Mental Health Matters - Grab your flashlight

It is so funny because I need to go back and look at the beginning of these things because it said you were live and I said, oh, because the thing hadn't started playing. And I always wonder whether or not y'all see that or not. So hey everybody, welcome to Mental Health Matters. And why are we here? Because two— and sorry, I'm trying to play with my thing. Where, where am I going? Uh, two out of every three gun deaths we hear about are suicides. And if we actually want to save lives, we need to talk about mental health. And bonus, y'all know what I'm gonna say: when we talk about mental health and we help people have better mental health, whether it's ourselves or those around us, we can also help prevent violence, because violence is the lack of communication. And not feeling heard, seen, or understood. So, um, hello everybody. I see nothing. Um, well, you're not Sergeant Schultz, but maybe you are barbecue. All right, uh, hi everybody. Welcome to the eve before Super Bowl. For those of you who actually follow football, I know Jamie does. I know Jamie loves his football. I don't know how many of you all out there are love football people or not. Um, it's been a while since I have done anything with football. My mom used to run a football pool, and, uh, so I would hear about it sporadically, but now not so much. Anyway, I was talking to my, my aunt not that long ago, and we were discussing how back in the '90s and even in the early 2000s we would watch the Super Bowl just to see the commercials, and it is not the same anymore. So because we are all inundated with ads all of the time, uh, but, uh, yeah, no, it used to be a big deal to watch the ads. That was it. And last time I watched the Super Bowl, which I don't even know that long ago, but it was like medical ads and stuff like that. Definitely not as exciting. All right, so, um, yes. And so someone like Syria Fan, don't care if it's your goal, Bengals aren't in it. So yeah, some people care if their team is playing, other people, I don't know. Like I said, halftime show apparently, because that's always something to talk about. However, why are we here? Because mental health matters. Um, and why does it matter? Well, because we all have mental health. Flashlights. Originally I thought I was going to be in my office for this, but plans change as they often do in our lives. So my flashlight is literally down on the, on the desk, and DJ's like, don't you have a flashlight in your house? I'm like, yes I do, but I'm sitting here all snuggled on my couch and— oh wait a second, here's, here's your dog, right? So the dog is comfy there. I am comfy here with the blankets on my feet because, oh yeah, no, it is currently like -1 and the wind is insane, so I'm cold. So I'm staying right here. Flashlights, however. Mr. Ballinger, who is out there— because, uh, DJ, if you can find him saying hi and live your favorite life, because I'm not gonna scroll because you know I mess things up. Um, Mr. Ballinger and I were having a conversation earlier this week, and we're— there it is, Mike here enjoying life. Yes. So this guy who is— has quit smoking, dude, put in the numbers, like how many days now or weeks, I don't know. Um, but after all of his life of smoking packs and packs a day, he's quit smoking. And I just called him to say good job. And we were talking about how important it is to pay attention to what's going right in our lives. Because most of us, whether we want to or not, we get hounded. We get information all the time on the newest, latest news, who killed who, all of those things. No excuses, cupcake. I don't know what you're talking about. Sorry. See, all right, that's it. I have to, I have to hide the, the thing from me so that I don't see what y'all are talking about because DJ will star stuff for me or he'll pop stuff up for me. So Mike and I were talking about paying attention to what is right because it's super easy to pay attention to what is wrong. And the reason I talked about flashlights is because paying attention to what's going on in here is our flashlight. Because if I say the sky is falling, you start looking up to see what parts of the sky are falling. And so I got to choose what you're paying