The following podcast is a deer media production.

Hey, this is Alexis Haines and welcome to Recovering from Reality,

where I illuminate the messy and magical path of coming home to yourself.

Whether you're on the road to recovery, seeking self-care techniques for surviving the

capitalist machine, or just need a moment to remember that you're not alone in your loneliness,

we're serving up the ultimate truth. Your challenges don't define you, how you deal with them does.

So are you ready to recover from reality?

All of these periods of time in my life, I just want to say,

absolutely led to growth. And I'm so grateful for the tools and for the foundation that I had that

have given me the opportunity to transform these really painful periods of my life into something

with purpose and into something that is ultimately beautiful and has made me a stronger human being.

I cannot believe that it is already November. I feel like with each year that I get older,

the time just goes faster and faster. Yet here we are. It is the holiday season. Welcome, guys.

And I know that with the holidays can come mixed emotions, right? Some people absolutely love

the holidays for me. I'm that person. I am listening to Christmas music in July. And then for

other people, it can be a time of a lot of sadness and depression. So this month, we are really going

to be focusing on mental health, not only because the holidays are here, but also because the month

of November is suicide survivors month where we hold space for all people who have feelings of

being suicidal, have gone through suicidal ideation before, who have attempted suicide

and survived and people who have attempted and lost their lives. I wanted to jump back into

mental health. Not that last month's topics did not have to do with mental health because

as you'll hear in this Q&A, me coming into who I really am and living authentically and

...