April 24, 2024 • 26 mins
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In this impactful video, we dive into the essential process of emerging mentally strong from periods of distress. This guide is specially crafted for those struggling with anxiety, fighting with sleepless nights, or feeling lost on their life's journey. The content passionately discusses the significance of mental strength, vital for overcoming life's adversities.
Our narrative revolves around five compelling strategies to boost mental maturity that will help you bounce back from life's challenges. We highlight that mental strength is not static but fluctuates in alignment with different life situations. We emphasize that strength doesn't necessarily come with age, it isn't acquired overnight, and can't be developed without facing challenging experiences.
Through a personal and intimate narrative, we encourage viewers to actively work towards developing mental strength with the understanding that healing is not linear. We also spotlight the importance of showing up with the "armor of God," a crucial step in strengthening mental resilience. Just as you feed and nourish your body, you must also nourish your mind and spirit.
Our video concludes with the insight that understanding the battles in the spiritual realm allows you to prepare effectively with the optimal armor. Dive into this inspiring guide and unlock the secrets to enhancing your mental strength.
In this enlightening podcast episode, we discuss powerful ways to cultivate mental strength. The discussion is anchored on the understanding and control over what we can. We expound on the vital difference between hope and faith and provide insightful guidance on becoming more hopeful.
Reflecting on bible verses, we emphasize the necessity of immersing in the holy scriptures daily, stressing the importance of daily affirmations of bible verses and truths that uphold one's belief and feed the spirit.
Beyond the bounds of faith, we delve into physical health. We underscore the need for physical care to boost mental strength and inspire listeners to lead their health journey with activities ranging from simple walks to vigorous workout routines. We spotlight how physical activity aids in building mental strength.
Our discussion encompasses the influence of our daily digital media, food, and music consumption. We emphasize moderation, suggest audit, and advocate for replacing negative influences with positive ones. We encourage mindfulness about the impact of these consumptions on mental and physical health.
The episode wraps up by stressing the transformative journey of becoming mentally strong, calling for self-watchfulness and introspection. We empower listeners to step up, regain control, and strive to be mentally stronger in their life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you are in the valley, if you find yourself crying to sleep at night,
if you find yourself anxious about the future, if you find yourself dwindling on the path,
if you find yourself asking the same thing and crying out to your friends,
your loved ones, God, if you find yourself not knowing who to go to,
this video is dedicated and for you.
(00:22):
These are five ways to become mentally strong. I did not pray for mental strength. This life chose me.
And I always steer away from saying the word strong as a Black woman.
It literally is not in my vocabulary.
So it really pains me to make this video. But mental strength is something that I am currently like.
(00:45):
So the first thing is to understand that mental strength can come and go in different ways.
And while you might have done well going through a certain period or a certain situation in life,
and you find yourself years down the line going through something totally different,
and instead of reacting in a way that shows perseverance and mental strength,
(01:07):
you might have folded. And that's okay.
Because sometimes our mental strength has to level up.
This is something that you actively have to work on.
You will never reach a level of perfection when it comes to mental strength.
But I will tell you, and the good news is that the more resilient you become
and the stronger you become, much like when you work out in the gym,
(01:31):
we all love to see those gains.
We all love when we step on that scale and they're like, wait a second,
numbers actually went down, right? We all love when we see the ab definition coming in.
With mental strength, it is the same exact way. When you face adversity,
even if it is something different, you will realize like, wait a second,
I handled this. Oh my gosh, I'm doing amazing.
(01:52):
What in the world? I'm not crying. I'm not depressed.
I'm not anxious. I'm not having a panic attack or want to rise.
And I was able to stop myself.
So the first thing before I even get into the steps is to realize that mental
strength does not come with age.
Mental strength is not something you can just gain overnight.
Mental strength is also not something that you can get or become better at when
(02:18):
you're not faced with adversity.
So if you want this perfect life and this, I don't want any problems,
or you hear people say, I don't want any drama.
I hate drama. I don't want to be around any drama. how you acquire mental strength
is while being in the trenches.
I kid you not. While you're in the trenches, you will acquire mental strength.
And depending on what you are currently going through while watching this,
(02:40):
you might be in the depths of the trenches.
I don't even know what's deeper than the trenches. You might be in the earth's core.
Deeper than that is hell, and I ain't going to say you might be in hell.
But you might be in the earth's core. I don't even know No, purgatory is real.
But the gates before you get to hell because you're not in hell,
that's where you might be while watching this.
(03:02):
And the good news is if you're that low while watching this,
baby, mental strength is knocking at the door. You did not find this video by accident.
So the first thing and the first step to...
Becoming mentally strong is to one, understand, and I've said this before in
a different video or podcast episode, that healing is not linear.
(03:23):
Like, I don't know. I feel like there's an influx of this, that girl movement, glow up movement.
And I'm all for it because I've always been like glow up movement,
that girl movement type of content for the most part.
But there's an influx of that content. And with that content,
like, I feel like people are trying to sell you all something that is not even
(03:45):
there for them. It just sounds good.
