 Welcome to It's About Time on ThinkTech from our downtown studio at the core of Honolulu. I'm your host Becky Samson, a professional speaker, author, and coach. So we live in a society where we are being bombarded with so much that is causing the breakdown of the human ability to deal with stress. Most of what we stress about today wasn't in the distance a hundred years ago. You might have even pondered why the number of people struggling with suicide, addiction, and depression are at an all-time high. Today we're going to be addressing all three and what we can do to make a difference in the lives of our loved ones. Joining me on the show today is Christian Jensen, the founder of the Resolving Sad Social Movement Foundation. So today we're going to be talking about suicide, addiction, and depression and how that is affecting our society in a negative way. Welcome Christian! How are you? How are you in the cold? I know you're coming from Utah. Yeah, it's freezing. Freezing, freezing. I know. I feel really bad. I know it's a lot colder here. I mean it's a lot colder there than it is here by the ocean. So thanks for being willing to join us today on the show. Just around me. Yeah, just a little background. Christian and I actually, we used to do a radio show together. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, we did it. It was called Rain Social Radio Back. Probably how many years? Well, what is it? 12, 13 years ago maybe. Yeah, 2011. I think you were stalking me on Facebook. Yes, I was trying to figure out what you were, what you were all about. You're very interesting. Oh, you're so awesome. Well, tell everybody kind of who you are because you're amazing. I mean you do a lot of stuff and one thing I love about you and your life is I'm always looking to see what social movements you get yourself involved in and helping people with making life better. So tell everybody kind of where you came from. You actually grew up here in Hawaii in the islands. I just found out. Well, I didn't grow up there my whole life. I'm from Utah originally, but I went to Lahainaluna High School in 1982 as a sophomore in high school and loved every minute of it after the first two months of being completely harassed and almost dying every day. But I love, love, love the people and I'm a huge, huge Hawaiian in my heart. So love Hawaii. That's awesome. And so what got you, like what's your history of like how did you get into what you're doing now in being so passionate about social, you know, just helping society in the world? Well, I've always been pretty involved in protecting innocence. It kind of started back when Elizabeth Smart, I don't know if you remember the Elizabeth Smart search as most people do when she was abducted. We had a foundation at the time, a nonprofit foundation. It's a 501c3 and we donated all the computers and started up the started up all the searches for Elizabeth Smart back then and just kind of learned as we go as we went. And some really good things stemmed from that like the Amber Alert and things. So I've always been an advocate in a proponent of people just in general reaching out and doing maybe even one or 2% better every day just try to do a little more outside of their own life, you know, reach out and smile more, maybe just tell somebody that they look great. I love your glasses. I love your dress or, you know, buy somebody lunch behind you in line at lunch. I've just always been kind of a person who's been intrigued with with the results of being just simply being kind to people versus letting your own your own frustrations daily. You know, we all we're all busy. And we can all treat people like crap. We really can't. We can we can easily turn into exactly what we don't want to be. And I've always been somebody who's recognized that especially myself. Because I'm the first I can be as I can be the guy who's road raging on the road as fast as anybody. But I, you know, when you make this conscious effort inside your own head in your own heart to just take a breath before you react, that kind of thing, just miraculous things can happen when you take that one or two second beat before you react emotionally. And so I've always been that kind of a person, always trying to learn and trying to do better. And then I started having children and now we've got grandchildren. And, you know, I feel like I'm the perfect example of doing everything I said I never do as a kid. And I'd say I'm not going to say those things to my kids as a parent. But I'm I'm turned I've turned into the epitome of the of the crazy dad who just speaks his mind. Yeah. So but you also are very involved in that's one thing I love about you is you're very involved in the community. But you're also very involved in your family. And that's that's kind of where your passions come from. Absolutely. Yeah. So what got you as you know, as I kind of said in the intro, what's interesting is is that our society is, it just seems like we are so much more stressed. Why do you think that that is? I'm not somebody that likes to blame. I kind of promote when we when we have certain issues in our lives, I like to say it's my fault, even when it doesn't make