attention to. And this is how we have to pay attention to the choices. DJ, you know what I said before about you're gonna have to talk about this as well with me, so there is that. But what we are trying to do is— oh, sorry, see, Taryn's out there too and she said hi. Um, Taryn is somebody else that I get to see her. And for those of you who are on the Facebook side, if you friend Taryn, she has a bunch of videos that just talk about life in general and what her life is like right now. And I'm going to try to do this more elegantly than I did last time— the Pantry Challenge, where she has this pantry where they grow their own vegetables, can them, and they're living out of their pantry because that's kind of the purpose of wintertime, is you do all of this work in the summer and the spring and the fall, and then you have all of this food that will last you throughout the, the cold months when you can't grow stuff. And she was giving people tours through her pantry just the other day. And it's great fun. And another one of her posts was— she puts up stuff about her kids and how the pantry challenge is going and that sort of stuff, and just how important it is to take care of yourself now so that later you're taken care of. And it was just funny because she was talking about, uh, all the food that they've got in their pantry and how, like, she'll go out and buy a bag of onions and she will chop up all of the onions in the bag. So right now, when she's got the bag of onions, she has a whole bunch of work all at once, puts the stuff in the freezer, and then when she needs it, all she's got to do is pull it out and then she's got onions ready for whatever the recipe is. And It's taking care of yourself right now in order for future you— because she— it was funny, Karen, I'm just speaking, you know, um, because she's like, I don't want to say old me to cut the onions. She's like, because then it makes me feel like I'm old. So current her cut up all the onions so future her would have less work to do and just have prep stuff done. And for any of you who are out there who've ever worked in a kitchen, my husband and I were just talking about this today. It's really nice to have a set pantry in that there are just the staples you have in your kitchen that allow you just grab stuff here and there and be able to put together any meals. I don't know how many of you have been in the restaurant business, but my mom owned a restaurant when I was a kid, and I went to a hotel restaurant management school. And when you are a chef for a restaurant What you do is take 5 or 10 ingredients and then you make a bunch of different recipes. And that's kind of the same idea for life in general because, uh, there's so many things that we can do for ourselves to prep things to make life easier. And most of us have plenty of things in our life that makes it more difficult. So Taryn cuts up an entire bag of onions so later all she has to do is pull something out of her freezer to have onions. Like, I love like fried onions in my, uh, scrambled eggs, for example. And so it's like if I have eggs and I have spinach and I have the fried— the chopped up onions, poof, um, you know, I've got a meal. And then stuff in general Um, so one of the things— there's this other one, FlyLady, and FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself. And look up flylady.net. And one of the things is, before you go to bed, look at your calendar and know what the next day is. And oh, once you know what the next day is, go ahead and pull out whatever it is that you need for that, right? If you're Um, like my mom and I go to the gym every morning, Monday through Fridays. So if I actually take my workout clothes out the day before, when I wake up in the morning, I have an easier start to the day. And, uh, in Flylady, it talks about setting yourself up for that day. So it's like, if I— I don't know, let's say I've got bills to mail or something— if I put my stamped envelopes in my pocketbook. They're ready to go because that's one of the things I'm going to do. So your flashlight is paying attention to the things that will pay dividends in the future. Do the work now so you can rest later, um, and that sort of thing. All right, Mr. DJ, you got something to say?

