WEBVTT - Turning Lessons into Blessings 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.440 Greetings and welcome to woke f with me Danielle Moody. 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.440 The last year of life amidst the coronavirus outbreak has 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.480 been a life changing one for so many people. This 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.320 week on woke f Daily, I held conversations with two 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.840 inspiring women about the impact COVID nineteen has had on 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.880 people's mental health, and I share my own experiences and 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.800 changes from the last year as well. Fridays on woke 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.960 f Daily are feel Good Fridays, in which I center 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.000 conversations about health and well being in all aspects of 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:44.120 our lives, whether it's physical, mental, spiritual, or otherwise. These 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.320 conversations are valuable, and I use this weekly podcast as 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.720 an opportunity to share important nuggets from them with you. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.720 But you can hear every Feel Good Friday show in 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.960 full right now on my Patreon starting at just five 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.320 dollars a month at patreon dot com, Slasha app. This Friday, 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.520 I spoke with inspirational speaker kimberly Read, author of Optimists 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.800 Always Win, about my own experiences with social media and 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.920 gratitude during this pandemic and how we can use this 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:20.039 time to turn our lessons into blessings. Gratitude has been 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:25.200 something that over the past year. Over the ability and 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.240 I say this from a place of privilege, being able 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.680 to work from home during this time is a privilege right. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.039 Not having to put myself into harm's way in order 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.280 to make a living is a privilege. And with that, 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.480 with this time, with this slowdown, have really been able 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:50.800 to focus on gratitude and how I will be honest, prepandam. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.680 When you said was twenty twenty year worst year? No 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.320 it was not. And I can tell you that having 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.200 gone through a divorce, my mother being diagnosed with a 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.800 brain tumor, and like moving out on my own, twenty 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.840 twenty for all intensive purposes should have been my worst year. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:09.800 But what I continue to say and offer on woke 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.560 app is that it was the year of vision. It 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.040 was an eye opening year for me because what I 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.079 realized is that the hamster wheel that I had been 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:23.120 living on one that was fueled with measuring myself against 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.560 other people, what they had, what I wasn't doing, how 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.000 I needed to do more, be more, produce more right, 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.519 that my value was in my productivity rather than my personhood. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.120 Is that through the last year, really being grateful and 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:42.480 instead of asking the question out into the universe of 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.680 why is this happening to me? I have shifted and 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.799 this has been a powerful shift in my own life 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.959 of asking instead what is this trying to teach me? 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.320 What is this trying to teach me? Because you go 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.600 from a place of woe is me into a place 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:06.200 of student right into a place of being open because 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.680 you are available to receive the lessons that are being 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.960 presented to you. And I realized that that could only 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:19.320 have come from removing the blockage of being ungrateful for 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.080 the life that I was living, for the opportunities that 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.640 I have been given, but I couldn't see it. And 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:26.720 I think that a large part of that, Kimberly, is 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.800 because we spend so much of our lives on social media. 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.320 Oh that's so much of our lives, for better or 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.520 for worse, regardless of our age, whether you're a tween, 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.640 a teen, you know, or in your sixties or seventies, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.560 people are on social media, and social media has drained us, 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.200 I think in many ways of gratitude. How do you 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:54.400 manage that? How do you offer both wanting to feel connected? Right, 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.800 the beauty of the connection that social media allows us 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.640 to have but how it also pains us of the 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.240 positive energy and the optimism because they're so much bad 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:12.160 that is out there. I love what you have just described. Wow, 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.160 I was looking for a pen because you really know that, 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.640 Danielle in your story, right, I've only heard a piece 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.520 of that, but but I can tell your pivot. Yeah, 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.720 from the inside out right. I want to talk about 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.360 with social media in a minute, But you said something 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.400 I think that we have to kind of highlight for 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.520 the listeners here because I read a statistic in USA 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.360 today doing some research for a client in writing a section. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.520 Most people are more optimistic now than ever. Most people 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.839 seventy percent believe that the worst is behind us. That's 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:53.200 seventy percent right USA today. So there's there's still thirty 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.640 percent though, which is still a large number that believed 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:01.480 the opposite of that. And one of the things when 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.280 you talk about social media is that there are no 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:14.880 greater deceivers than comfort and easy hmm okay, And the 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.400 lessons to your point that you said so eloquently are 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.800 our greatest blessings. There's power in our survival right as 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.800 we all have a rock bottom right, pain changes who 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:32.919 we are and it has a purpose we know that. Also, 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.120 to your point, you said you're going to take the 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.159 lessons and turn them into blessings. We love that, right. