Suicide Prevention Saturday (on Sunday) because life doesn't always go according to plan.
In this informal livestream, host Brooke Cheney (joined by co‑host DJ/Speaker B) explains why the usual "Suicide Prevention Saturday" episode is airing on a Sunday because the schedule didn’t go as planned. She shares a series of personal anecdotes—a travel mix‑up that sent her to Oregon instead of Washington for a wedding, a rapid East‑Coast‑to‑West‑Coast trip for her uncle’s birthday, and a whimsical description of a wedding venue that resembled a hobbit‑hole. Using a coffee‑table stub‑toe metaphor, Brooke illustrates how one’s current mood (well‑fed, rested vs. cranky, hungry) shapes the reaction to unexpected setbacks. She outlines a practical coping framework (Plan A/B/C/D, breathing, staying present) and stresses that happiness and contentment improve decision‑making when plans go awry. The livestream also provides suicide‑prevention context (CDC statistic that two‑thirds of gun deaths are suicides), invites the audience to share how often their lives follow plan, and encourages self‑care (water, rest, breath). Toward the end, Brooke promotes her Patreon, highlights a sponsor (Cape Gun Works), mentions a newsletter and Linktree, and previews upcoming content (Polite Society podcast, next Saturday’s episode). The tone is conversational, humorous, and motivational, with a supportive sentiment toward mental‑health awareness and community building.
Chapters
All right, so yeah, I'm not supposed to be on yet. I got 5 minutes, but I'm not on at my normal time, so I know once I go live, y'all get notifications and you might show up because you got a notification. So my plan is to sit here and go blah blah blah for the next— oh wait, it doesn't do a countdown that I get live. Darn it. All right. Basically the next 6 minutes. Uh, so if you show up, if you have questions about the wedding, uh, why I'm late, all of those things, feel free to ask me any questions. I'm going to try to see if I can be all fancy fancy and, uh, be able to see this actually on YouTube or Facebook. Cause I can see all of the YouTube comments here, but I cannot always see the face. Oh, Look at you. I see you, DJ.
Hi.
Yeah, so I'm just like killing time and I did send you the link. I actually remember to. I did. It's in your email, I swear. Yeah, I do need to get caught up on the rest of the month because it's the first weekend in July. Happy Fourth of July, everyone. All that fun stuff. And yeah, so like I said, I kind of just popped on early, um, so y'all can— so y'all got notifications. If you're watching the rerun, I would suggest you just fast forward to like 5 minutes from now or maybe 4 minutes from now, um, and then you'll actually see the start, start, start the, the video thing. Yeah, there we go. All right, so yeah, that's kind of it. Just hanging out, just making noise on the interwebs by starting so that, you know, um, that thing happens. Oh, the notification thing. All right, so really I got nothing. What do I have? I have shopping. I just got back from Washington. I am not Washington. Oh my gosh. Okay, for real, I was in Eugene, Oregon, and for whatever reason I thought that I was in I, I kept telling people I was going to Washington for my girl's wedding, and I was in Oregon the whole time. Yeah, and I even booked my flights to Oregon, Eugene no less. Um, so anyway, that is kind of it. So we got 4 minutes left. Like I said, if you're watching the replay, just fast forward. It's probably the thing to do. Hello, Mr. DJ. Uh, you can unmute yourself, sir. I love—
how are you?
What's up with Winnie the Pooh, man? No, no, unmute yourself. We're gonna kill time for the next 3 minutes till we actually start official, like—
What's with Winnie the Pooh? I don't know, childhood totem kind of thing, and also a way to interject some humor on late night chats. I forgot to look at my icon before I jumped in.
Well, I've seen the hat, and I don't know, I see the hat the most often, so that's like the one that I think of. So I don't even know.
Well, no doubt.
They're not— they're—
so you're—
what else?
So you're a jet setter for sure.
Yeah, yeah, I am. Um, well, actually, and for me to go all the way to the other side and come back, this is not even the record. I did it once in less than 24 hours.
Wow.
My uncle's birthday, it was his 50th, I think, so quite a couple years ago. But the party, I think, was like 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, and I left Saturday morning East Coast time, probably around 10 AM, got there for the party, went from the airport to the party, left the party to go to the airport hotel for about 3 hours, and then left at 3 AM. So I wasn't even in LA for more than 3 hours. So yeah. But yeah, I've done that.
That's a total turn and burn. So what, like, uh, wedding highlights? What was your favorite moment?
