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Happy Monday and welcome to your
mental health mini this. 

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Week is. 
A solo and we are talking all 

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things. 
Depression. 

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I wanted to share a couple of 
things about depression, and 

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these are kind of like insights 
that I now have that I didn't 

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have when I was struggling. 
But if you're struggling, if you

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relate to this, I think they'll 
be really helpful to hear. 

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So the first thing is that 
depression, a lot of the time, 

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when we look at it from a 
psychology perspective, when we 

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look at the research, when we 
look at how people talk about 

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their experiences, at least part
of the time it's about a wrongly

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pessimistic outlook. 
That was true for me. 

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I believed that I would be 
forever depressed for the rest 

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of my life. 
I was constantly looking for 

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circumstantial evidence that I 
wasn't good enough, that I was 

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unlovable, that my life sucked. 
And I found that because that 

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was all I was looking for, that 
pessimistic outlook added to my 

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mood. 
And so in general, when we can 

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get out of that pessimistic 
outlook, that's not necessarily 

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accurate. 
Things usually are or will be 

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better than they seem right now 
in this moment. 

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So if you're struggling, if 
you're at that extreme low, if 

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you're unconsciously looking for
all of that circumstantial 

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evidence that supports what 
you're feeling, I promise you 

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that things are better or they 
will be better than they seem 

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right now in this current 
moment. 

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The next thing is that when we 
look at emotions across your 

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lifespan, when we look at the 
research that's been done there,

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how people rate their joy, their
feelings of like living their 

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life worth living, people are 
happier across time just in 

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general, their happiness tends 
to trend upward over time. 

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So if you're at your extreme low
right now, if you're like, 

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things cannot get worse. 
I hate my life in general. 

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The trend is that that will 
change, things will get better. 

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They have to. 
And one mantra that I really 

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love is that life is impermanent
and that impermanence will be on

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your side. 
So even though you might be at 

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an extreme emotional low right 
now, you might be suffering. 

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No emotion, nothing in life is 
constant. 

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That extreme feeling of 
suffering cannot persist 

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forever. 
It has to shift, it has to 

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change. 
Something has to give. 

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And that will be on your side. 
The pain, the suffering, it'll 

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lift, it will change, it will 
evolve, and it can't stay as 

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constant and as overwhelming as 
it is right now. 

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And the future is really 
difficult to predict, obviously,

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but from like a personal 
perspective, when we look at the

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research on how people forecast 
their lives, life, and how 

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things will look like five years
from now, people really 

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overestimate the impact of 
what's happening now on their 

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future happiness. 
We think that everything that's 

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going on right now in the 
current moment, whether it's a 

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test, a relationship and 
argument, is drastically going 

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to impact our happiness in our 
lives five years from now. 

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Where is five years from now? 
If you're like, what happened 

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about that test that you took 
freshman year of high school, 

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you'd be like, what? 
It's not even relevant remotely 

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to my life. 
And so it's important to 

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remember that we're really bad 
at predicting how much things 

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will impact our lives and our 
well beings, especially in the 

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future. 
So if you're feeling really 

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overwhelmed, if you're feeling 
like you're you're just at rock 

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bottom and things suck and they 
will suck forever, we're not 

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good at predicting that future. 
And that really is in your 

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favor. 
So I wanted to really quickly 

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dive into a couple of habits 
that were game changers in my 

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mental health journey that you 
can implement. 

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So the first thing is sleep. 
Sleep is my number one mental 

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health tip. 
Sleep has a huge impact on our 

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mood, on our emotional 
vulnerability. 

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If you are not getting enough 
sleep or you're not getting good

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enough sleep, your emotions will
suffer. 

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So investing in your sleep, 
making sure that you're getting 

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enough no matter where you're at
in your mental health journey 

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will at least somewhat improve 
your baseline of functioning 

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relationships. 
When I was struggling, all I was

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doing was trying to feel loved, 
connected, supported and 

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validated. 
So having relationships in your 

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life that allow you to feel that
way is a game changing for your 

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mental health. 
Having a passion project and 

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something that brings you joy 
that you can invest in, that's 

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motivating to you is huge. 
And that today for me is like 

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the podcast, it's school. 
It's all of these different 

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things that I love doing and 
they have a huge positive impact

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on my mental health. 
Another thing is accumulating 

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positives. 
There's this amazing DBT scale 

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where you plan moments of joy 
throughout your day so that when

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you have those low moments in 
mood, you can't get into that 

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headspace of like, everything 
sucks. 

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The world is terrible because 
you've accumulated all these 

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different moments of joy. 
So your baseline is increased. 

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And that's something that I 
implement on a daily, weekly, 

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monthly basis. 
And something that is so easy to

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do is to back, OK, I'm going to 
drink my favorite cup of coffee 

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tomorrow and I'm going to sit 
and enjoy it. 

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Or I'm going to watch my 
favorite TV show tomorrow night 

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and it's going to be great. 
Or I'm going to go have coffee 

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with a friend and I know that 
I'll have have a great time. 

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Like plan those moments, build 
your life worth living for 

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yourself. 
And that's something that is 

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easy to do It's fun. 
The last two things I'm going to

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say 1 is just giving myself 
grace. 

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We all have tough moments. 
We all have bed days. 

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Our mental health is constantly 
changing and fluctuating and we 

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can't always be perfect or on an
upward trend. 

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And so I give myself a lot of 
understanding and compassion 

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when I'm struggling or when 
things don't go my way or when 

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it feels like I don't understand
what's going on. 

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And that's something that I wish
I had done when I was really 

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struggling, Giving myself grace 
and being like, you know what, 

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you're struggling a lot right 
now. 

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Everything is going on in a 
really crazy, huge, big way. 

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And so it's OK to feel 
overwhelmed and it's OK to not 

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know how to proceed and things 
will change. 

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So really self compassion, 
giving yourself understanding 

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and I just want to end this by 
reminding you that you're not 

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alone. 
Someone in the world has been 

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where you are and will no one 
100% get what your mind is going

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through right now. 
People can relate, they can 

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understand, they can resonate, 
and they can support you. 

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Ask for help, get the support 
and resources that you are so 

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deserving of and cultivate that 
self compassion to want to get 

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better because you are deserving
of a life worth living. 

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That's just a fact. 
If you enjoyed this week's 

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mental health mini, you can 
listen to the. 

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Full episode It is episode 80 
with yours truly. 

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A link to the full episode is in
the show notes. 

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As always, make sure to leave a 
review. 

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Subscribe. 
Share with a friend or family 

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member and follow. 
Along and at she persisted 

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podcast thanks for. 
Listening.