October is Depression Awareness Month

Hey, how's it going everybody? As you know, it's just me again. Why is that? Well, let me tell you a quick story. We actually recorded an episode. an actual the next two chapters of knowing God. But we recorded it remotely because both of us had all of some long days that Saturday we got together. Just some sketch and conflict things. So we recorded it remotely and... Yeah, I went to go download loaded it. and the recordings just were not right. They were bad even though paid for a service to do that. Oh well, life goes on. You got to make what do with what you got right so this that means you got me this week. Congratulations and I hope it's okay that go ahead and talk about something. It is still October when when this comes out and actually this will come out on October 25th which is a significant day date. for me to be honest and it ties into what I want chat about. So if you followed my story at all for any length of time, time and you've known me personally in any which way. You know that I depression and me. be kind of go hand in hand that I've had my bouts with it where I was suicidal and that. And October is depression awareness. in this month, you know, another layer on that mental health sandwich of making sure that people are taken care of. And it's something that's... It's near and dear to my heart just because of my own personal experiences and I know sometimes you don't want personal experiences to be the things that that are the things that drive you but they're also if we're honest the things that we're passionate about. The things that that we we're... care about the things that make us get out of bed in the morning to do things. Of course, when I was dealing with depression, getting out of bed was something I was not doing doing. that was a real challenge at the time. So October 25th is of course important. didn't to me only because we're talking about my dad's there in first first of my dad's birthday. So for those of you who remember my story from when we talked about it way back when between the the time of my dad's anniversary of his birthday and the anniversary of his death, which is December 7th, that's typically when I I would kind of fall into a depression. Then snap out of it and then continue to live life. If the rest of the year until 2018, when I didn't snap out of it and I ended up in a psychiatric ward, actually, I would have been 20s, I was eating it until 2018. And I ended up in a psychiatric ward then at that time. which really was not healthy. Then I had gone through that cycle so many times like that. That was healthy though that I then went and got a help for it what I was dealing with. And tell me, honest, there's still some days when it is not not the easiest but for the most part and I'll say for the most part it's been a lot better better. it's been manageable even when we come to these anniversary dates that normally will cause a lot of people to fall. back into things. And I will say personally from me observing things in general. roll and I'll say in general it's gone better at least it seems to be getting better across the board talking about mental math health both in the public sphere you know in your everyday life work work jobs even offer resources to help view you. with mental health issues. But also in the church, it's becoming less of a stigma to talk about. It's becoming one of those things that that people aren't ashamed of anymore, thankfully, and that people are being allowed to seek help. and people are offering help. Even so far as offering counseling services right within the churches themselves, which is a great thing because then we have biblically based counseling. to help someone because you know as much as I love my mother she would say we need to just pray more or to get rid of the depression. And that's not the case, sometimes, not the case all the time. Sometimes, yes, it is based on spiritual things, but a lot of times, It is not a lot of times it is based on the chemical imbalance. I'm so about that even though there are some recent studies coming out saying, I may not be chemical imbalance. There's still something going on that's causing this and I can tell you that for sure for me because once I got on SSRIs Even though it took a couple of weeks, I became a lot more balanced out between that and therapy. I think that's the thing that saved me from that deep dark cycle depression. Now again, I'm not discounting anything that the local Well church leaders or that those in the church have done to help me because it is well known and document down. that they did. In fact, it was my pastor at the time who took me to go to inpatient care. So I'm thankful for that still. I'm not saying that it's just drugs and therapy. be it's a holistic approach to both. But yes, October is depression awareness. in this month in case you weren't aware. It's also, well, weirdly, September 15th, October, October 15th is also Hispanic Heritage Month, which I'm half Mexican. So, hey, cool. Got to enjoy some tamales and other things there. But the thing I want to talk about again is depression awareness, because I think it's important important. enough to talk about resources available once again. And I was prefaced this with if you've never had to deal with crippling depression depression that makes you not want want to get out bed depression that keeps you from enjoying life. I am so happy for you. And I'm not being sarcastic or anything. I'm being 100. 