 That's right! Actor, comedian, and author Russell Brand is changing the way that we're talking about mental health. 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, I am somebody who is very, very passionate about mental health. So, if you're into that kind of stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So, this is a new series that I'm starting, alright? And I'm starting it off with Russell Brand. I just finished his book, Mentors, which I'll talk about as well as one of his other books, his podcast and all sorts of stuff. But anyways, I want to make this series because one of my main goals in life, right? Like, I have two main goals, two. Just two, right? To help as many people as possible and to change the way that we're talking about mental health. So, what I want to do is I want to showcase and discuss and create some awareness around people on this planet who are changing the way that we're talking about mental health. Some of them are going to be doctors, some of them are going to be psychologists, some of them are going to be people like Russell Brand. And I think it's important because mental health is sometimes a taboo subject, sometimes people gatekeep mental health. And I think it's important to just widen the conversation. So Russell Brand, oh my God. So like, I'll be honest with you, never a huge fan of his movies, his comedy. I've been like, this is alright. And yeah, I was first introduced to the other things that Russell Brand's doing. I believe last year, I think I started watching some of his podcast because he had on a lot of interesting people who I follow, such as meditation teachers and things like that. Then he launched his book Recovery last year. And I'll talk about that one in a second. But anyways, on Russell Brand's YouTube channel, he covers a wide range of subjects. You could tell that he's very into Buddhist philosophy, but he's also recovering at it like moi. So I really relate to him on that level. But anyways, over the weekend, I binged his book mentors. The audio book just came out. I think the actual paperback came out earlier this year, but the audio book came out. And if you're interested in Russell Brand's books, I'll link them down below. I highly recommend the audio books because Russell Brand, he is a funny dude and like he interjects that into his books. So since he narrates them, it's awesome. But anyways, the book mentors, I think the audio book was only about three hours or so. Most books are between like five and seven hours. Some can be much longer than that. But anyways, in his book mentors, like, God, I cannot tell you how important it is to have mentors. Like basically, like Russell Brand is just explaining why we all need mentors, how we could all use mentors. And he talks about the various mentors he's had throughout his life, as well as how he has become a mentor himself. So a mentor is basically somebody who passes their knowledge and wisdom on to you, right? And he talks about the various mentors he's had, first one starting out with like a 12 step sponsor. And he talks about, you know, his mentors in like Brazilian jujitsu. I think he even mentions like a therapist being a mentor and just other mentors who have helped guide him through different parts of his life or different aspects of it. And I like the way he explains it to mentors are often people who can not even necessarily pick up like the slack that our parents had. Well, some of us need that, but they can fulfill roles that our parents didn't fulfill with us. So there are many things in my life that were not taught to me, but now I have mentors. And mentors are something that I've been taking advantage of for probably the last year or so, but more specifically in the last few months. Like when I first got into 12 step programs, much like Russell Brand, like kind of like one of the, you know, ways to kind of find a mentor is find somebody who has what you want, right? And they'll teach you the steps to get there. So when it came to my recovery, I wanted somebody who had sobriety, some sanity and some serenity. Those are the only things I was looking for. And my first sponsor, boom, nailed that, right? But now as you know, I've been sober for, you know, over six years now. I've asked a few people to mentor me in different aspects, you know, some of it is with my YouTube channel, some of it is with business. Some of it is with, you know, the relationships I have in my life. Some of them are people in the mental health field where I turn to them now more than ever about, hey, do you think I should talk about this or not? Or what do you think? How do you think I could talk about this? And they're basically people who I turn to for advice. And one of the things that like Russell Brand talks about, which I can really relate to is I cannot trust this thing up here. All right. Many times, many times this thing will lie to me and I know a lot of you can relate to this. We struggle with things called cognitive distortions, right? Like our ego gets in the way, the lies our brain tells us sometimes it's negative self-talk or anxiety. You know what I mean? So a mentor is a great person to kind of guide you through these things and offer you some advice and some tips and suggestions, right? So in his book mentors, he also talks about how he started mentoring people. And this is something that I've always done since I gained some sobriety and got a little bit further. And like a mentor isn't, you know, meant to be like someone who knows everything and is perfect because perfection is something that none of us are going to achieve. That's the other thing I love about Russell Brand too is he has no problem. Like even with over a decade clean, he has no