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The Mostly Mental Mom
Real talk on the rollercoaster of mental health—it's affect on every part of your life, survival hacks, and a little bit of funny banter to remind you that showing up for yourself is the most important thing you can do in the mental health game!
The Mostly Mental Mom
EP.3: Real Talk | The Power of Sharing Your Mental Health Journey
What if embracing authenticity and vulnerability could transform your mental health journey and MORE?
Join me, Lauren, on the Mostly Mental Mom podcast as we navigate the profound impact of openness and vulnerability, inspired by honest conversations with mental health advocates like Gabe Howard and Dr. Nicole Washington from "Inside Bipolar." This episode shines a light on the remarkable power of sharing personal experiences to break down the stigma surrounding mental health. By diving into real stories from individuals living with bipolar disorder, we explore how these narratives help foster a community where everyone feels understood and supported.
Together, we reflect on the courage it takes to open up about one's mental health challenges, especially amidst societal pressures to appear perfect. By featuring stories from platforms like PiZetta Media, we underscore the importance of empathy and the need for supportive dialogues in our communities. Whether you're personally affected or seeking to better understand and support those who are, this episode is a heartfelt reminder of the resilience found in vulnerability and the strength in shared experiences. Tune in and be inspired by those who choose to bravely share their journey, paving the way for a more accepting and compassionate world.
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Referenced in Podcast:
PiZetta Media: Content with a Purpose with Michael Vanzetta with guest Gabe Howard
Webador Website Builder & Host
Buzzsprout | Podcast Hosting Site
Presonus Recording Equipment & Software
Show up friends!
Lauren | The Mostly Mental Mom
Hello, hello, hello. It's Lauren, your podcast host and your resident, mostly Mental mom. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode, always grateful for anyone who lends an ear and takes the time to listen. I'm going to start off today by asking you guys a question Could authenticity and vulnerability be the keys to understanding mental health? Understanding, I don't know, that's a broad, bold statement, um, but allowing for everyone, those that struggle with the mental illness and the support system around, I think it can definitely make it more palatable, more um, clear, uh, humanized, more relatable. The more we talk about things, the more we understand about them, right? So I don't think it just would like clear the mud altogether, but I definitely, definitely think authenticity and vulnerability are crucial to breaking down the walls of mental health and the stigma and those that suffer in silence and this just lack of space to gain information on the topic and to better understand and to better support those that you love, or to better support and heal yourself if you are the one that's suffering from a mental health disorder. So, with that in mind, I am coming to you today with this extra gusto, so to speak, because I kind of got lit on fire by listening to some other podcast hosts and other people that struggle with bipolar disorder and I'm kind of just going to recap some things that hit home with me that I listened to today and that's going to be okay. It's okay if there's not an outline for this episode. If you need an outline, I'm sorry I don't have that for you. Anyways, brushing off any of that shame and guilt, real fast, okay, I'm back. Here we go. So one of the first podcast episodes that I listened to that actually referenced bipolar specifically is called Inside Bipolar and it is hosted by Gabe Howard, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and then it is co-hosted with I'm going to mispronounce this real fast, so I'm trying to there, she is Okay. So Inside Bipolar is hosted with Gabe Howard and then a board certified psychologist, dr Nicole Washington, and it's very much a back and forth of he just talks about life from the patient perspective and she not don't, she doesn't always validate, she comes back with just what she would do and or respond as a clinician in the setting. Um, and I was immediately, um, I immediately hit with this refreshing sense of oh my gosh, it's someone real with bipolar disorder just talking about it publicly, and I kept listening to their podcast episodes. I kind of just kept going on about my life. I didn't do anything different. I listened to their episodes and I started the Mostly Mental Mom podcast.
Speaker 1:A few weeks goes by and I find out about another platform. I'm going to probably mispronounce the name, but it's Paisetta Media content with a cause. This is a podcast that highlights frontline heroes, nonprofits, mental health journeys all the stories you can possibly think of from all of these different people I have just been. I've spent hours today just on the youtube channel just watching and watching and watching, and I saw nonetheless gabe howard from inside bipolar on this youtube podcast, paizetta media content with a cause, hosted by Michael Vanzetta. Michael Vanzetta also has bipolar disorder. Now let me tell you I have never been more immersed in a YouTube video than I was for those 25 minutes and then hit it repeat like three more times because they were speaking my language. They were saying things that were not mind-blowing because I knew them already.