sense. Even when I can't see that it's my fault. I like to just take responsibility for it. And then I find the solutions through through self accountability and responsibility. But I will say that one of the things the elements in life and the dynamic some of the dynamics in life today compared to when I was growing up, I remember the first cordless phone and the first touch button phone without the dialing, you know. So I recognize a huge disconnect. We're more we're more connected in society today than we ever have been at any other time in human history. We're connected to millions of people. Either consciously or unconsciously, we're connected. But that in itself, with these cell phones, these, they're not even phones, they're far greater than a cell phone, they're your, they're your existence, this little thing in front of your face all the time. That connection is absolutely disconnecting all of us at any real human level. And so we started this movement after after recognizing a lot of different things that were happening that were bringing people suicide rates and depression and addiction and anxiety and all these different issues. We started recognize we recognize that nobody's doing anything about it. I mean, there's a lot of great organizations trying to be boots on the ground, which we support. But we just wanted to kind of create our own unique element in that to resolve sad because the acronym suicide addiction and depression is sad. And we wanted to be a part of that a cycle that is changing out of the depression and the anxiety and all that. So the disconnect, what's keeping us disconnected is our massive ability to instantly connect. So when we when we have all of the technology that we have, and we were giving our six or six year olds their own smartphone, and just having them go out on the internet, you know, the average, the average kid, you know, like, I don't know the exact statistics, I don't have them in front of me. But, you know, by the time kids are six to eight to 10 to 12, you know, in those areas, they've seen all this porn, they've seen all these different things, you know, they they're being desensitized. It's desensitizing our, our, our youth and our young people. And it's, it's really detrimental to feel so disconnected and so connected to the wrong kind of stuff at such fundamental times in their life when they should be being nurtured by parenting. So the lack of parenting, the lack of, you know, and I'm speaking in general terms, this is what I see, I see that the lack of parenting, the lack of spending quality time without cell phones, without computers, without technology, one on one connections with children, first and foremost. And I know when you, when you and I first talked about this several years ago, you know, because I've been in addiction recovery for what? Oh, 12 years almost now. I love that you brought up that it's disconnection, right? Disconnection from support, disconnection from the things that matter, our values and our ethics, and those kind of things that keep us in the addiction, but also the depression and isolation that ends up with suicide. So I, yeah, and how did you, I mean, I know that sometimes it's our passions about things are driven by our pain. Have you had experiences with people in your life or you personally with any of those? Those Absolutely. Issues. Well, my, I'll give you one, one story with my daughter, she's 23 now, you know her, Sydney. These are this beautiful young woman now and incredibly strong, been through a lot. When her mother and I were going through a divorce, when she was eight years old, it hit hard and fast. And without all the details, just to make a long story short, she she ended up hanging herself around her neck with a belt in her closet at eight years old. And we found out about this later. We weren't even home. And she told us about it a few years, a few years later, and it just dropped my whole, my whole everything just dropped to the ground when I heard it. And the hanger broke. So she hit, hit the floor, and then realized, man, that hurt and that I was scary and I shouldn't be doing that. But so I, that started some when I first heard that story from her, I started thinking about some things and realizing started looking at the news and watching, looking at the things that the news wasn't sharing with us. And some of the things that I was finding that were just insane. I mean, there's so much anxiety in young people today. Anxiety like panic attacks, every other day, they're just they they'll call, you know, my daughter was calling me at 15 years old from school, failing out of school because of social pressures. Like, I've just found out my friend had had 30 likes on one post she did in 10 minutes. You know, when you and I, I couldn't believe it what I was hearing. When you and I did the rain social radio many, many years ago, I mean, we talked a lot about social media, but even in this 10 years, so much has changed with people feeling like I have to compare myself with somebody else. And then that does create this anxiety of like, I'm not good enough, or I'm not, why do they post and they seem so successful and happy and with a smile on their face. And I'm miserable inside. And I think that that's really hitting our teens. It's also hitting the adults. And I would even say it's even hitting grandparents, right? It's hitting everybody. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, it's everywhere. I mean, and then you've got, you know, you have these, you have, you just have so many different dynamics that we have to deal with in socially speaking. And that's why we started this movement, you know, it's still the movement's still in process. And it's in a concept development stage, but we're still out there. So we hope people pay attention to it. By the way, I'm going to plug it a little bit if I it's resolving suicide addiction and depression page on Facebook. And on Instagram, it's resolving sad. And we have a resolving sad.com is the website. And so, you know, we want to promote more exposure to more abilities to connect humanly, telling stories, telling things about, you know, that we I just talked to a mom of a 33 year old boy, her boy took his life he who left who left his own kids and he he took his own life. And she she said she didn't have to breathe. She hadn't taken a breath in a year. And she saw one of my videos. Thank goodness. And she it inspired her and she she got a hold of me and wanted to go live and tell her story. So that those that's just a simple thing that we can do is just share each other's stories and hold each other's hands and share those stories and reach out and and just become boots on the ground ourselves. Yeah, which in turn, resolves our depression and the things that we're going through because we're actually in the service of even total strangers. Yeah. So it's a good lesson to be learned. We've got to take a quick break. Okay, I want you to return and talk more about this of why we're passionate and really what can we do when we see signs of people that are struggling with that? Yeah, we come back from the break. Okay, so we're going to take a short break. I'm Becky Samson and this is it's about time on Think Tech Hawaii. We're talking to my dear friend Christian Jensen about suicide, addiction, and depression. So stay tuned. We'll be right back. I'm J. Fidel of Think Tech. Our flagship energy show among the six energy shows we have is Hawaii, the state of clean energy. It plays every Wednesday at 4pm. Come around and see us. Learn about energy. Keep current on energy on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Hello, everyone. I'm Christine Linders and this is Think Tech Hawaii. My show is Movement Matters and this is a show brought to you to talk about how to get rid of things like your low back pain, scoliosis, TMJ dysfunction, ankle sprains, pretty much anything that you can do with your body or hurt your body. I am here to bring to you the cutting edge strategies that you can do right now easily on your own to help get out of pain and get back to doing what you love. Life is better when you listen to your physical therapist. Tune in Tuesdays at 11am every other week for Movement Matters. Aloha. Hi, we're back and I'm Becky Samson and this is it's about time. I'm talking with my very dear friend Christian Jensen about suicide, addiction, and depression. Welcome back, Christian. I know this is, I apologize for going into the break. It's such an important part because we were talking about suicide and people that see signs, right? Because that suicide is going up. I don't know what the statistics is, but suicide, addiction, it just seems to all be coming to a head. And I want to really talk to you specifically because you have experienced it, but also like that lady that had just reached out to you. What are some of the signs that we should be looking for if there's people in our lives or even if we're feeling that way? Because I've had moments in my life that I was suicidal as well and I think I've talked to you about it before. It's just, it's an overwhelming feeling and I want to be able to provide some good stuff for the listeners and the people that are watching. What should we look for? It's interesting because there used to be, you always think there's signs to look for and there really aren't always signs. It's actually rare that there are actual signs to be looking for, but if you do see obvious signs like the typical perfect example is the kid that's always bullied in high school as a teenager or even younger. If a kid in high school or in younger ages of school, if they notice somebody that doesn't have any friends and they're sitting alone at lunch and they're being teased, that's a pretty good sign that that child, that person is going to be a little left out and it's just pretty common sense you'd think, but it's not always the case and then that's really what Resolving SAD is about. It's about promoting, reach out when you see that, when you see those signs, reach out and do something. A smile in a grocery store line and say, hey, you look great to somebody who looks sad, but look, it doesn't always have to, it can be the same issue with people who look like they've got it all together. They're driving to the United States and they've got everything going. Yeah. I was going to say