Great Escape Podcast episode 30 - Get help, don't struggle alone

After last week's conversation with Dawn Apuan, and the last couple of weeks have actually been pretty tricky for me from a work perspective. I took the funeral last week for a 24 year old, who had taken his own life, and it was a real challenge to bring some sense of comfort, and meaning to his family, and to the 150 plus people at the crematorium, at the ceremony to say goodbye to him. And the tragedy of the whole situation really was that he knew, because he said so, that if he'd reached out for help, there would've been any number of people who would have been there for him, but somehow the state of his mind, his mental illness, his depression just meant that he was unable to reach out for that help, unable to find connection with another human being, and that just really left me very, very saddened about the state of society where people are so isolated. So my thought for today is really don't ever feel that you are completely isolated, because that's almost never the case. In Dawn's case, she reached out to her sister with that message at the beginning of the podcast, the last episode of the podcast. For all of us, there is somebody you can talk to, and when we're trying to change from one life to another life, when we're trying to make that transition, it can get very lonely, it can get very stressful, and you can feel like you're the only person that's trying to make this change, you're the only person that gets why it's necessary, you're the only person that understands what's going on, and to a degree that is true, because inside your head, nobody else can really get out what's going on inside your head. But that sense of isolation is incredibly dangerous, because that's where we find ourselves potentially slipping down that path from mental wellness to mental illness, and so it's then that it's absolutely vital that we connect with friends, with family, if necessary, with professionals, and as I said at the end of the funeral last week, there's no shame in your mind not working entirely properly, it's just like catching a cold, there's no shame in getting a cold, there's no shame in breaking a leg, unless you did it in a particularly stupid way. Our minds, the way our brains work are incredible complex, largely chemical systems, and if there's a chemical imbalance, that may need help. Sometimes medication is appropriate, sometimes talking about it, either just with friends or with a professional will help, and sometimes, which is the whole point of the Great Escape, actually changing your physical circumstances to an environment that is less stressful is absolutely what's necessary. So please don't, if you feel your mental state, slipping towards depression, don't struggle alone, get help. Talk to somebody, and get yourself back to a state of mental wellness.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Great Escape Podcast. You can find other episodes at all the usual places on Itunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, or at the website, greatescapepodcast.com/episodes, and if you'd like to contact me, to talk about any element of this episode, or others I've covered, please go to greatescapepodcast.com/contact, and you can find all the ways of getting hold of me there. And if you're stuck in a situation, and you can't find the way out, please go there, send me a message, and let's see how we can work together to get you unstuck and moving forward with your life again. Please do share this podcast with your friends, and family, other people you think might appreciate it, and comment on episodes or send me message, I'd love to keep the conversation going.