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:43.200 We do that because our future cells deserve more, no 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.080 question about it. Right. Because we have to stop delaying 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.960 our joy. We do that. We do that a lot, 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.719 right because to your point about social media, the impact 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.080 of that, we delay our joy because we feel like 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.400 we're not good enough because we see this person person 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.480 and then we look inward and we're not there yet. 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.240 We're not worthy, we're not right. And we have to 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:11.680 understand that people often project their hurt yea, who's their 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:13.960 self esteem? That's where those filters, that's where all that 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.440 stuff comes from. Right, And so you always have to 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.760 remember that you're bigger than the situation that you're facing. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.680 But one of the things that I really got when 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:29.280 you said about this, you know you ask yourself why me? 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.520 Because I will tell you I kept saying to myself 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.240 when the lights were off of my soul, life was dark, 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.039 my mother and me, everything I remember like it was yesterday, 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.279 and I get terry I think about it is that 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.320 I asked myself, when will I be this woman who 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:50.920 went through life at one hundred and twenty miles per 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.520 hour in the snow and live life with zest again. 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.000 Why is all this happening to me? Right? I felt 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.159 this like indescribable pain, like I you know, I didn't 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.880 even know how to walk again? Right, And I know 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.840 that some people, most people have experienced experienced that, right, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.520 whatever it was, or if it felt like life defeated 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.640 you and the pain that held you at its tightest grip, 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.920 right far longer than you could have imagined. Right. But 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.760 it's the here's the thing about resilience and what I 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.520 also talk about in the book, Everyone's season is different. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.840 You described your season to be my sson was different. Right. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:34.640 It is true that people with resilience tend to have 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.240 a higher tolerance for a kind of emotional distress that 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.120 we go through, right generally that that comes from just 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.720 difficult times of valleys in our life, but the more resilient. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.520 And that's why it's important that you know when we 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:49.960 walk through the valleys, when we go through tough times 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.760 in our lives, that we that we have that stituitiveness 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.720 now that we all of us survive, right, Because the 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.680 better you are able to tolerate the feelings of the 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.760 dress of scadness, of pain that kind of go hand 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.320 in hand with adversity, and find a way to rebound 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:14.600 from those setbacks. That's power. Yeah, that truly is that's power. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.000 We haven't talked enough about the mental health impact of 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.880 this pandemic. It has not been easy to endure the 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:28.400 last year of changes, restrictions, and pressure from so many 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.520 different places. My friend, freelance journalist Danielle Campamore bravely shared 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.560 her experiences in recovery for an eating disorder and being 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.280 triggered into a relapse by this long turbulent year. I 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.320 had invited Danielle on to discuss toxic masculinity as it 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.000 relates to the racist violence around the country, and you 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.400 can hear that full conversation now on patreon dot com 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.760 slash wokeaf But I think it's important that everyone here's 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.920 Danielle courageously share her journey with an eating disorder relapse 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.640 and her continued recovery, especially if you or someone you 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.000 know is going through the same thing. Please share this 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.560 conversation and spread the word with your loved ones that 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.600 help is out there and recovery is possible. And listen 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:12.760 in to hear how you can support those in your 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.680 life who might be struggling. As we're getting ready to 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.040 I don't even want to call it moving into post pandemic, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.280 because we still have a pandemic, but how we are 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.440 living in the midst of this pandemic now is changing 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.240 because of vaccination. But a lot has happened over the 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.240 past year. And one of the pieces that you wrote 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:42.080 for insider dot com was about eating disorders and relapsing 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:46.160 during this time of quarantine. And you know, there has 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:50.080 been so much pressure on people to either you know, 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.640 you should come out of quarantine with a new hobby, 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.600 a new job, a new project, a new business, a 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.400 new body, all of these things. And it was an 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.480 added pressure on just trying to survive living in the 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.760 midst of a health pandemic and multiple uprisings and all 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:11.440 of this angst. Right And you know, for me, the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.719 folks that listen to me know that I have been 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.840 on my own personal journey over the past year, and 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.120 it has been in and around just my mental health 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:24.320 and how that was showing up with my weight and overeating. 