Uh, well, um, I got recruited last minute to carry the bride's train, so that was kind of fun to help her out. Um, it was, it was, it was, oh, it was just like such a cool venue and really pretty. Like, there was an actual hobbit hole. Um, like, I'll put pictures up later. I, I gave all my pictures to the bride first and let her— she's gonna give me what I'm allowed to and what I'm not allowed to share. So, um, but I don't know, it was just cool. And we were really lucky because the night before we actually got to hang out with the bride and groom. Uh, so even flying all the way out there, didn't only see them for 5 minutes at their wedding. So that was also very cool and fun.
So it was an outdoor event?
Yes, it was, it was, it was very Oregon-y in that we were under this huge tent— or not tent, um, wooden structure. And the trees out there are just bigger than over here and on the East Coast, they just are. So there's these honking big huge trees that are holding up the big roof, and you know, it's got the pretty white lights and a chandelier and all of that, and it's just, it's sort of almost— it was almost jungle-like in that there's ferns and everything else. Hello, Miss Dory! I do see people that are on the Facebook side. I'm so impressed. So, um, so yeah, so those are all fun things. Um, what else? There's dragons. There were dragons everywhere. Uh, her— oh, her, her groom broke his leg on Sunday, I think, and so, uh Sorry, I have to address Patriot in the Dark saying it's great to see you. Um, that one never gets old, I bet, for Patriot in the Dark. And for those of you who don't know, Patriot in the Dark is blind, ergo when he says it's great to see you, he's just being Patriot in the Dark. All right, it says 8 o'clock, so ready? Gonna hit the button for the brand thingy. 3, 2, 1. Uh-oh, where'd it go? There it is. All right, so here we go. DJ, you want to be my co-pilot or you want to hang out in the back like you normally do?
I think I'm going to like exit stage right, but I'll be hanging.
You do that. All right. Thanks for showing up last minute. Ooh. And I put stuff in the, in the private chat. I'm not sure if you can see that. So I got links today. All right, everybody. Thank you for being flexible and checking me out on a Sunday versus a Saturday, because life does not always go according to plan. While the promo thingy was running, I said hi to Mr. Michael Ballinger. He will actually be here next weekend helping me with a shoot that we do for the kids. So, all right. And yes, Patriot says, come on, I always say see you later and I don't mean it jokingly. Well, I don't know. We never talk. We only text. So, you know, we can lose so much in that. So, all right. So here it is Sunday night. So you start arranging Saturday. Why? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths the CDC tells you about are suicides. And if we want to save lives, we have to talk about suicide prevention. So life does not always go according to plan. Earlier this week, I was talking with Barbecue. We were talking about what the subject for today— well, the original Suicide Prevention Saturday was supposed to be, and we had a couple different ideas, but it seems as though the proper topic for tonight is how we deal with stuff doesn't go according to plan, because that's why we're here on a Sunday versus a Saturday. Alrighty. So here we are. I'm gonna hide the chat so I can actually say I have notes. See, I was flying today. I've been in the plane. Oh gosh. We boarded at like 5:20 this morning, Oregon time. So 7:20, just got home literally 45 minutes ago to come join you lovely people. So what do we do when stuff doesn't go according to plan? There's lots of things. So I use the example of a coffee table. So when I was a kid, sorry, I'm not gonna try to blare with y'all to death, but I'm trying to make this better. But anyway, I'm gonna make it worse by moving it all the time. Coffee table in my dad's house, we had the squarest, sharpest-legged coffee table in the world. And you would walk through the living room area. There's a nice big fireplace, coffee table, couch, right? Typical setup. And the walkway was between the stone fireplace— because yes, you could catch your toes on that as well— and the wooden, very square coffee table. So some example of life not going to plan is I am walking and my poor little baby pinky toe catches the corner of the corner of the coffee table. Now that was not according to plan. There are different ways one can react to feeling as though your baby toe has been ripped off of your foot, and one of the ways is to scream and yell. And at, you know, 9, 10, maybe younger than that even. That is one of the options. However, depending on you, depending on what state of mind you were at prior to hitting that coffee table, is going to depend which way that event is going to go. So for me, I look at it this way. If I am happy, content, well-fed, and I'm coming from the kitchen going to my bedroom, which is the direction I would be going, and I'm fed and I'm happy and I'm rested, and I hit that coffee table and my little toe feels like it's going to explode, I'm more likely to be able to deal with that without screaming and yelling. And kind of, I think usually I would hold my breath for a moment not say awful things and then breathe and then continue on, go get a Band-Aid to wrap around my toe to feel like attach it back to my toes. However, if we're going the other way, let's say it's first thing in the morning, haven't had my cereal yet, coming up the stairs from the bedroom to then get to the kitchen, cuz that was on the other side and I'm tired and I'm cranky. And I hit my toe. Well, I am more likely to want to flip that coffee table over, throw in a complete and total tantrum, and go absolutely bonkers on the coffee table because who put that coffee table there? And that's the difference of when stuff doesn't go according to plan, we have a choice. Now, if we're already in a good state, that makes it so much easier. However, when stuff does not go according to plan, we have to remember that we get to choose how we're going to react to it. It's like, but Brooke, you just stubbed your toe and it hurts a lot. How do you choose? Well, we talked about this a while back actually with the boiling water. You have a choice. Become