Mental Health Matters - It's Cold out here!

All right everybody, this is not everything that I was hoping it's going to be, but happy Saturday. Uh, not sure how the audio is going to be because I'm like literally in a hallway at Foxwoods Casino right now. So welcome. Um, I see Sariah Fan out there. I'm afraid to scroll because y'all know I have technical difficulties, and when it comes to touching my phone while I'm on it, it doesn't usually come out that well. So welcome to Mental Health Matters. Why are we here? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths we hear about are suicide. And if we're really looking to save lives, we need to talk about suicide on a regular basis and mental health in general because, you know, all right, ooh, I lied. I'm not lying, but I did just happen to find it, scroll without hanging up on y'all. So I see Chasing Ghosts is out there, my favorite pink hand waving, Crabby Turtle, And of course, Saria fan. So I'm currently missing my DJ. So if I hang up on you, it's totally my fault. He had nothing to do with it. All right. It is wintertime. It is cold. It is dark. However, we have had the winter solstice, which means each day we have right now gets a little bit wider or a little bit wider. Hey, Taryn. Um, gets a little lighter every day. I don't know if you guys are feeling it, but the change of the season is coming. But it's still a little bit of the winter doldrums. So how can we protect our sanity in the darkness? Well, number one is embrace the darkness. Accept that there are seasons and they're there for a reason. When the sun goes down at 4:30, 5 o'clock, it's okay to actually rest. We don't have to keep doing more. Take the time to put your feet up, snuggle up in a blanket, and just kind of chill out. So hey, G23, um, this one is definitely not going to be your hour and a half you're looking for. This is going to be a short quickie because, uh, I gotta go back to my mom and my girlfriend who are currently in the bingo hall without me, trying to play my bingo cards for me. So what else do we do in the wintertime? Well, we hang out with family. We just finished all the holidays, right? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Kwanzaa. Uh, what's that other one with the candles? You know, Hanukkah. There we go. So anywho, friends and family, this is a great time to reconnect with them. Also, people are quieter, and it's like you can just enjoy the quiet a little bit. The sun goes down, we can chill. So, oh, I see, uh, T2-3 saying hi to Jamie. So hello, Jamie, my friend. I hope your Friday night was lovely. We had a, um, lovely dinner last night. So what else do you all do? You guys go ahead, light it up in the chat. Tell me, what is your favorite thing to do to chill out? It's dark, it's early, um, you know, uh, I'm gonna guess Tara, but let's see. Tara, what do you think? Chasing ghosts, for those who don't know. Uh, motorcycles or guitars, which chills you out more? I'm just curious. I'm thinking a guitar because while you're playing guitar, no one's trying to kill you. So I mean, that's why I don't ride on the road on dirt bikes or, you know, those sort of things. All right, so GT3 hanging out with family. I'm not looking for a vacation with guards. Yeah, no, most of us don't want to go on vacation with guards because that's not so great. Hello, Viejo, nice to see you. And yeah, I'm just calling you all out as you come in because I don't know what I did with my DJ. And he might actually even be here, but on the phone it's way harder to see. So anywho, all right, so what else is nice about the wintertime? Because a lot of times people are like, oh, it's just horrible and it sucks because it's dark all the time and it's dark and it makes you sad. And yes, it's true. Do some people suffer more in the wintertime? Yes, they do. However, Here's the conversation I've been having with a lot of people lately, which is simply this: you get to choose what you think about. So when you stub your toe and there are various words that come to your mind, and some of them are explicatives, you get to choose which ones come out of your mouth often. And you get to decide stuff. Like the girlfriend I'm here with at Foxwoods, she always laughs because I rarely swear. I will from time to time, but rarely do I swear. And so when I say, "Ah, nuts," instead of various other things I could say, it does actually tend to make her laugh. But remember that we have a choice. We get to choose what we focus on. When we first got to bingo this morning, there was a woman who was just saying all the things that are wrong with bingo and all the things that suck. And I'm like, "Oh, we're gonna move our chairs and our table and go somewhere where someone and it's not quite so negative. So yes, we get to choose what we do. Sometimes we really need to get aware of who's around us as well. And this is also— the wintertime is also a good time to think about and reevaluate. It's like, all right, who do I really want to grow my relationships with? Because spring is coming and spring is where we have growth. I love that Surya Fan likes examining his crystals um, is a close second to spending time with family and not