100 % serious. I am glad that you have never had to deal with something like that. That that is not something that has ever darkened your doors. or step or dark in your mind. But at the same time, I want you to realize that you, those, I guess, those lust. It's a lucky few that are like that. It seems like a few. It seems like almost everyone in this world is depressed nowadays. And I'm not even talking about what, with what's going on in the world. I'm just talking about in general. But those of you who who haven't had to deal with that stuff. I know it can seem hard to have compassion on those who are dealing dealing with with it. that. If you go back through our archives, when me, Josh and Aaron talked about this one of the first few times, Josh admitted He would always say that the phrase suck it up buttercup because he didn't think it was really a thing. That was really an issue issue. and it wasn't until he met someone who actually literally was willing to take their life from it, me, that it finally kind of clicked with them. And that's a whole other comment. and conversation that we could have about how first -hand experiences shape your perception on life and how sometimes that is a good thing and how that can also be a Very very bad thing. For example, a good thing is, you know, Josh experiencing and seeing someone for the first time who is dealing with depression and then going, oh, this is something serious. This is something that they just can't shake it off. This is something that they just can't suck it up. Buttercup as he puts it. This is something that needs help. Maybe have compassion there. That's one way. And then the other way that works kind of on the bad side is, oh, I have, I won't go over the classic example, right? I have a, you know, I'm a Christian and I have a relative or a child that now is gay. Well, because I Love love them, I must now be affirming that's a different side of that scale of where experience should shape things. In one case, you're changing your whole theology to accommodate things in the other. you're realizing that hey maybe there are some things mentally, medically different needs to be changed. Like I said, that's a greatly more nuanced conversation than we're going to have right now here. So like I said, it is a national depression awareness, this month. And since we last talked about this, there have been some new resources that have been available, made available for people if you have feeling a feeling that someone is going to maybe hurt themselves. So before, before there used to be a long phone number that you'd have to call to be able to call it maybe you or someone you knew knew. was dealing with suicidal tendencies that was maybe threatening to kill themselves or you were fearing that they would maybe try to kill themselves either due to depression and suicide or whatever would lead up to that. Well, since we last talked about these resources, thankfully they've made It's it even more. easier. We all know the universal number 911, which makes it really easy to call in the case of a medical emergency. Well, now... Now, due to some laws passed, there is now a new number. It's 988. state is a number that is available across the country, across the United States, that allows you to go ahead and call and get connected to help. No longer do you have to remember the new, the new, the old long number before I don't remember what it was, I'd have to ask Andy for what that number used to be, because he actually called it for me at one point. But 988. is the new number that you can call there. Now, that being said, there are other resources for if it is not an immediate threat such as if you... are dealing with depression and you're like I'm not suicidal but I do need help. There's a couple Well, of things. things you can do first off. If you work for a company, check to see if they have an employee resource center. The employee resource center oftentimes will either have mental health, people on staff to kind of help you out a little thing bit. with some things, they can't deal like, give me prescriptions and help you out with all that, but they can least maybe talk you off the ledge a little but bit. obviously if you're not suicidal or they could get you reference to where you can get help, they can help look that information up, make sure that you're in a safe space to make sure that you get the help that you need to get better. So check that out. Now if you're not working or If if you're your company doesn't have this resource available, check your local county. Usually a lot of counties have this. Another thing you can do is you can check with nami .org. nami .org. It's a bird that's national alliance on mental illness. And they have a bunch of things that you can look at. A, if you're the one who needs help, but also if you want to try to maybe help others. This is something that personally I'm looking getting into maybe eventually getting more involved with maybe once a few other things kind of settle down a little bit because I believe that that mental health is a very important thing that is not always addressed well. And it is something that unfortunately has as Paz and Will continue to get worse as the years go on. We saw it spiral down real bad during the time of COVID. And unfortunately with current events the way that they are, I I have a feeling that we're only going to see the next level rise of where this goes bad. Unfortunately, I wish I was wrong there, but I'm not. So, click it said, check out Nami. me .org and am i .org that's I can't do the phonetic alphabet Nathan Alice bitch indigo something alpha something indigo I Now, don't now, N -A -M -I dot org for seeing about different things. A lot of this is how can you can advocate, and this is especially if you're interested in helping people with mental health issues, I can advocate for some of these things about mental health. And obviously, Obviously, maybe some resources for you as well if you are dealing with things. Now, obviously, like I said, if you are in a state of crisis where you are actively thinking about hurting yourself or others, 988 is the number to call in that case. All