116: Prioritizing Mental Health: Amanda's Thoughts on 2024 & Suggestions for Improving Mental Health

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Jan 8

In this episode, I share about my own mental health struggles in 2024 and why I believe prioritizing mental health is so important. I discuss how I believe society impacts our mental health, and how I felt impacted by the 2024 election (specifically as a rape survivor), living through a pandemic, and social media. I also discuss how the healing journey impacts mental health and how for me healing from rape and family dynamics has continued to impact my mental health. I also discuss a few suggestions that have helped me to improve my mental health on a daily basis.

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Studies on Social Media & Mental Health

Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review (NIH National Library of Medicine)
How Social Media Affects Your Teen’s Mental Health: A Parent’s Guide (Yale Medicine)
Pros and Cons of Social Media (Brown University)

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Timestamps ⏱️

Introduction: 0:15
Listener Question: 2:26
Suggestions for Improving Mental Health: 16:16
Outro: 29:57

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This podcast was transcribed by an AI tool called Castmagic. Please forgive any typos or errors.
Amanda Durocher [00:00:01]:
Welcome to NewView Advice. I'm your host, Amanda Durocher, and I invite you to join me here each week as I offer advice on how to move through whatever problem or trauma is holding you back from living life to the fullest. Let's get started. Hi, beautiful souls. Welcome to NewView Advice. My name is Amanda Durocher. And if you're new here, this is a healing centered advice podcast where I offer guidance for the healing journey. I don't believe I have all the answers you seek.
Amanda Durocher [00:00:25]:
I believe you have all the answers. You just may need a new view and a little help along the way. Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Happy New Year if you're listening to this episode in the present, January 2025, and happy week, happy day if you're listening to this episode in the future. Today's episode is about prioritizing your mental health and why it's so important to make your mind your best friend rather than your greatest foe. I think for so many of us, our mind can be our biggest critic and also one of our biggest obstacles. And I found in 2024 that my mind was one of the things I struggled with the most. The thoughts I had about myself, specifically self doubt, and how it was so important for me again and again to prioritize my mental health.
Amanda Durocher [00:01:05]:
And so today, I'm talking about mental health. This episode is inspired by me and the 2024 I had. So in this episode, I am going to talk about why it's so important to prioritize your mental health. I'm gonna talk from personal experience about why my mental health was so challenging in 2024. I'm gonna talk a bit about my own healing journey as well as things that were happening in society and in the collective that very much impacted my mental health. And these things I share, I share them because I think it's true for a lot of people, and I think it's important to remember how healing and also society at large can impact our mental health and how right now we're living through a time in history where there's a lot more challenging our mental health than there ever has been before. So I'm gonna talk a bit about that, and then I'm going to leave you with a few suggestions I have for improving your mental health on a regular basis. So before I jump in, I always like to mention that if you haven't already, you can check out my website, newvia advice.com, for more free resources.
Amanda Durocher [00:02:01]:
There, you can find podcast episodes, journal prompts, meditations, poems, my new series, reflections, where I share stories from my own healing journey and more. So I invite you to check that out after this episode at newvueadvice.com, and you can check out today's episode show notes at newvueadvice.com/116. So with that, let's jump on in to talking about mental health. As I mentioned in the intro, this episode is really inspired by my own 2024. And as I reflected on new view advice and what I wanted to show up and share in 2025, I kept thinking about the importance of prioritizing our mental health. So I wanted to begin this episode by acknowledging that we have all been through a pretty crazy couple years. And I used to feel like I was the only one who felt impacted by the past couple years, but I'm gonna be honest. I've been going on Bumble BFF, trying to make some friends here in Arizona, and I'm shocked by how many people express the same thing that they've gone through this cycle over the last 4 years.
