 Do you smell that? It is a breath of fresh air, all right? So something that I'm regularly thinking about is how I and many others, we need to be proactive about our mental health rather than reactive about our mental health. And Morgan Adams just made an awesome video about her battle with depression and what she's doing to work on it and overcome it. And there's so much that we can learn from her video. What is up, everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health. So if you're someone like me who is actively trying to improve your mental and emotional wellbeing, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell, all right? So we're gonna be talking about depression and it's something that I was diagnosed with many years ago and most of the time, most of the time it's under control but it comes and goes and I get into these funks and everything like that. And it's one of the reasons why I try to remember on a daily basis, every single day, I need to do something for my mental health. So that's why I love when YouTubers like Morgan Adams make a video being open and honest and vulnerable about their own mental health because it's a little bit of a reminder like, yo Chris, what are you doing for your mental health? So we're gonna start off with this clip right now in this beautiful analogy that Morgan Adams made because I love me some analogies. It's a bit, about a minute and a half so bear with me because it's worth it. So I'm gonna explain this to you in the best way that I possibly can, all right? So picture me in a restaurant, all right? Here's my little chef hat. This is my restaurant. Screw all the things that are behind me. This is my restaurant. Don't get it twisted. This is my mixing bowl and I'm gonna make a big Morgan pie, all right? So I'm thinking about what I'm gonna put in my pie. I'm like, all right, a little bit of depression, a lot of social anxiety. All right, 50 pounds. All right, it's getting pretty hard to stir but we're still gonna stir it and we're still gonna try to bake. And then, oh my God, your manager hired another chef. So the other chef walks in and you're like, dude, get away from my pie. And he's like, oh my God, what are you making? And I'm like, I'm stirring. And he's like, can I add some ingredients? I'm like, no, I have enough ingredients. Get the away from me. And he's like, oh my God, I know exactly what this pie needs to just make it burn and suffer. And he's like, all right, I have the perfect ingredients for what I wanna do to this pie because this is not gonna be on the five-star food list. I'm telling you that. And he's like, all right, here, up here, this is the other chef, not me. Obviously, I would never self-saffotage my own pie. What does this look like? And he's like, this is a bunch of comments of people telling you that you're fat and ugly. And he just takes a big load of that and he's like, put it in the pie. And I'm like, I can't stir anymore. And then my spoon breaks and I can't stir anymore. So I'm like, oh my God, what the f*** am I supposed to do now? I don't have a spoon. So how am I supposed to make my pie? Right? Like how many of us can relate to that? Just one thing and another thing and another thing. And then when we think that we can't hold anymore, boom, something else comes in. And then at that point, we are in this terrible mental state. So I know that I can personally definitely relate to what Morgan Adams is saying. It's kind of like that analogy that they make about the frog in the boiling water, right? And it starts out at room temperature and it's just going up one degree at a time. And then next thing you know, you are just melting and boiling and everything is just going to hell, right? So something that's helped me out with this a lot is practicing mindfulness. Like I cannot tell you how important it is to just give mindfulness a try, okay? Because being mindful, it helps us train ourselves to be aware of what's happening in the present moment. So the way it's benefited me is because I catch it sooner rather than later, right? Like rather than, you know, just having this full on like mental break like I used to, like I catch it in the beginning and saying like, oh, okay, something, something is going on here, okay? Like something that I've been trying to remind myself on a regular basis is like our feelings, our emotions, all of that, every one of our mood states, they are a call to action to do something, right? Like we oftentimes judge our emotions as good or bad, but if we think of them more as like this kind of little alarm system like, yo, you need to do something, it helps us start doing something before it gets to this like terrible point, right? So although sometimes I do not know what's going on, it is far less than it used to be. I started noticing like, yo, yo, yo, something's off right now. I gotta do something about it. That's exactly what happened with Morgan Adams and she took some action. But for those of you who are in addiction recovery, like myself, this is even more important. Like looking back at my old relapses and then also working with many other people who struggle with addiction, it is that slow buildup, right? Like a relapse doesn't just happen. When you look back and you analyze the previous weeks or months, that relapse was building up. It was this chain of events. But for those of us in recovery, when we're not working on our sobriety, it can feel like it just came out of nowhere. But when we're actively in therapy or working a 12 step program or any type of introspection, we start catching it before it's too late. Take a step back and