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.679 And this time, this privileged time that I had was 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.640 the ability to slow down, focus on my health and 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.360 well being and shed like so much, so much baggage, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.640 so much weight, so much trauma over the past year. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.319 After I read your piece, I was thinking to myself, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.480 you know, that was my way of coping. But the 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:51.920 way in which like social media through memes and videos 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.520 have pressured people into something is wrong with you if 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.840 you're not using this time when for some people just 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.160 curling up on the cow is their useful time, right, 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.240 So talk to us about the ways in which you're 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:10.959 eating disorder presented itself, but in general, how this moment 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:17.479 has really affected folks that do suffer and live with ED. Absolutely. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:19.880 I'll start and preface it by saying that in this 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.559 country we have a very large misunderstanding of eating disorders 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.600 and why they present themselves. It is not about vanity. 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.280 It's not about making it to a certain size, although 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.960 for some people it is. Mostly it's a trauma response 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.679 and an attempt to try and control one aspect of 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.720 your life when other aspects are outside of your control. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.760 And that's how mine presented itself, probably around twelve years ago. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.080 I grew up in an abusive household. My father was 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:53.840 physically abusive, and so I turned to eating disorder to 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.040 try and have something that I can control. It was 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.720 also response to believing a lot of the things that 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.760 my father told me that I wasn't worthy, that I 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:03.920 wasn't good enough, and so you start to think that 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.640 I'm not worthy of nourishment as well. So there's a 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:08.840 lot of different factors that play into it. But for me, 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.480 the biggest trigger for my eating disorder is when things 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.920 get out of control. I need something that I can control, 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.560 and that is food and how I put food into 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.240 my body and how I take that food out of 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.840 my body. And so when the pandemic hit, my partner 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.400 is an essential worker at Amazon, he was working for 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.400 twelve hours shifts. They weren't providing adequate protection, they weren't 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.760 giving anyone paid time off. We were very scared that 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.160 he was going to bring the literal plague into our 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.200 home and that our two children might get sick. On 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.959 top of that, there was at home e learning for 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.280 my then five year old, now six year old. I 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.480 had a one year old now two year old, and 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.040 so I was also working from home. Everything felt chaotic. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.480 I was also isolated from my friends and isolated from 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.080 my family, which isolation definitely makes it easier for you 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.559 to engage in disordered eating because no one really can 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.000 pay attention, no one can really spot the signs. And 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:08.320 I relapsed very quickly, and I'm still dealing with the 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.400 aftermath of that. I'm not in recovery right now. I'm 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.280 trying to be. But so all of these factors, from 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:19.280 isolation to the loss of control, additional stress, anxiety, depression, 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.839 all of these things really puts people who are in 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.280 recovery or at risk for developing disordered eating habits at 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.840 a higher risk. And we've seen that play out. There's 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.280 been studies that shown that eating disorders have increased during 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.800 the pandemic and are likely to increase once, as you said, 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.200 the nation starts to open up again and people finally 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.600 feel like they can try and get help. And there's 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.800 a worry that mental health experts will become overwhelmed and 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.040 unable to actually provide adequate care to those people who 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:53.280 are going to need help. And so it was very sorry. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.160 It was very difficult, I think, to see people joking 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:02.160 about the pants like COVID fifteen or gaining ebomic weights, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.640 because for a lot of people it's far more than 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.440 a joke. And make no mistake, an eating disorder is 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.880 the deadliest mental health issue out there. More people die 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.960 from eating disorders than any other mental health problem, and 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.320 so it's life or death for a lot of people. 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.840 And that doesn't elude me also that it is a 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.760 severe health issue. And it just goes back to our 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:31.480 inability to talk about weight, weight gain, weight law different 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.600 types of bodies. When we're seeing now fat phobia playing 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.320 out in people gaining weights. People would look at me 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.880 and assume that I'm healthy. I am not healthy, but 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.200 just because at a certain weight, they assume that I am. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.280 So again, it's a lot of misconceptions. It's baked into 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:51.480 the fabric of this society that's so obsessed with women 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:56.080 or female presenting bodies, and it's exhausting. It really is 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:02.480 just another source of total exhaustion. What do you recommend, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.680 you know, what are what have you been doing? And 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.920 what do you recommend that people do that are struggling. 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.480 I know that, you know from my therapist when online. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.720 She actually just recently got rid of both of her offices. 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:17.720 She's like, this is just kind of gonna be the way. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:22.440 I don't foresee me sitting down across from anybody, you know, again, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.880 in a closed space, like there's just no reason we've 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.920 been doing fine on FaceTime. UM. I know that there 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:32.720 are lots of virtual you know, UM therapy groups. UM, 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.760 but what what what can people do who who are 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.960 in the midst of struggle, who are not at the 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:45.160 recovery stage but are very aware of what is happening 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.640 and want to do something but don't know what to 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.680 do right. I think that's the key point, and it's 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.640 wonderful that you pointed it out. Is first of just 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.440 doing the work to be aware of it. Sometimes even 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.600 that step is very difficult, But if you are at 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.400 that step and you are aware and want to try 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.760 and make it steps to get into recovery. I think 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.520 a very key component, at least for myself as being 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.560 honest with the people around me and be honest with 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.520 my partner and asking him to hold me accountable. It 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.720 means being honest with my friends in the group chat 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:16.920 and saying, hey, you know, I haven't had any food 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.680 and X number of days, or I've been purging X 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:21.840 number of days. I just need to talk about it 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.520 openly and giving and empowering your support system to to 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.120 be there for you and to hold you accountable. This 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.760 can be difficult. A lot of times people don't know 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.720 how to speak about eating disorders in a way that 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:37.360 isn't triggering. Buys and ask that people who are in 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.680 that support support system and that's a support space, to 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.640 do some research on how you can best approach someone 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:45.920 or talk to them about it, because discussing their weight, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.480 discussing how they look, that ain't it. That won't help. Yeah, 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.920 so I think that that's a big step. Another one 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.160 is go online. There are plenty of mental health care 0:16:55.200 --> 0:17:00.160 professionals who are doing visits, you know, virtually. There is 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.760 even tech support groups, any of those things where you 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.359 can just text somebody, you know. It's a lot of 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.000 it is just talking and being willing to be vulnerable 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.600 about this specific part of your health and wellness. I 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:17.680 think is a very big one. And then the hardest 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.200 part for me, but when I think is pivotal is 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.800 to also give yourself some grace and everything that we do, 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.680 especially now, but when it comes to this, I felt 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.040 so much shame when I relapsed. I'd worked so hard 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.359 to have gotten to that place of recovery, and that 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.320 place was imperfect, but it took a lot of work, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.600 and so I was very hard on myself. I still am, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.560 and that all that does is just feed that issue. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.680 It just makes it that much more harder to get 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.080 back on that road to recovery. So give yourself grace, 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.520 give yourself love. It's okay if you aren't where you 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.720 wanted to be. It's okay if you took some steps backwards, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.760 because you're still here and you're still ending. And that's 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.840 something that I have to tell myself every day, and 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:07.840 I would encourage people to tell themselves that too. It's okay, 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.439 you haven't failed, You're You're just still walking and moving forward. 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:20.840 As I often say, the problems that existed before COVID 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.919 nineteen were only exacerbated by the outbreak of this global 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.640 health pandemic, and that includes fat phobia, which was already 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.159 rampant in our society, especially with the expectations placed on 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.080 women from a very young age. There is no vaccine 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.000 for our various social ills. As we fight through our 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.600 days and hopefully strive to make this country better for 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.159 all Americans, know that there are methods and techniques to 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.320 help you make it through whatever it is that you 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.440 were dealing with. And I hope that this podcast has 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.040 been able to help you in some way on your journey. 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.639 Once again, please share this with your loved ones and 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.480 use whatever insight you may have gained to help yourself 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.080 and those around you. To hear more from me and 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.280 my fabulous gas five days a week, every single week, 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:06.040 do check me out on patreon dot com slash wokef 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.240 and to the entire Woke a F Nation. Power to 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.280 the people and to all the people. Power, get woke 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:13.920 and stay woke as fuck.