Amanda Durocher [00:03:04]:
And what happened 4 years ago? We all went through a pandemic, and I don't think we've talked about collectively how much of an impact that has had on us on a society and on an individual level. And I wanted to acknowledge that here because I had that conversation on many Bumble BFF dates, which tells me that I'm not the only one who felt impacted by that and whose mental health was impacted by that. And I think it's important to note that because when it comes to mental health, we are often very critical of ourselves and that impacts our mental health or judgmental of ourselves or judgmental of others. And it's important to note that collectively, as a whole world, we went through something really big and traumatic, and we've spent years putting our lives back together in new ways. Because everyone I spoke to talked about how they've changed so much over the last 4 years. And if you're listening to this podcast, my guess is you have changed a lot in the last 4 years too. I think that we're always growing and evolving, but the truth is there's some people who choose not to change. There's some people who don't heal, who don't grow.
Amanda Durocher [00:04:13]:
Those people aren't listening to this podcast, though. So I do wanna acknowledge you and the growth you've had over the last 4 years. So if you are ever cruel to yourself or doubt yourself or judge yourself for where you are at, I want you to really take time to think about and be kind to yourself that we have all gone through a lot over the last 4 years. Another thing collectively I wanted to mention up front here, this is for people in America, we just went through a pretty rough election. I don't know if that's the right word, but I felt very impacted mentally by the 2024 election. I don't know if everybody feels this way, but I live in Arizona, which was a swing state. So I was bombarded with commercials, mailing ads, and billboards of both candidates. And this is not a political podcast.
Amanda Durocher [00:05:02]:
But I do want to mention here that I was very impacted by the election because both sides were expressing why I should not vote for the other person and leaning into hatred. And I have found in my own life, hating someone can be really powerful. And so I understand why politically this can be used, the hating of another person. But at the end of the day, it's not good for our mental health to hate people. I have hated the people who have raped me my entire life, and I still have moments where I can sit down and think I hate that person. And sometimes I write a really kick ass poem or I write a really good story that comes from that hatred because I need to process it because I'm human, and I had some horrible things happen to me, and hatred's real. But at the end of the day, it's not where I feel empowered. There may be power there, but I don't feel empowered.
Amanda Durocher [00:05:52]:
And for me, the difference between the two is empowerment is when we are in our own power and we're empowering ourselves and other people to be our best selves. I don't know if that's the real definition, I'll be honest with you. And power, on the other hand, is neutral. Power is something that everybody can wield and control, and sometimes it's positive, sometimes it's negative. But empowerment is really when we're embodied in our own power. And I share that because this election was super challenging for me mentally, specifically as a rape survivor. I found both sides utilizing rape as a reason why I shouldn't vote for the other candidate. 1 candidate was saying that if I was raped, I wouldn't be able to have an abortion.
Amanda Durocher [00:06:32]:
Another candidate was saying that rapists were coming over the border, and so I should vote for them. And as a rape survivor, having commercials on the TV, mail in ads, and even billboards talking about rape without having a society that actually supports rape victims was incredibly triggering for me for months. I didn't wanna be triggered. I did my best to not focus on all the hatred and not focus on all the rape being thrown in my face, but it was hard. It took a lot of energy is what I'm seeing now. What I've really seen over the last 2 months is how much energy it took to, like, not lose my mind during that election. And turning on the TV and turning on social media and all the hatred and all the division. And I'm really fascinated that at this point in history, we are the most connected and disconnected at the same time.
Amanda Durocher [00:07:20]:
You know, it is easier than ever before to contact somebody and to connect with somebody over the Internet. You can connect with somebody across the world. So many of us still remain in contact with people from our childhoods even if we move away. And people keep tabs on each other through social media and things like that where in the past that was never the case. We're very connected while also being extremely disconnected because the social media specifically is very superficial, and we're not getting a full picture, and we're not really connecting with one another. And that is something that we were also impacted with over the last 4 years, as I mentioned with the pandemic when we all had to isolate and move online. I think a lot of people have felt that call back to being in person. Person.