right, cool. You may be going Well, well. you know what? So why is it good to talk about depression awareness month? Again, mental health awareness month is back in May. So we're talking about two complete different things. Depression, yes, obviously, is a part of mental health, but mental health as a whole is important to talk about. Now, why And is it? I know we've gone over some of these statistics before, but I think it's a good reminder to kind of keep at the forefront of our mind, especially during depression awareness month. People with depression have a 40 % higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than the general population. People with serious mental So, analysis are nearly twice as likely to develop these conditions. Now all this data is pulled from nami .org slash mh stats. And I'll provide the a link link. to it in the link list down below. As of 2021, 33 3 .5 % of all US adults with mental illness also experience a substance use disorder. That's 19 0 .5 .4 % million individuals. Okay. The rate of unemployment is higher. among US adults who have a mental illness. About 7 .4%. Compared to those who do not, that, which is about 4 .6%. High school students with the significant symptoms of depression, Now, do you remember what the symptoms of depression are? I'm going to pull a Mr. Rogers here and go, oh, you don't? Oh, I see. Okay, you don't remember these things, but that's okay. So now remember this said symptoms of depression and teens are likely drop out of high school, right? So what are symptoms of depression? We'll start off teens and then we'll go to some adult things, but a lot of is these that it's a team that also are true for adults. Feelings of sadness, which can include crying spells for no parent reason, frustration, feeling angry, angry, even over small things. Feeling hopeless, empty, irritable, annoyed. Man, I was all these. You can ask my buddy Andy, I would message him on the regular during this time when I was going through this real deep depression where I felt irritable or felt hopeless hope. or just felt tired or I felt like I wanted to just punch something and scream and cry all at the same time. Don't miss those times. Loss of interest or pleasure in usual to activity. these loss of interest or conflict with family and friends. Feeling of worthlessness or guilt. Fixation on past failures or or exaggerated self -blame or self -christism. That's beat to a T by the way in general. That's one of the things I had to learn how deal to deal with. with the therapy, I do that all the time or or another thing that my brain is great at. Horrible imagination. in general, I am not creative at all as far as coming up like names and ideas and logos and all that. But you give me... A potential future scenario in my brain will immediately create the most elaborate play on stage of what will go wrong. With all the worst scenarios happening. happening simultaneously in my little stage. And I bring and do that with just chef's kissway of doing it. But yet you go, Hey, come up with them. create an idea for this and I'll sit there and stare at you like, no, I can't have no idea what to do. So yeah, I get that one. That one's me me. to a T. Even now I still catch my brain doing that sometimes and I have to literally stop my brain from either. or dwelling in the past or dwelling in the future. Here's a little pro tip I've learned with dealing with depression and that. Living in the past or living in the future, while it may be romanticized in books and that is not healthy mentally, don't do it. Live in the the current. Enjoy the present. Enjoy what is going on now because that is the only thing you have to worry about. The future will get sorted out Eventually of that. in the past has already happened. We can't change what happened there as much as we want to. Anyways, back to the list. Other signs of of depression and teenagers in general and in people in general. Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions, remembering things. things. I'm going sense that life in the future are grim and bleak frequent thoughts of dying, dying or suicide. Yeah, this was all me me. back in 2017 2018. I laugh and joke about it now because I can look back at it and see the signs clear as day. Clear as day day. that I needed help and it took me so long to be able to admit to someone that I did need help. And the reason I keep bringing on this a frequent semi -frequent basis is because I want you to realize that those people in your life who may be having these symptoms. I want you to be to able to see them and if necessary, offer assistance, offer support. You're not going to be the one to to be be able to save them necessarily, but you might be able to point them to where they can get help. And you might be able to point them back to Jesus to have some hope, hope. enough hope to at least grasp onto to stay for another day, till maybe they can get that help that they need mentally. A behavioral changes that of you may see with depression and these are all true. Tiredness, loss of energy, insomnia, sleeping too much, changes as appetites. So maybe some decrease in weight loss or an increase in foods and weight gain. Use of alcohol drugs. I used a lot more alcohol when I was dealing with that. Yeah, way too much, given so much so that, and I think I mentioned this on the episode, that the bar tender during is the time, notice my increase of alcohol and said, hey, something's wrong. It was that much increase. So if you notice, What is all of a sudden your friend is maybe you pass a drink or two, let's say a night or a week, while out with buddies and all of a They're sudden they're going going to shot shot shot shot shot shot and you know something maybe it didn't happen at work or Or you ask them hey, what's going on? They They don't say anything. That's