I'm gonna check myself and I'm gonna look at myself internally and be like, okay, what needs to change because I can no longer live like this. I just wanna be a happy chef that makes happy fricking pies and as a lion at the door of everyone waiting for my iconic cherry pie. But you kinda have to do some digging. You have to really dig for the recipe inside of you. This is what quarantine has done to me. I love that. I love that right there. Like when we can just pause, like Morgan Adams is saying, like when we can just pause and ask ourselves like, why do I feel this way? Like what is going on? So we're gonna talk about therapy in a second but there's this amazing book that I'm rereading again for the second time. It's called Good Reasons for Bad Feelings. It's the evolutionary psychology behind depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, addiction, all that stuff. But anyways, they talk about this fundamental attribution error where sometimes we see it from this like really far back picture of like, oh, depression, oh, you know, this can be fixed by medications and medications are very helpful. But we need to start looking and saying like, why does this happen? When did it start? What was the root of this? Was it a breakup? Was it a job loss? Was it something stressful in your life that's been going on for a while? So we get in there and we really ask ourselves like, what is going on? For me personally, something that's helped me out a lot is writing, journaling, right? Talking about what I'm feeling and then kind of like retracing my steps and being like, there it is. Now I have something to work on. So thankfully with the guidance of things such as therapy, working out every day, relearning how to take care of my body, not eating chicken fingers for every meal, add in a little bit of antidepressants in there. I, for the first time, am ready to make pies again. I never thought I would say this in my entire life. You are just as surprised as I am right now because this is like crazy for me, all right? Because I'm gonna say it, I don't wanna jinx it but I'm gonna say it. I am saying with me mentally stable. The reason why I love that clip right there is because I look at this and I talk about it all the time. I look at it as the mental health menu, all right? So imagine going to a restaurant and getting a menu, like and you're hungry, you are starving. You don't gotta pick everything on the menu, especially if you're a picky eater, but if you wanna not be hungry anymore, you gotta pick something. So Morgan Adams right there, she's talking about how she did a slew of things, right? She did therapy, exercise, eating better, antidepressants, all these different things. Because when we started looking at this menu, then we could start mixing some ingredients. You know what I'm saying? We find the things that work for us. Like too many of us, when we look at different things that could help our mental health, we're like not gonna do that, not gonna do that, not gonna do that, I get it, especially when we get that into that negative mindset, right? But when we start saying, okay, but I would be willing to try that, okay? And these are all amazing things that Morgan Adams is doing. First, let's talk about antidepressants. That is a great place to start for some people. Typically, just because I'm a recovering pill addict, typically I try to encourage practicing holistic methods before jumping right into medications. I am on a medication, no shade against medications, right? But sometimes they can have some side effects, but medications are a great thing to at least try because they can get you to a baseline, right? Like if you struggle with even getting out of bed in the morning, like sometimes an antidepressant can get you that motivation you need just to get out and start doing something. You know what I'm saying? So don't be afraid to give medications a try. And just like everything else, if they're not working for you, scrap them, all right? Therapy, therapy, therapy, therapy, therapy. Sometimes it's difficult for us to analyze our situation to see what is actually going on? What is the root cause of what is happening? But depending on what you're struggling with, sometimes you just need to process it. And I hate to say it, like I love my friends, love my family members, but sometimes talking with them doesn't help me progress and move forward. And it's not their fault. They are not trained professionals, so I have a therapist, right? So therapy is a great tool to utilize because not only do they help you get to the root of the issue, but they will also provide you with tools to help you get out of it and maintain good mental health. And then Morgan starts talking about exercise and eating better. Like, ugh, okay. Exercise is one of the best things that you could do for your mental health. I know while quarantining it seems like you can't, but you can go for walks, okay? There are things that you could do inside of your house, even if it's five or 10 minutes of watching a yoga video or whatever it is, and eating better, okay? Because aside from exercise, one of the best things that you can do for depression is getting better sleep, okay? And some of the junk that we put in our body, and trust me, baby, I know about putting junk in your body, all right? But eating better will also help with your sleep as well as exercise, okay? And when you get good sleep, your symptoms of depression aren't as bad. There is so much scientific evidence that backs this up for both exercise and good sleep. And then there's a lot of research that's starting to come out