Amanda Durocher [00:08:02]:
I know I have, and it has made such a difference for my mental health. And I share all this because I think it's really important to keep all that in perspective when reflecting on your mental health. And maybe you've had some mental health challenges over the past couple months, weeks, years. It's important to put in perspective the world we live in and how the world we live in hasn't necessarily been supporting our mental health. In my mind, it's been harmful for it. As I mentioned with the election, there was a lot of hate being thrown back and forth and a lot of division. I personally believe as humans, we're actually not designed to be divided from each other. We're meant to connect with one another, and we're meant to be in community, and we're meant to relate to each other as humans.
Amanda Durocher [00:08:43]:
When we create so much division among each other, we lose sight of our humanity, I believe. Because when we think that somebody else is an other, we forget that we're all human and we all live similar experiences and also very different experiences, but we're all human at the end of the day. And I've seen a lot of movement away from our humanity. And that is going to have a large impact on our mental health because it's very confusing, I find, for my mind to make sense of a world that doesn't see the humanity in each other, that doesn't offer each other empathy and compassion, and that doesn't listen to one another. And you don't even have to engage in the outside world to still feel impacted by it. I joke with Evan that he's the one who stays engaged with the world and I stay in my little bubble. The truth is I don't engage with media on the most part. That's why the election I think was so jarring for me was that I couldn't ignore it like I usually do.
Amanda Durocher [00:09:35]:
And I don't really go on social media. I find it to be a little chaotic for me. Social media doesn't feel good for me, so I don't engage with it. But I do know a lot of people do, and that also has a huge impact on people's mental health. There are so many studies done. I'll connect some in the show notes if you wanna read more about the negative impacts of social media. But I think we all know it collectively at this point in time that social media is not known to better our mental health. It is known to diminish and to harm our mental health.
Amanda Durocher [00:10:00]:
And I wanted to mention all that upfront again because be kind to yourself. We are living through a time in history that is unlike any other time. As I mentioned, we are more divided than I ever before, and we are also more connected and disconnected than ever before. And so if you find yourself feeling like an oddball because you're having some negative thoughts, remember it is not just you. So many people are struggling with their mental health today. The next thing I wanna talk about is personal, but I share this because I think that if you're here listening to this podcast, you're on your healing journey, and you know that healing from trauma and family dynamics also impacts your mental health. And now I also just wanna talk personally about 2024 and how my mental health was impacted by my healing journey and how when you are healing, it is important to prioritize your mental health because oftentimes when we're healing, some of those negative beliefs come up to be looked at and we know we bring awareness to it, but it's important to remember that a lot of that negative self talk is not you. It's not your true voice.
Amanda Durocher [00:10:57]:
It's not your heart. It is the trauma talking. It's past voices talking, or it is just the voices of others talking. But it's important to remember and to come back to being your own best friend. 2024 was very challenging for me. I have always struggled with my mental health as I've healed from rape. Specifically for me, for a long time, I struggled with suicidal thoughts and PTSD. And PTSD for me was reliving what I had been through on a daily basis.
Amanda Durocher [00:11:24]:
It was excruciating for many years, and I very much struggled and had to make my mind my friend. And that took a lot of strength and intention. And so I honor you wherever you're at on your journey because if you're struggling with PTSD or suicidal thoughts, 1, you are not alone. 2, it is an inner battle most people don't see, and I honor you. And wherever you're out on your journey, you are incredibly strong, and those voices in your head are not true. You matter. Your life matters. You are strong.
Amanda Durocher [00:11:54]:
You are courageous. You are a wonderful human. You are worthy of so much happiness, love, enoughness, and it's a courageous path, the healing journey. But it challenges our mental health, as many of you know. And for me in 2024, I felt really blessed at the beginning of the year because I went through a few things that led me to no longer struggle with suicidal thinking or PTSD. But I was really surprised that under there was a lot of negative self talk that went back to my family and went back to being a rape survivor. I spent most of 2024 looking at how rape impacted every area of my life and how unsupported I was throughout that process and the beliefs I took on because of that. So I lived with a lot of self doubt because of many different reasons, but one of them being that after I was raped, I was not believed, and I was shamed and told to shut up, honestly.
