Mental Health Matters - Mythology and the cyclops

Hey everybody, welcome to Mental Health Matters, formerly Suicide Prevention Saturday, but we can't put that in the, in the title anymore because we get shut off. It is Saturday night, and if you're here, it's Saturday Night Live, not to be confused with SNL. But anyway, why are we here? Well, as I tell my students so often, when you hear that a general average of about 30,000 gun deaths a year, 20,000 of them are suicides. And if people truly want to save lives, what you and I have to do is talk about mental health, because not only could we possibly help those who have firearms who will cause their own death. However, if we're talking about mental health, we can save the other people who are in despair that would take their lives in other ways as well. So it's not just about guns and death, it's about saving people's lives in general. So that is why we are here. That's why y'all pop in on a weekly basis every Saturday night, 9 PM Eastern, and whatever time it is in your time zone. I am here to at least talk about a little bit of mental health, maybe give you some tips or tricks on how to work on your mental health, because we all need help on our mental health. And well, you know, you guys keep showing up, I keep showing up. Yay. And it all works out. So, and we get to encourage each other because y'all get to feed me. I get to feed you. And if I tell you something and then you can help somebody else and then they can help somebody else, we have this lovely little ripple that keeps going and going and going. So I'm gonna grab this hillbilly. So, um, for those of you don't— if you didn't read the thing, the Cyclops is what we're going to talk about today. And no, Bubba is not here, and I don't know who Joe is, so there is not that. Although next time you see Bubba, tell him I said hi. I do miss seeing him. I'm glad he's got a job he likes now, but, uh, you know, it's kind of sad not to see him on the panel. I just don't stay up late enough. But Cyclops, here's the deal. Hey DJ, Remember how I said I was going to call you on randomly tonight? Well, right about now I'm going to call you back up because I didn't realize my fan turned on and it's driving me nuts. So if you could pop on here for a sec and say hi to folks, that would be awesome.

Right on.

I'm going to mute myself and run away for a sec. Right on.

Well, thank you for considering the broadcast quality and sound reinforcement. While Brooke steps away to take care of that, I'd like to welcome in everybody tonight. Uh, first in the room was G23, got good websites out there. How you doing, man? Mike Ballinger is also in the room. Hillbilly Up is out there chopping it up with everybody. Sorry, a fan 93 also in the room. And Mark Thomas, the most recent addition to those of us who were gathered here tonight. So chat's popping off and, uh, fans should be turned down by now, I'm guessing. Brooke, come back in when you're ready. Um, the Cyclops thing, you kind of, you kind of, you kind of caught me there with the Cyclops thing, but I'm, I'm harkening back to, I don't know, age 9, 10, 11 when I was learning about different mythological characters and creatures and such. So I'm glad you picked this one. Carry on, carry on.