having bars and guards and that sort of thing. So, oh, GT3, dark when you go to work, dark when you get off work. Yeah, that's, that's rough. Um, my mom actually used to work third shift, and she'd go to work in the dark, she'd come home in the dark, and then she'd sleep through the light. So that was even harder. So I see chasing Tara said, ride or play guitar? I've played a guitar longer and there are some rides that don't come back, you don't back, don't come back from, so better play guitar. Yeah, there is that. But there's plenty of rides that you did do that you did come back from. So that is also a bonus. Being thankful. I know sometimes this gets overdone, overworked, over-exaggerated. I'm not sure what the right words are here. But, uh, I think it was last week, right? We were talking and DJ was saying one of the things he was thankful for was 6 feet above versus 6 feet below. And the idea of that is, you know, that breath you're taking right now, somebody else just took their last one. And it really is sometimes being thankful for the simplest things. And I have a friend of mine who is maybe a little pessimistic and he said, well, you know, it just means nothing matters. And I'm like, when you try to say that everything matters, then nothing matters. And it's just, you know, if you're having a bad moment, like, I don't know, stubbing the toe just comes to mind, you know, just because, you know, the broken toe in my brain, I guess that's where I get stuck right now. But, um, when we do the thing, whatever the thing is Like I said, stubbing the toe, I'm just stuck on that one because my toe is still broken, but we can say, oh my gosh, this is horrible, or we can ask, okay, what's good about this? So I couldn't tell you the day that I crushed my toe what was good about this other than— well, I could actually, I could tell you it was awesome that I had friends and family that were there to take care of me. I called my husband, he got my ice pack. My girlfriend who I was supposed to go out to lunch with instead brought me lunch. I am very blessed and very thankful. But then the following 3 weeks where I'm couch surfing for 3 weeks, I got to slow down and I was forced to sit on the couch, but I also got to find out, it's like, huh, being still, which is what winter is really good for, is not a bad thing. Just sitting there, I actually was able to accomplish a lot. And if you don't look for the good in the things that seem challenging, you're never gonna find it. All right, I'm gonna try to, uh, scroll without hanging up on y'all. Let's see. Brass prep. There's always brass prep. Yes, there is. Now I gotta say, I think brass prep can be very meditative. Uh, simply for the fact that, um, it's repetitive. And I don't know, the jingle jangle of brass is kind of cool. Uh, let's see. Tara: I saw office people this week. I'm usually there hours before them and hours after, so being that I drive a truck, I never get to see them. All right, let's see. Oh my. Taryn: We enjoy more family time and learn new games with the kids. They're getting older and it's fun to get to play with them. So yes, and these are things inside the house during the wintertime. Uh, game time is definitely one of those things for sure. Hello, Mr. Hillbilly and DJ. I don't know, he's out here somewhere maybe. All right, GT3, work at 6 AM, don't get off until around 6 PM. And then everybody else is saying hi to everybody, right? Oh my gosh, chasing ghosts. I wake up at 2 AM, leave by 4. Yeah, that's a rough morning. So anywho, all right, today is going to be super short because I want to go back and regain my girls. So once in a while you guys are gonna have that super long one like the Walk the Talk America one, and you get an hour and a half tonight because I'm trying to hang out with my family and my mom and one of my girlfriends from high school. Um, we've been together for a long time, so, uh, it's, it's one of those things where I'm gonna say Hillbilly is here. Hillbilly, if you can, by all means, drop a link to your show that is at the top of the next hour. And this is kind of all I got for you guys today because I just want to run back and see my fam. I hope 2026 is absolutely spectacular for you. And last week, like I told you, it was awesome because one of the best things that already happened was just sitting around the table laughing hysterically while toasting marshmallows on our kitchen table. And it's little things like that that, as long as you pay attention and be aware for them and want to remember them, that's kind of what's important. All right, my friends, love you all to pieces, and thank you for being flexible with my Saturday nights. And I will see you all next Saturday. May you have an excellent evening. And Hillbilly, when we're done with bingo, maybe I'll pop in, so make sure I got an invite. Jamie, I gotta remind you, send me that email about that Thousand Yard Shot stuff. Everybody else, uh, like, DJ's so much better about reminding y'all. Hit the like, subscribe if you're not subscribed, all that good stuff. Um, have a lovely rest of the evening, and y'all have, um, I don't know, have a blessed week. All right guys, talk to you all later.