to you, I was just about to say that we never know that when we smile at somebody, whether they look like they're having a good day or not, if it's going to make a difference. It's the same thing when you are very good at doing videos and sharing your stories as you were talking about before the break and you never know who's watching those and who's going to reach out to you for the help, but also I would love to have you talk about too, because I know for me, the signs for me is when I want to isolate and when I don't want to reach out for help. That's when I need to learn to reach out and say, hey, I'm not doing well right now. And to be able to have the courage to do that and know that you're heading down that direction because right, that can be a sign in itself. Just like when you're in that state of mind, when you go out into public or you get online or anything, no one's going to know. They're going to think, oh, man, she's got it together. When people look at me and they think I've got this perfect life, I've got this perfect marriage, I got this perfect family, because you know what, I don't want to share the crap. I don't. I don't want to make this world the worst place. I want to make it a better place. So I choose to do my best to share the good moments, the good things that are happening and keep the positive vibe out there. But we need to put a disclaimer on what I just said there we need to we need to realize the reality behind the perfect person, the perfect life, the perfect business, the perfect everything. There is no such thing. Stop comparing yourself to anyone else. Yeah, redefining perfect because it's it is. I mean, the same thing. I know you experiences just like I do because people look at my life on Facebook and think, oh, my gosh, Becky's living in Hawaii and everything's perfect and everything's great. And she's in the ocean every day. You know, doing the TV show stuff. And it's it is not. Look, that's something that I've realized about life is that every single person struggles. Every single person feels stress. Every single person has to deal with a different level of stress. And the thing that for me at least, that has helped the greatest is to have a team of people in my life that I know will love and trust me regardless of who I'm being at that moment that I can reach out and say, right, I need you to remind me who I am because right now I'm I'm a little crazy in my head and life seems a little overwhelming for me. And and that's what drove me to my addiction. And my addiction was food addiction. But I always tell people when it comes to addiction, it doesn't matter what the addiction is, it's us trying to escape from the reality of what is and the emotions that we're feeling. We don't know what to do with them. So it's yeah, so how can people kind of get involved in this movement that you're doing? What can we do to help? How can we like one of the things you talked about is telling our stories, which I really try to tell mine as truthful and honest as I can. Without I don't I'm not into the drama either. I don't think it's our job to just throw up. But I think it's important to be transparent. But what are some it is important? It's healing. Yeah, it's healing. Yeah, when you can be honest and transparent, you know, you don't have to be honest and transparent transparent doesn't mean that you have to tell everything. Yeah, it just means you get the line off your back, you know, it really does help when when we can feel feel enough strength, not necessarily comfortable, but strength to decide to be transparent and share, you know, get get everything off your back. And so like just like that beautiful woman, Chris, who called in, if you go to resolving sad suicide addiction and depression Facebook page, you can scroll down and see her video with me. And, you know, she was just so grateful to be able to be heard. And it just a year of not breathing after your son takes his own life is she just she's thanked me and thanked me and thanked me. And it's it isn't about me. It's just I'm just providing a platform on a platform that I don't even own. I just started a page. Why don't I'd suggest if you if you have an idea to be part of a solution, go start your own platform or jump if you don't want to start a platform and take it that deep, jump on resolving sad anytime and just share your video. Ask if you can have a one on one live conversation with me or a pre recorded conversation so I can edit all the good pieces together. So when I put it up there, it can be perfect. Yeah, because a lot of people are insecure and don't and don't want to necessarily be live and they're not as vulnerable as you and me. And so or crazy, right? I think it's good though. Yeah, but I love what you just said is we've got to start sharing our stories. I think that's something in the last couple years, you know, through social media. But I think it's appropriate to be able to like, for instance, let me give you an example. There was I don't know Christian, if you saw that Facebook live I did a few weeks ago where I was literally drowning emotionally from all the stress in my life with school coming back to school after 23 