Mental Health Matters - The importance of you

Joke like that.

It is Saturday night. Welcome to Mental Health Matters, everyone. So I love Syria Fan's last comment. What is up, Buttercup? How are you all out there? Um, I'm on my phone, so I'm not going to give you the Blair Witch version of what this may or may not be. So, um, just want to say hi to you all. Thanks for popping in at 9 PM Eastern, uh, here on the Saturday night. What are we talking about tonight? Tonight we are talking about mental health matters. And why are we here? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about are suicides. And if we do not address the issue of mental health and suicide prevention, we are not going to move the needle on the amount of deaths that are out there. So welcome to our attempt to make little changes in lives that will always make a difference, and we may never know. So that is what tonight is about— how important you and I are in the things that we do, whether or not we ever realize that they have impact or not. Because I don't know anyone who's got a heart that gives and takes care of others and does what they can to be a good human being that at some point in time questions whether or not they're a good person, questions whether or not they are worthy of stuff. So with that, DJ is in the back here with me and he is helping me out with any technical issues because if this phone— if this stream ends abruptly it means that I made the mistake of touching something on my phone. Even just, uh, putting up Surya Fan's, uh, comment there, it's always questionable because before DJ got in here, I was freaking out because I'm like, I dropped the stream like 3 times. I'm like, okay, all right, so the DJ is in charge of this technology this evening. All right, so in the chat, do me a favor, let me know if, A, you already understand what imposter challenge is, right? What is your imposter syndrome? I think that most of us have some form of it or another. Am I a nice enough person? People say, oh, good job, and you're like, well, I could have done better. Um, and what does imposter syndrome mean to you? Because we all have different definitions of even what, like, a nice person actually is, right? It's most of us, I hope, believe that we are nice people. We're doing our best, but we can still make people mad. We can still do things incorrectly according to someone else's rules. So mental health, what are we trying to do? We're trying to figure out little ways to make our lives better. And most of us also work on little ways to make other people's lives better. So most of y'all out here in the crew have channels and help change, you know, give people information about stuff that's good for you. The Gizzard Gary is in the house, I see him. And I told DJ I wasn't going to look at the chat. I'm a big fat liar, so DJ, you're welcome to call me out on that. I apologize, but, um, Pants are on fire. Pants are totally on fire right now, dude. You have no idea. Um, well, no, you do, because I said I wasn't gonna look, but I'm like, I can't not look. And, but I'm afraid to like switch the banners off so I don't see it. So anywho, um, yeah, imposter syndrome. It is so easy to take for granted the skills that you have and how important they are, regardless of what they are. Um, I don't know, going back to the beginning. All right, so Tara is here, Chasing Ghosts is here, and she's just the first one that comes to mind because she always makes me hungry when I'm watching Tara Smith's kitchen and watching her cook. And my guess is she just throws stuff together and just— she just knows how to do it. And it's like she, she shares with us so that we can be better cooks or even have some unique or different recipes than what we're used to. And I don't want to say the word snowflake because all of a sudden snowflake has come up with this horrible negative connotation that being a snowflake is, you know, like you're too delicate and you'll melt easily. People of my generation, I'm gonna lump us all into, you know, the same group here. But to me, when I'm talking about you and I being a snowflake, I mean each one of us has a unique imprint on the world. Each crystalline structure is said to be unique in and of itself, of each and every snowflake that comes down from the sky. For those of you who checked out earlier and actually saw the thumb— the thumbprint— there we go— the thumbnail for this stream, it talks about how God gave us each our own unique fingerprint because we cannot impact anyone else. We can— no one else can impact everyone else around us in the same unique way. Like DJ and I here— DJ and I are here— words are hard tonight. And it's like we both offer different things. DJ keeps track of stuff. DJ keeps me from hanging up on you guys as best as possible, um, and keeps me sane and gives me people to say, hey DJ, what's up, if I'm having a hard time, and bring him on. And he's good like that, and he's gotten even better as we've done this for, uh, I don't know, actually DJ, I do want to know, how do you know how long we've been doing this together? How long you've been hanging out? On this particular channel with me?

I don't know. I'm not sure.

We'll have to go look at that sometime. Um, but yeah, we just don't know. Like, DJ, what's your favorite— I don't want to say your favorite, but it's just like you surf around like crazy, right? And you go to different, different channels, all of that. And I don't want to say, do you have a favorite? But it's like, how awesome is it that each one of the channels offers up something else?