present. What's actually happening? Well, let's see. Last week I said I was going to pre-record a thing for you guys and put it up on Saturday. Did I do that? No, no, I did not. Um, did I beat myself up over it? Maybe a little bit. And I'm like, no, no, I'll just record one with myself versus interview and get that up here for you. Did that happen? No, that didn't happen either. And then last minute I uploaded a thing to let you know it was going to be on Sunday, not Saturday, but I did it to my private channel, not to my YouTube channel that's for Great Start Sugar School. Stuff doesn't go according to plan. This is life for everyone. All right, wait, I know there's at least a couple people out there watching, so now I have to go back to the chat thing. I need to know who here in the chat actually ever feels like life goes according to plan for them all the time. I'll wait because I know there's a delay from when you hear me versus when you get to actually put stuff in. So while I'm waiting to see all of the people who say, yes, life always goes according to plan for me, Brooke, I'll wait a few moments before, before I call you a liar. Really, I will. But yeah, for real, because we're on social media, whether it's Facebook, YouTube, it doesn't really matter. On these platforms, people will all see the best of the best, and some people on their profiles, you see the worst of the worst. Um, sorry, see, I didn't put— I'm waiting for y'all to say. All right, so wait, Vanessa Kitty, Tara Smith just joined us. Oh, barbecue. That's all right, we were talking about you earlier. You missed the part. You'll have to go back and watch the replay, dude. Um, so the question for y'all right now, how often does life go according to plan? Like 100%, everything you plan to do today actually happened. And if you can do that, yes, thank you. Well, I got Jen to respond. Yes, there you go. Yeah, I know that my, one of my favorite things is make plans to make God laugh or something along the lines of how to make God laugh. Just make plans and they will not go according to plans. So good things, bad things. Some good stuff can happen too when it's not according to plan. Oh yes. And Mike, who is deeply into Boy Scouts, definitely— I forget, we just had a ceremony. I'm like, you've been doing this a long time. I can't remember how many years. Always have a plan B because plan A also isn't always the best. And that is also very true, but I digress. So when stuff doesn't go to plan, how do you deal with it? Depends on your point of view, depends on your state of being. Um, Tara is here. I know I saw her somewhere. Um, she's unloading something. But anyway, um, Tara does trucking, and I'm willing to bet the traffic does not always go according to plan. Um, oh, there's Tara, sort of. Anyway, so there's an example of stuff that doesn't go according to plan. Now, if Tara's at the beginning of her run and she's not behind yet, if she gets stuck in traffic, it's not as awful as if she's already been stuck in traffic for a long time. Breathing, just that simple thing. Yes, you have to have a plan. It's a must because it focuses direction. But by the time the job is done, I'm usually on plan or C or D, right? And I mean, like I said, because we're talking about you driving truck, is that I mean, yay for Google Maps showing you where the traffic is and where it's not. So, but yeah, you have to have a plan. And then like Michael said, you have to have plan B and C, or like Tara just said, uh, D, or yeah, C or D, because the happier and the more content you are, the more you realize when stuff isn't going where you planned, it is your choice how to react to it. If you just have that thought process of, hmm, this is not what I wanted, but how can I make the best of this? If you can put that as part of your interior conversation in here, when things don't go according to plan, it will make it a lot better. I'm definitely of the ABCD plan. Because it could work out this way, but it might work out that way. So happy and content. The more you work on your happiness, the more you work on your contentment, your health, your well-being, emotional, physical, all of those things, every time something doesn't go according to plan, you'll make a better choice. If you are tired, mad, upset, and stuff is not going the way you want, usually that's like us throwing fire on or gasoline on the fire. Because if we're already mad and tired and then something isn't going according to plan, then we get madder and tireder, right? And more tired. Because if we're already in a weakened state, being exhausted, we are not as good at being resourceful. So, um, although of course we could just be like Patriot and be retired and don't plan anything so nothing goes wrong. I'm sure that work And yes, Miss Rita, it is not Saturday. It is Sunday for real. You're not losing what day of the week it is. But if you look at the, the, the title, hold on, I'm pretty sure it says it right here, right? Learn how to talk about when life doesn't go according to plan. So the reason we're doing this is because it's not Saturday because I didn't make it here Saturday. So we're doing it on Sunday. So roll with the punches and we're much better at that as long as we are paying attention to ourselves before the stuff goes wrong. So that's it. Press left, press light. Wait, hold on. Press left, press right. Have an idea where you are going, but all you can really do anything about is what is directly in front of you. Exactly. And yeah, pay attention to you. Drink water, get rest. Those are the two best things you can do for yourself when you stub your toe. Take that big breath, hold it for a second, and let it go. Give yourself that moment of pain and suffering and try not to scream. Hopefully, theoretically. Um, sorry, see, this is why I should not have these up. So I was at a 100-year-old birthday party last night, um, and I read it as I was at a 100-year-old baby party last night. I'm like, how is a baby 100 years old? But that is very cool. And yes, you can learn a lot from a 100-year-old. All right, so we normally do this 15 or 20 minutes. It's already 8:12. I am dying to go back and spend time with my kids and my family. I appreciate y'all for popping in. Mr. DJ, what else do I need to say or say hi to or all of that fun stuff?