Amanda Durocher [00:12:48]:
And that left me with some really damaging self talk that I was carrying around for 15 years, over 15 years. And I mentioned that because 15 years, over 15 years. And I mentioned that because if you struggle with your mental health, some of these cruel words we tell ourselves go all the way back to childhood, to our teen years, or to some of the hardest moments of our life. And I find that many times in these hard moments of our life, we create negative self talk actually as a safety mechanism, as a coping mechanism. So when I was raped, I created beliefs like you made this up. You're a liar because it was easier than living in a world where everybody was shaming me for something that happened. I created stories in my head. I created a lot of doubt and confusion because that was how I coped with it at the time.
Amanda Durocher [00:13:33]:
But it took intention for me to come out of that denial is what I realized it was in 2024 as I was coming out of denial and accepting the things that happened to me and accepting the life I lived and where I've ended up. And all that was really challenging for my mental health. And I also, in 2024, had to look at a lot of beliefs from my family structures, from my mother, from my father, from the way I grew up. And it was really challenging mentally for me to look at all these horrible stories I had been telling myself in the background for so many years. And it took me months to really intentionally look at the stories I was telling myself and to honestly grieve. And what helped me and my mental health through that was honestly looking at the horrible things I was still telling myself, the criticisms, the doubt I lived with, and working with professionals. I worked with 2 therapists and a trauma professional this summer. I'm very fortunate that I was able to work with so many people throughout this tough chapter mentally, but I looked at these stories in order to unravel them.
Amanda Durocher [00:14:35]:
And that's something I really wanted to note here about mental health is that the process of prioritizing our mental health and learning to become our own best friend is a process of unraveling. I think so many of us live with these minds that are all tangled up with different beliefs. You can view it like a ball of yarn that's all tangled. And when we begin the process of prioritizing our mental health, we're slowly unraveling that ball of yarn and learning how to befriend the negative self talk and to let it go, but that takes time. Before this episode, I was really thinking about that when we start the healing journey, it's like we jump down the rabbit hole. So you can think of Alice in Wonderland where she's falling down the rabbit hole. And at some point, we land on stairs, but the stairs continue to wind down because I think this unraveling is just continuous throughout our lives. And so at the beginning, it feels like we're falling and we're like, oh my god.
Amanda Durocher [00:15:30]:
Will this ever end? And at some point, we get our footing, like I said, on those stairs, but you continue to take the steps downwards. You just have even footing as you do it. And I think that that visual is important because that's what prioritizing our mental health does is instead of feeling like we're in this free fall that we have no control over, by prioritizing our mental health and learning how to take care of our minds and make our mind our best friend rather than a foe, we end up on the stairs where we're able to one step at a time slowly unravel rather than feel like life is completely out of our control. And, honestly, sometimes life is completely out of our control. Right? We all lived through the pandemic like I've talked about or the election that I talked about. Those are things out of our control. So sometimes those moments are gonna be a lot harder for us. So prioritizing our mental health is going to help us in those moments that we can't control life because, honestly, most of life, we can't control.
Amanda Durocher [00:16:19]:
But the more we learn to take care of ourselves and befriend ourselves, the easier those moments become. And now I wanna talk about a few ways you can begin prioritizing your mental health today and ways you can continue to come back to if you find your mental state to be chaotic, stressful, negative, hard, anxious, depressed. I think these suggestions can be helpful throughout your journey. And, also, maybe one works for you, one doesn't. But these are just suggestions that have helped me with my own mental health journey. So the first thing I wanted to say is that it's important to be intentional and to pay attention to what you are consuming and how that is impacting you. So this includes television shows, movies, news, social media, group environments, your work environment, your family environment. But what are you consuming? Where do you spend most of your time, and how do you feel in those environments or on those media platforms? I think that so many times, specifically when it comes to media, so such as social media news or television or gaming, we can unintentionally use those things.