And they're also trying to sell you a seance, have you practicing witchcraft
that you don't even know that you're doing.
And you're thinking that you're healing. You're thinking that you're seeing
strides until the test comes and you realize, wait a second,
I did not acquire mental strength, strength or I am not healing.
(04:08):
And sometimes you can either, one, you never experienced healing in the first place.
Stuff was just lying dormant. And when stuff lies dormant and how you know,
if you're watching this right now and it's like, hmm, did I really receive healing from this?
And maybe I'm just like going through a rough patch and I'm slipping or did
I not receive healing from this and it lied dormant?
(04:29):
To tell if something was lying dormant, If you are experiencing the same type
of person, the same type of situation, just packaged differently, you know what I mean?
It's almost like when you take ibuprofen, but it's like the real version of
ibuprofen or somebody gives you, what is it called? Pain relief.
It's like, it's literally the same thing. It's just packaged differently.
(04:52):
It's just marketed differently. If you're dealing with the same type of man,
but they all have the same type of issue. You have the same type of friends.
They all have the same type of issues. You have the same type of work environment
that you're in. They all have the same type of issues.
And the common denominator between all of this stuff is you not saying it's
your problem or you're like, it's your fault.
But the common denominator is you, you did not receive healing.
(05:16):
Stuff was just lying dormant until something else arise.
If you are having issues with your mental health and like, boom,
you're depressed again, boom, you're having panic attacks again.
You thought that you were delivered from this. You thought that you were done
with this. And all of a sudden you're having panic attacks again.
No, no, no, no, no, no. It was lying dormant or you've introduced something
(05:38):
into your life, which has caused that to arouse again.
So number one is is that healing is not linear and understanding that things
can one, be lying dormant or two.
You could have invited spirits in, especially with this influx of glow up content
(06:01):
that these girlies have y'all practicing rich craft.
You could have very much well invited spirits in and this is why you're experiencing
turmoil and you're knocking on hell's gates.
Number two, the second thing you have to do or you won't become mentally strong.
I mean, have to. There's no mental strength without doing this thing.
(06:22):
It's to show up with the armor of God, to get dressed every day because every day has new stresses.
Stresses just like you have to feed your body every day
unless like you're fasting or something but you you clearly have
to drink water right this was like 72 hours you can
go without water maybe i don't know i don't know
i don't i don't go days without water but just like you have to feed and nourish
(06:47):
your physical body you have to feed and nourish your mind you have to feed and
nourish your spirit and people pay attention to their physical bodies but they're
not feeding and nourishing with the correct stuff,
their mind and their spirit.
You might be feeding and nourishing your spirit with Future's new album.
You might be feeding and nourishing your spirit with Drake or Gossip or the
(07:11):
podcast men telling you that you're never going to be married because you hit
the age of 30 on social media, honestly and truly.
You might be feeding your spirit with things you don't even know that you're
feeding your spirit with.
And if you are not showing up in the full armor of God, there is no way you
can battle anything mentally. No way.
No way. You're getting punched, kicked, slapped up and down in the spiritual
(07:32):
realm. You just don't see it. You don't see it.
One of my favorite verses that I need to actually commit to memory,
like I got it halfway memorized.
You ever have something like halfway memorized? Like you know, but it's like, yeah.
Ephesians. Ephesians 6, 10 through 18 reads, and it talks about the full armor of God.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
(07:55):
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Let's pause right there before we get into verse 12. The devil's schemes, steal, kill, destroy.
That is the devil's schemes. I mean, that's like in short, the devil's schemes.
But how you still kill and destroy something is really like,
it starts with a thought.
Think about how you even get into a workout journey or how you become resilient
(08:20):
in like a job or inventing something or really studying.
I'm pretty sure watching this, you've been in school, right?
We've all been elementary school, middle school, high school.
It don't even have to be college.
You think a thought. Have you ever got something or learned something so hard
at school and you were just like, I'm going to fail? Like you already knew before the test even came.
You was just like, oh yeah, I'm going to fail. It starts off with a thought.
(08:41):
After a thought, it manifests because once you start off with a thought,
you start saying things.
You ever hear people say things? They think I'm going to fail.
And then they say, yeah, I don't think I'm going to pass this quiz.
I can't get this. It's too hard. I used to get in trouble.
As a young girl, I used to get in trouble when I would say the word,
I can't do something, especially when it came to math.
(09:02):
I would get frustrated and And I would cry because the assignment I felt was too hard.
And I would say to my mom, I can't, I can't do this. I can't get this.
And I would get in trouble. She was like, yes, you can.
Yes, you can. Don't ever say that you can't do this. Yes, you can.
So first, it starts with a thought.
Second, it comes out audible. It might not come out in the same thought,
but you start saying things like, I can't get this. This is too hard.
(09:25):
Or the flip side, who needs this? I'm not going to need this in college.
I'm not going to need this when
I become a lawyer. Who needs Y equals MX plus B when I become a lawyer?
No one's going to recite that. And yeah, that might be true.
