Hello ladies and gentlemen,
And everyone watching.
I'm your host, The Report Of The Week.
And to get straight into things,
this is gonna be a more serious video.
On this channel of course I do a bit of everything.
I have some videos where you know,
I could be quite silly and you know, it's pretty funny.
But there's others where I try to be very down-to-earth and very serious.
And this is one of those videos.
It's something that's kind of been...
I guess bouncing around in my head, so to speak, for a while.
But an instance today kind of...
I guess gave me that motivation to go ahead with this.
Well last night,
I was you know, we all have our dreams
and you know we have good dreams,
and we have bad dreams.
Sometimes we just have crazy dreams,
and we have, you know, dreams that are just...
well that are just indescribably incredible.
Last night, I had a very bad dream.
You know, I had a very bad one.
I don't even want to talk about it in detail.
But when I woke up,
and it was kind of brought back to my memory
it felt so real.
You know, that I was almost in a state
because it felt like this absolutely terrible,
horrible thing had happened.
Even though it was really a dream,
It was kind of implanted in my mind
as a an actual memory that actually occurred.
And It bothered me for quite a long time today,
and it gave me some, you know, some really bad anxiety and fear.
And kind of...
One thing really led to another
and I was reminded of a radio lecture
that I gave a few weeks ago about support systems.
And I decided I want to do that for my next video,
make a video talking about it,
Discuss it and kind of give at least my idea of it to a broader audience.
Now first and foremost I want to say this:
I'm not gonna be like some television pitchman
and say that this is gonna work for you,
this is, you know, foolproof
and it's, you know, it's gonna work for everyone.
This is merely what's worked for me,
I say that from my personal experience,
but one thing that we have to remember,
everyone's different,
and sometimes certain things work better for other people,
but I'm gonna cover that a little later in this video.
Mental health is one of those things that even to this day
people are so touchy about.
And it's even still so stigmatized.
It's something that a lot of people don't want to talk about.
It's something that a lot of people don't feel comfortable talking about.
And I think that it's very saddening.
It's very saddening that even in this day and age
there's still a certain stigma around it.
And some people either just lack of knowledge of it
or just scared to talk about it
or scared to do anything about it.
And that's so saddening to me.
But there's one thing I want to get off the bat right away.
When people hear the terms, you know, you're depressed, you have anxiety,
You are dealing with this or that,
a lot of people make generalizations about it, right?
One thing that we have to remember when it comes down to issues
is that there are different types of issues,
different levels of issues,
every person is different
and these things will affect everyone differently
and have different levels of severity.
Anxiety for instance,
well, you could have social anxiety
where you can be scared of large crowds
and you could be intimidated of other people.
You could have anxiety before a test,
over a job interview or business meeting.
You can have just
Generalized anxiety where you can feel
so terrible for really no discernible reason.
You could have anxiety so severe
you don't even want to leave your own house.
You're so scared to even go outside.
There's so many different levels of anxiety.
Even though it's just such a broad term
it encompasses so many different things
and when someone says if they're suffering from anxiety
we can't just assume immediately
whether they're just a little stressed out, and that's it.
Because that's not true.
Same thing when it comes to depression.
You could be having a bad day,
but just because someone's depressed
doesn't just mean they just have a little case of the blues
and they'll get over it though.
You know, a little toughen and it will be fine.
Sometimes it might just be having a bad day.
Could have done bad on a test or an assignment
or had a bad day at the job,
but sometimes it could be due to personal loss,
could be clinical,
could be something that's just an
everyday reality for someone that seemed so ceaseless.
So we can never just assume
that because someone has some certain thing
that it's affecting them in only one way,
because these are such broad things
that have such different levels of severity.
It's just a case-by-case basis,
and that needs to be understood first.
everyone's different, these types of things affect everyone differently.
That I first wanted to kind of clear out
Because I think a lot of people...
you know, some may be very ignorant to it,
but they just may hear those terms
they may just think, well it just means this one thing and that's it,
but that's not true at all.
As a matter of fact I, myself, you know,
I have my good days.
I have my bad days.
For me you know it can be a mix.
Some days I can be very very stressed out,
some days I could be absolutely terrified,
I could be feeling really down.
There's other days where I might look like I'm down,
but I could actually be feeling very happy inside.
Sometimes appearance isn't everything,
that too needs to be understood.
We all have our good days and our bad days.
But these certain types of things affect everyone differently
and you know, you have your ups, your downs and everything in between.
At least I certainly do.
But one important thing
when it comes down to dealing with these issues and many more,
I realize is having a support system
or a support network in place.
Now that's something that's helped me out greatly.
I'll be quite honest with you.
When we think of a support system,
I mean, you know, especially in terms of how someone is doing
Physically or mentally,
I mean what's the first thing that we think of right? We think of a doctor.
We think of a nurse,
we think of being on meds,
being in the hospital, getting hospitalized,
going to group meeting
or they love being in a group home or counseling
or one way or another.
And there are times where absolutely that is a necessity,
and there's nothing wrong with that.
some people they kind of make that like a joke,
they stigmatize and they make that seem as though
it's something you should be ashamed of,
that you have to go to the doctor
or to the hospital or seek counseling.
And maintain that such a negative stigma against that
which is just sickening that I'd even exists today,
But that's just how things sadly are.
But there's nothing wrong with having that as a support system.
But one thing we must also realize again
at least from my own personal experience.
Is that a support system
doesn't just need to be...
medical, you know, professional.
It doesn't just need to be medication.
Yes, there are times when that's what it does need to be,
but not always.
In my opinion,
a support system
can really... it could be anything depending on the person
and this is just my two cents.