Amanda Durocher [00:17:24]:
And oftentimes, when I scroll on Instagram, it's really a way to check out. And it's important to pay attention to how those things are making you feel. I think so much of today is distracting us from our inner world, but also from connection with one another. As I mentioned, a lot of these media, social media and the news, is disconnecting us from ourselves and also from each other. I was horrified to watch the news during the election and to see what people were saying about each other and forgetting the humanity within one another. It was horrifying to watch, and it made my body feel anxious. And that's what I've noticed with social media is I don't engage with social media because it makes me anxious. I have a hard time with it.
Amanda Durocher [00:18:06]:
I used to try to lean into it and question it and see if there was a way I could get around the anxiety, and I've realized it's just a lot of noise, and that makes me extremely anxious. I feel a lot better when I'm not on it. And that's a choice I've made. And it was hard at first, and now I feel a lot better without it. But I'll be honest, I was talking to somebody the other day, and they took a social media break, and they miss it so much. And they're so excited to get back on it. And it was good for them to get off it, but they're excited to get on it. So, again, this is about you paying attention to how things impact you.
Amanda Durocher [00:18:37]:
And so maybe you wanna take a break and see how it makes you feel. Maybe you really miss it, or maybe it makes you anxious and you feel better without it. But I think that getting intentional about the media you're consuming is so important because so much of today's media really does impact us. As I said, I was really impacted by all those commercials during the election. I believe they were there to make me feel something, and they were making me feel certain ways, and they were not good. They were trying to elicit a reaction from me, And that's what so much of social media or the news or TV or movies is trying to do. They want you to have an emotional reaction. You know, you notice that with sales techniques.
Amanda Durocher [00:19:11]:
They want you to feel something to then make a decision. And so it's important for you to really pay attention to how that is impacting you because what I've found throughout my life and what I've talked about in therapy and with other people as well is that those things are impacting us way more than we realize and negatively impacting us. And so if you're somebody who's struggling with your mental health right now, I invite you to become really, really intentional with yourself. And this also goes to group dynamics. Are you in a friend group or a group chat that does not feel good? When you go home for the holidays, are you left feeling drained and awful and anxious, or do you feel really good and your cup filled? I think in today's world, as things get a little more chaotic because that's how it feels to me. It feels a little bit more chaotic than it used to be. There's a lot of stuff going around. There's a lot of noise.
Amanda Durocher [00:19:58]:
There's a lot of fear being spread around. It's so important to really find those places and spaces that feel safe. Because when our mind starts going crazy, it often is because we don't feel safe. And I noticed that over the past year with my mind is noticing where my mind went the craziest and also where it felt the safest. I really leaned into finding safe spaces for myself this year, and it feels so good. And really paying attention to the people who did not feel good and becoming aware of that, It doesn't mean I gave up everybody who didn't feel good to me. A lot of people, I just had to start putting up boundaries, and I had to be aware of how they made me feel so that I wasn't looking for them to make me feel a different way. But it's really important to become intentional when focusing on your mental health and becoming aware of how different places, spaces, and people make you feel.
Amanda Durocher [00:20:49]:
The second thing I recommend is leaning into healthy coping strategies. I think that so many of us cope with negative mental health in unhealthy ways, but these are just Band Aids. So unhealthy ways include drinking, drugs, online shopping unintentionally. This isn't for everybody, but if you know you shop when you're upset just like I used to do in the past, you get it. This is also doom scrolling on social media, so scrolling endlessly. This is watching videos that you know get you really triggered or worked up. This is causing drama in your friend group or your partnership. You know, I find that some people start drama in order to avoid their actual problems.
Amanda Durocher [00:21:26]:
They start new problems. So if that's you, it's something you could begin to look at. And so when prioritizing our mental health, some of these things can feel really good in the moment, but they don't help our mental health long term. I've been sober for almost 4 years, I think. I went sober in 2021. Yeah. So almost 4 years. 4 years, February 1st, and I used to drink as a coping strategy for my mental health.