But when you start saying things like that in the midst of you needing to learn
that for a certain assignment, it's deterring yourself from even wanting to
(09:45):
learn, even wanting to strive. And so double schemes, right?
Verse 12 says, for our struggle, this is one of my favorite verses,
for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil and heavenly realms.
(10:09):
I have talked about this verse probably in 50 million different seconds.
Today's video is about mental strength.
I've talked about this verse when it comes to anger. I've talked about this
verse when it comes to sadness. I've talked about this verse when it comes to depression.
For your fight is not with flesh and blood.
Anything that you go through, even your dating life, anything that you go through,
any type of adversity that you go through, it's not physical adversity.
(10:31):
It's spiritual adversity as well.
When I have people comment under my videos or under whatever,
complaining about, oh my gosh, how dare you say, how dare you say yoga is Hindu worship?
How dare you say? I mean, no research, just vibes.
How dare you say that? You don't know what you're talking about.
How dare you say? It's not the person.
(10:53):
I can't even get mad because it's not the person.
When I fully understand that it's about a spirit that they've allowed into them,
a spirit that they have attracted, things that they started worshiping,
the lucky girl seances that they were doing.
I'm not angering the person. I'm angering the spirit.
You catch my drift? Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the
(11:18):
day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.
And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then.
We go with the outfit. It's the fit.
I'm talking about a seasonal fit, babes. This fit is for fall,
fall, winter, spring, September, spring, and summer.
Stand firm. I remember as a child, oh my gosh, they drilled this into our head and I'm so thankful.
(11:42):
With the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Isn't that funny how the truth is around your waist?
With the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with
the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up your shield of faith.
What? These are your weapons now. The whole armor is your weapon,
(12:05):
but these are your weapons.
Your shield of faith, which you can extinguish all flaming arrows from the evil one.
Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
The problem is when I was going through mental turmoil, and I mean turmoil,
I was showing up and got like basically God revealed to me, girl,
(12:25):
you showing up to battle with your armor missing.
Like, I mean, girl, you ain't got no shoes on.
Can you imagine? I want you to close your eyes and listen to me right now and just imagine war.
Like, I don't know if you think about civil war, American Revolution, Battle of 1812.
I don't care what war you think about. Think about war and think about you as
(12:46):
a soldier showing up in the dead of the fight with half of your armor on. I mean, no weapon.
People out here got no sword of the spirit. They ain't got no sword.
So they showing up to war with no weapon.
You don't have no helmet. You don't have no shoes on your feet.
You don't have no belt buckled around your waist.
You don't even have no breastplate on. You ain't You got no shield.
(13:08):
Baby, I want y'all to understand this and to imagine this because this whole
outfit, if you don't listen to anything else of these five steps of mental strength, this one is it.
Because if you listen to this one, the other ones are going to come natural.
Your helmet of your salvation, your breastplate of righteousness, your shoes of peace.
(13:30):
And I used to discredit the shoes of peace. I just want to touch on that right
now. The shoes of peace that you walk around.
Think about it. Your shoes withstand so much in our everyday lives. We're tracking dirt.
They're protecting our feet. We're walking around. They comfort our feet.
They get us to point A to point B because we didn't have the shoes on.
Maybe we couldn't travel as far.
(13:51):
The shoes of peace will help you in turmoil.
You have inner peace. You have the peace to go out and be anywhere.
It doesn't matter what's going on that you can't control. You have the peace
of the things that you can control.
You have the peace in knowing that God is taking care, which he already did,
but he's also taking care within hope.
(14:13):
And in my podcast episode that just came out not too long ago,
inserts podcast episode, I talk about the difference between hope and faith
and how to become more hopeful.
So it mentions faith in this Bible verse, and I don't want to delve way too
much into this because this video will be so long because I can go on and on
and on about faith. Check out that podcast episode if you want to learn about
(14:36):
faith and hope, the difference between them and how to increase both.
In addition to all these, the word of God, sword of the spirit.
And this one is something that I wasn't showing up. Honestly,
I was showing up with the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness.
And I would barely have the belt of truth on chat.
(14:56):
Because honestly, if you're not reading the word of God, you don't have the
belt of truth because you don't know the truth.
And if you're not reading the word of God every day, just like you feed your
body every day because you have new stressors every day.
You're going into battle every day. in the spiritual realm.
I mean, work is a battle, husband, kids, dog, interactions on the street,
(15:20):
people you don't even know, calling people.
Like every day you're going to have new problems.
So if you're not feeding your spirit with the word of God and the truth every
day, you're not even showing up with the belt and with the weapon.
The third thing to go into to is your daily affirmations.
And I really don't like the word affirmation, but I've come to realize I hated
(15:45):
the word affirmation because the way the new witches of the,
the lucky girl, glow up girl, that girl.
And I do have the, that girl stuff. And when I say that girl stuff,
my stuff is coming from the truth. Okay.
Not no seance. I'm not going to have y'all saying some seance over y'all selves.
Like say this three times, then walk around and spend seven times.
And then I just get in the mirror and say, I'm not going to be depressed.
