Carlos Granados Podcast

Mental Health Matters: Mental Health Awareness Month

• Season 1 • Episode 39

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Mental health is real and deeply impacts our lives even when we fail to acknowledge it. After dismissing mental health issues for years, my personal experiences with health crises, trauma, and emotional struggles transformed how I view this critical aspect of wellbeing.

• Cultural backgrounds often teach us to suppress emotions rather than process them
• Traumatic health experiences can create lasting psychological impacts
• The brain sometimes disconnects us from reality as a protective mechanism after trauma
• Physical symptoms of mental health struggles are legitimate and not imaginary
• Childhood experiences like natural disasters can create delayed trauma responses
• Faith can provide framework for understanding and overcoming mental health battles
• Vulnerability is difficult but necessary for healing to begin
• Seeking help through multiple channels increases chances of finding effective support
• Breaking cycles of trauma prevents passing issues to future generations

If you're struggling with mental health issues, please know your feelings are valid. Take the first step toward healing by reaching out to someone you trust, whether a mental health professional, spiritual leader, or supportive friend. You deserve to experience life with a sound mind and peaceful heart.


Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel and welcome back into another episode of the Carlos Granados podcast, and in today's episode we're going to be discussing mental health, as in May it is mental health awareness month and I figure it will only be fitting for me to discuss and bring awareness to mental health through my channel and through my experiences and through the things that I've been through in my life. But before we get started, I want to thank everyone, as usual, for always supporting me, for always being there for me, showing some love. In my comment section I saw a couple comments this past week that just really touched my heart. It just reminds me of the purpose that I have to share to the world and many people out there that are fighting similar battles or people that understand what it's like to go through a similar issue. So I always give the glory to God. It's a blessing to be able to do this, to be able to share all the love and everything that I can for you guys. So also I wanted to say we are getting closer to a million views, like we're really really, really close and that's really exciting. So I'm excited for that. Once that happens, god willing, I'll be able to share that with you guys through my socials, and it will be cool. It will be a cool achievement. So, thank you guys for the love.

Speaker 1:

Don't forget to subscribe to my channel. Don't forget to like the videos, comment on them. Also, if you go to all the audio platforms, you can listen to this podcast, and if you're doing it already, I appreciate it. You can always leave a review, a positive review. I would highly appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

So let's get right into the topic. And, just like the other time, I really don't have anything necessarily planned. I like to speak from the heart. I like to speak my mind when I'm doing this, because I feel like it's more real, it's more genuine. Necessarily, there isn't an agenda that I'm following, but I'm just speaking from my heart.

Speaker 1:

And when it comes to mental health, man, where do I begin? I mean, first of all, let me take some accountability first with mental health. I used to be one of the people and I used to be on the side, where I didn't believe that mental health issues were an actual thing. I don't know if it was because I never really acknowledged it or I never really felt like I went through something crazy that I consider, you know, crazy. That's, you know, but not necessarily saying that the people are crazy. But I just never really, um, never really felt like I really took into consideration what people were going through. Um, I never, you know, felt like I really gave them the grace that I needed to when people told me about their health issues.

Speaker 1:

I felt like, when I was going through things in life, what I would just do is, you know, sleep on it, sleep over it, and then the next day you wake up and it's a new day and you keep, you keep, going, right. But in doing that, you, you create this habit and this bad habit of always putting things in the back and never really exposing them and bringing them to light so that you can be able to share with people in the future, or even, maybe you yourself understand it right. So I was one of those people that you know that I thought it was just a thing, you know. I thought that people you know probably probably weak in that sense and again, I do take accountability for that because I didn't know what was waiting for me later on in the future, you know, um, so it's, uh, it's something that I always think about and I was like man, what a hard head I was, I was. I was um, it was just really um, really unfortunate on my part. So I do apologize to everyone, because now I'm on the other side and I'm like no, this is real, this is an actual thing and people do suffer from it. But I will say, though, I think one of the main reasons why you always put things in the back or I used to always just sleep on it and then keep moving, because I was raised that way on it and then keep moving, because I was raised that way A lot of you guys can relate to me.

