Suicide Prevention Sat - Because that's what we do

I gotta do that. The thingy. I don't even know, like that. I don't know if I did that or you did that. Anyway, hey Tara, how are you? I have a sore throat, so hot, hot tea, very hot tea. Yes, it is. All right, so hi everyone, it's Saturday night. Ta-da! I got DJ in here with me. Sort of— I'm like trying to not chop my head off because as you can see, I'm not at my desk, I'm on my thingy. Um, that would be my couch. So, um, I'm not— so, all right, so here's the plan. It is Saturday night, so it is Suicide Prevention Saturday. And why do we do this? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths the CDC tells you about, uh, are suicides. And if we're looking to be responsible gun owners who want to help prevent, uh, deaths by gun, paying attention to suicide is the way to go. Now, the reason I've started changing what I say of 2 out of 3 gun deaths that the CDC tells you about is because I went to DC back in June or July, and I started looking at my stats again. And if you look at the FBI crime statistics, it shows you there are roughly 13,000 deaths a year regarding firearms. However, there are 30,000 deaths roughly, give or take. Oops, apparently I forgot to put my phone on mute. Um, from when you look at the CDC stats, so this is why 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about from the CDC are why we do this. All right, so I have DJ as my co-pilot today, um, unlike God, but maybe like God, I don't know. Don't want to give him a big head. Anyway, um, for those of you who are commenting and all that, we're going to catch up to that at the end because I'm going to try not to be a squirrel today. So DJ will look at your comments. Well, we'll do a roll call in about 5 minutes to say hi to everybody who's popping on. So just so you know, I am ignoring your comments right now, but Gigi will get me caught up in a little bit. All right, so today we have a new ticker, uh, it says take care of you while serving others. Wow, I can't do this backwards because it's going the opposite direction. But anyway, the idea is this is Suicide Prevention Saturday. This is also Suicide Awareness September. It's really super hard to say with all the S's. Um, so what can we, you and I, truly do to prevent suicide? Number 1, make sure that we are not suicidal. I know that seems sort of tongue-in-cheek or maybe even slightly flippant, but the truth of the matter is the happier you are, the happier people around you will be. Now, does that mean your happiness is always contagious? No. Does it mean you're always happy? Uh, heck no. Um, nobody's always happy, but can we make sure that we're taking care of ourselves? Yeah, I can somewhat And for those of you watching on a little tiny screen on a phone, I apologize that's so tiny. I have no way to make it bigger. Um, so taking care of yourself first and foremost so that you can, uh, help others. Now here's the thing, when you are depressed, sad, anxious, all of that, how in the world can you take care of others? It says, it says while serving others. It can be really simple. Money is tight for most everyone these days. Uh, gas prices are out of control, food prices are out of control. However, if you happen to have read the Bible, just one of the bestsellers in the world for all time, um, there is this story in there of the widow's mite. And I'm gonna give you the shortest abbreviated version. Basically, when you give to charity, whether it's tithing for church or just charity in general. The short version of the story is the widow had no money to speak of, and yet she gave a penny, a mite, a little tiny amount of money. And the rich man who had everything gave money and gave 100 times more than the widow did, but the widow's mite being the type of money, not like, oh, strong might, um, was valued more in the eyes of God simply for the fact that she had nothing but she gave anyway. And the one who had everything gave some, but it didn't impact his bottom line, that kind of stuff. So what does that have to do with taking care of others? If you are in a bad place one of the easiest ways you can feel better is to do something for someone else. Why? Why does that work? Well, because as you are in a bad place, whether it's depression, anxiety, um, whatever you're struggling with, if you can break that pattern and do something different for someone else you will no longer be focused on that deep dark hole you happen to be in, or those emotional challenges that you are. And for a moment, you give yourself a break by helping someone else. And I hope that makes sense. All right, so DJ, I told you 5 minutes, and so now it's 6. So I'm gonna take a sip while you pop everybody up and tell me who I'm saying hi to that's out there today.

Yes ma'am. We're joined first in the room tonight by Gun Websites saying he's the first thumbs up and as always thankful for your hosting. Uh, Tara Smith is also in the room coming in to say hello. CFT Designs and Arms is out there as always saying sup, perps. And Mike White most recently has joined the room, so that's your roll call for now.

All right, very cool. All right, I see there's comments over there, so Um, all right, so are we on track? Any questions I should be taking care of right now?

Good to go, please continue.

All right, there we go. All right, so how do we take care of ourselves? Serving others, one of the easiest, simplest things. Now here's the thing, how do you do that? How do you find people to take care of when you can't even get out of your own way? Super simple. You like, um, super, super simple. Do you have $5 that maybe you could donate online? To your local food kitchen? Maybe. Is it too simple? Maybe, maybe not. The whole idea is that— I don't know why I keep freezing, and I don't know if you all are seeing the freeze or not, um, but it's a little distracting. That's what I get for talking with my hands. Um, so taking care of you, taking care of others, and making sure— and the reason I said take care of you while serving others is because I don't want anyone to turn into a all they do is be a martyr and serve everyone else all the time. The take care of you part is super important. So that is my Suicide Prevention Saturday suggestions for y'all. Um, if someone is in crisis and you're trying to help them, honestly, ask them if they have any idea how they could help someone else because The challenge for that I always— I have always found was simply the— for the, the challenge of focusing on what's the matter with me and why is this so hard for me. And if you take that moment, it's called a pattern interrupt. You can learn about it from Tony Robbins and lots of other people that are out there, and it just helps a ton. So, ah, all right, that's all I had to say. So I went back to looking at the comments. So I'm taking DJ's job away from him. And, um, let's see. So I got Tara, um, Heidi. Hi, Heidi. Um, you are welcome. It was great to work with you yesterday. Um, hope you had fun cleaning your gun after our lesson. And wait, what did I miss, DJ? Tara's talking about, uh, first language of sign language. Or did I miss something? I don't even know.