I'd like to give the, uh, roll call. We got some great people out there tonight. Chasing Ghost was in the room first. Mike Ballinger is out there. Still Smoke Free, loving that. Got Sorry Fan in the room, so is Abigail Sorcha Finnegan, Jamie JH5869, Guns BBQ throwing out trash pandas, and Taren Gomez. Yeah, and thanks for sharing the, like, the idea of dinner right when I'm hungry. It's like right in that time, but, and shining a light on, on being prepared and thinking ahead mindfully to what it is that you have to do any day, I think is something that most of the listeners out there can relate to. We're like likely to have a conversation about EDC and what might have been added or changed on a weekly basis sort of thing. And I got to give you at least some bit of a hard time about not having a flashlight, like ready to go on an evening when the focus is on being prepared. But sometimes we are not prepared for things like really, really cold temperatures. And rather than making sure that everybody has apt reminders, because we're already in that season, I'm not going to spend time making sure that everybody still has galoshes in their trunk. But I like the idea of putting stuff out the day before I need something or the night before I need something. Yeah, most definitely. That's, that's a way you can stack success the following day. Too often, I myself will only remember one of several things that I'm supposed to be doing in the same fashion, though. So I'm still not very efficient at that, but appreciate the reminder for the consideration.

Yeah, well, I mean, it does, it makes such a huge difference. I wish I could say I did do it all the time, and I don't. But it's just like, when I look at my schedule, realize what I have to do, and when I actually pull the clothes out ahead of time so they're just sitting there. It just makes the morning so much easier than finding the shirt, finding the pants, getting the socks, all of that. And it's just these little things we can do for ourselves that is self-care. And it's just like, I'm worthy of taking the time now before I go to bed to put that stuff out. And then I can feel the love that I gave myself last night in the morning when I get up, and it just kind of smooths your way into the day. Um, and it's like same with food. Um, like having those, those key parts. Now, DJ, have we talked about make your bed?

Yeah.

Okay, so it's just like that too. It's just like you get up in the morning, get out of bed. If you actually make your bed, then that morning you took care of your night you when it's time to go back to bed. And it's just like, these are like the little things we can do, um, to take care of ourselves. Because most of us, like, you know, we're friends with most everybody who's watching and that sort of thing. We like taking care of other people. Like, oh, tomorrow you're bringing your mom anything when you go see your mom?

Yeah. And I did, uh, as part of that conversation with her this evening, is there anything that I should be doing or I should have ready, um, before I get to see you tomorrow? She has an appreciation for that too, because she has to still at my age give me constant reminders, and I'm always forgetting something. It's always like the plastic thing that she sent along and wants returned, or an article that she mailed me and she wanted returned so she could put it in a, I don't know, in a scrapbook or something. That was some small failure that I still have regardless of how keen I am not to fail my mother.

Yeah, but your mother loves you anyway whether you think you failed or not.

Oh yeah, that was— I'm laughing, not crying. It's a joke between us. It's a joke between us, and people who know me well or personally know that also I can be incredibly absent-minded about things without intent, without that intent.

Oh yeah, I mean, sorry, like I said, we're gonna go soon because I don't know how much longer I'm gonna last. But, um, the making your bed thing, um, that you accomplish something for the day even if nothing else goes right, you made your rack up.

And so Um, yeah, I don't know.

I've been thinking about the mom thing just because like I'm taking care of my mom more than I've had to, and mom is always very nice to me, and yet when she's out with friends and family, all she does is bitch about me, and then they call me— there goes the dog. Here, DJ, you talk a little bit. I'm gonna mute for a minute while they Well, puppy noises are always welcome.

Come on, they have like lots of dog fans out there in the crowd, and I wanted to make sure that I got mention in of gun websites being out there in the crew in two different forms at least. And we got C.E. Snyder Marketing LLC. I'm sorry if I got the pronunciation on that a little bit skewed.

C.E. Snyder, and that is my marketing dude.

All right, see you, Snyder Marketing. There we go, I'll remember it for next time.

We did— sorry, and it was— I, I muted it because I can't hear over the barking. Um, so also Tara, we want to drop Tara's link out there because Tara has been playing guitar for a while now. And, uh, you were talking about, um— oh, speaking of Tara Um, wait, what? Another 57? What is a 57? I want to know.

Uh, a microphone.

Oh, thank you. Um, all right, so DJ, you go right ahead. Tell everybody about, uh, Tara's link here.

Oh yeah, she does a Sunday, uh, that's a live, uh, that's a link to, um, the Chasing Ghosts channel. Link out there is for Tara's lives and other stuff. She does more than just motorcycle stuff, I should have said. She does a live show on Sundays, and I try to make it in there for at least a little bit, if not an entire Sunday show. And guys, swing by. One of the things we can do in small rooms like this is make the connections count. I mean, we do care about each other. In some small fashion. And one of the ways that you can show the appreciation you have for somebody being a part of the extended crew is to show up for their live shows every once in a while. And, uh, Gwebs has done a couple of recent things. Barbecue is doing live stuff. Jamie has a live show. I mean, there are folks out there that are doing things that we can— you don't have to be there for very long. I drop in sometimes, like, for an embarrassingly brief amount of time because I have a lot of places that I try to go in a single day.. And if you just drop in, say hey, and give them a thumb and that amount of support, that can sometimes be the thing that makes a broadcaster's day. And if you can bring a smile to that face, then there's some others out there in the crowd that are likely to also be pleased by your presence, no matter how brief. So include yourself.

