 Yeah, so like most people today, I just read the disgusting blog post from Alec Haloka's former partner Scott Benson, and it is so disgusting. What we're going to be talking about today is how everybody wants to be a mental health advocate and raise mental health awareness until they have to deal with somebody who has a mental illness. What's up everybody? This is Chris from the Reward Soul, where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, what I try to do is take different topics going on in the community and try to see what lessons we can learn from them. And something I am very, very passionate about is mental health. Not only have I overcame my own struggles, which I'll discuss a little bit in this video, but I have worked in the field for a little over three years now. But I've been clean and sober for seven years and I've been working on my certified alcohol and drug counseling license, but you'll learn more about that later. Anyways, if you're into this stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and do me a favor. Do me a favor and share this video because I see this happen all of the time. And even though we're making great strides forward to talk about mental health issues, it seems like we're living in the dark ages and it just, it blows my mind. So yeah, we're going to be talking about the blog post from Scott Benson, Alex, former partner. I'm going to link it down below. I'm not going to go through this. This dude wrote way too much and it's just absolutely ridiculous. Long story short, he's writing about how awful a person was who just committed suicide and had a mental illness, a history of mental illness that this dude acknowledges. So check this out. If you just came here to listen to me rant about Scott Benson or talk about Zoey Quinn being an awful person, you're in the wrong place. While I am going to discuss how awful some of this stuff going on is, I'm going to be sharing some of my personal experience because listen, you guys, so many people are watching this and you're not learning a damn thing from it. All right? Like we need to look at this and learn about it because here's the thing. There are people in your life right now struggling with a mental illness and you're acting like Scott Benson. All right? So many of us do this because here's the thing, when it comes to mental illness, everybody just wants to talk about the light and fluffy mental illnesses, right? Like everybody wants to believe that, oh yeah, I'm a mental health advocate when what they really mean is I don't mind talking to a friend who's going through a bout of depression. All right? Like this dude, Scott Benson, talked about how he knew Alec had mood disorders because Scott Benson had them as well, right? Also, Alec's sister came out talking about personality disorders, like you guys, the way we treat people with personality disorders is absolutely discussing. So Alec's sister opened up about how Alec not only struggled with personality disorders, but he was also a victim of abuse. And like here's the thing that we need to take into consideration, all right? So many people, so many people, like if you look it up, the statistics of people who are in prison, right? Or the people who are just, you know, people who are emotionally abusive from relationships, which doesn't mean it's an excuse. But these people were abused in their life, right? And the most we can ask for these people is when they're an adult, that they go out and they get help. And that's what pisses me off about this story. Every single thing I hear about who Alec was before he took his own life was he was working on it, all right? He even apologized to Zoe Quinn, okay? But there are more mental illnesses than just anxiety and depression. Because here's the thing, I guarantee all the people like Scott Benson, all the people talking crap about Alec and his history, these are all people who say that they're mental health advocates and, you know, believe survivors and all this. But here's the thing, they pick and choose. So one thing that I want to talk about that Scott Benson brings up, and this is something that I see happen all the time on the internet. All the time, hell, you can look at what just happened to Etika, all right? And here's what it is. If you're making suicidal threats, you're an annoyance. But once you commit suicide, then we feel bad. Like, hi, that's how it starts, all right? Like people who are mentally ill do talk about committing suicide and they need help. The problem is that most people don't know what to do, right? So many people say, oh, they're just doing it for attention. To see this guy, to see this guy write a blog post talking about how a man who just committed suicide used to threaten committing suicide blows my mind, all right? And I hope you guys are following me here. When people threaten suicide, they're an annoyance. But once somebody commits suicide, we all just feel bad. Now, some of you who are just meeting me, hi, sorry for being so amped up, but you're wondering why I'm so passionate about this topic. So like I mentioned, I am seven years clean and sober. I have struggled with mental illness most of my life. I had a traumatic childhood being raised by an alcoholic mother. And let me tell you this, I am living proof that people can grow and change. And when I see the disgusting things that people are saying about this guy, Alec, it makes me sick to my stomach, all right? I was talking with one of my friends today who's been following this story as well. And like he's known me since before I ever picked up a drink or a drug. He was my roommate during my addiction. And I'm like, could you imagine, could you imagine, like, let's say I died. Let's say I died clean, sober. I've been this clean, sober guy for seven years. Now let's say I died tomorrow. Now imagine a bunch of people just coming out with all their stories about who I used to be in my act of addiction, right? Like what the hell? Like you guys, just for the purpose of this video, I have no problem opening up about this stuff. I used to be an awful human being. I used to lie, cheat, steal. I would buy drugs instead of food for my son or instead of clothes, all right? I would steal from my own mother, okay? I did awful, terrible things. I wasn't a good boyfriend. I'm sure, I'm sure in blackouts and things like that, I was what you would call emotionally and verbally abusive. And on the other hand, I also dated women who were emotionally and verbally. Some of them were even physically abusive towards me, right? Because I was messed up in the head for a very long time, okay? Not only that, but I was also so depressed and so suicidal. I was the