All right, all right, sounds good. Look, I got hands-free, you do your, your thingy. Okay, um, yeah, so for those of you who are new to the show, welcome to the show. Um, the reason I do like this for DJ is because DJ is the heart and soul of the tech stuff that goes on, like turning things on and turning things off. And if I make the mistake of trying to do that, I might end the stream. So, all right, so in the pre-show conversation, G23 is dying for a Great Start Shooting School patch and he thinks he won one. However, in the order of operations, the first thing that would happen is we have to create one. So Gwebs has happily said he will help create one. So G23, you cannot win a patch until we have a patch. So perhaps that will be one of the goals in 2025. So, all right. So yes, before my fan came on and became all of a sudden— oh, where is Barbecue? This is where I need some squirrels. But anyway, for the— again, for those of you who are new, Barbecue usually puts little pictures of squirrels in the chat for me on YouTube. For those of you who are on Facebook and— sorry. All right. So I'm going to do one more. So last week, for those of you who were not here for last week, I went through a bunch of different books, and Mr. Mark Thomas got his Zen Bow, Zen Arrow, and it is basically an archery book, but it talks about looking and having the target. And the idea is you, you've got your bow on target, you see the target, you see your bow hit the target before you release the target, before you release the bow. So in order to get to places, you need to see where you are going. And now, DJ, I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to hide the comments so I stay on track for at least 5 minutes. So if there's anything out there, please star it for me. But anyway, so Mark Thomas, I'm so glad that you enjoyed the book or you are enjoying the book. And for anyone who wants to go back and watch last week, by all means, these should be in my playlists on the YouTube site. I'm not sure, it's not as easy to find them on Facebook or Instagram, but, uh, that is that. But the links for the books are in last week's description if you'd like to learn more. Okay, so back to the Cyclops. No, it's not Bubba Cyclops. Here's the short version of this. Cyclops, they're— all right, let me— one size never fits all. There's lots of different lore and mythology around Cyclops, right? But one of the stories that I learned about Cyclops when I was in high school— DJ said he was 9, I think, when he was learning this stuff, but I was in high school when I got this. I had a really awesome English teacher who actually even made Shakespeare fun. Matter of fact, I can just still see her, and she's hysterical. But anyway, so the Cyclops— here's the deal. The race of Cyclops goes to Hades, and for those of you who don't know, Hades is the god of the underworld, depending on what— anyway, Greek versus Roman, I get confused. So anyway, they go to Hades, they say, hey man, we'd like to be able to see the future, because you know, who doesn't want to see the future? And so Hades is like, okay, I will give you the gift of future sight. 'However, you must give me something.' Cyclops are like, 'Yeah, that sounds cool. If I give you something, you give me something. Makes sense.' So the Cyclops, being all excited that they made this wonderful pact with Hades, were super excited about the fact they were going to be able to see the future. So as you know, with most stories, whether it's a god or a genie or who knows what, any wish magical stuff, it never actually works out the way we think it's going to. So Hades makes the deal. Cyclops accept the deal. They're going to give up one of their eyes so that they can now see into the future. Well, Hades scoops their eye out. They now have a single eye in their forehead and they can see the future. However, the only future they actually get to see is the time and how they die. Never see anything else, but that's it. And in addition to that comes a curse where if on the time and the day they're going to die, they just lie down and die, they will have a peaceful death. However, if they see their death coming and they choose to try to avoid it, they will have a most painful and horrific death. So what's the moral of this story? Be careful what you wish for, because when you get it, it may not be what you expected. So beginning of January 2025, everybody has— well, not everybody, a lot of people take this time of year to restart, say, okay, it's a new year, we're gonna get going, we're gonna get all those things that we should have done last year. And for those who weren't here last week about the should have done stuff, you gotta go back and watch that because I might make G2/3 super happy if I really go on and explain everything because it will be an hour, but we don't have time for that because Hillbilly has a show after this. So, and we look forward to 2025. Okay, we've got a brand new year. We're going to do better things. We're going to be better. All of that. Here's the reality of that thinking. Is that every single day you wake up is a brand new gift that you get to choose how you're going to get through this day. None of us know the time and day of our death like the Cyclops. So that's why every day really is a gift. And that's why they call it the present. And any of you going, ah, are you— did she really just say that? Yes, I really just said that. So every day you wake up, realize that it is another opportunity to have the best day of your life. And not every day is the best day of your life. However, every day has the potential to be the best day of your life. So today, as you can see, I'm in my, my new turtleneck from Christmas, my new Christmas present, my nice hoodie. It is cold outside today, but it was the best day, not because— sorry, I'm like, lines, squirrels, all of that stuff. Today is the best day that it can be because I'm focusing on making it the best day that it can be. And the cool thing about that is that tomorrow it can be another best day because tomorrow is a new day. So my short version, if I have a short version at this point, because we're already at 10 minutes, but every moment counts. The Cyclops gave something up expecting to get something that they wanted. They did not get what they wanted. The new year sort of gives this false hope of, okay, I've got a new beginning now, and now I'm going to change, which some people do because they say 80 to 90% of the people who make a New Year's resolution fail. But here's the cool part of that, right? So that means 10 or 20% of the people actually get through to their New Year's resolution. So they did succeed. But here's the cool thing. If you made a deal with yourself about what the next best thing for you is going to be, and you failed on day 3 because we're already at day 4, It's okay because tomorrow is a new day. So don't beat yourself up. Understand every day you have the opportunity to try something new, to do something new, to make a small change over time is what gives the biggest and the best improvements. So DJ, sir, are you out there? Because I moved everything. Sorry. And then here— well, no, well, because you get gray and I'm like, I don't know, is he still here? Um, sorry, I saw the, the thing that you starred, which was 9mm is European mythology, don't fall for it. So that's what I was laughing at because I'm like, okay, what have I got starred now? Um, so thanks for that. But so DJ, what do you think? What, um, The whole barbecue substitute squirrels. Thank you, I appreciate that. I don't know where barbecue is. We'll have to work with the substitute squirrels. So every, every day you have the opportunity to start over again. What's— what do you like about that? What don't you like about that? Tell me, speak to me, DJ.

