The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

For many, like my father, alcohol often plays a role in mental illness and suicide.

A massive global study found as much, here are some highlights:

Highlights

The age-standardized suicide rate and per capita alcohol consumption from 183 countries were acquired for the entire population, females and males. Global study!

The positive associations between per capita alcohol consumption and the suicide rate were found among males and females in all income groups of countries.

Health policy makers should keep in mind that alcohol consumption is costing lives not just by long-term physical ailments but also by making people vulnerable to suicide.

We need more leaders, emphasizing daily practices of health and wellness around mental well-being and even personal spiritual growth.  

Not only is this an area of your life that is impervious to economic downturn, resizing or restructuring in a corporate environment, or AI coming in and taking your job away.  You will always find opportunities to work on yourself to improve because there is no way that this journey could ever end in this lifetime.

I’m choosing to be one of those leaders and mentors to emphasize this every single day because I know that when the student is ready, the teacher will always appear.

It is very important that I am consistent so that when that student is ready, the door opens for them, and they can begin unwinding some of the lies that they have told themselves during their life experience.

The other thing I’ll mention is that the time to lean on your friends and your squad is not when you’re feeling good but when you’re really confused and don’t know what the hell is going on and you’re upset.

If you feel guilt or shame, that’s the time to visit a friend in person if you can get that shit squeezed out.

I can appreciate if you’re simply unable to be in a social situation because you were so upset however, those moments are very few and far between and for the most part any real friend has no problem with you, crying, blubbering, and snot running down your face.  It’s not a whole lot different than when you went out with me when I was drinking is it? Ha ha.

My parents’ generation, people born in the twenties, we’re instructed not to talk about their feelings, man or woman as the way that the family dynamics worked in each side of my parenting lineage, so no wonder I had so much energetic bullshit to unwind into untie.

And that’s a really good subject as you’re exploring different areas that you want to understand in your history and in your life is to look for any patterns or behaviors that you might be unconsciously imitating today that don’t serve either yourself or the people around you that you love and care for.

Just this past year my 14-year-old Willa, who was thirteen at the time had a strong reaction when I started to raise my voice and I saw the way her body reacted, and I realized that I was inflicting trauma when I raised my voice like that.  

We talked about it, and she was open about how made her feel, and she was open about it because I was open to hearing about it for the first time.

I started meditating every morning, including meditation to never raise my voice situations with people I know, love and care for when it is inappropriate and only use that type of voice for dangerous situations or for theatrical endeavors.

It was a learning moment for me, and I think my daughter will explain to her that she helped me understand this and helped teach this to me. That’s another way that I can also break down any misconceptions that only older people can teach any age something at any time.

I remember going to counseling in the fall of 1984 into the winter of 1985 after my father chosen to take his own life.

The therapist was ironically and by no coincidence, an old friend of my father’s, who had given up alcohol and gotten into helping others and therapy.  His name was Wolfgang and there were pictures in our scrapbook of me as a baby with Wolfgang and his daughters back in the late sixties and early seventies.

Eventually, I asked Wolfgang straight up:

“Am I going to kill myself?”

He answered honestly, and said that he couldn’t predict that, however he also said that the choices and decisions I was making today in terms of talking about my feelings and trauma, and being open to counseling definitely stack the odds in the favor of me, not taking my own life down the road.

Looking back on it, it’s pretty fucked up that that was heavy on my mind at that age when I should’ve been enjoying myself and focused on becoming a better version of myself improving academically in athletically socially but in reality…..I was having nightmares about Kevin driving out into the country with a shotgun, and KC may squeeze in the trigger and maybe Kev will be taking my own life?

Nope.

Another reason me and Tito had to break up so I could get my head straight and move on to putting this concern behind me and looking outward to now helping others.

So, make every day and every month mental health awareness month by putting your own personal mental wellness first.

It starts by connecting to your breath and realizing that you are enough as you are today.

Utilizing a daily mantra that you say aloud, self-affirmation of support is the only way to do this.

You can’t build muscles without exercise, and you can improve your mind positive self. It’s just the way we’re wired folks.

Enjoy Labor Day and think good thoughts move your body eat good food and that’s how you give yourself self-love and improve your attitude of gratitude.

EVERY DAY:

Love

and

Gratitude

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