Amanda Durocher [00:21:48]:
And the truth was I would feel better in the moment, but I never felt better long term. Honestly, I would wake up the next day and hate myself more. It's one of the reasons I went sober or that I gave up alcohol was that I ended up with so much self hatred the next day that it became debilitating. So I would drink because I hated myself and because I had really bad negative self talk and a lot of self doubt and a lot of social anxiety. And then I would wake up the next day, and I'd judge every single thing I ever said. And I wouldn't even say bad things. Like, if I was drunk and I said to somebody, like, you look great, I would judge myself for it. I'd be like, oh my god.
Amanda Durocher [00:22:21]:
I can't believe you said it like that. Oh my god. What if she didn't want that compliment? I would berate myself the next day for everything I did. I also blacked out a lot. I'll be honest. There's a reason I gave up alcohol. And I judged myself for the blackouts. I would isolate myself for weeks at a time and punish myself for the behaviors I didn't remember that really connected back to my trauma and my repressed memories.
Amanda Durocher [00:22:42]:
But these negative ways I used to cope did not help me long term. And when we are prioritizing our mental health, it's important to begin having healthy coping strategies because these will help us long term. So what are some healthy coping strategies? In my life, I love to go to the gym, and I did not always love to go to the gym. I used to hate to go to the gym, but I have developed a love of exercise that I did not always have, and it took time. So if anybody out there is like, I hate going to the gym. I hate exercising. Keep exploring different kinds of exercise. I found that when I discovered weight lifting, that made all the difference for me because I love strength training, because I love the growth in it, and I also love feeling strong, and it grounds me into my body.
Amanda Durocher [00:23:32]:
I talk about it a lot, but some other friends I have love to run. They love to distance run, and they love to challenge themselves running. I don't love to run, but they love to run. And then I have another friend who does hot yoga all the time. She's obsessed. Not really my thing. I like slow yoga. But what I've noticed is that we each have found the way we love to exercise, and that helps with our mental health.
Amanda Durocher [00:23:56]:
But we don't all have the same type of exercise that helps with our mental health. So it's really important to find what works best for you. I also find for mental health, finding ways to relax is always gonna help your mental health. So that could be meditating. That could be journaling. For me, when I play the piano, it relaxes my body in a way that nothing else does. It's honestly pretty magical for me. I also find baths, long showers, yoga, yoga nidra, sound baths, finding ways to relax your mind.
Amanda Durocher [00:24:25]:
Because when you are being critical to yourself or struggling with your mental health, normally, we're in fight or flight. When our nervous system is regulated, we are not as hard on ourselves or it's easier to catch those negative thoughts. And so when we're in fight or flight or stress mode, we're much more likely to struggle with anxiety, depression, and those negative thoughts. And as we're struggling with those negative thoughts, we begin to go more into the stress response because we begin judging the negative thoughts, at least that's what happens to me. So it's really important to find ways to relax and to find healthy coping strategies to assist you with that. As I mentioned, I also think journaling is a great thing for mental health. If you're struggling with a lot of negative self talk, sometimes just writing down the negative self talk is so helpful. Because when you start writing it, you're giving it a voice and you're seeing it, and then you're able to see it in a new perspective.
Amanda Durocher [00:25:14]:
When we get it out of our heads, it's extremely helpful. So I used to pick up a drink, as I mentioned. Now I often pick up my journal when I have a negative thought, and I start exploring it on the page. And I've found that to be extremely helpful as well. But finding different healthy coping strategies for your mental health is a beautiful way of also becoming your own best friend. Because as I mentioned with the drinking, I used to judge myself. But when I do healthy things, it's easier for me to be kind to myself, and that is me developing a best friendship with myself. I am supporting myself.