One of the— okay, I'll start with the darker side first because I go through that every day, so it's something that I have to overcome. And on those days where I do, it becomes a much more positive field of play. And that is not allowing myself to slide into what it is that I missed out on yesterday. When I refresh myself upon waking, and it's not always in the morning, odd sleep schedule that I keep.

Yes, you do.

I feel that if I start to think about the things that I get to do today because I didn't do them yesterday, I'll slide into thinking about the things I didn't do yesterday instead.

Oh yeah.

And then I didn't do the day before, and it accumulates much like we're in snowball season. It starts at the top of the hill, it rolls down. And the way that I try to just Basically, I try to do a juke move. Once it gets to the bottom and I've sunk about as low as I am in reflecting on the negativity of my failures or whatever it is that's perplexing me at the time, confusion is something that I experience every day as well. I don't have the answers. I don't have the answers I need that day, every day ahead of time, but I'll see that snowball coming. I can predict that that snowball has gained mammoth proportions and is about to crash into the bottom and that I might be buried under snow for the day. And so, I just step to the side and I let yesterday go to, you know, report to the rear yesterday. You're gone. You're in my rearview mirror. So, here I go. And not every day do I make sure that then I make some positive step towards whatever it is that I'm going to accomplish. But then, I think a lot of people can probably relate to what I kind of do after a fashion next, which is review the day and the demands on my time. Or any other energy resource that I need to contribute, what it is I'm supposed to show up for. I no longer need the reminders that are in my phone to make sure that I'm here on Saturday nights at 8 Central. But I have 3 alarms that still go off every Saturday evening, and I have them go off on a couple of different devices as well. So I mentioned all of that because I have reminders that pop up through the day. I know that you keep a calendar that is bricked with things. It seems as though when you have shown it to me before, there have been, you know, scant minutes in each day that aren't assigned. And, you know, pushing later and later or starting earlier and earlier, that may increase the opportunities. But for me, not a reflection on your experiences, but for me, that doesn't breed success for me. Because then I become so focused on what it is that I might miss. OK, back to you, sir.

Everyone is absolutely different. However, the beginning of your story of what you're talking about, I swear everyone is exactly the same. It's like I can get 10 things done and I'll look at my day and I'll be like, oh, but I forgot this and I forgot that, versus giving myself that good job for the things that I did get accomplished. And so when you started with that, I'm like, oh, yeah. I'm willing to bet folks out there that are watching right now totally vibe with your story because I know I did, because we are like, oh, well, I did this and I did this and I did this. And this is why I love my checklists, because like you said about going back and checking back in, I can go back and look and see the things that I crossed off. So Yeah, man, it's— I think everyone does the same. We— sorry, we have the same challenge often. We don't deal with it the same way, right? It's like when you're telling the snowball story, my thing is learning that pattern interrupt to stop it from rolling sooner versus letting it get all the way down. However, there have been some other people who have joined us, DJ. So would you like to do your official, official roll call since we're 15 minutes in?

Absolutely. Most recently in the room, JH586, Jamie, the man from Georgia. How you doing tonight? Glad to have you. And Guy the Comments just stepped on that. He's in there. Um, before that, let's see, Abigail Sorcha Finnegan, um, arrived. Mark Thomas sliding in tonight. Sorryfan93 is out there in the room. So is Hillbilly Up, and Pam and Mike are out there on the ground tonight. The Bellinger's joining us. Thanks for being here. Gun Websites and G23 were early on in the room. And I'm still— I'm seeing Guy that Comments' comment. I'm reading it as I put it up on the screen. Says Cyclops are the most refined gentlemen in mythology because they use monocles. That's hilarious. See, even in the absence of barbecue, there are those of us who will step into the void. We join the fray. G-Webs with the— you know, he's got— he's always at the drop of a hat got something to say about 9mm, and it cracks me up. So we got him out there, we've got Guy that Comments out there. I try to add some Well, I guess sometimes I try to add some sort of levity to the conversation. So back to jumping out from the path of those impending snowballs as they're going downhill. You said you try to grab yours earlier in the day. Do you have something that you kind of head-check yourself with, or is it by rote memory? This is where I stop, and at mid-morning coffee, I'd make sure to pat myself on the back or make a plan.