(16:08):
And poof, depression leaves me. No, that's not what happened.
Poof, depression lays dormant for a couple months.
And to that man, don't text you back until he walks out of your life,
until he lies, until you lose your job, until you, and then boom,
it's here again. What happened to the, I'm not depressed?
You know, Black Moms, you better depress these dishes.
(16:29):
You better depress that word. hurt. You better not press that Bible.
Okay. Your daily affirmations need to be Bible verses or Bible verse adjacent.
They need to be expelled. It don't have to be word for word.
You can make up like not make up, but you can, you know, extract things from Bible verses.
Like you can have at one point it was so bad.
(16:53):
I literally had the same Bible verse for an affirmation for two Two months?
And guess what my affirmation was? For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but with dark principalities.
The verse that I just read to you all, that was my affirmation for two months.
You don't need a new affirmation every day. Not when it's coming from the truth.
You don't. Now, it's good, of course. Like, I'm not on that now.
(17:13):
But it was a good reminder because of what I was going through.
I was going through mental turmoil.
Fourth thing to do when you need to become mentally strong and what mentally
strong people do is they physically take care of themselves.
I feel like mentally taking care of yourself supersedes physical.
There's so much physical fitness content. There's a lot of mental stuff as well.
(17:34):
But everything starts off in the mind, just like I was talking about,
starts off with a thought. Then you start saying it out loud, oh my gosh.
Imani, you look big today. Oh my gosh, I'm so fat. I don't want to wear this. I can't wear this.
Oh my gosh, I don't even know if I could lose weight. Oh my gosh,
I'm not going to go to gym. I don't feel like it. What's the use?
I might as well just, you get what I'm saying? And then once you start saying
things out loud, your actions start doing. All of a sudden, you're just eating
(17:56):
bad because what's the use?
You get what I'm saying? You have to be sick and tired to be sick and tired.
Mentally strong people take care of themselves physically because physically
too helps with endorphins. There's scientific backing for this.
Endorphins and dopamine and it's a good stress reliever you
know i'm not even saying you got to be out muhammad ali out here
just moving your body if it is
(18:17):
literally a walk 30 30 minutes a day if you can't walk i remember my mom she
had injured herself and i was like oh you need to you need to work out she'd
injure her foot she's like i can't walk i just i can't i just have to wait every
time i try to work out i injure myself and she would say this out loud right
and but i don't Watch how you speak into this world.
But you can still work out even if you cannot walk. People do it all the time.
(18:40):
I said, what about them wrist weights I bought you?
What about the three-pound waist bag? You can buy a jump rope. You can run in place.
There are free workouts on YouTube. When you truly know the importance of it, you will make a way.
Just like how people preach like, oh, yeah, we know when a man...
I always circle back to dating and relationships because we're human beings
(19:02):
and we are attracted to love.
Whether it's friendships or romantic partnerships. It's just the easiest.
But you know when we girlies say like, oh yeah, we know when a man is serious
because like he, it will be known.
Yeah, you will make a way. And then the last thing that mentally strong people do, they go hard.
I started going hard at this, and woo, they count their consumption.
(19:23):
The best thing the iPhone came out with, y'all might be like,
oh, the receipts, oh, the FaceTime.
Okay, yeah, the FaceTime is up there. I won't give it that. FaceTime is up there.
The best thing that the iPhone came out with is screen time.
There's this saying, and I say this all the time.
People usually talk about it when they're talking about finances.
When it's miscounted, it's misused. If it's not managed, it's misused.
(19:45):
That can go to anything. thing. If you do not manage your screen time on your
phone, you will abuse your phone.
If you do not manage those calories you intake, you will abuse that as well.
If you do not manage the relationships you keep, you can ruin your life forever.
If you do not manage your finances, you can lose it. I literally just applied
it to every aspect of your life.
(20:06):
Mentally strong people count their consumption.
And how you're going to count your consumption, you're going to do a survey
of the things that you consume now, how much you consume them.
Take a look at your screen. When's the last time you took a look at your screen time?
After that, because you want to do an audit. What is going on?
You don't want to just start changing things without doing an audit because
it's hard to change things and to set realistic goals if you don't know where you're currently at.
(20:29):
You can't do a budget without knowing somebody's income.
In order to do that, you need to do that in all aspects of your life.
You need to look at your finances.
What are you consuming? What are you buying? What do you spend most of your money on?
What do you don't spend money on you need to look at
your music that spotify wrapped that apple
music yearly review it was a like i
got woken up god had humbled me and i
(20:52):
looked at my spotify rap and it said i listened to over 3 000 hours a little
baby you know the holy spirit said what does little baby talk about for you
to listen to him for 3 000 hours 3 000 hours i could have killed i could have
cured cancer for all we know and i'm over here listening to little baby 3 000
hours Look at what your Spotify rap is telling you.
Spending countless hours listening to something that does not provide any substance outside of.
(21:19):
Y'all can say it. I don't even have to say it. Let's say it.
Let's say it in our mind together. Oh, okay.
Oh, okay. That's all you consuming? Look at your music. Look at your movies.