Speaker 1:

In the lying culture, maybe even in the minority culture that I have friends that I've talked to, and even you know family and friends that are close to me. We usually agree that. We usually say you know, latinos don't really believe in mental health. Right, latinos use mental health problems or mental health awareness because that's the way they were raised. You know they were raised where you see problems. They build problems all their lifetimes, whether it's physically or mentally, a lot of trauma buildup, but they keep just pushing it aside and eventually that comes out to light, as they keep just pushing it aside and eventually that comes out to light as they keep growing. They end up having kids and they ended up, they end up passing those issues to to um, to us, right, and in in the realms, as, as as a man, then it's either, I feel like, in.

Speaker 1:

In this sense, it's even more complicated, because once you start speaking about your trauma, your experiences and your feelings, society tells you that's a sign of weakness, and what we do is just bottle up a lot of things inside of us, right, I think? If I'm not mistaken, the suicide rate for men is so much higher than women, and I think that has to do with some of it, right, um? So, adding on top of that, you know, you keep growing up and when you're raised a certain way, when you're raised in this life of listen, you just have to suck it up and keep going, right, uh? And, and especially in the latin culture, you know, uh, it's, it's, it feels as if, like you keep bottling, bottling up every single thing throughout your life and then, eventually, you don't know how to express, you don't know how to communicate. Sometimes you're afraid to say anything because you feel like it might be wrong, right? Or if you feel like it might be a sign of weakness. It feels like it might take. It might take another form that you intended it to and it's just an unfortunate part. And I'm noticing now that a lot of patterns that I grew up with were, in this sense, wrong. I should have been able to communicate more. I should have been able to go and say something and talk right and listen.

Speaker 1:

Mental health doesn't just come from the past experiences that you have and listen. Mental health doesn't just come from the past experiences that you have. But sometimes I know there is spiritual things that go on in the realms of spirituality where you can be affected by that. Where it comes to the enemy knowing that you're very weak in that sense, so he attacks you, he puts a lot of things in your mind and the reason I'm saying this I know there's some people that do believe and some people that don't believe. But there are some times where it just comes to a point where it's so big that you kind of just point to that, you know, because the enemy never wants you to be happy, content, the enemy never wants you to succeed, to have a good life right. There is a scripture in the Bible that says for the Lord did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. And the sound mind part is what we're concentrating on, right, the being level-headed, you know, not being fearful, not having anxiety, not suffering from depression and things of that nature.

Speaker 1:

I feel like it is something that, if that's where the enemy attacks you from, it must be a reason for that, you know, and a lot of the times he's not going to attack your strength in life, right, he's going to attack your weaknesses, and because your weaknesses, you've never been able to really talk about them or bring them to light or share awareness to. You never had somebody to tell you around your friends or family, like, hey, your feelings are valid, right, your emotions are valid, what you're suffering from is valid. You never get that confirmation. Then it always stays in within you and you never bring them out. You don't even know how to communicate them. Sometimes I've had a lot of family and friends that I've talked to and they've told me that, you know, sometimes they don't even know how to communicate those feelings or emotions and of course, eventually it becomes a big problem because, if you think about it, one day you're going to have a spouse and you're going to need to be able to communicate things, especially important matters, and I feel like communication is it's a, it's a big way to try to avoid so many more issues in life. That can become simple. Does that make sense? So eventually you're going to end up having kids and how are you going to be able to communicate your kids or maybe relate to them if you still have some of the trauma from the past experiences and now you're passing them on to your kids? Right, and that is just one side of what mental health is. Right, that is one side that I can relate to. There's other things as well that I will get into, but that is just one side of how things happen and how things build up throughout your life. Now we can get into the discussion of trauma from having myself, like health issues, right, I mean, that's very traumatic. One of the best examples that I can go through and I'll provide several, you guys, so you guys can understand where I'm coming from with certain things right, I remember when I was told that I needed to have a heart surgery, a catheter ablation procedure.