Definitely more of the trying to remember to pat myself on the back. Or if there's something that's really important to do, to actually do the thing that I need to do. Because so often, um, and, and, you know, I don't know if it's just me, but I find I like to do the things that I like to do versus having to do the things that I don't want to do. And the things I don't want to do are often the things that I forget to do. And so I have a little bit of that guilt in there because it's like G23 was asking about patches and I'm like, I could totally work on a patch with GWebbs to get a patch going. And then I'm like, well, yeah, but it's end of year. I really need to go talk to my accountant and get my business tidied up and get ready for tax season. And I know that spending time with GWebbs will be way more fun. And so I'll make that more of a priority when— not that I shouldn't But it's just like, so it's like, I know what the games that I play with myself. So it's just like, I try to like, make it into a game, right? It's like, okay, I can do that fun thing of go play with GWebs and try to make a patch. And I can spend an hour doing that. So now I have to go spend an hour with the accountant and make sure that I've got some kind of happy dopamine. Ooh, let's go play and design something. And then okay, I gotta do something that I gotta work. We were talking about our moms before we came I'm online today. It's like, I gotta make doctor's appointments for my mom. So it's like, I gotta go do that. But then maybe I'll spend a little more time with G webs and get that patch figured out. Or I'll reach out to somebody like Mario or somebody for an interview, or anybody who's out there. If you wanna do an interview, let me know. Cause y'all know I always need prerecorded stuff cuz I'm not always live on Saturday, but there's always something here for you.

Um, sorry, see, I didn't hide the comments, and so I saw your wandering eye.

I'm like, I like to do coffee and fermented grain. I'm like, yeah, that's called Irish coffee, maybe. I don't know. Um, but, uh, it was so funny. Abigail, I was actually just looking up the difference between crows and ravens. Um, very cool. We have mostly crows out here because you know, we don't have big ravens. But anyway, so DJ, that is sort of what I do. I try to set the game up to win in my head, and I try to write down as I'm doing stuff, very similar to what you were talking about, where I write down all of the stuff that I was doing. So when I get to the end of the day, I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't do this, this, and this. I'm like, oh, but wait, I did these things. So everybody's things were different. So that's what I do, or I try to do.

I do like that. I do like that balance system that you mentioned though, and putting, you know, we put in our pathway. You mentioned that you need it, I need it, I think everybody needs it as well. It's the pat on the back. If we can't give it to ourselves, reaching out to someone doesn't, you know, it doesn't have to be just for, you know, laugh a minute. I have people that I can call who will tear me a new ass people that I kind of reserve for exactly that. And, you know, and Barbecue's one of them. I haven't asked him to do that recently, but, you know, to have somebody that can come in, you can step into your day, so to speak. If you can't see them in person, reaching out is super easy. And so getting a call out, you know, hey man, you like, say you decide to do this patch project and you know who you're going to call, you know, you're going to have a good time doing that. And you know that you can go into that process expecting, you know, at least a path that's— you want to be on the same path, that you'd be on the path with someone that you know. It's— you're working together on something that's creating energy. That energy ends up feeding into other things as well, so you can carry that positivity even if you have to cut it short. Hey man, G-Webs is trying to do though—

he's trying to make it horrible.

How's that?