when you know something is up. And maybe it's time that you don't. don't take their answer of, oh, not the wrong, maybe you don't just take an unfazed value and maybe try to probe a little bit deeper without being too intrusive. It's a delicate balance. Tell you that much. Adjutation restlessly. So, you know, pacing hand wringing, hand wringing, that hand wringling, inability sits still. And some people, that's just normal. But if it's a new thing, I mean that someone's doing, just kind of slow thinking, speaking body movements, frequent complaints of unexplained body makes x and him headaches. I sliding themselves. I did this as well. Poor school performance performance. of frequent absence from school. I had that. I wasn't school. It was work. It wasn't that I wasn't there. I was there, but I really couldn't get anything done. Less attention personal of hygiene or appearance, angry outbursts, self harm, so cutting, burning themselves, make a suicide plan or suicide attempt. All those things are definitely signs. And if If it you catch an suicide note or suicide plans at that point, it's time to either call 988 if you think it's imminent, get them to an ER if you think you can drive them there. And if it's not an imminent, that they then, you know, get them to a therapist, make sure that they are seen and taken care of. And these are all things to take into account and look for. And I'm not saying just Look look at this for, you know, your kids or if you're married or you're spouse. Keep it on your friends. We are now When in the point of time when the day is getting shorter and shorter and shorter. This less light Out out. means less vitamin D is being produced naturally. This is when sad SID comes around annually. And this is the time when people who may not deal with depression normally might start feeling a little blue. So keep an eye out for for your your friends, especially if you know they've dealt with SAD or depression in the past, because this is the perfect time for it to jump back up. It's the holidays when people might be feeling sad because they don't have someone to share with in the holidays. It's the holidays where they might be missing someone that they lost, either break up with boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse or or they lost a family member or someone real important to them, you know, and they're just kind of reminiscing and remembering them during these holiday times. So keep an eye out out! for each other. That's what we're supposed to do as a community. As a community, we are to have each other's backs. It doesn't matter matter. that, you know, it maybe it's a bunch of single people. That's okay. You still I have have each other's backs just because you're not married does not mean you cannot help each other out. And we need more of that. We need less of this this. self -centered western way where we're all John Wayne's running around saying I can do everything on my my own. And we need a little bit more of, I need community to come around me when I'm hurting and for me to go around them when they're hurting. We need less of us. Of us, I'm going to build my little island over here, ignore everyone and do things on my own no matter how much the pain. And we need a little bit more. I'm broken and hurt. I don't have all the answers and I need help. Saying those Those words. words I need help are some of the hardest words people will ever speak. But they're some of the most life -giving ones they will ever speak. Now there are definitely clean ones are way more life giving in for any of you that know me, you know what I'm going to say here. You know saying, God, I believe what your son did for me was a gift. What he did on the Cross cross. was essential for me to have eternal life because it's only through the shedding of the blood and the resurrection that can have eternal life. That is purely life. of giving. That's eternally life -giving, yes. We, though, are mortal humans. And we Do do you need to learn how to? How to live a God honoring, God fearing, but also full life. And us this dealing with whatever on our own, saying, I'm not going to bother this person. I'm not going to bother these people with it. Dare I Say, say, we're stopping the mission that God may have for us because we're putting ourselves in the depression where we're not able able to... to act and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around that to those around us that need it because we still have figured out a way to mentally get healthy first. Mental health such is an important aspect be able to do everything that we do to the fullest potential and to the fullest glory for God. I'm just sorry that it's taken the church this long to realize that and to get on board with that. So for this It's to depression awareness month. Take some time to retreat, relax, and take a mental health inventory. Figure out what you need to do to get better. Or if you are good right now, what do you need to do once in a while to refresh and stay good? Sorry, This this was was a shorter episode. One that maybe is not everyone's alley and I get it. Mental health The and depression is such an important topic for me that, you know, once in a while, once in a while, I'm willing to say, you know what We we've put everything else on pause. So the fact that the recordings got destroyed is a happy, low accident or divine providence than one way of thinking about it. I'll go to the divine providence route. So stay safe and watch out for those that you care about. And make sure that they are staying safe as well and know the signs of issues with depression and mental health. Have a good one and we'll see you next week. See you tomorrow! Before you start reading, I want to sayjob to the men who decided to offer your best 어때ive products or الإерв otra lavender aud procurement