Speaker 1:

Right, it's a heart surgery. Now, it's pretty invasive. But when you're 23 and you get told the news by your doctor that you need to have a catheter ablation procedure, which is a heart surgery. It's really scary. I went back to my car and I remember I just started crying, right, because I was like, how did I get here? I'm 23. How did I, how am I having a heart surgery already? Right, like my, my, my, my world flipped upside down.

Speaker 1:

And I remember when I was going into the surgery and they make you sign a lot of documents, and a lot of documents is just kind of for liability purposes as well. You know, if something goes wrong then you sign here and it's not their fault. Essentially right, which I get it, you know it makes sense. But when you sign those papers it seems it's real, right and it's very real. And I remember, before going to the surgery they tell this, they kind of tell you to say your goodbyes to your family. Now the goodbyes are more in the sense of goodbye I'll be back right From surgery, right.

Speaker 1:

But when it's a heart surgery, you know you've never been through it, you don't know what it's like. You've you know the only experience that you know of is from people from online, from YouTube. It's really tough. So, seeing my mom. You know, saying my goodbye, saying my goodbye to my grandma because she was there as well, and seeing her cry. It was a very tough moment for me because, you know, just like anybody else, I really love my mom and it's tough to even try to put yourself in her situations where you're watching your kid going into a crazy surgery. Or at least at the moment we thought it was just a crazy surgery that I'm already going through right.

Speaker 1:

Those things I brought them to light in myself later on in the years and it really affected me. It really affected my mental health, because that's part of the trauma that's building up alongside everything else. And you know, thank God the surgery went well, I never ended up getting ablated, but just that moment in time where, like, things pause right, nothing else matters but that moment. Things pause right, nothing else matters but that moment and you remembering what you felt, you remembering what my mom felt my grandma must have felt those things. Eventually they can get to you because it's really deep. And it wasn't the only time that I've gone through that right. I've had other surgeries that I've had for my stomach and gastro stuff, that it's a similar process of saying, of saying, hey, you know I'm getting this and hopefully, god willing, I'll be better after this.

Speaker 1:

Right, and those moments and issues that keep building up, keep traumatizing your body, not just mentally but also physically. Right, so that physical trauma becomes mental trauma in the future, because it starts affecting you. I mean, your mind is such a powerful thing. Imagine if you were just able to control your mind whenever you wanted to, whenever you're going through something, feeling something, and you're just, we're just able to control those emotions and those feelings, how powerful you will feel, not in the sense of you can control other things, but in this sense. Yeah, essentially you're controlling what's what you're feeling, what you're, what's happening to you.

Speaker 1:

I have learned of things in the past where you, when you suffer from some so much trauma, some things, your mind reacts to it a little bit different because of the trauma that you have suffered. Now, the new way that you feel, it's now the way that your body reacts to it, right? So getting excited sometimes becomes fearful because the way your mind works, the way your mind works, and it's just so amazing, this brain and this organ that the Lord created for us to function, you know what I mean. Everything is just here. And so many things can be controlled through your mind so you can feel better. And it's an actual thing. I've experienced it before. I've experienced it before, I've felt it before and I think it's part of the journey of recovering, trying to rewire your brain back to its healthy state, because we can all admit and you can use this in different examples when you've gone through trauma, whether it's physical, you know whether it's abuse, whether it's emotional or maybe all of the above.

Speaker 1:

Essentially, your mind in the future can get triggered by things, right, can get triggered by certain things that happened to you, that before those experiences would have never happened, right, your mind would have just blocked them out, it wouldn't have mattered to you as much and you would have gone about your day and you would have been okay. And that is the hard part trying to rewire your brain to come back into the normal state that it used to be right. So the scripture that I just gave you guys right for the lord did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Um, reminding yourself that having a sound mind is what the lord meant for you. Not to have any anxiety, not to have any depression. Uh, not to suffer from mental illness. It was not. We were not intent to build that way. But because we live in a fallen world, then this is something that we have to fight and we have to continue with right Now.