If it'll help, I'll make the patch process really lame with lots of rules and financial penalties. Penalties, maybe an audit. So I don't know, with friends like that, maybe I was wrong what I was saying. So, um, but anywho— oh, Silver Mind, I gotta ask, did you go to the, the, um, shotgun thing on the 1st that Bicknell did? I missed it. I'm very sad, but it was awesome. So anywho, um, what is the interview? Well, G23, you've already been on my interview. You're one of the ones I talk about all the time. Because, you know, you're special on so many levels. So anyway, all right, so new year, new mindset of at least trying to realize that you don't have to wait for the new year to create the things that will support you. I think the biggest challenge we tend to have is that when we're in the dumps, when things aren't going the way we want to, we are just not resourceful. Because like DJ and I are just talking about, it's just like, I know my patterns and I do need somebody else to come in sometimes and try to help me. But if you read Jocko— and DJ, if you got any Jocko links, by all means— but my favorite one is, uh, yes, what the heck is that one? TJ, do you know what I'm talking about? It's like if someone— there's a video on YouTube where Jocko is talking and he's like, if someone comes to me with a problem, I say great or good. Oh, good, the video Good. Do you know what I'm talking about or no?

I'll try to go dig that out.

Okay. Yeah, so it's Jocko Willink and he's got a video called Good and there's a long version, a short version, like everything on YouTube. And when someone comes to with a problem, he's like, okay, good. You didn't get the funding you need. Good. We work harder. You didn't get the gear you needed. Good. We'll figure something else out. And just that the obstacles that we hit, so many of us will give up and be like, oh well, that didn't work out. I suck. Or sorry, that's what goes on in my head. I don't know what goes on in your head. Um, but when we're in that 'oh, I suck' phase, well, we're not as resourceful as we can. And this is why we have this community here, so that we can reach out to somebody. Oh, Hillbilly, by the way, thank you, I got your Christmas card and all the things. Um, so we have friends like that who will send us stuff randomly. And at the beginning of this, G-Webs is like, 'Oh, do you have stuff to give away?' I'm like, 'No, but I can make stuff up.' And he offered to send me stuff to give away to you guys. I just hate going to the post office to send stuff, so I'm just lazy. But stuff like that, right? Am I really lazy? No, not really. Am I stupid busy? Kind of, sometimes. Do I sit around and do nothing? Absolutely. As DJ was referring to my calendar, I don't sit around and do nothing often, but I'm working on that for 2025. So anywho, back to getting to the end in the beginning and all of that. Um, Stoics, obstacles is the way. Um, I actually don't know how to spell Jaco's last name, but I think it's Welling, something like that. He's actually— one of my friends here actually went to school with him. And yes, Stoics and obstacles are the way and Buddha is also, also, um, the just be, it just is, and not looking for the good or bad and just realize, experience whatever the experience is. I just love Abigail's, um, answer: the obstacles standing in my way will be crushed by advancing shield wall. So there's that. The more skills you have, the, the more tools you have, which is part of why we're here, right? Is how do you deal with challenges? And by talking about them and hearing about how different people see them and realizing, oh, I'm not alone. And even if you and I don't come up with the same way that we're going to deal with it, because I'm not quite sure how to create an advancing shield wall, but Abigail can. So I just call on Abigail, like, hey girl, help me out. This is the idea. The best thing that ever happened to me when I went to therapy, when I was committed, all of that stuff long ago, is that going to group therapy was just that— realizing that no matter what struggle you have, no matter what you're going through, no matter how horrible it is or how what it feels as though it is, you're not alone. And one of the things that helped me get through all the bullying in school and the hard times when I was younger was always remembering there is someone out there that has it much worse than me. There's also someone out there who has it much better than me. I need to be content where I'm at. It's not that I can't get better, but I have to appreciate what I have now and realize that it could be a little better tomorrow. It might be a little worse, I don't know, but tomorrow has the potential of being the best day ever. And really— sorry, see, I gotta turn off the things. Um, yeah, DJ, just start the egg thing. I will get back to it. So a little bit of what DJ was talking about before though too is that if he sees this giant snowball— I see a little snowball and watches it build and build and build and build and build until it rolls down the hill to the bottom then is it Sisyphus? I think it's Sisyphus, um, who has to push that boulder back up to the top. It's like, if there's a way that we can learn to stop that snowball, either A, before it gets big, before it gets too much speed to get to the bottom, that's the pattern interrupt that we need. And some people, their pattern interrupt is a beer. Some people, whiskey. Some people, it's cleaning house. I wish I had that one. That'd be really cool. So some people, it's going for a walk in the woods, taking that deep breath, shoulders back, head up. Being in that moment to actually think about that breath is another type of pattern interrupt. And the more you know, the more things it possibly can grab onto as that snowball is rolling down the hill so that you can stop it before it gets all the way to the bottom. Because going all the way to the bottom and coming back up, it's a lot of hard work. Have all of us been there? I'm gonna go with yeah. We've all lost someone. We've all had really bad, crappy things happen to us in life. We've had things that have happened to our friends that we feel bad about. All of those things. Life is a challenge. And that is what makes us strong. Those karate guys, you know how they punch wood and then they can punch cement and actually break through it? It's because each time they were practicing and they punched something hard, they created micro fractures in their hands. Each time those broken parts healed, where it was broken is now stronger than the rest of the bone. So as they continue training and they broke more of it, more of it got stronger. So every time something sucks and is miserable and horrible, remember it so you can get through the next piece of concrete that gets in your way. Or just call Abigail and she'll give you a, what was it? A shield of a wall of shields. Shield. Yeah. Something like that.

