Podcast Review | 'Let's Talk About Mental Health' with Jeremy Godwin

Reflection. This simple word has become incredibly significant to me over the last year, in that it is something that I strive to undertake on a daily basis, if not more. Reflection is careful, meaningful and targeted thinking about a particular subject. The particular subject that I so fervently focus on is one that should be of utmost importance to us all, but is sadly often neglected - mental health. I’d like to talk about how I came across a fantastic resource for support with mental health awareness - the ‘Let’s Talk About Mental Health’ podcast hosted by Jeremy Godwin .

Mental health is just as important as physical health - it strongly affects our daily lives, how we function and our ability to do the things we need and want to do. A healthy awareness of our mental wellbeing goes a long way to making life easier. It helps us to effectively calm and comfort ourselves when we’re upset, helps us to cope with the uncertainties of life and allows us to make and keep positive relationships with other people.

My journey to staying consistent with making the time to regularly reflect on my own mental health started with my morning walks. I’ve always been an early riser and often find it difficult to stay asleep past 06:30, even if I’m trying to. With the initial aim of improving my physical health, I decided to start going for long walks each morning, but what I quickly realised was that the time spent walking actually lent itself far better to improving my mental health instead.

In my haste one early morning, I left the house without my phone, only realising when I was already far enough away to render the option of returning home far too much of an effort. My attention span has taken a real hit over the last few years and I’m usually always listening or watching something, so I’m embarrassed to admit that I was initially almost overcome with anxiety at the thought of being alone with only my thoughts to keep me company on the remainder of my walk.

To begin with, the silence was deafening. Not having access to any distractions or a connection to the outside ‘online’ world made me feel almost vulnerable? and amplified the absence of sound. Then came the inner monologue. The plethora of thoughts, worries, things I needed to do, things I wanted to do, things I felt I should do - they increased exponentially and swelled until it felt like there wasn’t enough space in my head to keep them in. It was incredibly welcomed then, when the sound of non-stop chirping found its way into my ears. The chirping silenced every other noise that was taking up the space in my head. I was compelled to find the source of the chirping, which resulted in me ever so cautiously approaching the hedge I had been walking alongside. What I found was a beautiful scene - a small bird's nest, just visible from a safe distance, with the mother bird lovingly providing an early morning breakfast to her chirping chicks.

This may sound somewhat over exaggerated, but this particular moment made me feel rooted to the present in a way I felt I hadn’t experienced for a long time. I was suddenly in the moment, aware of my actual surroundings. I had become so accustomed to not letting myself experience the present moment when I was by myself that it felt like an awakening. I wanted to chase this feeling, so I made the decision there and then to look into ways to improve this mental and physical awareness.

After a more enjoyable (and less noisy!) walk home, I located my phone and started looking into mental health. This led me to discovering an absolute gem of a podcast - 'Let's Talk About Mental Health’ - that brings me back to the original point I made regarding consistent reflection, as this is a regular talking point throughout each episode.

‘Let's Talk About Mental Health’ is a weekly podcast hosted by Jeremy Godwin that provides simple ideas for looking after your mental health, with tips that you can put into practice immediately. Every episode, Jeremy looks at one aspect of mental wellbeing and provides straightforward, practical advice based on quality research and his own experience of learning how to live with anxiety and depression. Now with a catalogue of 157 episodes, there was plenty of content for me to delve into and I started listening on a daily basis to ‘catch up’ - episodes on Mistakes, Overthinking, Stress, Fear…each with one regular recommendation from Jeremy - reflection.

Reflection is when you take the time to give something serious thought and consideration and is an amazing way to improve self awareness of your mental health. My morning walks became the perfect opportunity to listen to one of Jeremy’s podcasts and then use the remaining time on the walk to inwardly reflect. I felt like this brought order to my thoughts and I now looked forward to the idea of walking in silence in the mornings with a focused mind.

I love the way that Jeremy stays true to his format throughout the series of podcasts, stays focused on each subject and provides interesting and tangible advice that can be effectively implemented. He has helped me to realise that taking care of mental health is just like taking care of physical health and is just as (if not more!) important. It’s something that you always need to work on. I’m so grateful that I found this podcast and I look forward to hearing his views as Jeremy provides great content which I regularly share with family and friends.

I strongly recommend that you take the time to look through each of the episodes of 'Let’s Talk About Mental Health' to see if a particular subject jumps out to you and give it a try - I am confident that you will find some beneficial advice and thought provoking insights. It really helps having a kind voice guide you through the thought process and promote effective reflection that can lead to a stronger awareness of your mental health.

I am proud to say that I still find time to go for a walk almost every day. One of the main pieces of advice that has stuck with me is how effective reflection can really be - getting deeper and deeper and pulling back the layers to discover the root cause of some potentially detrimental thoughts and behaviours, which can then lead to supporting the resolution of these issues.

The most notable difference I’ve noticed in myself, at the risk of a somewhat underwhelming sounding conclusion, is that I’m generally just happier. I feel like I make daily improvements to my thoughts and behaviours purely through the simple and now enjoyable process of reflecting on my thoughts and actions of the previous day and contemplating how I can and will react in a better way in future. It therefore feels like very day I’m further bolstering and improving my reliance and overall mental and physical health which is an addictive feeling and one I won’t be giving up on!

As Jeremy says, let’s talk about mental health, because the more we talk about it, the easier it gets!

Daniel Gordon

You can find more details on Jeremy Godwin, the 'Let's Talk About Mental Health' podcast and a wide range of related resources on: https://letstalkaboutmentalhealth.com.au/