years. Oh yeah, yeah. And I I mean, I was in near tears just going I don't know if I can do this like I really almost gave up. But you know what was amazing because I was so vulnerable and honest about that. I had I don't know if you saw the response on that people like but you can do it. I know you can. And please know that if you're suffering. Again, I don't believe in just totally throwing up on people, but be real and say hey, this is what I'm struggling with and and be willing to ask for that help doesn't have to be social media. It can be just somebody a private friend or something like that. But but get out of isolation. That's where addiction is that's where depression is. And it's it it literally eats away at you, right? You know, I have this saying that I think I heard it from someone before and I can't find it. I don't know where it originally came from. But it's just it's simple. And it helped me when I was going through a real, real deep, dark place where I was I did not want to be here. And I've all been there. Yeah, and I so I it's the phrase is very simple. And it was very it put something something permanently in perspective in my world. And it's what you think of me is none of my business. Yeah. Isn't that it's pretty you can take that in so many ways. What you think of me is none of my business. How many likes I have how many views I have is none of your business. What you what you think what you actually think is none of my business. So so that that is it freed me up. Yeah. Instantly when I really took that to heart. And what what, you know, what I think of them. It's the same way. Yeah. So if everybody could have that perspective with respect, you know, with common sense, we'd have close to a perfect world. We wouldn't find ourselves being so depressed so quickly over nothing. Yeah, people are getting depressed and getting in experiencing anxiety at these ultra levels, like never before never. And all because of technology, the facade of a false sense of securities day in and day out nonstop 24 seven 365. And it's just we're our minds are just overwhelmed with too much information in and out and being entered to having an entertainment value at whether it's media or literal entertainment. It's we have that entertainment value in our face, whether we want it or not, constantly. And so we do we can put our phone down. We can get off the screen. We can go to the gym with no music playing in our we can go for a hike. And believe it or not, you can even go on a hike without your cell phone. Yeah, you don't have to have your cell phone, you can go on a hike if you're allowed. Yeah. How healing that is. I know we are just about out of time and I want to make sure people know how to get involved in what you're doing because you've got a couple things you've got you've got your CBD oil that I've I've tried. It's amazing. And you've also got the the movement and that's you're tying both of those together. So really quickly and like 30 seconds, 45 seconds, tell me tell me how those connect and how they can get up. Yeah, so we we started a byproduct of this movement is a our own. It's called phyloids. It's phyloa is a Samoan phrase meaning do it or do you just don't hesitate. Don't think go. Yeah. And it's a we have a CBD water soluble, highly absorbable certified pharmaceutical grade CBD, which is super young started our own company to support the movement. And so this this, even in the pamphlet there, it's resolving sad. We hope people will go to the Facebook page and the Instagram and follow us. We're just starting out. We don't probably don't even have 100 people. But we we the concepts being developed for about three years now in concept. And we're working with, you know, we're jumping on with people like we just talked to Sylvester Stallone and and a couple of weeks ago and I love the concept and a lot of influencers. So we'd love all the support we can get. And then if you want to buy the product, just go to phyloa.com and phyloa.com. Try it and resolving sad. We did CBD because of one thing. It absolutely if you're if it's a real product, which we can control and verify and guarantee a lot of products out there don't even have any CBD in it. So we wanted to control our own. So that's about it. Well, thank you so much, Kristen. You are a dear, dear friend. We've been on this crazy journey together. So thanks for for coming on today and sharing your wisdom and thank you for what you do to help and support other people that are struggling in their life. So thank you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. We're out of time and we're going to have to wrap that up. I'm Becky Sampson with It's About Time on the Think Tech live streaming network series. We've been talking to my dear friend Christian Jensen about suicide addiction and depression. And just know that there is help out there. If that's something that you struggle with. So thanks for joining us today. And thank you to our broadcast engineer, our floor manager and a J Fidel, our executive producer who makes the show possible. And of course, I'll see you on Wednesdays for more of It's About Time on Think Tech. I'm Becky Sampson. Mahalo, everybody.