An advancing shield wall.

Thank you. I'm like, it went by and I'm like, oh, she wrote something else. Chocolate. All right. So anyway, definition of insanity, you gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet. Yeah. So our other definition of insanity is also keep doing the same things, expecting different results. And that's the one that I see the most often in myself and in friends that are suffering often. Yeah. So, well, speaking of the shield wall, I'm like, I know she wrote something else. The analogy basically saying, don't let your problems pile on you alone. Exactly. And this is that beauty of— where's yours? There you go, DJ. Remember, you are not alone. Reach out. Someone cares. And this is our challenge, is when we're feeling like garbage, reaching out to someone. Usually when we're feeling like garbage, it's like, well, nobody cares. I don't want to bother anyone. Again, I'm just playing you my inner voice. I'm not saying any of you guys would say things like that, but that's what my little brain goes to from time to time is I don't want to bug anyone. They're too busy for me. They've got other things to deal with. And then—

Or no one will understand.

Ooh, yeah.

Or I have to spend too much time to explain everything. And if I explain everything so that someone could understand even the smallest bit of the misery that I'm in right now, I would be making them miserable.

Yes. I want to share our sorrow and our pain. I actually, my back has been acting up lately and it's just like I will move and it feels like someone has stabbed me in the back with a knife. Like, literally, I just have arthritis. And if I move in just the wrong place, it's like I might say very colorful words. So as far as that goes, where it's like, you don't want to bitch about it, you don't want to tell anybody because it's like, Everybody else has their own pain. Why would I want to tell them about my pain? Because it just doesn't matter to anyone else. So yeah, we totally do that. All right, real quick, back to G2-3. At the beginning, we were talking about giving out prizes. I said, answer the riddle. And the riddle was, voiceless it cries, wingless it flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters. And G23 wants to know if you've won, and the answer is the wind. And I gotta tell you, when it's 30 degrees outside right now and the wind blows at 20, that would be it. So, um, so yeah, that's it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, uh, all right, Greek history nerds, a shield wall is basically a better phalanx. Yes, it is. Um, I just, I just think of when they make that full shield, but then they also do on top when they are— they're advancing towards archers. That's what I think.

The terrapin maneuver or some such.

Yeah, I'm not even— yeah, I just know it looks like a giant turtle moving forward, but they— because it's to their defense against the whose and what's its. So yeah, so D23. I'm really pretty confident most of us are the same. This is one of the challenges when talking about mental health in general is that people don't want to burden other people with their stuff because either we're afraid they don't— nobody cares about us, or they won't understand like DJ said, or, uh, my pain sucks enough for me. Why would I want to share it with you? Um, because you probably have your own pain, so mine's not important. I know, minimizing. That's the other part. Aside from the internalizing, and to be fair, Hillbilly does have one of my favorite sayings: when people are around that bother you, just think, not my circus, not my monkeys, and just walk away. The challenge is sometimes they are your monkeys and this is your circus. But, but again, back to the, this just is. If you can become stoic enough, as Mr. Mark Thomas was saying, and just believe that it just is. Observe it for what it is. It's like when I move wrong and I feel like I get stabbed in the back and I just like, it literally takes my breath away. It's like, okay. And then for a moment I have to stop. I get a pattern interrupt. So see, the blessing in the pain in my back is that I get a pattern interrupt without having to work on it, and then I have to work on my posture and make sure I do my exercise and all of that. So it's like that alarm, the alarms that DJ has set up on his phone that he doesn't actually need. So, oh, oh yeah. Okay. I was about to say DJ, do the last row and call, but we should talk to Abigail here.