Amanda Durocher [00:25:46]:
I'm cheering myself on, and I'm showing myself that I have the tools to be kind to myself and to take care of myself. Because I find with mental health, it can be really hard because so many of us did not talk about mental health growing up, and we didn't have people who really took care of our mental health or our emotional health. So as we grow into adults, it's a new skill to learn. We didn't learn it when we were growing up as children, especially traumatized children. So it's a new skill to learn. So please be kind to yourself, which leads me to my last piece of advice today, which is kindness. Be kind to yourselves out there, my friends. I know it sounds so basic, but I really invite you to begin when you notice the negative thoughts coming up, you notice the anxiety or the depression or whatever you're really struggling with mentally, insert that kind voice.
Amanda Durocher [00:26:31]:
The more you begin to bring that kind voice in to meet the negative voice and begin having a dialogue with yourself in a nonjudgmental manner, it is gonna make a world of difference. And sometimes we judge our negative thoughts rather than bringing that kind voice and it just creates more negative self talk. But it's really important to bring in that kind voice. Because for me as a rape survivor, I've judged a lot of thoughts I've had as a rape survivor and a lot of my coping strategies and a lot of my ways of being. And I really began healing and improving my mental health when instead of meeting those quote, unquote odd thoughts, such as the suicidal thoughts I mentioned with more judgment, instead I met it with a kind voice. Like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Why do you feel that way? I love you.
Amanda Durocher [00:27:16]:
You don't have to be so cruel to yourself. You're doing great today. Did you know you've been through a lot? You're so strong. Did you know that you've done things harder than this? Today is not your worst day. And inserting that kind voice has made a world of difference in my life. And I talk about self compassion in every episode because I believe kindness has the key to change our lives. At least that was true in my life, and I think that when I look back on my life, there wasn't enough kindness, so I didn't learn how to be kind to myself. I look back on my childhood, and I think the reason I'm so passionate about compassion is because I didn't receive any compassion.
Amanda Durocher [00:27:56]:
I didn't receive it from my family. I didn't receive it in my friendships. I didn't receive it from teachers. I didn't receive it from the school administration. I didn't receive it when I did after school activities. I received a lot of judgment, criticism, harshness, indifference, but I didn't receive compassion. So I never learned how to be kind to myself. And then when I was an adult and I found myself at the lowest lows, I was starting from ground 0, and I had to learn how to be kind to myself.
Amanda Durocher [00:28:21]:
And what I found over and over again was that the kinder I was to myself, holy shit, my world changed. Oh my god. Life became easier. Wait. I can love myself? This feels really good. In a life I used to dread living, I began liking living. Happiness is just an emotion, but for so long I was chasing happiness, and I found happiness was located on the days that I was kind to myself, on the days that I didn't judge myself for just being me. So many of my mental health problems were soaked in self judgment of who I am.
Amanda Durocher [00:28:53]:
I can't change who I am authentically, and I judged every authentic instinct I had. And that debilitated me from being myself for most of my life. I'm lucky. I'm still young. I'm only 33, and I love that because I love how much I love myself. And that's why we prioritize our mental health and how I'm gonna wrap up this episode is that it all comes back to self love. When we are cruel to ourselves and we let the foe or the critic or the bully run our minds, we are not loving ourselves. Prioritizing your mental health is a beautiful act of self love.
Amanda Durocher [00:29:28]:
And I just wanna thank you for being here, for listening to this episode, and for choosing to love yourself. Because the more you love yourself, the more kind and loving you will show up in this world, and I think that will make a huge difference. And so this was a little bit of a different episode than usual. I just wanted to share a few thoughts I had from 2024 before diving into 2025. But I am wishing you a beautiful New Year. I have so much hope for 2025. I'm feeling a shift in my own life and also in all the conversations I've had leading up to today. There has just been so much hope in the air, and I think that's such a beautiful thing.
Amanda Durocher [00:30:00]:
And I am sending you so much love. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of new video advice. As always, I am so grateful to have these conversations each week, and thank you for listening to my thoughts on prioritizing mental health. If you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to share it with a friend or with someone else who you think would enjoy this episode. Thank you again for joining me. I hope I was able to offer you a new view on whatever you may be going through. Send you all my love. See you next time.