Look at your TV shows. Look at your food. What are you consuming?
Do a whole audit. This audit is going to take you a very long time.
I got to do a whole nother video on this audit.
(21:39):
But just start small. Start in one area first. Start with music first. It's the easiest.
People listen to music every day. Start with that. Do your audit.
After the audit, you're going to set some goals.
And you're going to realize, especially with music, if I'm listening to hours
and hours of something that does not talk about anything outside of,
maybe I need to incorporate some positive music.
Because if I want mental strength, I need something that's going to be positive.
(22:02):
I need something that's going to speak life over me. There's a reason why there's
songs you can't get out of your head that say certain things.
Ain't no jokey joke. Listen to the words. I kid Kid you not.
Strip the songs from the melody.
Melody, look at the lyrics. I just posted a TikTok about lyrics of a song. I asked Holy Spirit.
I was like, yeah, I need to pull out these lyrics so I can hear immediately
what's going on. Because sometimes you get lost in a beat.
(22:24):
You be like, oh, this is good.
Whole time, they saying a whole seance. You don't even know.
Next thing you know, you singing it over your life. Next thing you know,
you wondering why you're depressed.
You wondering why. You see how all of this comes together? So yeah,
do an audit. replace with positive things and things that pour into you.
So if you're doing a food audit, replace with positive, good food,
(22:47):
that's going to actually nourish your body, not just keep you not hungry, but nourish your body.
And then after that, you're going to continue to do that because you have to
be watchful. You have to be watchful. There's a verse in the Bible.
Oh, what verse is that? One day I'm going to get so good. I'm going to just
start being like, oh, it's da-da-da-da-da.
I'm working on it. It's a verse in the Bible that talks about how you have to
be watchful. Basically, the Bible say you got to keep your head on a swivel.
(23:09):
That's a couple of verses, but I'm talking about 1 Peter.
I know I'm talking about 1 Peter 5, 8. Be sober minded.
Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
Let me tell you something. You have to be watchful.
When I say watchful, I mean after you do this audit, after you start to replace.
(23:30):
There are going to be days when you start slipping.
There are going to be times where, oh, you forget. You're not putting your sword
of the spirit. You're not saying your affirmation of your Bible verse.
You're not realizing that healing is linear.
You're not using your authority that God has given you.
I mean, you're not even taught. You're not going to church.
You're hanging out with different friends. It's very easy how like you ever
(23:54):
set a club. So a long time ago, I never was a morning person.
And I set it out to my duty. I was like, I'm going to become a morning person.
It got to the point where I was like, I'm going to start becoming a morning
person. and then I'm going to work out in the morning and then I'm going to
love it. I used to even hate working out.
I had forced my, it's so crazy how the Holy Spirit could just cultivate you.
(24:14):
And as I was like getting up in the morning, it's crazy that the more you do
something, the easier it becomes, right?
So I was getting up in the morning, but there are certain things.
Yes, it becomes easier, but you can also get out of that habit.
So it became easier for me to wake up at 430 in the morning.
Very easy. I had a routine for one. And then my body just got acclimated.
(24:38):
So when you start being watchful of the music that
you're listening to your body your ears your
soul your mind will start to acclimate there's gonna
be a period of withdrawal i promise you because i did a 30-day secular
music fast and you would have thought i was like addicted
to like like it was crazy i was
like tweaking and i was like singing songs from like
(24:59):
og atlanta 2006 like why am i singing mr snowman
i haven't even i haven't listened to gz in years all
of a sudden it reciting something from Trevor Dye like what
is going on it was crazy it was really insane I'm gonna
have to do a whole video on my 30-day music fast secular music fast
like comment down below if you really want that but just like that
you will get acclimated to eating healthier foods you will get acclimated to
(25:20):
listening to things that pour into you so much so that when you listen to something
that doesn't it will like it will make you feel terrible you'll be like oh my
gosh what is this this is this is terrible that's why like we always talk about
somebody grandma always always complain about the music.
And no, like, I'm like, I told my friends, like, am I a grandmother?
I don't even have children or children.
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Am I somebody's grandma? Because I'm like, uh-uh, turn this off.
Turn this off. This ain't, this ain't, this is not saying nothing. Please.
You wore a jean vest. But just like waking up early in the morning, things can slip.
All of a sudden, you stand up all night and then boom, one day, it happens.
It creeps up on you. One day, I don't wake up at 4.30. One day, I sleep in until 7.
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Then the next day, I sleep until 9. The next thing you know,
I'm getting up at 10, and it's hard for me to wake up in the morning again.
Isn't that crazy how things just happen? It always starts off with like one day.
I hope you all enjoyed this video, my five things that mentally strong people
do and how to become more mentally strong, how to gain mental strength, baby.
Like, subscribe, comment. Comment down below if y'all want to see that 30-day
(26:26):
secular music fast video.
And don't forget to check out that podcast episode that I tell y'all about in
my website if you want to join my community.
Not if you want to, so you can join my community. Because be for real,
girly, I'm not going to have you doing no seance or nothing.