So Abigail's saying, I used to internalize my emotions and that led to outbursts that hurt people I cared about. Doing that ruined a lot of friendships and a couple relationships. Don't be afraid to get therapy. Sometimes that therapy is that reaching out to a friend mid-morning. You're having coffee, you're ruminating on the day yesterday, it's clouding up your tomorrow even. Go ahead and grab the phone, send out an email, write a letter, do something. You have to break that pattern. You have to juke move around that advancing snowball and not always be concentrating on the things that are behind you. And also, and something that Abigail is kind of touching on, at least to me, there is also don't judge somebody by what they cannot do. Try and judge them by what they can do. Because if you start looking at something as a problem that somebody just can't solve because they don't have the ability, they may be able to solve it. Possess it. Just have to help yourself and others sometimes move past those jagged steps. The path continues. Not— we don't always know where.

Yeah, I mean, the other part about that one, um, I'm gonna bring up Mark's thing, but with the— yeah, I'm gonna go back. Never mind. See, I'm squirrel. Anyway, um, yeah, the outbursts. Another one of the stories that I've heard that's stuck in my head for a really long time was a 4th grade teacher gave all of the kids a napkin, one of those travel-sized toothpastes, and a toothpick. And the teacher's like, okay, here we're gonna do class. Everybody put your paper down, open up the, the toothpaste, and squish all the toothpaste out of the little toothpaste box or the toothpaste tube. And then once everybody had finished squishing all the toothpaste out, she's like, okay, now here is the next step. She's like, that toothpick, now what I need you to do is get all of that toothpaste back in the tube. And so she let the kids try this for a little while, and finally, you know, one of the kids like, uh, we can't do this. And she's like, yes, And here's the deal: when we say things out loud, just like not being able to put the toothpaste back into the tube, we can't take back the things that we say. And this is where outbursts or thinking about taking more time to think about what we say before we say it, um, makes a difference. And this is how stories help get things to help us understand things. Because like, I was probably in my teen years when I heard that story originally, and it's just like, I know I too had not been as kind to people as I could be. And that toothpaste story just really helped me remember, it's just like, there is no getting that toothpaste back into that toothpaste tube. After you squish it out, and you sure as heck aren't going to be able to do it with a toothpick. So the hope to actually think more about what we say before we say it, but it's hard if you're in distress. So, well, yeah, no, I assumed the outbursts were verbal, and that's why I'm telling the toothpaste story. So voilà. And then there was GT3, who was a gangbanger, So, you know, of course they were physical. No, um, I might be exaggerating a little. Y'all should go back and watch the interview I had with GT3, um, to find out what I'm really talking about.

All right, with that entry in the chat, uh, before we go though, I do want to get this, uh, comment from Mark Thomas back up there. Resonate on this for a moment, y'all. It is not happening to you, it is just happening. Right. That is a hard one to remember sometimes. That's, that's a post above the desk kind of thing. That's near mantra-style stuff right there. Um, because, uh, who are we to believe is, you know, is the receipt, you know, that it is that it's receiving all of these things as we walk through the world? You know, do we exist outside our own skin? And when we're deep inside our heads, it's hard to get outside of that, let alone again down that road and leaving things in the rearview mirror. So tonight, joined by Silvermine203, Guy That Comments was out there, JH586, Abigail Sorcerer Finnegan, Mark Thomas, thanks man. You know, Billy Epps has been out there, so is SorryFN93. Mike and Pam Bellinger were out there tonight. Gun Websites chopping it up with G23 early in the chat. And that kind of completes the program for this evening. So thanks everybody for stopping in another Saturday, and mental health does matter. Spread this word in your conversations when you can have them and bring somebody, you know, bring a friend next week. The more you share out these programs, the more people we can bring to this message. And I do believe that means the more positive influence that we're able to have, and it expands as far as we decide to take it. So wonderful tools out there. Thanks again, Brooke, for bringing us this program tonight and every Saturday night. Looking forward to next week until we see everybody else again. Hey, be safe, have fun, take care of your crew and yourself, and always remember to rock. We're out.