Speaker 1:

To get more into the deeper stuff I mentioned this, something along those lines, a little bit earlier, but I've had friends here that have come and talked about their prior abuse, talked about their mental health, how it affected them, talk about suicidal thoughts. Right, if you've gone through something long enough, it's hard for you not to think something right. But let me speak from my experience In the past. Because of how much I have suffered, there has been thoughts in my head of not wanting to live. Sometimes things can get so bad that you don't want to live anymore. You don't, you want to stop existing because it's so much. You feel like there is so much you can handle and the only thing, the best way to do it, is to kind of just end things right Now.

Speaker 1:

I never really got as far to plan on how to take my life, because I find life to be so precious. I love life, I love the gift of life, and I will say there are some weak moments where what you do think about what would it be like not being here anymore, not suffering anymore, right? Because, um, and not dealing with your issues, not dealing with your head, uh, the mental space that you have, uh, and what you're going through, it's too much to handle. You know, and I definitely have thought about not wanting to live anymore, um, and it's a tough moment, it's a tough space, um, and the reason I'm being so vulnerable is because a lot of people go through this, and it doesn't have to be health issues.

Speaker 1:

It can be something else that you, uh, that has always been lingering for you, uh, trauma that you've experienced that you don't want to deal with anymore and just want to say that you know you're not, you're not the only one, you're not alone, uh, we all have suffered a lot of stuff, a lot of people do Um, and sometimes we, we just suffer a little bit different. But when it comes to that mental space, I think we all meet at a certain place that obviously is not good, it's not good to have, it's not a place where you, you know the Lord is meant for you to be in, um, and there there are those moments where the enemy attacks you and throws a lot of things in your head and in your mind which makes you believe that this is the route. This is the way to go, but it's never the answer, because it was never intended for you to be right. It was never intended for you to be right.

Speaker 1:

I've learned that the enemy, the devil, will try to have those thoughts for you to take your life, because he knows that you'll end up in the same place. He is right, there is no saving him. So he wants you to do the same thing. He wants you to be miserable right. There is no saving him. So he wants you to do the same thing. He wants you to be miserable, right. He wants you to suffer. He wants you to see that this is the way out, because he's already. His future has been already settled, but not ours, right?

Speaker 1:

We have been promised something bigger and something greater in life, and I'm coming to you guys from a spiritual realm because I truly believe that if we believe that God is good, and God's intention for us to be was to have a sound mind and for us to have a healthy mind, then everything else is not from him, right? If it's not from God, then you got to start looking at it from a spiritual warfare that we suffer from. Now, if you're not a believer, I respect that 100%. You know there's a lot of different ways that I feel like the Lord has created and given us to feel better, whether it's through psychologists you know, talking to psychiatrists about medications as well. There's different routes. There's family members that you can talk to, maybe even open up friends that you can meet, friends that you can meet, and I understand. You know that I look at it both ways, because I'm not going to sit here and say that I was always thinking that everything was from the enemy, or like everything was spiritual.

Speaker 1:

Until I actually started getting closer to the Lord and just starting to build a relationship, I started to notice the patterns as to why things will happen. Right, when you start understanding the word a little bit more, you start understanding that the enemy does attack you when you want to do better in life, when the Lord wants to give you his promises. Right, and in some sense, the ball is in your court on which side you want to take. But there comes a point in time where I feel like it becomes so much that it also starts making sense, like this is just not a coincidence as to why things are happening to you or are happening to me. There is a reason behind that. Right, because the enemy will always do everything he can to attack your purpose.

Speaker 1:

Does that make sense To attack who you're meant to be in life? Right, the life that he meant for you. Right, because you're meant to be in life. Right, the life that he meant for you. Right, because you have the choice to choose life or death. And, as believers, we believe that, even when the end comes, there's still life beyond that, and that is our reward. Right For believing. Because this is a fallen world that we were brought into. They would choose not to be here. You know we didn't choose to be here, but this is what you know, the cars we were dealt, and I think when you look at it from a different light in my eyes, it starts making a lot more sense. Different light in my eyes, it starts making a lot more sense.