Oh, wow. Yeah. Scratching the itches. Having the technology available that can gather information as quickly as it does is awesome. When you're on a tangent and you're in your own rabbit hole for good reasons kind of thing, it's a joy to go Surfin' for real right now, to answer the question directly, there's a channel called Know Your Gear, and the host Phil is just a really laid-back dude. He does a Friday live and hangs out and talks about music stuff, mostly guitar-centric stuff, but industry and otherwise. And he's just a, he's a very, like I said, he's a laid-back dude. It's an easy chill chat to be in kind of thing. Humor is involved but not overly so. And by the time you're done, it's like sitting in a roundtable conversation of sorts, you know, just with the single host sort of deal. That's where I like to hang out. That's a Friday thing for me. I don't always catch it. I always hit replay if I don't. But that's— he's been probably— I could easily say that's my favorite channel for the last 2 years almost.

Gotcha. And I mean, it's just, um, I'm having a hard time bringing this all back together, but it's just like all the videos, all the information that's out there, it's just like each piece of content is unique because each person doing it is unique. So you go and you co-host and help other streams as well, and so you get to add your own flavor into all of those things because they've all got their own flavor. And it's just, I think we forget the impact that we have on others and how important it is and how unique we are and how important we all are. And this is where the suicide prevention stuff comes in, is that when people are getting to that point where they're suicidal, I feel like they've lost the realization that what they do actually matters. And I know I can be a self-doubting Nancy and be like, when people say, oh, good job, Brooke. And I'm just like, yeah, I didn't do anything other than what I would do anyway. And when we're dealing with suicide, when we're dealing with depression, when we're dealing with anxiety, what really is, is we've forgotten the gift that we are to others, and we look more at ourselves as what the burden is that we've become, or at least perceived burden. So with that, DJ, I am confident you have your list. So since I put my thing back up here so that I can actually hear you, do you want to say hi to everybody?

Right on, I'd love to. Uh, this evening, Crabby Turtle kicked us off out there in the text chat. Good to see East Coast represent. Chasing Ghosts is out there. We got Mike and Pam Ballinger joining us tonight. Sorry Fan 93's out there, so is Gary. Chris Brancato, the Atomic Bump, has joined us. So is the Guy That Comments. Jamie J586 is out there. Vanessa Kitty was recently rolled in. And, you know, a few things, I just want to add a couple of things to what you've been saying. Everybody knows the phrase, giving credit where credit is due. A lot of times people cannot do that in front of a mirror.

Right.

Stoking your own ego is, I mean, that could be, it could be dangerous depending on how it comes out when you express that outwardly. And so I think sometimes people are reticent. Even when they are accomplished, even when they are successful, when they have the necessary skills.

Absolutely.

You don't want to overrepresent your knowledge about something sometimes. And I've been known to do that more than once kind of thing.

Oh yeah, I was gonna say, do you, do you think you have an awesome voice?

My voice is okay, but I have a false sense of confidence. I do.

Well, but that's what I'm saying. Everybody tells you how awesome your voice is. You're like, yeah, it's all right. I'm like, no, we love your voice, dude. You are the ultimate DJ for sure.

But the whole thing of— I know I'm stumbling now because you made me blush. I like accepting those compliments. Okay, so offering people credit where credit is due. Hey, man, thanks. I couldn't have done this without you. Well, that's an absolute truism. It also, whatever it was, couldn't have happened without you yourself. So knowing that those hands are necessary sometimes, acknowledging those hands when they come in. The internalization of all that should be easy, and it isn't always easy. And, uh, the whole thing about, yeah, like ego booms really loud in public. Um, you stand too tall for too long and someone's just going to be looking to knock you over because, because you're like gaining all the attention or becoming the focus of conversation that should have moved on a long time ago, which is probably where I should move on from that. But no, no, no. Just, yeah, that's just what came to mind just now.