If you are in the valley, if you find yourself crying to sleep at night,
if you find yourself anxious about the future, if you find yourself dwindling on the path,
if you find yourself asking the same thing and crying out to your friends,
your loved ones, God, if you find yourself not knowing who to go to,
this video is dedicated and for you.
(00:22):
These are five ways to become mentally strong. I did not pray for mental strength. This life chose me.
And I always steer away from saying the word strong as a Black woman.
It literally is not in my vocabulary.
So it really pains me to make this video. But mental strength is something that I am currently like.
(00:45):
So the first thing is to understand that mental strength can come and go in different ways.
And while you might have done well going through a certain period or a certain situation in life,
and you find yourself years down the line going through something totally different,
and instead of reacting in a way that shows perseverance and mental strength,
(01:07):
you might have folded. And that's okay.
Because sometimes our mental strength has to level up.
This is something that you actively have to work on.
You will never reach a level of perfection when it comes to mental strength.
But I will tell you, and the good news is that the more resilient you become
and the stronger you become, much like when you work out in the gym,
(01:31):
we all love to see those gains.
We all love when we step on that scale and they're like, wait a second,
numbers actually went down, right? We all love when we see the ab definition coming in.
With mental strength, it is the same exact way. When you face adversity,
even if it is something different, you will realize like, wait a second,
I handled this. Oh my gosh, I'm doing amazing.
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What in the world? I'm not crying. I'm not depressed.
I'm not anxious. I'm not having a panic attack or want to rise.
And I was able to stop myself.
So the first thing before I even get into the steps is to realize that mental
strength does not come with age.
Mental strength is not something you can just gain overnight.
Mental strength is also not something that you can get or become better at when
(02:18):
you're not faced with adversity.
So if you want this perfect life and this, I don't want any problems,
or you hear people say, I don't want any drama.
I hate drama. I don't want to be around any drama. how you acquire mental strength
is while being in the trenches.
I kid you not. While you're in the trenches, you will acquire mental strength.
And depending on what you are currently going through while watching this,
(02:40):
you might be in the depths of the trenches.
I don't even know what's deeper than the trenches. You might be in the earth's core.
Deeper than that is hell, and I ain't going to say you might be in hell.
But you might be in the earth's core. I don't even know No, purgatory is real.
But the gates before you get to hell because you're not in hell,
that's where you might be while watching this.
(03:02):
And the good news is if you're that low while watching this,
baby, mental strength is knocking at the door. You did not find this video by accident.
So the first thing and the first step to...
Becoming mentally strong is to one, understand, and I've said this before in
a different video or podcast episode, that healing is not linear.
(03:23):
Like, I don't know. I feel like there's an influx of this, that girl movement, glow up movement.
And I'm all for it because I've always been like glow up movement,
that girl movement type of content for the most part.
But there's an influx of that content. And with that content,
like, I feel like people are trying to sell you all something that is not even
(03:45):
there for them. It just sounds good.
And they're also trying to sell you a seance, have you practicing witchcraft
that you don't even know that you're doing.
And you're thinking that you're healing. You're thinking that you're seeing
strides until the test comes and you realize, wait a second,
I did not acquire mental strength, strength or I am not healing.
(04:08):
And sometimes you can either, one, you never experienced healing in the first place.
Stuff was just lying dormant. And when stuff lies dormant and how you know,
if you're watching this right now and it's like, hmm, did I really receive healing from this?
And maybe I'm just like going through a rough patch and I'm slipping or did
I not receive healing from this and it lied dormant?
(04:29):
To tell if something was lying dormant, If you are experiencing the same type
of person, the same type of situation, just packaged differently, you know what I mean?
It's almost like when you take ibuprofen, but it's like the real version of
ibuprofen or somebody gives you, what is it called? Pain relief.
It's like, it's literally the same thing. It's just packaged differently.
(04:52):
It's just marketed differently. If you're dealing with the same type of man,
but they all have the same type of issue. You have the same type of friends.
They all have the same type of issues. You have the same type of work environment
that you're in. They all have the same type of issues.
And the common denominator between all of this stuff is you not saying it's
your problem or you're like, it's your fault.
But the common denominator is you, you did not receive healing.
(05:16):
Stuff was just lying dormant until something else arise.
If you are having issues with your mental health and like, boom,
you're depressed again, boom, you're having panic attacks again.
You thought that you were delivered from this. You thought that you were done
with this. And all of a sudden you're having panic attacks again.
No, no, no, no, no, no. It was lying dormant or you've introduced something
(05:38):
into your life, which has caused that to arouse again.
So number one is is that healing is not linear and understanding that things
can one, be lying dormant or two.
You could have invited spirits in, especially with this influx of glow up content
(06:01):
that these girlies have y'all practicing rich craft.
You could have very much well invited spirits in and this is why you're experiencing
turmoil and you're knocking on hell's gates.
Number two, the second thing you have to do or you won't become mentally strong.
I mean, have to. There's no mental strength without doing this thing.
(06:22):
It's to show up with the armor of God, to get dressed every day because every day has new stresses.
