It’s the very first episode of The Oh Shit Kit, and we’re already inventing our own words! We absohundredlutely love it! Listeners get a chance to know us and the podcast a little bit better in this episode. Maddie says “yay” a whole lot and Leora can’t stop smiling for no reason because we’re so frickin’ excited!
Today we talk about the fact that while some of us might look like we have it together on the outside, we might be struggling with something on the inside, and coming together to share our stories can be a great tool for those “oh shit” moments when you need a little support.
Leora shares a bit about her struggles with anxiety, how she came to recognize that she was experiencing an anxiety disorder, and how medication and therapy have helped her to get to a better place. We’re starting to smash that medication stigma by talking about mental health medications the same way we talk about other medications! There’s no shame in the medication game.
Maddie dives into how therapy has helped her through her struggles with anxiety, depression, phobia, and OCD. She shares how therapy has gotten her through some incredibly difficult times by encouraging exploration of what does and does not work for her. This is a big part of what led us to embark on this journey to help you find what works for YOU!
We throw out fancy terms like “distress tolerance” and “radical self-acceptance”, but we really don’t need to get fancy cause we’re just reminding you to keep being the badass person you are even when being authentic is a little bit uncomfortable!
We throw out an array of mostly unnecessary disclaimers, like “Leora can’t be your therapist via podcast” and “Maddie does not recommend that you try to climb Mount Kilimanjaro”.
You hear the first of many times that we will say “Charlie, cut that out”, but he decides to leave it in anyway just to keep us honest about how imperfect we really are. We’re never more than 80% sure about anything, even our own email address.
Finally, we welcome all of you, whether you have a mental health diagnosis/struggle or not! We could all use a little help coping with life from time-to-time, and that’s what this podcast is here for. To give you tools, smash that stigma, and show you that you’re not alone.
Reach out to us with your stories via email at theohshitkit@gmail.com(we’re sure that’s right now) or by visiting our website at www.theohshitkitpodcast.com. Maddie made a form to contact us via the website, but she doesn’t want to call it a form because it’s too boring. Call it whatever you want, we’d love to hear from you regardless!
Tools
1. Allow yourself to change your mind [as long as you didn’t sign anything ;-)]
Making life decisions is often an ambiguous thing. You might have loved ones on either shoulder, telling you their opinions about what you should do. They might all mean well, but the truth is, you have the most information about your life, your emotions, and what you want. So, we encourage you to make your decisions, know you might make a wrong turn, and allow yourself to change your mind and take a u-turn if need be. Follow your heart, but don’t forget to use your head along the way.
2. Medication
Medication can be a game-changer for some people. Many people are scared to go on medication for their mental health, and we totally get it. There are always risks associated with medication of any kind. Keep in mind, however, that your doctor is always weighing potential risks against potential benefits when prescribing medication. Our society tends to focus more on risks when it comes to mental health medications versus medications for other types of conditions. Medication is certainly not for everyone, but we also want to encourage you to consider it if you feel other tools aren’t sufficient to manage your mental health. Many are fearful of the stigma that comes with taking medication, but the more we talk openly about it, the more we may realize that medication can be helpful for many people. Let’s smash that medication stigma.
3. Therapy
Therapy is a powerful way to sit down with a trained professional and have them guide you in finding the tools that work for you. Therapy can help you learn how to handle different emotions. This includes being okay with some difficult emotions, and learning to cope with these and walk through them rather than push them down.
4. Accepting yourself as an imperfect person and be willing to address mistakes without hating on yourself for making them
The truth of the matter is, none of us can do everything right 100% of the time. We all make mistakes, and sometimes we do things that we shouldn’t, even though we know better. If we can address when we were wrong, acknowledge that we made a mistake, and ask for forgiveness (from ourselves and from others) we can live more open lives. Acknowledge and embrace your imperfections, and be willing to change when you realize you’re not behaving in the way that you would like to be. We invite all of you to let us know when we’ve made a mistake so that we can acknowledge it and do our best to make it right.