Well, we need to say adieu, uh, pretty soon here to Dory Halloran Kelly, Michael Bellinger, Patriot in the Dark, Gizzard Gary, Vanessa Kitty, Tara Smith's Kitchen, Jennifer McBurney, and Rita Bardino who joined us today. Uh, yeah, grabbing those breaths, refocusing, trying to make that decision, um, clear and concise isn't always so easy. And sometimes acting on that impulse, that gut instinct, is the one that or the one that our heart wants to follow is the one to at least start with. And hopefully sometimes you get to finish with the one that you picked.
There you go. So I gotta ask, I mean, I'm gonna see, I'm going by all my experiences, but if I'm already cranky and tired and something bad goes, that's when I'm likely to break stuff. How about you?
Oh yeah, no doubt. At the, you know, at the end of, at the end of what we think sometimes is the limit, you know, there's so many, you know, tropey kind of things, you know, tie a knot and hang on sort of deal. I like the idea of maybe swinging from rope to rope. Don't Don't get to the end of your rope, find a new one, grab on, swing it.
Well, and for some reason, Nadia, we're talking about also the ice cube, the iceberg thing is like when you hit that straw that broke the camel's back, got to remember there's all this stuff that was underneath it before that happened. And the whole idea of taking care of yourself is to make the under of the iceberg a little bit smaller before it pops up and explodes into anger. So although Patriot in the Dark tells me how that I can wear some GoPro when you stub your toe, you can post a video and make $1,000. Speaking of that, I am finally going to talk about my sponsor since Patriot in the Dark's talking about making money. All right, so DJ, can you see the stuff I put in the private chat?
I cannot. I joined after you typed it in.
All right, then I'm going to kick you out. I'll just, I'll do this all by myself then, but kick in anything you want. All right, so for those of you who don't know, I do have a Patreon channel. So first I'm going to copy that and paste that in the comments. And oh snap, exactly. So Patreon channel, you are welcome to support the Second Amendment fight that I do. And really and truly, I tell people, It's not that I'm not fighting for Second Amendment, but I'm really fighting for violence prevention and suicide prevention more so because I feel like I really want to, I really want to get the people talking about violence prevention and suicide prevention. So there is that because all this gun stuff makes me so mad, the controlling of it, not gun stuff. So I started my Patreon channel. So if you want, you can donate. So I have a wonderful new Patreon, uh, or, you know, whatever word I just used as far as, um— oh, DJ, help me, for the love of God. What is it? Someone who supports me. What's that word?
A patron?
Yeah, something like that. Sponsor. There was the word I was looking for. Um, so it is Toby from Cape Gun Works. He does a whole lot of stuff. They are having a blowout sale this weekend. You can go to his website. I just posted up— which one? YouTube. And I'm gonna post up his Facebook site because they have all sorts of stuff fun and going on. And I've been meaning to like talk about him because he's been a great Patreon over there on that side of things, and his little note from his Facebook thing where he's closed tomorrow. However, you can still go, go shopping on the website. Oh, what? I don't know what— okay, there you go. That's it. So yes, I'm going to try to get better about talking about people who are supporting me both here on Facebook, YouTube, and all of that fun stuff. There will be a newsletter for those of you who are subscribed to A Great Start Shooting School newsletter, and you can always go to agss.com And somewhere there's— oh, I have a Linktree. I keep reading about my Linktree, but there too. All right. For the love of peanut butter and jelly, when I find my Linktree link, I will send it all, put it out here. All right, DJ, anything else? For the love of peanut butter and jelly, since, you know, Guns N' Barbecue is watching.
I think short of that Linktree, we got it in the books, Brooke.
All right, sir. Well, y'all have a lovely week. I will see you on Saturday for real, a mere 6 days away. And I will also be announcing next time I'm gonna be on the Polite Society podcast and all that fun stuff. All right, thank you all. See ya. And I'll be putting up the links for the rest of the month shortly. Have a good night.
