Small steps. Great distances.

Mr. McCarver: As a player and color commentator, Tim McCarver was a baseball legend. In the movie Moneyball his voice is used during a scene that talks about the career of the main character, Billy Beane: "... he's got to be successful to be confident."  In order to be confident we have to succeed, and often times we have a better chance of succeeding if we're confident.   Baseball has metrics that determine success. For example, wins and losses and batting and earned run average. B ut what about in life: What are the metrics we use to determine success? The better question is what metrics do YOU use to determine success? Some parts of life determine success by certain criteria, but not all of them. Some parts of life allow us to decide what success looks like.  One of those areas is how we take care of ourselves. The things that we do to take care can be accomplishments, and those accomplishments can be successes that build confidence.  Framing: Baseball has a strat...

I began building the Respect Your Gift message in 2017. Three years later I created Volume '23: a summary of the year's best content. Since then I've created a "volume" video at the end of every year. Introducing, Volume '23: Five things I've learned about the topic of mental health and my message as an advocate. 1. Foundational: The foundation of mental health can support everything from enhancing our lives to saving them. That's why it's important that we build our foundation with constructive thinking, traits and behaviors. 2. Respect Your Gift: We respect the gifts we've been blessed with by taking care of our mental health and we take care of our mental health with wellness.  3. Wellness: Wellness is the active pursuit of good health: mind, body, spirit. And wellness is how we build a foundation of strong mental health. 4. S.S.G.D. The small steps are how we practice wellness and build a strong foundation. The great distances are what that...

Bill Nye: Mental health is foundational. It’s like DNA. That also means that taking care of our mental health is different for everyone. It’s a process of figuring out what works for us, and because it’s a process it requires adjustments. Adjustments are part of every process.  With that said, one thing humans share in common is biology and biologically speaking there are ways to take care. Scientifically, there are things that help us be well, therefore, we should be doing those things.  Perspective is Priceless: Reflecting on some seasons of my life I think about how the work wasn't working the way I wanted it to. Does that mean it wasn't working? Or does that mean the work was supporting something other than what I wanted? I wanted to thrive. The work wasn't producing that result. That doesn't mean the work wasn't working. In fact, it was. I may not have been thriving but I was surviving and that was because of the work. Again, perspective is priceless. The Botto...

The work works... There's a TikTok of a guy named John Green (@literallyJohnGreen) walking. While he walks he talks about how much he dislikes walking. He also talks about why he walks: because it's good for my mental health. As it relates to our mental health the closest thing we have to a solution is taking care. And we take care with wellness: the active pursuit of good health (mind, body and spirit). It's not a guarantee, but it's the closest thing we have to a solution, so k eep going. The work works. Small steps. Great distances.℠ You know... Let's go!℠

Connect the Dots: You Gonna Luv Me... I don't go to the movies very often. The last time I went was to see I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Before that it was to see Straight Outta Compton. I like history. And I like music history. I also like songs that feature pitched soul samples. For example, some of the work Kayne West did on The Blueprint and College Dropout. Another song that features similar producing is Da BackWudz' You Gonna Luv Me. You Gonna Luv Me samples the song And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going from Dream Girls. Originally, And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going was sung by Jennifer Holliday. Years later it was covered by Jennifer Hudson, and in  between, it was sung by Whitney Houston at the 1994 American Music Awards. Constructive Consumption: One day in high school I remember leaving the the parking lot blasting Tupac's Me Against the World album.  Years later I realized that our consumption (including music) has an impact on our mental health.  Yea...

Write it Down I enrolled in college as a part-time student in 2005. I was 24 years old.  The week before classes I got my textbooks. Also, for the first time since high school, I got a planner. And, with my rediscovered agenda appreciation, I got back into making lists. From life to school, I'd write down many of the day-to-day "to-do's" that I wanted or needed to accomplish. Cross it Off I attended college because I wanted a career doing public speaking. One September weekend, while working for the athletic department, I assisted the public address announcer during a football game. That same day the volleyball team had a game and their announcer had an emergency. As I worked the football game I was asked if I wanted to fill in for the volleyball announcer. It caught me off guard but I remembered a conversation I'd had a week earlier with my academic advisor: "Take advantage of every opportunity." That's what he told me. And that's what I did. Bu...

All About the Benjamins - "You’ll never find a hairline like mine..." Not every conversation about mental health needs to be heavy. Years ago I cut my hair before a job interview and my attention to detail became an obsessive compulsion. I wound up pushing my hairline back and learned that one of the best teachers of management is mismanagement. The difference between accepting something and embracing it is value. Recognize the power of the soft skills. Taking care of our mental health takes proactivity. Proactivity is a soft skill. Taking care of our mental health takes work ethic. Work ethic is a soft skill. Taking care of our mental health takes discipline. Discipline is a soft skill. And sometimes we push our hair line too far back. That’s when taking care of our mental health takes grace. Live, learn and keep it moving. Small steps. Great distances.℠ You know... Let’s go!℠ https://www.instagram.com/p/CF-yJHGploQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Food Impacts Mental Health: The definition of impact is to have a strong effect on someone or something. I used to teach a social and emotional learning class  and one of the lessons focused on the difference between objective and subjective. Objective is fact. Subjective is opinion. If we're being objective, humans are impacted by our consumption. If we're being subjective, Respect Your Gift believes that nutrition is an optimistic association to the topic of mental health.  Green Smoothies: Why do we eat green smoothies? Is it because they’re tasty or because they’re good for our health? I don’t eat green smoothies because they’re tasty. I eat green smoothies because they’re good for my health.  And that makes them good for my mental health. The opinion is that consuming a green smoothie is an accomplishment that builds confidence. The fact is that a green smoothie is nutritious. Either way, a green smoothie is a  small step  that helps us take care. What's th...