Surviving Depression - Shawn

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Ang Jackson podcast the how I survived a series. In these mental health episodes, I'm creating a space for real conversations about the things we often keep to ourselves, our struggles, our healing, and the stories that shape who we are. Hello, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today on another mental health discussion. Um, before we begin, can you give yourself a little introduction?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hello, and thank you so much for having me. My name is Sean Every, and I live in a little small town in Louisiana where my nearest neighbor is a rooster. Um I am 55 years old and I have been married for 36 years to my best friend. Um I am really loving where I am right now. I I I like to say I'm 55 and alive, and I love the space that I'm in. Um, but it hasn't always been that way.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Wow, I'm glad you're at a really good place right now. I think that when we find our soulmate, that makes a big difference in our day-to-day and our mental health as well, right? Now, the goal of this podcast is to talk about um mental health stories and struggles. Are you able to open up on how life has been in Yes?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

You're absolutely right, Daniela. Having my husband in my corner has made all the difference. He's been there through all of this. And when I say this, um, I'm talking about my mental health struggles. Um honestly, it hasn't always been easy because for years I was the strong one, the one everybody leaned on. And that's a story a lot of um black women know. We carry it all until something actually breaks. And for me, that something was my health. You see, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and that led into major depression. It got to a point where I had to leave my corporate career because my body and my mind just couldn't keep up the way I'd been pushing through and the way I had been pushing both my body and my mind. You see, I've had multiple mental health hospitalizations over the years, and I'm not embarrassed to say that. And it's okay to get help. And as the you know, the title of um your podcast am gets, you know, there is so much stigma around mental illness, especially in my community. Um especially for me as a black woman who's expected to hold it all together and to never fall apart, and that's what I did. I fell apart.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Well, thank you for being vulnerable enough to share this. Um, now it is common to see people who suffer physically also struggle mentally. Unfortunately, it goes hand in hand, right? Now, how is your depression recently? Do you still have hard days?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, that's such a good point. And Yella, it really does go hand in hand. And yes, I still have hard days. I mean, depression doesn't just disappear because life gets better, right? Some days I still have the fibrofall, um, and what I now describe as menopause brain and the depression. It all shows up at the same time, and honestly, that's a lot. There are times where I will stay in the house for seven, eight, nine days at a time. I won't see daylight. No TV on, nothing, just me and the four walls, and all this mental clutter that's swirling around in my head. I don't feel motivated to do anything, not even basic things like personal hygiene, that's not even a priority when you're in that space, it just takes so much out of you. So, yes, those hard days still happen, but what I have is coping skills. I have coping techniques that through the years I have built up in my coping toolbox.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Thanks for sharing. Um, I think that every person that struggles with depression can relate. Um, it's hard to think of self-care when you're just stuck in that negative thinking cycle, right? Um now you mentioned coping strategies. Um, can you elaborate on that? Like, what do you do to help yourself?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, to help myself, um, you know, I've spent a lot of time in therapy with counselors, therapists. Um, I talked about my hospital stays before, and you learn things in those spaces, ways to cope with the symptoms of depression. Sometimes that's talking it out. Sometimes it's other tubes that they give you. I, for a while, medication um was a major part of that too. At one point I was on 23 different medications, and in that mix were antidepressants and anxiety medication. That that was just how I was dealing with it at the time. But I got to a place where, you know, that that was too much, and I didn't really rely on to rely solely on medication. So I started trying different things. Um natural things, um, different techniques just to calm my nervous system and like reframing of things. So I still do those things, right? I still have medications that um I have to be on, but there's a part of my coping that's going to surprise a lot of people. You see, back in 2022, I started using AI. And I realized that it gave me a space where I could just talk things out without being judged, without anyone trying to jump in and fix me. I could brain dump everything that was swirling around in my head and just get it out of me. And it would do that reframe to me. It it would um, you know, see things that I had said that were maybe not true if I was catastrophizing. And um also, you know, just getting it out sometimes, the mental clutter is so freeing, right? And pulling things out of you that you have never said before is so healing. So, yeah, that's you know, something that I've come to rely on. Talking it out with my AI assistant, it gives me a space where I'm allowed to rest, where I'm allowed to just be.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, everyone has their preferred strategies. I'm glad that you found the ones that work best for you, though. Um, I think for myself, talk therapy is my number one way to cope. Um, would you say that talk therapy releases negative thinking and also reduces the intensity of your emotions?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yes, absolutely. Talk therapy does exactly that. I mean, when you get those thoughts out of your head and into words, whether you're saying it out loud or you're writing them down journaling, it takes away some of their power. Like they don't feel as big once they're out of you. And that's exactly you know the reason why I like talking things out with my assistant. Um, it works the same way for me, it's the same principle. Getting it out of my head and into words, having something to respond back, um it releases that pressure and it brings the intensity down. So, yes, talk therapy or any form of really talking it out helps quiet those negative thoughts, that negative thinking, and it takes the edge off those emotions.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

I agree with you 100%. Um, no, if you can give advice to my listeners who might be feeling lost or alone in their thoughts, uh, what would your advice be?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

If that's you right now, if you feel lost or alone in your own head, I want you to hear this. You are not alone, even when it feels that way. So many of us are walking around carrying things we've never said out loud. My advice is this find a way to get it out of you. It doesn't matter how, whether it's a therapist, a trusted friend, a journal, or even talking it out with the AI assistant like what I do. The point is you don't have to carry it in silence. And also give yourself permission, permission to rest, permission to not have it all together, permission to ask for help. You don't have to be the strong one all the time. I spent years being that person and it nearly broke me. Asking for help is actually what got me here. Still standing, still here, having this conversation with you today. So if you're in that place right now, just know it won't always feel this heavy, and you don't have to figure it out alone.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Thank you for the lovely advice. Um, listen, Sean, I'll end it here. Thank you again for joining me today. Um, keep staying strong and keep living your life the way you know how, and take care.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Thank you for this opportunity, Daniela, and keep up the great work. You um have an amazing podcast, and um I am honored to have been a guest on here.