Speaker 1:

But again, there are so many ways and routes that you can do, because even you know, as believers, you're seeing a psychologist, a psychiatrist, to help you understand, and psychiatrists are the people that you know provide the medication, by the way, but you're seeing a psychologist, right. That can be such a good help for them to help you understand where your issues are coming from, why certain things may be happening right, and in order for you to get help or start sharing that story or being more vulnerable, you have to know that there is an issue happening. But if you don't know and if you always put things in the back of your head, you start becoming your trauma and you start reflecting that, and then you also reflect that on other people because of how deep your trauma is. We believe that we're okay, we believe that we're all right, we want to believe that, but deep inside we know we have a soul, we feel this, something right.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes it's a gut feeling, sometimes your body reacts a certain way to that trauma. Your mind tries to block it, but eventually it comes out, and sometimes it comes out as your personality, right, because you can't trust people anymore because of the past, or you can't trust people because of people that hurt you in the past, and, in effect, it reflects a relationship. It reflects the family that you will eventually have or do have now, right, and I think that's something that we deserve to work on. We deserve to be better, we deserve to do better because it's how God wanted it to be right. I'm not saying that there won't be any struggles. If anything, it becomes more of a struggle because, if you think about it, when you try to do better in life, then the enemy will attack you because he knows that you're going away from what he wanted you to be right. He wanted you to stay in a certain place and now you're fading away from that. So he attacks you even more, making you believe as if this is the wrong route. But in reality, you know it's the right route and it's a tougher sometimes that I've heard that you know you turn into Christianity because you know things are good or things are better, or or you turn into religion in general, just to to, because it's a, it's a better, it's in reality.

Speaker 1:

We get attacked more because of what we're trying to do, because we're trying to accomplish God's purpose. We get attacked more because there is a purpose behind your life. Right, there is a purpose of what you're doing. There's a reason why you're here. Like, have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about why you were put on this earth? Was it just to breathe and live? No, there is a bigger purpose behind you. There's always that little something. The Bible talks about how God created you to be great Great, not just average, normal, just to live. No, he built you with a purpose. You were put on this earth with a purpose and if you think about it, if the enemy has you where he wants you already, why change you? He'll let you keep doing what you're doing already. Why change you? He'll keep. He'll let you keep doing what you're doing already because it's where he wants you. But just start changing, just start taking different steps and you'll see how comfortable you were in that path that the enemy put on you, because there's a path of deception, right, and it becomes deeper and deeper.

Speaker 1:

One of the examples that I can give you guys, like you know, sometimes, why do you know? Bad people keep doing bad things and nothing ever happens to them, right? They never get punished and never get caught. You see all these millionaires, multi-billionaires and whatever, and they always be doing crazy stuff, but they go on and live. You know, they don't suffer from issues. Uh, they have this life, blah, blah, blah. All these things that you, you, you think that are good.

Speaker 1:

But of course, why would? Why would the enemy attack him in any way if he has them or he wants them? Just think about that for a second. There is no reason for for for them to be affected by this fallen world if they know they are accomplishing the enemy's purpose. And when you look at it from that light you're like, hmm, I'm not saying that everybody that has money, millionaire, there are bad people, no, but you know what I'm talking about, where you just see a lot of ignorant people, mean people, people who make other people suffer. They just want bad in the world and nothing ever happens to them. Want bad in the world and nothing ever happens to them. We will. One we live in a fallen world, right. And two, back to my point. If the enemy has you where he wants you, why would he want to change you? You're ready for fulfilling his purpose? Right. But the moment you start changing and leaving certain ways, changing your life for the better, then you start seeing that's where the trouble comes. You know, and we're all affected a different way. It doesn't just have to be in that sense, but we're all affected a different way because of this fallen world.

