544: Mental Health Awareness Month: My Diagnosis

Shameless Leadership

Sara Dean

Education, Management, How To, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earlier this year I received two mental health diagnoses. One did not surprise me at all, but the second did. I have been processing and thinking through the gift of diagnosis a lot over the last few months. Yes, the gift of diagnosis. Receiving these diagnoses was more affirming and validating than I ever could have imagined. Instead of feeling plagued by some parts of myself that have been bewildering since I was very young, I now feel stronger and more connected to who I truly am and WHY I am who I truly am. What a relief! My mental health diagnoses are not my weaknesses, they are my superpowers. Because of them I am more compassionate, more empathetic, more conscientious, more thoughtful, more intentional, more talented in unique ways, more creative, more adaptable to things others can’t adapt to, more capable in ways others aren’t, and more sensitive to the world and other people in so many ways that make me a better citizen. So, ye, I am delighted by my diagnoses - and everything that comes with them. Including medication. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I am sharing my story with you because mental health diagnoses are not something to be ashamed of. And mental health diagnoses are not uncommon - which I learned quickly as I shared my story with friends over the last few months and had so many of them quickly reply “me too.” My hope is that this episode provides light and hope for anyone who might be struggling to see all their gifts right now. You are not alone. Links mentioned: Join my free business training: 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline: 800-950-6264 Depression Crisis Text Line: Text CONNECT to 741741 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Shameless Mom Academy episode 544. Show notes for this episode, including any links
0:06.2	mentioned in the episode, can be found by going to shamelessmom.com and clicking on episode 544.
0:16.2	Welcome to the Shameless Mom Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Dean. I'm here to give you and other passionate, driven, unapologetic moms, tools, resources, and a little bit of humor to help you lead more positive, powerful, and purposeful lives every damn day. One of the best things about the Shameless Mom Academy is our community. So be sure to join us in our free private Facebook group
0:37.9	to connect with other shameless moms just like you. You can find us over at shamelessmom.com
0:43.6	forward slash Facebook. All right. Let's dive into today's episode.
0:51.8	Hello, Shameless moms. Happy Monday. Happy May and happy mental health awareness month. All the good things, right?
1:00.2	I'm going to be talking about mental health today. I'm going to be talking about my mental health
1:03.6	today. I haven't spoken specifically about this, like designated a whole episode to this ever,
1:09.2	although I have talked about being someone who manages
1:12.8	anxiety, and I've talked about it in open and honest and vulnerable ways. I've also talked about it
1:17.1	in tongue and cheek ways, but I'm going to talk a little bit more about specifically being
1:21.7	diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, which has happened this year. And I'm also going to
1:26.3	talk about another diagnosis that came at the same time that I didn't know would be landing on my plate, which has been
1:33.3	interesting. And the reason I'm talking about all of this is because, first of all, May is
1:37.1	Mental Health Awareness Month. And also, I want to be part of the solution around destigmatizing
1:44.1	mental illness and mental health challenges.
1:47.8	And so I'm going to tell my story because I think that it will help other people and help
1:52.0	other women specifically and other moms.
1:55.5	I firmly believe that our mental health doesn't make us less than. It makes us better in some ways. It doesn't
2:04.1	make us less than enough. It makes us more ourselves. That doesn't mean it doesn't come with
2:09.0	challenges. But my mental health, for better or worse, it makes me more who I am. And I think
2:15.6	there's some really great gifts around that and gifts that come
	...

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