Speaker 1:I'm bipolar, but it was like oh, you get it. I'm like oh, wait what? No, you think that too? Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one and I know I'm not. That's why I'm doing this. It's because you know, I don't want anyone to be struggling alone, and I know there are people out there wrestling with all the questions and all the concerns that I have, all the symptoms that I have. I have all the symptoms that I have, all of the life-wreaking mountains of trash behind them that their bipolar has done. I know I'm not alone, but today was just this. Oh my gosh, look at these people doing the thing that I'm trying to do, and they want more people to do it. I was just floored, and so, first of all, let me just go ahead and shout out and thank Gabe Howard and Michael Vanzetta for that inspiration today. Wow, what y'all are both doing is awesome, but thank you more so for encouraging someone like myself to keep at it without knowing that's what you were doing, because you did and this is my challenge to anyone else listening it doesn't have to be mental health, it doesn't have to be bipolar, it doesn't have to be a topic remotely related, but if there is something that you wrestle with and have had to overcome, um, or it's a, it's a daily battle. I mean it could be addiction, it could be I mean we've talked about chronic illnesses. It could divorce. I mean you name it. I mean I could list off topics in the mom realm alone of things that moms just could identify with. Talk about it. Use these platforms we are given to talk about it. Forget what people think that'srated. We've already talked about that and I'll keep talking about it.
Speaker 1:But let me tell you, if you are waiting for your circle of friends in the social media spectrum to get on board the train with you, honey, they ain't, they're not gonna. I hate to break it to you. You will have a few select, loyal people in your actual sphere of reach, like your little, your little social media bubble, whatever that may be. I'm gonna use myself for an example. I have 700 people on facebook I know, so popular For ten years now. I mean there's maybe five to ten people that have stayed engaged in my journey and then currently, on this round of promoting mental health and trying to use these platforms, we're gonna be generous and say there's 20 active like engagers, supporters, like I believe it. Y'all all know what that's like. We don't need to go down that rabbit hole of just because you heart like, comment, watch all the things on social media does not mean you actually support that person. So let's not act like it.
Speaker 1:But my point being is, these platforms we've been given are the launching points to the people that need to hear it and want to hear it. You got to get past everyone that's already there, that doesn't care, that feels like you're a broken record and that you've told this story five million times and that you've tried for the 10th time and failed for the 20th time. That doesn't matter. It can't matter. There's a greater purpose at play and that has to be enough period and that has to be enough Period, and listening to Gabe and Michael today helps remind me of that. They didn't talk specifically about their social circles or whatever, but they just talked about how they wished more people like them would talk, about how they wished more people like them would talk.
Speaker 1:Just like you go to look up recipes for food or how to be a better cook, you don't just go look up Gordon Ramsay and only Gordon Ramsay, and you stay with Gordon Ramsay for the rest of your life and that's the only place you get recipes from and cooking information from, and tips and tricks and how to be better in that arena. Now you scour Pinterest for 5 million recipes, you look on Google and you watch the Food Network and you get information from everywhere to gain the best whole view of what you're wanting to make and create, of what you're wanting to make and create and whatever problem you're wanting to solve, whether it's how to make the best meatloaf or how to make the best Thanksgiving feast. You collect your data from everywhere, from all these sources. Well, when there's only five people talking about meatloaf talking about meatloaf, you can't gain a lot of well-rounded information, especially if they're all southern cookers. It's going to be the same meatloaf. You need a broader perspective. You need people with different ancestry and different histories and different backgrounds to be able to pull together the best recipe. And that's the same concept with talking about bipolar and how they were approaching it today when I was watching their YouTube video.
