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Speaker 1: Support for today's podcast comes from Cricket Wireless. Are you

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Speaker 1: looking for a way to in summer on a high note,

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Speaker 1: network is busy. Additional fees, usage and restrictions apply. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation

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Speaker 1: about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions

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Speaker 1: we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dr joy hard and Bradford, a licensed

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Speaker 1: psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. UH. For more information or to

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Speaker 1: find a therapist in your area, visit our website at

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While I hope you

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Speaker 1: love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is

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Speaker 1: not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with

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Speaker 1: a licensed mental health professional. Hey y'all, thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for joining me for session one seventy of the Therapy

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Speaker 1: for Black Girls podcast. I thought it was time for

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Speaker 1: us to do another community check in, given that there

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Speaker 1: continue to be so many threats to our mental health.

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Speaker 1: I want to start by letting you know that if

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Speaker 1: you are not feeling okay right now, it's totally understandable

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Speaker 1: why you would not be. I know we sometimes hear

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Speaker 1: glimpses about the ways our mental health is being impacted,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know that we're always aware or able

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Speaker 1: to recognize the significance of what's happening. Well. Many of

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Speaker 1: us are currently experiencing in terms of the pandemic racism, unemployment,

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Speaker 1: police brutality, etcetera. Is a prolonged stress response, and our

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Speaker 1: bodies are not designed to be able to withstand prolonged

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Speaker 1: exposure to stress. When we experience a stressful situation, our

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Speaker 1: stress hormones start firing up to help us to take

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Speaker 1: care of ourselves in the event of an emergency. When

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Speaker 1: the stressful event has passed, our hormones should go back

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Speaker 1: to normal. But if that stressful event never passes, our

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Speaker 1: hormones and our internal emergency system stay on alert. In

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Speaker 1: such an thirty eight of the podcast, you heard Dr

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Speaker 1: Hodge talk about this stress response as the one you

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Speaker 1: might have if you were being chased by a bear.

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Speaker 1: In this instance, of course, you want your system engaged

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Speaker 1: so that you can get away from the bear. But

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Speaker 1: if there is no bear, it's damaging and unsustainable for

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Speaker 1: our systems to stay engaged. In the same way, what

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Speaker 1: many of us have been experiencing for the past couple

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Speaker 1: of months mentally and physically is reacting as if the

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Speaker 1: bear has been there the whole time. This heightened state

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Speaker 1: can lead to a host of concerns like headaches, difficulties, concentrating,

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Speaker 1: stomach aches, increased heart rate, and heightened blood pressure, just

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Speaker 1: to name a few. In our current reality, not only

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Speaker 1: has the stressfully event not passed, we continue to get

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Speaker 1: hit with new stressors. So it's really important that we

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Speaker 1: be tapped into how our mental health is holding up

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Speaker 1: and be able to recognize when we might not be

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Speaker 1: doing so well. So I want to share a few

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Speaker 1: questions for you to consider so that you can be

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Speaker 1: more intentional about checking in with yourself. Number one, are

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Speaker 1: you feeling a little crispy around the edges? We know

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Speaker 1: that when stress is heightened, our ability to regulate our

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Speaker 1: emotions is diminished, which sometimes means that we're more irritable Additionally,

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Speaker 1: it's important to remember that depression doesn't always look like

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Speaker 1: someone's sullen and staying to themselves. Sometimes it looks like

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Speaker 1: the person who's snapping on others for no apparent reason.

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Speaker 1: So if you've noticed that your patience has gotten a

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Speaker 1: little thinner, you're yelling when you don't typically, or it's

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Speaker 1: a little harder for you to show grace to yourself

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Speaker 1: or to others, take a moment to stop and tap

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Speaker 1: into what might really be underneath the irritability. Number two,

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Speaker 1: are you managing your anxiety in ways that are actually helpful.

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Speaker 1: When we feel anxious and out of control, it's normal

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Speaker 1: andful to try to control the things we do have

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Speaker 1: control over, and many times this actually works. For example,

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Speaker 1: controlling what you can related to COVID nineteen in terms

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Speaker 1: of washing your hands, wearing a mask, and keeping a

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Speaker 1: distance are all things that are helpful and may actually

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Speaker 1: help to bring down your anxiety. But sometimes our attempts

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Speaker 1: to control don't always stop with the ways that are

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Speaker 1: helpful in managing our anxiety. So pay attention to whether

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Speaker 1: you've been doing things like getting into power struggles with

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Speaker 1: your partner or your friends, are micromanaging your employees. These

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Speaker 1: things may seem relatively innocuous, but they could actually be

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Speaker 1: unhelpful attempts at managing your anxiety. Question number three, are

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Speaker 1: you really allowing yourself to feel all of your feelings? Now?