Stresses just like you have to feed your body every day
unless like you're fasting or something but you you clearly have
to drink water right this was like 72 hours you can
go without water maybe i don't know i don't know
i don't i don't go days without water but just like you have to feed and nourish
(06:47):
your physical body you have to feed and nourish your mind you have to feed and
nourish your spirit and people pay attention to their physical bodies but they're
not feeding and nourishing with the correct stuff,
their mind and their spirit.
You might be feeding and nourishing your spirit with Future's new album.
You might be feeding and nourishing your spirit with Drake or Gossip or the
(07:11):
podcast men telling you that you're never going to be married because you hit
the age of 30 on social media, honestly and truly.
You might be feeding your spirit with things you don't even know that you're
feeding your spirit with.
And if you are not showing up in the full armor of God, there is no way you
can battle anything mentally. No way.
No way. You're getting punched, kicked, slapped up and down in the spiritual
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realm. You just don't see it. You don't see it.
One of my favorite verses that I need to actually commit to memory,
like I got it halfway memorized.
You ever have something like halfway memorized? Like you know, but it's like, yeah.
Ephesians. Ephesians 6, 10 through 18 reads, and it talks about the full armor of God.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
(07:55):
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Let's pause right there before we get into verse 12. The devil's schemes, steal, kill, destroy.
That is the devil's schemes. I mean, that's like in short, the devil's schemes.
But how you still kill and destroy something is really like,
it starts with a thought.
Think about how you even get into a workout journey or how you become resilient
(08:20):
in like a job or inventing something or really studying.
I'm pretty sure watching this, you've been in school, right?
We've all been elementary school, middle school, high school.
It don't even have to be college.
You think a thought. Have you ever got something or learned something so hard
at school and you were just like, I'm going to fail? Like you already knew before the test even came.
You was just like, oh yeah, I'm going to fail. It starts off with a thought.
(08:41):
After a thought, it manifests because once you start off with a thought,
you start saying things.
You ever hear people say things? They think I'm going to fail.
And then they say, yeah, I don't think I'm going to pass this quiz.
I can't get this. It's too hard. I used to get in trouble.
As a young girl, I used to get in trouble when I would say the word,
I can't do something, especially when it came to math.
(09:02):
I would get frustrated and And I would cry because the assignment I felt was too hard.
And I would say to my mom, I can't, I can't do this. I can't get this.
And I would get in trouble. She was like, yes, you can.
Yes, you can. Don't ever say that you can't do this. Yes, you can.
So first, it starts with a thought.
Second, it comes out audible. It might not come out in the same thought,
but you start saying things like, I can't get this. This is too hard.
(09:25):
Or the flip side, who needs this? I'm not going to need this in college.
I'm not going to need this when
I become a lawyer. Who needs Y equals MX plus B when I become a lawyer?
No one's going to recite that. And yeah, that might be true.
But when you start saying things like that in the midst of you needing to learn
that for a certain assignment, it's deterring yourself from even wanting to
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learn, even wanting to strive. And so double schemes, right?
Verse 12 says, for our struggle, this is one of my favorite verses,
for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil and heavenly realms.
(10:09):
I have talked about this verse probably in 50 million different seconds.
Today's video is about mental strength.
I've talked about this verse when it comes to anger. I've talked about this
verse when it comes to sadness. I've talked about this verse when it comes to depression.
For your fight is not with flesh and blood.
Anything that you go through, even your dating life, anything that you go through,
any type of adversity that you go through, it's not physical adversity.
(10:31):
It's spiritual adversity as well.
When I have people comment under my videos or under whatever,
complaining about, oh my gosh, how dare you say, how dare you say yoga is Hindu worship?
How dare you say? I mean, no research, just vibes.
How dare you say that? You don't know what you're talking about.
How dare you say? It's not the person.
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I can't even get mad because it's not the person.
When I fully understand that it's about a spirit that they've allowed into them,
a spirit that they have attracted, things that they started worshiping,
the lucky girl seances that they were doing.
I'm not angering the person. I'm angering the spirit.
You catch my drift? Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the
(11:18):
day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.
And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then.
We go with the outfit. It's the fit.
I'm talking about a seasonal fit, babes. This fit is for fall,
fall, winter, spring, September, spring, and summer.
Stand firm. I remember as a child, oh my gosh, they drilled this into our head and I'm so thankful.
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With the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Isn't that funny how the truth is around your waist?
With the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with
the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up your shield of faith.
What? These are your weapons now. The whole armor is your weapon,
(12:05):
but these are your weapons.
Your shield of faith, which you can extinguish all flaming arrows from the evil one.
Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
The problem is when I was going through mental turmoil, and I mean turmoil,
I was showing up and got like basically God revealed to me, girl,
(12:25):
you showing up to battle with your armor missing.
Like, I mean, girl, you ain't got no shoes on.
Can you imagine? I want you to close your eyes and listen to me right now and just imagine war.
Like, I don't know if you think about civil war, American Revolution, Battle of 1812.