No, no, it's, it's right there. And sign language was, was not my first language, but I had a job where I did incorporate some of that. Maybe, you know, something about communication styles and something about taking the time. Yeah, to reach— go ahead.

Well, right. I mean, let's see, most people who need sign language need an interpreter because not a lot of us speak sign language, if that's how I would even say that. It's interesting how difficult language can be. Um, I love watching people sing in sign language. It's one of my favorite things. So, all right, qprinstitute.com. What you got there, DJ? Why'd you throw that up?

Just another attempt at making sure that folks know some of the resources that are out there, uh, that QPRN is, uh, something to check out. I've also included links in the text chat tonight to, let me bring it up on your screen here, this page. It's about Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. And that one I thought might be useful for folks out there. Gonna bring another one to your screen that is more commonly seen out here. And that's the AFSP organization that you are quite familiar with. And then of course, there's always going to be the opportunity for folks to see that I want them to reach out to 1-800-273-TALK. And as I say on the screen there, if you don't want to talk, You could text TALK to 741741, or now you can dial 988.

There you go. Um, and then we've got Heidi, Heidi Finch's, uh, comment there. Go ahead, I'll let you— I won't touch the keyboard, you can pull it up. Um, oh, you did clean your gun all by yourself, nice job. Sorry, I had actually missed that one, DJ. How about the last one that she just threw up is what I was looking at. Um, when she says, oh dear, that could be taken other than how it was meant, I'm thinking— oh, I didn't even think that. I was thinking about the spam thing that the, um, ever— never mind, take that one back down.

Did we get it before you did? I think most of us got that before you did, Brooke. So I'm gonna bring this up from Gun Websites. He says, this is an off-topic question but wants to know, did you get to chat with anyone, uh, from DC Project this week to hear how things went? Please let us know.

All right, so, um, I've just been watching all the girls' posts on Facebook, uh, Amanda, Gina, um, Carrie Ann, uh, from Eau Claire, from Massachusetts, and I just know that they had a great time. Uh, they love doing what they do, running around the state capitol— or the state capitol, our federal capitol— talking to as many reps and senators as will have them. Uh, I know Cheryl Todd, uh, had a great time taking pictures of some congressman, I think, who has an alligator. Louisiana, whoever the senator or congressman is from Louisiana, um, she had great fun taking pictures of the, uh, alligator in the office. And so, but yeah, I haven't actually got to talk to any of the girls. I'm sure there will be an after a sitrep sort of thing as far as what things went well, what things could we improve on, that sort of stuff. Uh, Mary obviously will be coming back, and hopefully I will get to talk to her next week. We have volunteer stuff going on here in Connecticut. I think there's also a New Jersey fundraiser that is coming up, so you can go to DCP Oh my gosh, what the heck is it? dcpoproject.org. Um, if you want to find out about fundraisers in your area, because we are trying to get it so the girls don't have to pay for their hotels and foods and stuff like that. But I think we're still working towards that. So that is the DC Project. And I will say that even though it's off topic about asking about this weekend, that if it were not for the DC Project, I certainly wouldn't be as involved as I am. And I hope that everyone's all super excited about the Heller decision, Heller 5, uh, knocking the socks off of DC as a whole for the arbitrary and capriciousness of the ammo limitations on, uh, concealed carry holders, permit holders. So, um, if you don't know more about that Uh, there are other websites that can talk about it way better than I do. So that's DC Project. Dick Heller is always part of that. We always get to see him when we're in DC, and I know there were pictures of Dick Heller amongst the other girls.

Um, so, and now back to the, uh, the, the theme today, the take care of you, uh, while serving others. As it scrolls across the street screen, uh, comes this from Tara Smith's Kitchen. What I tell people is to make sure that you can take care of yourself first, because if you can't take care of yourself, you won't be able to help anyone else.

Exactly. And, um, one of the things I've learned is another parable, I guess. We were at Bible— I was at, uh, all ladies retreat, and it was just like, if you have— you have to fill up your own glass before you can fill up anybody else's, or you have to fill up your pitcher before you you can take care of anybody else's. And yes, and back to Tara's thing about the whole sign language, I'm like, I don't do sign language, but I do move my hands a lot when I talk. So anyway, all right, so I think that's everything. 13 minutes, it's okay if we have a short one. Um, QPR, definitely check that out. You can do lots of online classes with the QPR. That will help you understand how to communicate better. Uh, no matter what we're talking about, whether it's suicide, violence prevention, becoming politically active, any of those things, if you have better communication skills, then you will do better in all things. And that, um, education is another way to take care of yourself, because the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know., and the more you feel like you need to learn more stuff. So, all right, DJ, got anything else or we good?

I think we're at a wrap.

All right, well, just like that, short and sweet. First time I've made it under 15 seconds— 15 seconds, 15 minutes— as long as I end the broadcast in the next 15 seconds is what I was trying to say. So good night all, thank you all for popping in, and I will see you next Saturday? Yes, I will. All right, talk to y'all later. Bye. Oh, except I have to end broadcast twice.