Gotcha. Yeah, no, I mean, and this is the thing, you are, you hit it spot on, right? Is like most of us are very quick to praise others and we are very reluctant to accept praise when people give us praise. Like I know, uh, you know, last week, two weeks ago, I'm up at the Capitol for all day long and people like, thank you for doing it, thank you for doing it. I'm like, yeah, it's okay, it's all right, whatever. I'm just doing it for myself. But it's just like, but I know I'm not because so many people tell me that they're thankful that I would take the time to go do that because they cannot. And it's just like, it is a sacrifice. It is something important. It is one of those things. And it's just like, you know, whether Tara knows it or not, it's like taking her GoPro on her bike rides and chatting, or as she said in her other, the stream the other day, she's like, oh, I'm just venting. And I'm like, yeah, no, it's okay because All of us want to vent from time to time, and sometimes you got to listen to somebody else vent so you can give yourself permission to do. And I think you said Jamie was out there, but it's like Friday night. If I want to listen to some Bible verses and chat about stuff that I never thought about when, you know, reading various Bible verses, I can go to Jamie. And, you know, right after this, top of the hour tonight, we've got Hillbilly, and he's always got different stuff going on and different panelists. And it's just, if I can stay awake, That is an awesome one. I'm usually checking that on replay. So it's just, it's so easy to say, yep, I'm just doing what I would normally do. But the reality of it is, as far as I know, all of us are doing the best that we can with the knowledge and skills that we have in hopes to make our day a little bit better, to steal from Hillbilly. And I'm like, today I'm, I'm, I was, uh, You know, I ran classes all day, and on my safe in my classroom, I have Hillbilly's sticker that says, make someone's day better. So every time I'm going into my safe to grab my guns for my classes, I get to be reminded, make somebody's day better. Now here's the thing. Hillbilly sent me that, which is very cool. However, somebody else was somewhere who made the sticker. And so if it weren't for the person making the sticker, I wouldn't have the sticker. And sometimes we forget all of the things that have to happen for all of the things to happen. And that sounds like I'm an AOC circle or something, but it's just like everything, every job matters, every being matters, because all of us have impact on things around us. We are all little pebbles that get dropped in a river or a pond, and the ripples continue on., and we're never going to know where our ripples end. So I hope that makes at least a little bit of sense. Um, and it's just super important to remember that you are a miracle. I know I get, you know, goofy sometimes about just, just the fact you're breathing, just the fact you can hear. If Patriot in the Dark is not out there, um, just the fact you can see um, or imagine things, or talk to someone. Or as DJ says, you know, if you don't see a smile, be the smile. And every little thing you do makes a change. So that is what I've got for you guys tonight. I guess it's going to be a little bit shorter unless DJ's got a bunch of stuff to say. So what do you got for me, DJ?

I'm glad the crew is out there tonight. Um, thanks everybody for, for coming in and joining us. Remember, it's going to be same time, same station next week, right? Before— there might be a hiccup in the works because of travel.

We're gonna be— no, not till 11th.

Oh wow, we have— you have plenty of time, folks, to invite your friends to come back. Um, and be tuning in for a potential international live that might happen.

I don't know if that's going to happen. Yeah, so it's 12 hours difference. We're not quite sure how the phones are going to work. All those things. Or 24-hour difference.

Yeah. If they, if everyone brings their friends the next couple of weeks and encourages you to do so, something tells you, something tells me that you'll be telling us hello from across the ocean. That'd be rad. There is, you know, there's, there is an undoubtable, as you were coming to your conclusion, I was coming to one in my head, which is there's an undoubtable interconnectedness to everything. From the idea of the butterfly effect to handing out those praises when you know that those praises are due for somebody who gives you the hand that you need and makes what it is that you're doing that much more whole because of it.

And I'm glad to be part of the— I was reflecting back on a couple of weeks ago was when I busted my knee or something. I just felt like garbage. It's like lifting other people up makes you feel better. Treating other people better than you feel makes you feel better. And it's just like, in our suffering, we can be— we can still be a beacon of shining light and joy, um, because I don't know, there's just something about that interconnectedness of knowing the things that we're doing matter, and they always matter.

That's a beautiful ending. So thank you everyone for joining us this evening. Uh, out there this evening we got Crabby Turtle chasing ghosts out there. So were Mike and Pam Bellinger, sorryfan93 saying hey. Gizzard Gary's out there. So is Chris Broncato, the Atomic Punk, the guy that comments, was out there commenting. Jamie H586 representing Georgia. Vanessa Kitty in the room. And, uh, whoever you bring next week, I'm going to add to that list. I expect to see all of those smiling faces and comments out there. Don't forget to like on, uh, if you haven't already, and leave a comment right after the It really helps the algorithm, and people deserve this, this brief service, um, that Brooke is able to facilitate on Saturday evenings. I hope everybody has a great rest of the evening. Until we see you again, be safe, have fun, take care of yourself and your crew, and we're out.