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Speaker 1: This is a tricky one because there are plenty of

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Speaker 1: environmental cues that would lead us to believe that things

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Speaker 1: are okay and somewhat returning to normal. But this rush

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Speaker 1: towards normalcy is unfair, it's unkind, and it's damaging. We're

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Speaker 1: being expected to show up again in our offices, send

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Speaker 1: our kids back to school, hopple on zoom call after

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Speaker 1: zoom call, as if everything is okay, and it's not okay.

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Speaker 1: And so, even though the world may be signaling to us, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's okay, you're fine, I want you to take a

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Speaker 1: step back and focus in on how you're really feeling

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Speaker 1: when everything is quiet. You may notice that you're purposely

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Speaker 1: not staying engaged with reality because it often feels like

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Speaker 1: too much to bear, and I get it. Or you

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Speaker 1: may notice that you're spending lots of time throwing yourself

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Speaker 1: into tasks because the weight of the situation feels like

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Speaker 1: too much, and again I get it. It is too much,

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Speaker 1: and how we choose to or need to cope in

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Speaker 1: situations where our resources are depleted or valid. But I

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Speaker 1: do want you to pay attention to it and be

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Speaker 1: mindful that's what you're doing. Question number four, are you

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Speaker 1: meeting the basics in terms of taking care of yourself?

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Speaker 1: You've probably seen those memes that say we're nothing more

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Speaker 1: than complex house plants, and largely they're correct. We need sunlight, water,

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Speaker 1: and nutrients to survive. So how are you getting your

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Speaker 1: needs met? Are you able to get some sunlight or

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Speaker 1: be present with nature in a way that reminds you

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Speaker 1: of that connection. Are you making sure to feed and

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Speaker 1: bathe yourself? If this is difficult for you, try something

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Speaker 1: like drinking smoothies, are freezing a big pot of suit

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Speaker 1: for those days when cooking or eating feels like too much,

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Speaker 1: Or try picking your favorite song to accompany you in

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Speaker 1: the shower and sing it at the top of your lungs. Again,

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Speaker 1: when our bodies are stressed, sometimes it's hard to remember

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Speaker 1: these basic things, but they can often help you to

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Speaker 1: feel just a little better. So consider this a gentle

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Speaker 1: and loving reminder. And question five, are you aware that

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Speaker 1: what you're experiencing may actually be trauma. In session one

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Speaker 1: thirteen of the podcast, Shaqisha Spencer talked at length about

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Speaker 1: how experiences can be traumatic even when we might not

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Speaker 1: think they are. So I think it's important to pay

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Speaker 1: attention to the fact that for many of us, the

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Speaker 1: experiences of the last few months have been a new

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Speaker 1: trauma or have reopened older traumas a part of what

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Speaker 1: often helps us to resolve trauma is that after a point,

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Speaker 1: there's a period in which you're able to re engage

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Speaker 1: with the world to assess for safety. But we haven't

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Speaker 1: really been able to do that it the world largely

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Speaker 1: still feels like a very unsafe place, and so the

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Speaker 1: trauma is still very alive and fresh. So it's important

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Speaker 1: to take care of ourselves and tend to ourselves accordingly.

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Speaker 1: That means being extra gentle, asking for help and actually

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Speaker 1: allowing our support system to show up for us, engaging

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Speaker 1: in activities that bring us pleasure, paying attention to our

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Speaker 1: sleep and physical activity, and finding outlets to actually process

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Speaker 1: how we're feeling. So once you're done listening to this,

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Speaker 1: maybe right after, maybe tonight, maybe this weekend, I want

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Speaker 1: you to take some time to really reflect on how

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Speaker 1: you're doing in the midst of everything that's happening, and

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Speaker 1: see if there's anything that I've shared that might help

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Speaker 1: you to shore up your mental health. If you're comfortable,

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Speaker 1: share your takeaways with me on social media using the

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Speaker 1: hashtag tv G in session, and don't forget to share

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Speaker 1: this episode with two sisters in your circle who could

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Speaker 1: use the check into. If you're looking for a therapist

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Speaker 1: in your area, be sure to check out our therapist

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Speaker 1: directory at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash directory.

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Speaker 1: And if you want to continue digging into this topic

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Speaker 1: and get some support from other sisters, come on over

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Speaker 1: and join us in the Yellow Couch Collective, where we

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Speaker 1: take a deeper dive into the topics from the podcast

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Speaker 1: and just about everything else. You can join us at

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash y c C.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget that if you're looking for a way to

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Speaker 1: in summer on a high note, Cricket Wireless has got

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Speaker 1: just the thing. Get ready for unlimited smiles, unlimited times.

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Speaker 1: For get four lines of unlimited data for a hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars a month. Thank y'all so much for joining me

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Speaker 1: again this week. I look forward to continue in this

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Speaker 1: conversation with you all real soon. Take good care the

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Speaker 1: wood