Speaker 1:Not everyone has to go big platform and try to get it out as far widespread as they can. It starts by talking about it just in general, by just being open about it and being honest about it, and that's what opens the doors, that's what opens the small conversations, that's what actually eventually should allow those within your actual circle of influence to go. Oh okay, I can talk about it Like I'm not going to get judged. I can talk about it Like I'm not going to get judged Still no guarantee that you're not going to get judged. But the more people make it normal, the more we break down those shame walls and we allow vulnerability to be okay. We allow failure to be okay. We allow brokenness to be okay. We allow looking stupid to be okay. We allow brokenness to be okay. We allow looking stupid to be okay. We allow not being perfect to be okay.
Speaker 1:It was just so refreshing to hear other people talk about what has been in my head and what I've wanted to accomplish and I've I mean I very much have gotten a lot further past the shame barrier. It's not. I don't know if you ever get over the guilt and shame. Um, I'm not real sure there, but having other people fighting the same fight you're fighting is definitely helpful. Um, so yeah that I'm going to link the YouTube video for you guys. Um, in the podcast, like in the links below and whatnot. Uh, but Gabe Howard and Michael Vanzetta was just great content today.
Speaker 1:Shifting into the rest of today's episode, I'm going to piggyback off of some things that they did talk about and I touched on it in my last episode, but they both said I didn't know someone like me could work, I could have a functioning job. But they're both full-time spreading out the word of mental health awareness and sharing stories and connecting with people and, um, I mean, gabe is a public speaker, like he actually goes out into the world and speaks, um, and they're doing it. They're doing the thing that we feel like we can't do, which is awesome, but they're also so right in that that's a huge fear that we can't, that we will fail and we can't do it. We can't hold a job, we can't be successful, we can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't. And I'm here to claim that it's possible. They have bad days Because, guess what?
Speaker 1:The bipolar doesn't go away. We've talked about that. And Gabe speaks so much that he sometimes refer, he references that sometimes he has to actually go through like the, the symptoms and the moment of, like a, of something within a bipolar, like an episode of sorts. I just described that terribly. We're going to continue on Within him filming an episode, like a podcast episode, and he keeps going and. But that shows vulnerability and authenticity in human nature. That right there is just relatable to everyone.
Speaker 1:But we are, we are raised in a culture of expected perfection. That is a hard enough mountain to climb when your brain is not fighting against you when your brain is not fighting against you, and a terribly hard mountain to climb, near impossible, when your brain is fighting against you all the time. So to publicly fail and fumble and it not be perfect should be applauded, should be admirable, should be shared, should be encouraged across the board. Mental health not the only thing here I'm talking about that should just be what we teach our children, what we teach our loved ones.
Speaker 1:But to be confirmed by these two much more notable mental health podcasters and advocates than myself today was very encouraging and I simply hope to reciprocate that to someone else listening, because our brains may be fighting us constantly, every minute of every hour of every day, but just because our brain chemistry is off and just because it's hard to identify and it's hard to talk about, it's hard to share the details, it's hard to really explain why you went from zero to mad as hell, angry, in 0.2 seconds, seconds, why it's hard to explain that you couldn't get out of bed for 10 days but then woke up With an absurd amount of energy and cleaned the house, rearranged everything, started a podcast All the things. It's hard to make that make sense To anyone that doesn't actually live it, but the goal is to try to make it make sense. That's why we're sharing, that's why we're talking. So you have to know we're trying, but to me you also have to know you, the person that is not struggling with mental health. That's who I'm talking to right now. You also have to know that you may never fully understand it and that's okay.
Speaker 1:But just because you don't understand something does not give freedom to cast any preconceived notions, to cast judgment, to compare that person as less than to anyone else or to you, to compare that person as less than to anyone else or to you. A lack of understanding does not give permission to be then ignorant, because all we can all do is try to understand and if we don't understand we seek to learn. But we always show compassion, always show mercy and grace. The second we stop showing mercy and grace and compassion To anyone struggling with anything, especially Mental health and the Dark Hold it can take on a human mind as soon as we stop showing that we care to listen and to understand, is the second. The silent battle wins and, guys, we unfortunately make that too obvious, way too soon, that people don't even get to tell you they have a mental health disorder before it's too late. They didn't get that far to say I need help, because we don't make it okay to do so.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you guys a question Could authenticity and vulnerability be the key to understanding mental health? Let me actually ask that question again Could authenticity and vulnerability be the key? I'm going to end it there. Period yeah, 100%. There is no doubt in my mind that those of us talking mental health are actually paving a bigger path than we even can perceive yet, because few and far between do you find discussions that make you actually talk about your, your demons, your, the worst things about you, the things that not only affect you but hurt those you love without your intent. Just breaking down that wall of vulnerability is going to open up doors to rebuild compassion, to rebuild authenticity, to rebuild community and grace and mercy amongst all of us, the human race. Do you hear me, fellow mental health advocates? This is much bigger than even our mental health disorders. We are breaking down walls that force everyone around us to look at bravery differently, vulnerability differently and why we do the things we do so.