around gut health when it comes to depression. Like, there are neurotransmitters in your gut, all right? Like serotonin, so your belly can affect your mind. So eating better will be helpful. And a great place to start is trying to limit processed foods and junk food and things like that. I have my dear, dear, dear friend. This is my hoodie. Almost like the sister that I never wanted. For my personal life story, I am calling 2019 and 2018 and possibly 2017. My breakdown year, and this, my friends, is my breakdown hoodie. I had my first scandal in this hoodie. I got my heart broken in this hoodie. I got scammed by a psychic in this hoodie. I've cried in a bathtub in this hoodie. I gained 50 pounds in this hoodie. This was like my personality, all right? But we're gonna spare the glasses because they didn't do anything wrong. In 2020, obviously, like after the whole quarantine, we are actively choosing happiness. And I also fit into my clothes again, so here we are at 10 o'clock on a Saturday in self-quarantine 2020. Mm, right there, right there. I love that, I love that line. Actively choosing happiness. So an amazing psychologist out there, her name is Carol Dweck, okay? She wrote a book called Mindset, but she's famous for her work around mindsets, okay? And she breaks it down into basically two mindsets, fixed mindset and growth mindset, okay? And this is so important for our mental health. Like, you hear like, oh, you just gotta fix your mindset. You gotta fix your mindset, bro. But there's actually so much science behind this. So a fixed mindset is believing this is how I am. This is the way it's gonna be. Nothing is ever going to change. By the way, that's false, that's incorrect. So if you believe that, like, do some research because that's what I had to do. The more I read, one of the reasons I read so many books is I'm like, oh, and it changes my perspective on my mental health, but then there's a growth mindset. The idea that you can actively participate in your life to improve your circumstances, all right? And a lot of the studies that Carol Dweck did was with elementary school students, okay? Like fixed mindset, like, oh, I can't become more intelligent. I can't become a hard worker, right? That is a fixed mindset. But when children are encouraged to believe that when they put in the work, they can improve themselves, they do a lot better. So this brings up a whole other subject, but encourage your friends, encourage people around you. It's something that I try to do with my son as well. But remind people and remind yourself that if you put in the work, things can get better, all right? So then Morgan Adams discusses this sweatshirt that has been in her life, and it's kind of this like reminder of a bad time in her life. And she was gonna burn it, but due to current quarantine circumstances, she couldn't do that. She does a hilarious kind of ceremony and prints out pictures of like Shane Dawson and her brother Ryland and Andrew and Garrett Watts. And I think her cat, or was that Cheeto? I don't know, right? But she doesn't burn it, but she tosses it. But this is actually a great therapeutic tool. This is something that a lot of therapists do. The therapists at the rehab I was working at, they would do this with clients, where they would like write a letter to someone or something, right? And then burn that sucker or get rid of it or whatever it was. In 12 step programs, this is a fifth step, okay? It's all this pent up just nastiness that's inside of us. It's like this mental health detox. It's this cleanse, right? And the fifth step is about dumping all that stuff that's been holding you back and laying down on you your entire life, right? And there's still some residual. Like don't get me wrong. There's still stuff from my childhood and past and everything like that that gets to me sometime. But being able to get rid of it and like just put it out there and discuss it with another person or whatever it is, it really helps your mental state. And you could do this too. Like if there is something that is, you know, just always in your visual space that is a reminder of a bad time, like get rid of it, man. Like it is such a freeing experience. And a lot of times we don't want to like, you know, we have this kind of hoarder mentality like, oh, I can't lose that. I can't, you know, forget about that and everything like that. But it is one of the most therapeutic things that you could do. All right, but anyways, this video is a little bit longer than I expected but I appreciate Morgan Adams for opening up and sharing her experience, especially in a time like now, like a lot of people need this kind of story to help give them some hope, as well as give people like ideas of what they can do for their own mental health. That's why I like breaking these videos down and discuss my own experience and some of the research I've done and everything like that. So do me a favor, down in the comments below, let me know what has helped you with your depression, what steps have you taken, that mental health menu, what things do you choose off of that menu, which ingredients do you use that help improve your mental health because by sharing that down in the comments below, maybe you'll be helping somebody else. All right, but anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody who supports the channel over on Patreon, as well as everybody who buys my mental health books at therewiredsoul.com slash shop and make sure you go over there and use code Rewired for 25% off any of my eBooks or audio books. All right, thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.