your life tell you that, that it's impossible for you to heal. That it's impossible for you to get better, that you've been hurt too bad, you've gone through too many traumas, you've been abused too long for you to live a normal life. The normal life, that's for other people. But you, you are too broken. Maybe you've gotten that message. Maybe you've gotten it from loved ones or therapists or doctors. I'm always shocked every single day I talk to people and they tell me that Doctors, therapists, loved ones tell them that it's impossible for them to heal. But you're not broken. No one's broken. And it's not your fault. If you've been in pain for all these years, it's not your fault. If you've lashed out at loved ones, if you've broken relationships, if you've pushed people away, if you've lost jobs, Because of all this. It's not your fault. You're in pain. You've been through something incredibly, incredibly hard, and that's not your fault. So stop blaming yourself. Stop making yourself feel guilty because you're not guilty. You can make this, make it through this. And the problem is, is that everything you've been learning up until this point has just been teaching you how to get by. You haven't failed you. You haven't failed yourself. The system has failed you. Because the system, the mental health system, is designed for you to just manage, to just get by, to cope. It's not designed to heal people. It's designed to help people get by. The goal is management. The goal is, well, if I can just help this person just get through this and make their life a little bit better, That'd be great. And I'm not saying these people have bad intentions or ill will towards anybody. I don't— I think most of the people in the industry have really good hearts. They want to help. They do these things because they want to genuinely help. But the problem is that the system is broken. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. If it worked, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be in the spot where you are right now. So you need to stop relying on a broken system. You need to stop putting your faith in a broken system because they've led you to this point where you are right now. And that's the truth. If it wasn't broken, you would be better. If it wasn't broken, you would be healed. So stop putting your faith in other people. Stop putting your faith in a therapist, in a doctor, in me, in anybody. Start believing in you. Start blocking out— block out all the noise, all the inputs that tell you that you cannot do this, because that— it's the cancer of the mind. It will prevent you. If you allow yourself to be around people and inputs that tell you this is impossible, it will become impossible for you. And not that because it's impossible, because if you believe it's impossible, you won't do the necessary things that you need to do. So you are not broken. You can heal. You need to put your faith in you. You need to believe in you. You need to see the worth The value that you have. You're not weak. You're not weak. You can do this. So stop putting your faith in others and start putting your faith in yourself, because no one's gonna come and save you. The only person that can save you is you. So you need to become Your own hero, your own savior, and be there for you, because that is the path. And the last thing I want to say is that if you never quit, you are guaranteed to heal. That is the one thing that pushed me through to full recovery. That is the one thing that pushed Kayleen through to full recovery. Because I can guarantee you that you will face problem after problem after problem after problem after problem in your recovery journey. There's no getting around that. There's no way starting healing, starting recovery, and having it be perfectly smooth and where you don't hit any problems, any obstacles. You're going to hit problems. So expect that. But keep telling yourself, as long as I never quit, I am guaranteed to win. And every single problem that you face has a solution. The only reason why someone will not heal is if they quit or they accept that the problem that they're facing does not have a solution. There's always a solution. There's always a solution to any problem that you face. So never give up until you find that solution. And if you do that, you will heal. So that's my message. You are not broken. You are worthy. You can do this. Believe in you. You haven't failed. The system has failed you. So? Just know I believe in you. My heart is with you. And if you don't have anybody else in your life that believes in you, just know that I do. That I do. Because I know you can do this. I know you can do this. So thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you. I love you. I care about you. Now rock and roll. Get this thing done. Thank you, Brad.