And then like DJ always says at the end of this show, even if you miss the live, go ahead and watch some of the replay and leave comments because that helps everybody's channels. So, and, uh, yeah, Mr. Charles is who C.E. Snyder is. Um, and, uh, yeah, he's only vaguely disruptive. He is, he is barbecue adjacent as far as his ability to be, uh, disruptive. But, uh, oh, and the moo is here. So, hi, Moo. Um, and you're welcome. What are we saying? What did I say thank you for? I'm so silly. Uh, but anyway, thank you for being here, I guess. I don't know. DJ, we got anything else for tonight? I'm like, I am losing any track of paying attention to things, so I have nothing else going on that I can think of. Pay attention to where you're— oh, Ballinger. Yes. So, uh, DJ and we're just talking about this, is that, um, Mike and I are going to get together and do a show. Um, not 100% sure. It might be live streamed. He might actually come here since we're in the same town, or we're close enough. Um, or we're gonna do a Zoom interview. Not sure yet. Um, oh, thank you, Moo. Um, I, uh, I just don't even know. So DJ, was there anything else we talked about beforehand that I've forgotten about to say anything? Because Charles— that's why Charles— the reason Charles and barbecue are adjacent is because Charles knows how bad the squirrels in my head are. So DJ, anything else?

I was having trouble coming up with what I did, honestly, so no.

No, just like, I don't know. All right, um, yeah, so thank you to everybody who pops in and says hi. Um, yeah, enjoy the Super Bowl if that's what your thing, jam is tomorrow. Uh, might do nothing tomorrow, might do lots of things tomorrow. As far as Suicide Prevention Saturday goes— sorry, Mental Health Matters Saturday— so it'll get kicked off. Um, my goal is 10 years, and just so you know, that's till 2028. So y'all got like 2 more years of Saturday nights to hang out with me. And, uh, and that's kind of the plan. Oh, and yeah, there he is. Um, oh, and my marketing dude, Mr., Mr. Charles, did I mention my free training Friday thingy? I did not mention my free training Friday thingy. So, so most of you guys know from being here on YouTube, uh, some of you are here because you're my students for Great Start Shooting School. And for 2026, what I am doing is the fourth Friday— I'm like, yeah, this is, this is bad because, um, I think it's the fourth Friday of the month I'm doing an online Free Training Friday. And last month was, uh, first aid kits. And honestly, I haven't picked the subject for this month, but it might be something like situational awareness or assessing your house or something along those lines. It will be a lecture thing, about 45 minutes with about 15 minutes of Q&A. Some of them will go longer. Oh, it is the fourth Friday. Um, yes, I am a bad Brooke. Um, so that's kind of it because I do try to get better at the whole promotional thing. And by this time next week, Charles will have a landing page that we can drop in here so y'all can go and sign up for it if you would like to do that at 7 PM on a Friday night Eastern time. All right, Mr. DJ, I think that is all. If you want to take your list out and say thank you to everybody for coming, I will fade into the background.

Shall do. Um, thanks for coming out, everybody. It's always good to spend time in your company on Saturday evenings. Bring a friend next week. Uh, after the show ends tonight, if you would, uh, reload it and leave a comment. That helps out the algorithm. And if you have the opportunity to hype, if that appears, um, hype apparently is something that YouTube's really paying attention to. So think about spending that hype, um, here and in other places that you have appreciations to offer. Until we see everybody else again, it's been great having been joined tonight by Chasing Ghosts, Mike Ballinger, Saria Fan, Abigail Sorcha Finnegan, Jamie JH5869, Guns and Barbecue, C.E. Snyder, Marketing Taren Gomez, Gun Websites, G23, 2 Live Moo, and Viejo. Thanks for being here, everybody. Later on.