problem discussing how he is still a flawed human being and that helps keep him humble. Something I try to do is recognize like I don't know everything. I'm still learning. That's why I have mentors, you know, and like it shows that he's constantly trying to learn and constantly trying to grow and I respect the hell out of him for that. So his other book recovery that came out, I believe it was last year, phenomenal book. So if anybody out there watching this is on the fence about 12 step programs or you know somebody who is like, you got to get this book. He breaks down the 12 steps in a way that many people won't explain them to you. And when I was working at the treatment center, I recommended this book to everybody. So many people. Russell Brand, he like, he changes this 12 steps like kind of simplifies them in a funny way. There's a lot of F bombs in there too. But the thing I loved about that book too is like and how he's changing the way we talk about mental health is he talks about how everybody has a thing. Everybody has some kind of addictive thing. And he talks about how we have some kind of void inside or we're dealing with some kind of pain or not dealing with that pain rather. And we're turning to something, whether we're turning to love or sex or pornography or buying things or food. We're doing something to escape the way that we're feeling, right? And there are so many things that can cause our lives to become unmanageable. Back when I first did a full review on his book, I talked about how Russell Brand said, us drug addicts and alcoholics, we're the lucky ones because our addiction manifested in a way that you could just clearly see. And it's like, aha, there it is, work on that. But for so many other people, they're turning to a multitude of other toxic behaviors. Like, I would say the number one one that I've seen from other people who don't have a drug or alcohol addiction is love and relationships. Love and relationships constantly bouncing from one relationship to another, trying to fill a void they have inside of them. And they just keep repeating that cycle because so many of us refuse to look at ourselves. We refuse to look at what's missing within us and work on fixing that and we keep bringing other people in because we think they're going to fix us. Speaking of, there's a great standup special on Netflix from Daniel Sloss and it's called Jigsaw. Go watch it if you're questioning the relationship you're in or relationships you're about to be in. Future relationships, like go watch that standup special because a lot of it talks about that missing piece and we're trying to find someone to fill that. But anyways, let's talk about Russell Brand's YouTube channel. So like I said, he talks with a lot of meditation teachers. He talks with a lot of people who are like philosophers, people who have just different ideas about the state of the world. And like, I love it. I love it because Russell Brand is just very inquisitive and he he looks at things from kind of a philosophical angle. And I cannot stress enough to you guys how much I feel that, you know, philosophy, if you start getting into like philosophical ways of thinking, it will help your mental health. Like what so many people don't realize, like aside from chemical imbalances and genetics, which have been proven to only be a very small percentage of our mental health, so much of our mental health is based on our perspective. So many of us do not realize that our perspective is not reality. What we perceive to be true is not always true. We believe our emotions constantly. And if anything has taught us from previous experiences is that our emotions should not be trusted when we get into our emotional selves, the logical part of our brain shuts off. So when Russell Brand does his podcast under under the skin, he gets underneath these things and these root topics. The other thing I really love is he talks a lot about power dynamics, right? And this is something that I'm very fascinated with because a lot of our mental health to is dependent on these ridiculous social hierarchies that we've created, right? And it's absolutely bananas where we're constantly and this is the way I used to think is whenever I met somebody, I was constantly thinking, am I better than you or am I worse than you? Am I better than you or worse than you? I was constantly comparing myself to others to see where I was on this social hierarchy and it drove me nuts and it played into my own social anxiety. It played into my depression because I never thought I was good enough. How am I ever going to be as good as that person? So Russell Brand talks about that a lot. But anyways, anyways, if you haven't checked out his stuff yet, like go check out his YouTube channel. Like I said, I'm going to link his books down below as well as his YouTube channel. Go check it out. Go check out his podcast because Russell Brand is changing the way that we talk about mental health and I absolutely love it. Alright, but anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you're a fan of Russell Brand, let me know down in the comments below what your thoughts are, how you think he does with kind of opening up the conversation about mental health without any credentials just being a recovering addict who's on his own spiritual journey. Let me know down in the comments. Alright, but if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos and a huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You are all amazing and if you would like to become a patron, help support the channel, get some extra perks like monthly Q&As and all that stuff, click or tap right there. Alright? Thanks again so, so much for watching. I'll see you next time.