This is just what works for me.
It just is something
that kind of gives you that motivation,
gives you that strength,
gives you that inspiration,
that courage,
that morale
to battle through
and fight through whatever plagues you,
whatever you're dealing with,
what you're going through on that day.
That gives you that strength to go through it.
To fight through it to the best of your abilities.
Listen, some days we're not always gonna win,
and that's okay.
But to fight through it to the best of our abilities
and to just keep us motivated and keep us going,
that to me is what a support system is.
That supports you,
that keeps you going, that gives you that drive, that morale.
Something in some cases to live for,
something to keep going for.
And that, as I said, can be anything.
Can be your parents,
that could be your sibling,
that could be your boyfriend, your girlfriend,
your husband, your wife.
It could be a doctor.
It could be a teacher or counselor or minister.
Could be anyone.
And in some cases it doesn't even need to be a person.
It can be music.
Aometimes listening to certain songs
is a way of kind of being able to express yourself
and be able to get those thoughts out
and kind of get a sense of contentment and peace and serenity.
Sometimes a journal can be a support system
to simply write down your thoughts, get them out there on paper.
I'll be honest,
I've established a journal
and I'll sometimes write my thoughts down
and that can just help me in some ways.
We're getting them out of my head
where sometimes they can just stall and you know,
instead get them on paper, it's a way to clear them out.
It could sometimes make things better, too.
Sometimes,
it could be anything.
Could be radio,
could be just anything on the computer, could be certain games.
As I said everyone's different,
certain things affect people differently,
a support system though to me,
it says something
unique to the individual
that gives them that motivation
because keep on as I say.
And for me that's a loved one.
It really really helps me.
And some ways of support,
when you're having a bad day,
but that could be anything.
As I said the two examples
that I brought up in the beginning of this video were...
anxiety and depression,
but they could be anything, you know?
Such a broad characteristic
when it comes down to one's temperament and mental health
and how things are going for them.
But one thing that I also find is greatly underestimated
is the simple power of conversation.
Sometimes when someone might be going through something
or having a bad day,
you might think,
you know,
maybe they need this,
or maybe they need that.
But I say this from my own experience
when sometimes I'm gone through a rough patch,
sometimes a very very simple,
but important thing is just conversation.
Sometimes you just need to talk and that's it.
Just talk.
We don't need money,
we don't need any sorts of other resistance.
You just need to talk,
just someone to vent to,
someone to get our our thoughts
that might just be circulating around in our brain
and just share them with another person.
Sometimes that power of conversation
can be so incredible.
Don't even realize it but sometimes
- I say this from personal experience -
the power of conversation
with another individual
can do so much hump.
It's unbelievable.
As I said earlier, I had that terrible terrible dream,
and I was in a state because just there is such an awful situation
and it felt so real to me, you know.
That's how dreams can be sometimes.
But that simple power of conversation,
talking about it, getting those thoughts out there.
It helped.
It helped me.
Not even to three hours ago.
There was almost catatonic. It was that bad.
But the power of conversation it can do absolute wonders.
As I said when it comes down to support means and support networks
and what works best for different people it varies,
but these are just a few thoughts on my mind,
maybe it's not one coherent point,
just a series of miscellaneous points,
but I wanted to raise them with you.
I wanted to bring them up.
I think it's something that not enough awareness is brought to.
Not enough focus is given to this.
There's still so stigmatized in so many ways.
You know, you shouldn't talk about that
if you do if this you'll be deemed a failure.
Mm-hmm forget about that.
Something that I feel should be brought to much greater light.
And there's no shame in discussing it.
There's no shame if this is something that you suffer from.
No shame in it.
And it's just the ways I've kind of helped me.
You know, get through some of my bad days in that sense.
On one final note,
you might have people in your life.
They might be friends or family,
might be your boyfriend, your girlfriend.
You might be married to them.
They might tell you
you know, I'll be there to support you.
I'll be there to help you through thick and thin and all of that.
And sometimes they may say that
but they might not be there for you really.
Might just be words.
In reality they may not be there to support you.
And if that happens.
If that ever happens to you,
do not blame yourself for that.
Never ever ever
blame yourself if that ever happens to you.
Don't ever feel weak.
Don't ever feel like you did wrong
because you didn't.
That's not your fault.
It never was,
never is,
never forget that.
A few words I wanted to share with you about mental health,
support thereof,
my views on support systems.
I hope this was able to provide some assistance
and insight to at least someone.
As I said this was just something
that I was going through pretty recently,
It kind of gave me that motivation
to turn on the camera, set up
and share a few pieces of feedback with you.
Hope this is able to help.
You know, if anything I hope it was able to give you some insight.
Again I can't say that this would work for everyone,
but I can say that it worked for me
and it's helped me up tremendously.
Most certainly has.
On a final note, I know I give a plug for this in every single video,
but it's important to me.
And it's a way, you know if no one knew about it,
it's a way of just getting the word out.
If you're interested you could check out the VORW Radio Show. soundcloud.com/vorw
It's one hour a week that I do,
but it's a place where I get up to the microphone,
it's like a podcast really
and I'll kind of talk about more serious topics like this sometimes.
And I'll play some music
and it's just an insightful hour
of perspective I I'd call it,
but you could find it on Soundcloud, soundcloud.com/vorw
You can find it on TuneIn
and if you listen the shortwave you could hear it there as well. soundcloud.com/vorw_radio_int
but it's something I do every week,
and you can find more information about it in the description
and at the end of this video. soundcloud.com/vorw
Thank you for watching,
I'm your host The Report Of The Week,
and that's all that I have for you.
Thank you again and take care.