type of person who would threaten suicide and help all these ups and downs and issues with my emotions bouncing all over the place. One day I love you, one day I hate you, all right? But it's been seven years and I am miles away from the person that I used to be. So the question I want everybody to ask themselves out there is this. Like, who deserves redemption? Who deserves forgiveness? Okay, like, I've been clean and sober for seven years. My beautiful girlfriend sitting behind me, she's never seen me drunk or high. My son, who is ten years old now, I got sober when he was three years old, doesn't remember me drunk or high. But could you imagine if people were still holding that stuff over my head? Or you imagine? Like, I sit here and I see what happened to Alec. And I'm like, oh, wow, Chris, like maybe you've become successful and you start, you know, going around speaking about mental health and addiction recovery. And then some asshole from your past comes out and tries to ruin you for things you did back in your addiction. And thank God I have the tools necessary to handle it now. You know what I mean? So when I see this post, like, I look at what Scott Benson posts. I'm just like, what was your motive? What was your goal? What were you trying to accomplish here? Like, the only thing I can think when I'm reading that, I'm like, are you trying to explain to the world that, you know, it's a good thing that this man who was working on himself took his life? Like, what was the end game, right? Here's the thing. I have compassion for Scott Benson, all right? And like, I, sorry I giggled. Somebody left a stupid comment the other day like, oh, this guy's a gamer now. Like, oh man, like I have a pretty extensive gaming history. But anyways, like here's the thing. Like a lot of us, a lot of people, like in gaming, but not even just in gaming, like we suck at having social skills. You know what I mean? And I look at Scott Benson. I'm like, what are you doing? Are you trying to impress people? Are you trying to like get like, you know, a new significant other by saying, oh, look, look at me and look who I, what I stand for and everything like that. But like I said, the thing that disgusts me is everybody who's on that side who's like celebrating the loss of Alec, I guarantee every single one of them tries to talk like they're a mental health advocate. But they're only a mental health advocate if you have one of the good mental illnesses. If you have a good mental illness that doesn't make you angry or upset or anything like that. All right. Again, this isn't to excuse anybody's behavior. Those of you who know me, who have been around my channel for a while, I'm a huge advocate of personal responsibility. Seven years ago, I had to realize that I could no longer use my past as an excuse to continue being a dick. And that's why I work so hard on my mental health. But I see somebody like Alec who was working on this, right? He was working on this. He was trying to apologize to the people he heard in the past, much like me and a bunch of other drug addicts and alcoholists who have recovered. But you have someone like Alec who wasn't an addict, but he was trying to better his life. And you see these people just crapping all over him, all right? So when you go out there and you say that you're all pro mental health, think about what that really means, all right? If you need to, like when I'm reading Scott Benson's blog post, like, let's talk about this for a few minutes. I was going to end the video, but give me a minute. All right. Here's the thing. This is why we need to talk more about mental health. Learn how to set boundaries, okay? Like, listen, I feel sorry. I feel sorry for many people who, you know, if you're like, you know, the employee of a boss is a jerk and stuff. And if that was a traumatizing experience or whatever it is, but learn how to set boundaries, all right? Like that's something that I can speak about from experience. I used to get in the most toxic relationships. I used to let people walk all over me and talk down on me and just belittle me and everything like that. And now, since I've developed some self-love and self-worth, I don't allow people to treat me like that, all right? So although the other person might be mentally ill, you have the choice to walk away. If you are in any type of abusive relationship, reach out and get help. There are resources everywhere. If you don't know what to do, shoot me a DM. I'm on Twitter and Instagram at the Rewired Soul. I will help you, all right? But what I've realized working with literally thousands of people is a lot of people do not leave abusive relationships out of fear. And it's not even necessarily fear of being physically harmed, but it's financial fear, right? Like, oh, well, how am I going to afford this? How am I going to afford that and all that stuff? And that's when we just got to look within ourselves and check our priorities. But if you are in a situation like this, seek help. There are so many resources. And maybe if you're not very good at setting up boundaries, seek out therapy. Talk with a therapist. Because sometimes we are just too much of people-pleasers or we're codependent, right? And we have to learn to break away from toxic people. Like, I'm not saying that anybody should have stayed around Alec longer than they should have, right? But people should have left, all right? Like, that's what we need to do. We need to set up those boundaries. So like, for example, if you're single and looking to get in a relationship, if you start noticing the frickin' red flags, get the hell out of there, all right? Man. Anyways, like, this whole thing has just got me wild up and just try to think about compassion, forgiveness, mental health, mental illness, setting up boundaries. Like, learn from what just happened, okay? A man is dead. The internet is fighting over ridiculous stuff and not even realizing how so many people involved, so many people on Twitter blaming Zoe Quinn, blaming these other people. You're treating people in your life with mental illness absolute garbage. We need to check in with ourselves on that, all right? We don't get to pick and choose. Oh, okay, I'll deal with this nice mental illness, all right? Anyways, I'm done ranting, all right? But that's all I got for this video. Again, please share it. Please share this video. And like, we gotta get our ass together, all right? But if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You're all amazing. And thank you to everybody else who supports the channel by getting merch or buying my books and all that kind of stuff, all right? Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.