3 Lessons on Mental Health

This past week, I've released an episode every day covering several people's journeys through mental health and addiction - including parts of mine.

I didn't set out on this journey on purpose. It's almost like it found me for such a time as this.

In speaking with them I came to discover some very obvious patterns of how people got out of the darkest times of their life.

I would love it if you would like, comment, and share this article. Not because I'm going to get more attention for me - but because I truly believe that these 3 key lessons might change someone's life ... it might even save it.

Here are the 3 key lessons I learned while diving into the topic of mental health and addictions often associated with it.

1. Just Rip it Off

Speaking from experience - when you're in a funk, or a dark place, or depressed, often times the last thing you want is to talk about how screwed up you are. Remaining silent is actually a multiplier for the problem. When we're stuck in our own head and replaying images and conversations and events that got us into this mess in the first place that isn't a healthy place to be.

Reaching out to a friend, family member, or a licensed counselor and talking about it is like taking off a dirty, smelly bandaid on a deep cut so that it can get cleaned out and actually start healing. If you don't reach out (if you keep the bandaid on) it's not going to get better, it's only going to get worse.

2. Act Like You

Just like in the episode with Jaime Cohen - When she was in that depression, she wasn't acting like herself. Her friends asked her if she would ever get back into comedy again and her response was that a part of her had died.

But as she started developing a community of people through LinkedIn, she started acting like herself again. It's when we are able to act like who we really are that we're actually able to start experiencing joy again.

Just like we can easily lose our joy when we show off and try to be someone we're not to impress people, depression causes us to retreat into a shell of a person that barely resembles us. Finding a community that uplifts you and encourages you to be who you really are is a game changer. It's impossible to live in joy when we're not acting like ourselves.

3. Self vs Others focused

If you listen to all the episodes, there's a very easily identified theme. Every one of us started of very self focused. We cared about us, our goals, our dreams, our problems, our weaknesses, our fears ... everything was about us.

But the interesting thing is that EVERY SINGLE PERSON I interviewed at some point in their journey from depression and addiction to joy turned their focus from themselves to others.

• Tyrone Ross Jr. is helping people invest that normally wouldn't even think that's an option.
• Eric Chiappetta started a vodcast/podcast called Chef or Death to help people in the food and beverage industry
• Katie Wallace is helping companies go green and is working on issues with homelessness
• Jaime Cohen is helping people brand themselves and share their story with clarity and conviction

I didn't seek people that I thought would have these traits, I just talked to people about their story and these are the things they have in common.

This is just barely scraping the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mental health, addiction, and suicide. I don't claim to be an expert. And that's why I want you to help spread the word. If you have tips that might help people, leave them in the comment section below, write about them and use the hashtag #BalanceMovement, reach out to a friend to see how they're doing.

The only way we can fight this beast is by talking about it openly.