Speaker 1:

You know, and you know, for the people that are listening to this podcast or watching me, uh, I just want to say that, whatever you're going through, um, you're validated. Validated you, you are suffering from something and if you believe something is off, you believe something might not be right, and maybe the people around you, um it's off. You believe something might not be right, and maybe the people around you, um, are telling you otherwise. I'm letting you know here, as a fellow um mental health sufferer. I guess the best way to put it it's it's real, man. Mental health is real. It takes you to a lot of places.

Speaker 1:

Uh, now that I think about it, uh, recently I think it was maybe a year or two, maybe a year or so ago I, I, I ended up having, I think I ended up getting uh sick. I don't know what it was. If it was from, I don't know exactly what it was that I had, I don't know if it was covid, but I don't want to make this anything political at all, but it was something. I caught something. But once I got out of it, I feel like my mind, my body, had gone through so much. And just to give you a quick context, whenever I get sick because I already suffer from health issues gastro, chest and then my heart reacts to a lot of different things and, of course, my mind right starts playing a lot of different games with me that are very negative Once I get out of a certain process with my health and my issues.

Speaker 1:

I remember that the next several week or two I was in such a blank space and I promise I'm not quoting Taylor Swift here to Taylor Swift here but it was just empty is the best way I can put it. I remember doing things and just living, but it was empty up here and I didn't understand why what was happening to me, because it just felt empty, as I felt if I was going just through the motions very robotic, through the motions, very robotic, right, you just live life and I had gone through so much in that one or two weeks of traumatic experience with my health that I remember sitting in my couch and I would just sit there, but everything was. It felt empty up here. It felt like there was nothing, but at the same time, I knew something and that is such a crazy scary place to be in, because you don't know and you start questioning whether it's going to get better. You question what's happening, where it's coming from. Is this something new? Why is it that I'm experiencing this?

Speaker 1:

All of the above man, you know the anxieties and the uncertainties, but I just remember being in a blank space, as if nothing was there, emptiness. You know that all I knew was I had to give myself time. I had to sit on the couch. If I had to just do nothing for several days, then that's what I was going to do and I was going to take it a day at a time, praying about it, taking it a day at a time to hopefully it gets better. And I remember being like that for like a week or two where it was just blank man, and and I never forgot that that, that you know that feeling can become a some type of trauma.

Speaker 1:

Right, I know it's definitely your mental, because, again, we're not built to feel that or at least be in that space. You're not supposed to. The Lord gave you a spirit of. He did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. You're supposed to have that power over yourself. Your tongue has a lot of power right Through the Holy Spirit, and your mind is supposed to have that power over yourself. Your tongue has a lot of power right Through the Holy Spirit and your mind is supposed to be sound and I knew it wasn't from God and it was a scary place to be in. That empty space just feels like you know, one of the closest things that I feel, like you can remind me.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if you guys have ever played sports or maybe had had a head injury, but when you used to, like in football, when you used to bang right, you used to hit your head and I mean who knows how many countless concussions I've suffered from, but it felt like that the aftermath, not the hit right, because that feels like physical pain, but the aftermath of where, like you hit, boom and then, and that second, you feel empty because of the trauma that you just did to your brain. And I'm not saying what happened was caused by football, which I mean I wouldn't be surprised if, if that could have been a thing and I have a funny thing to tell you guys in a little bit but it felt like that right and it felt like that emptiness. But obviously when you hit after football you're good, you know, your mind goes back to where it used to be and you're fine, right For the most part, but this time it lasted days and it felt really weird. I went to a doctor one time and he asked me if I ever play sports and have I ever gotten into like accidents? And I was like, yeah, I got into a car accident, and nothing super crazy, though, you know. I told him and he was like, did you ever play football? And I was like, yeah, I did play several years in high school and, you know, had several injuries. And he was like, well, that's just as bad as a car accident. So I was like, all right, cool. I was like, well, that's not good, you know. But all in all to say, it feels that was the closest feeling that I felt like it could have. It felt like right, something that I could probably put two and two together that you know. This reminded me of how I felt after a certain thing that happened to me. But this lasted longer and obviously it's not like I'm playing football now or doing anything. It just came from my trauma, my past experience, whether it was so recent, but something happened in my brain where it was just, it was off, it was not in a certain place.