Speaker 1:Talk about it, share it and don't give two craps. I'm trying not to curse as much. I don't have to put explicit on my podcast. Talk about it, share it, be vulnerable, tell your story. Vulnerable. Tell your story, no matter if anyone responds, no matter if you get a single like a single follow. Matter if you get a single like a single follow any feedback whatsoever, because, trust me, someone is listening and it may be one person, but that one person heard it, needed it, are alive to keep going the next day to then share their story, and then it's just a spider web going off as we affect the entire world around us by being vulnerable and sharing the struggle for us, for me, it's mental health, it's bipolar disorder, and the havoc has wreaked on my life and my family's life. But I'm also here to break down walls that have kept me from being the best me, because I've cared too much that my circle of influence doesn't give two creps, and that's okay. But I've cared too much for so long that it stopped me from a bigger purpose. It stopped me from talking to you now. So go tell your story Because, trust me, you are not the only one thinking.
Speaker 1:Whatever you're thinking and someone else needs to hear it. I needed to hear Gabe and Michael today and I didn't know it. That's just how this works. I don't know when we'll stop being surprised by divine intervention, whatever you want to call it, um, but I hate this saying. But it's also true. Everything happens for a reason, y'all and I'm showing up for my reason. You guys show up too. So thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you for supporting. If you do like it, if you do subscribe or share. Your involvement is not just appreciated, but it is essential to this purpose. I'm so very grateful for anyone that takes the time to listen and I appreciate your ongoing support, and anyone that wants to collaborate and work on this with me is always welcome. So, signing off, this is lauren, your podcast host and resident, mostly mental mom. To wrap up totally, I'm gonna do a little business at the end, that way I don't start podcasts out with just a bunch of business.
Speaker 1:But I want to just make sure I mention Buzzsprout, which is my podcast host. It's the most user-friendly podcast host. Well, it's the only one I've ever used. However, it's awesome guys. I can't even express how great it is, buzzsprout. Please go check it out. You do everything on there and it links to all the platforms and it's just like bam, suddenly you're on 20 platforms. You didn't even know 20 podcast platforms existed, but they do, and Buzzsprout makes it easy. So go check out Buzzsprout.
Speaker 1:Next, webadore. I hate most web design platforms and all those things Because it's inevitable that you move one box one way and it shifts all your margins off. And if you know, you know. But I found Web, web adore, and it's a diamond in the rough. I feel like I'm like new to finding it, but I'll mentally call this below. They made it so easy for me to be able to have the mostly mental mom like website and I have the podcast on there, I have a blog on there and like it's just all the info and it was easy and clean and I am picky on design, y'all so and it took me less than 24 hours to do everything from start to finish awesome. So web adore you rock and pre-sonos.
Speaker 1:That is my mic that I use and my software recording equipment. I don't really know if it's intended for podcast use, but I already had it for music recording. So, yeah, it's wonderful. By the way, talking about music recording the music that you hear in the background of my podcast is made by yours truly. Yes, that is correct, I have a musical thumb. That was not really what I wanted to say, but that's what came out. I couldn't figure out how to find free audio for my background, and I didn't want to pay for any, and so I got my husband's electric guitar and plugged it in and just played some of my original songs without the words. So that's fun fact. I'm trying to get him to actually do the music for me, so we will see if I have him doing music soon. So hopefully that works out. But, as always, thank you so much for listening to the mostly mental mom podcast. I'm lauren, your podcast host and your resident mostly mental mom, and I'm signing off until next time.