Speaker 1:

So there's a lot of people that I know go through that. There's a lot of people that suffer from things and felt like that before. This is where you are at your weakest, you're at your lowest and it's a hard place to be in. So I do want to say you're not alone. It's a tough place to be, but definitely take those steps to try and get help if you need to. When you get into those places where you feel like you know you no longer want to live, listen, it's not a place where you want to stay for very long. Listen, it's not a place where you want to stay for very long. But I do want to say that your feelings are valid. They feel like they can control you, but they can't. You are in control of them and it's tough situations to be in. Um, uh, I pray that you find the help that you need If you're going through any type of mental health awareness, um, even through abuse.

Speaker 1:

I remember having somebody on my channel that had gone through so much abuse, you know, in a prior relationship physical abuse, domestic violence and you know, for the women out there that have suffered from domestic violence, abuse, get help. It's not worth risking your mental health, your relationship with your family and your friends in the future. I can't relate to things of that nature, but I just know that, um, that your feelings are valid and that it's real, and I pray that you get help, that you look and seek for, for help, right? Um, if you had suffered from abuse as a child? Uh, sexual abuse, physical abuse from parents, family members? Um, sexual abuse, physical abuse from parents, family members Don't just put it behind.

Speaker 1:

Start speaking, start talking, bringing it up to light so you can start finding some healing, because I think that's the important part Find healing that you need, whether it's spiritually, through the Lord and if that's not a route that you want to take, well, psychology. Talk to somebody, a family member, open up, start learning how to communicate that, because it will start your healing process. And I know it's hard. It's very hard to be vulnerable because there is a possibility that you won't go to the right person and you will be judged, and that's also a scary place to be in and it can lead you to not want to open up to anybody else any longer. Right, and the reason why I try to bring up you know God in this situation and in my faith, because typically, if you go to somebody who really loves the Lord for help, they will show God's love through the help they give you. They won't judge you they're not meant to judge you because we'll be judged and it's, I feel, like it's a safer space to go that route because, as Christians or as people who believe in the Lord, we know how much flaws we have.

Speaker 1:

Right, we don't get closer to the Lord or go to church because we believe we're perfect. If anything, we go because we're imperfect. When you go to a church and you humble yourself enough, you know that there is everybody in there is not flawless and they have so many flaws and issues and problems. This and they have so many flaws and issues and and problems. The reason we're there is because we need to be there, because we're the type of people that need to be there. Right and um, it becomes more of a safer space. But even if that's not the case, if that maybe that's not the route you want to take, start somewhere, take it.

Speaker 1:

I always say this take it a step at a time, a day at a time, but do not let this keep building up and give it more power than it needs to, because eventually you will never know how to express that to your friends again, to your spouse, your kids. You will end up passing that trauma to other people you love because you never got the help you needed. And again, I say this because I go through this. This is not me throwing shade on anybody, or that's not what I do here, and you guys know me. If anything, I go through this and it's been hard for me to open up. I still have trauma as a kid that I still have not yet shared um to my family and friends and I slowly open up um that I went through. That is a big reason as to why I go through a lot of things now in my life. And it's tough, man, it's it's. It's hard, it's a, it's a very hard place to be in Um and you know even the type of trauma. Uh, one time um and this is going back to when I was in El Salvador, when there was an earthquake back in 2021. 2021, wow, that's crazy.

Speaker 1:

2001,. I was about seven or eight years old and I remember going through the earthquake, how it started, when it started and at the time you're so young, you don't understand what's happening. You literally see the earth moving, just like out of a movie, like you can see the wave. That's how strong the earthquake was. You see the ground move and shake and in that moment it feels fun because you're a kid, you don't know that there's a possibility you could die here, but I remember it lasted for several minutes. I remember the whole process.

Speaker 1:

I can get into I've talked about this in another podcast before but I remember going outside and watching people being so afraid because of what was happening. Obviously you know, but the aftermath is what affects you. The amount of death that happened in our country, the amount of people that were buried alive because of the mountains and the landslides that were created that buried them, the amount of people that were killed from the buildings that fell it's crazy. I remember having to sleep outside for weeks because we didn't know if there were more aftershocks coming right. The second waves of the aftermath of an earthquake. You, you live it, but you never understood why that was so traumatic.

Speaker 1:

I never really understood why that was such an impact on me, right that the amount of people that were killed because of those events. And this was a natural disaster, but it was traumatic, man, like as a kid growing up, you put it behind you and you're good. But imagine living outside your house because you're afraid that if there is another aftershock, your house can fall on you and you can die. So we lived outside for weeks, you know that was our home, and then you hear all the stories of the people that died and the chaos that it created, how close it was to you know, killing family members or friends and things like that. I mean stories upon stories upon stories, and you were just part of that.

Speaker 1:

And I'm bringing you that natural disaster and that traumatic event because it becomes a thing in the future, not to give it power, but it is a thing, it is a, it is an experience that you suffer, right, and something that happened, but I never really had, like, talked about it until now that I'm, you know, older that like dang it, that was, that was bad, it was really bad. So all the trauma, all the things that you experience in life, um, it can come from different sources. Unfortunately, again, because we're part of a fallen world, it can become from so many different other things, not just one thing, right, and eventually it can lead on to having a lot of mental health um issues and problems that we don't even know. Their mental health problems or mental health issues. We don't even know their mental health problems or mental health issues we don't know. Right, and I'm just glad that I have the platform to bring this up to you guys, to bring more light and awareness. If you want to share your story, feel free to share it on the YouTube comment section.

Speaker 1:

My community is full of support, full of love. You know, talk, talk about about it with your friends, talk about it with your family members. You know, start somewhere, but don't don't live in it by yourself. It's okay to heal, it's okay to go back and feel better. Right, the the normal that you feel now is not normal and you're not supposed to feel that way, right, you're supposed to feel with a sound mind. You're supposed to have that power that the Lord has given you through your spirit, through your spirit, through that Holy Spirit, so you can fight it right, and I pray and hope that you do end up getting better and you do end up getting help.

Speaker 1:

I'm glad that I'm able to say that there's people that I bring on here that have shared so much mental health awareness throughout my YouTube channel and we constantly do that. We constantly talk about that mental space because of how important it has become and how many people it has helped. I know people have seen those podcasts and those videos and you know it's a good way to spread awareness. It's a good way to share people's experiences, because we all go through something different. It's okay, it's all right and I'm glad that I'm able to do that through my channel and hopefully you guys will either learn something from those experiences, maybe encourages you to open up and start making changes in your life. So I'll leave it there Again. I constantly get into the mental health space within my channel because I talk about real life and this is real life and this is really important to a lot of people. It's a lot important to me and I just want to bring more light and awareness to it.

Speaker 1:

As usual, I'll be praying over the people who watch me, who listen to me, my YouTube channel members. Thank you, guys for always showing some love. I hope that this helped you in any way possible, would say. As long as my voice, my, my videos, um, my experience, my journey helps at least one person in life, then that is good enough for me all the judging that it can come from, all the negativity that that I can get from, you know, the internet space. That's okay, I can live with that. As long as that one person gets closer to accomplishing, and maybe starting, the purpose that God has for them, then that's good enough for me and I can live with that.

Speaker 1:

So I'll leave you guys here. Thank you guys for the love staying with me. Thank you guys for supporting my channel as usual supporting, remember. You can listen to this podcast through all the audio platforms you can think of Spotify, apple Podcasts, amazon Music and, of course, you can watch it on YouTube and 4K. And thank you guys for all the love. Love you guys. Take care. Mental health is important. Mental health is a thing. Please take care of yourself and if you need help, please do something to reach out to somebody. Your feelings are validated. Thank you, family. See you guys on the next episode.