I don't care what war you think about. Think about war and think about you as
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a soldier showing up in the dead of the fight with half of your armor on. I mean, no weapon.
People out here got no sword of the spirit. They ain't got no sword.
So they showing up to war with no weapon.
You don't have no helmet. You don't have no shoes on your feet.
You don't have no belt buckled around your waist.
You don't even have no breastplate on. You ain't You got no shield.
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Baby, I want y'all to understand this and to imagine this because this whole
outfit, if you don't listen to anything else of these five steps of mental strength, this one is it.
Because if you listen to this one, the other ones are going to come natural.
Your helmet of your salvation, your breastplate of righteousness, your shoes of peace.
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And I used to discredit the shoes of peace. I just want to touch on that right
now. The shoes of peace that you walk around.
Think about it. Your shoes withstand so much in our everyday lives. We're tracking dirt.
They're protecting our feet. We're walking around. They comfort our feet.
They get us to point A to point B because we didn't have the shoes on.
Maybe we couldn't travel as far.
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The shoes of peace will help you in turmoil.
You have inner peace. You have the peace to go out and be anywhere.
It doesn't matter what's going on that you can't control. You have the peace
of the things that you can control.
You have the peace in knowing that God is taking care, which he already did,
but he's also taking care within hope.
(14:13):
And in my podcast episode that just came out not too long ago,
inserts podcast episode, I talk about the difference between hope and faith
and how to become more hopeful.
So it mentions faith in this Bible verse, and I don't want to delve way too
much into this because this video will be so long because I can go on and on
and on about faith. Check out that podcast episode if you want to learn about
(14:36):
faith and hope, the difference between them and how to increase both.
In addition to all these, the word of God, sword of the spirit.
And this one is something that I wasn't showing up. Honestly,
I was showing up with the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness.
And I would barely have the belt of truth on chat.
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Because honestly, if you're not reading the word of God, you don't have the
belt of truth because you don't know the truth.
And if you're not reading the word of God every day, just like you feed your
body every day because you have new stressors every day.
You're going into battle every day. in the spiritual realm.
I mean, work is a battle, husband, kids, dog, interactions on the street,
(15:20):
people you don't even know, calling people.
Like every day you're going to have new problems.
So if you're not feeding your spirit with the word of God and the truth every
day, you're not even showing up with the belt and with the weapon.
The third thing to go into to is your daily affirmations.
And I really don't like the word affirmation, but I've come to realize I hated
(15:45):
the word affirmation because the way the new witches of the,
the lucky girl, glow up girl, that girl.
And I do have the, that girl stuff. And when I say that girl stuff,
my stuff is coming from the truth. Okay.
Not no seance. I'm not going to have y'all saying some seance over y'all selves.
Like say this three times, then walk around and spend seven times.
And then I just get in the mirror and say, I'm not going to be depressed.
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And poof, depression leaves me. No, that's not what happened.
Poof, depression lays dormant for a couple months.
And to that man, don't text you back until he walks out of your life,
until he lies, until you lose your job, until you, and then boom,
it's here again. What happened to the, I'm not depressed?
You know, Black Moms, you better depress these dishes.
(16:29):
You better depress that word. hurt. You better not press that Bible.
Okay. Your daily affirmations need to be Bible verses or Bible verse adjacent.
They need to be expelled. It don't have to be word for word.
You can make up like not make up, but you can, you know, extract things from Bible verses.
Like you can have at one point it was so bad.
(16:53):
I literally had the same Bible verse for an affirmation for two Two months?
And guess what my affirmation was? For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but with dark principalities.
The verse that I just read to you all, that was my affirmation for two months.
You don't need a new affirmation every day. Not when it's coming from the truth.
You don't. Now, it's good, of course. Like, I'm not on that now.
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But it was a good reminder because of what I was going through.
I was going through mental turmoil.
Fourth thing to do when you need to become mentally strong and what mentally
strong people do is they physically take care of themselves.
I feel like mentally taking care of yourself supersedes physical.
There's so much physical fitness content. There's a lot of mental stuff as well.
(17:34):
But everything starts off in the mind, just like I was talking about,
starts off with a thought. Then you start saying it out loud, oh my gosh.
Imani, you look big today. Oh my gosh, I'm so fat. I don't want to wear this. I can't wear this.
Oh my gosh, I don't even know if I could lose weight. Oh my gosh,
I'm not going to go to gym. I don't feel like it. What's the use?
I might as well just, you get what I'm saying? And then once you start saying
things out loud, your actions start doing. All of a sudden, you're just eating
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bad because what's the use?
You get what I'm saying? You have to be sick and tired to be sick and tired.
Mentally strong people take care of themselves physically because physically
too helps with endorphins. There's scientific backing for this.
Endorphins and dopamine and it's a good stress reliever you
know i'm not even saying you got to be out muhammad ali out here
just moving your body if it is
(18:17):
literally a walk 30 30 minutes a day if you can't walk i remember my mom she
had injured herself and i was like oh you need to you need to work out she'd
injure her foot she's like i can't walk i just i can't i just have to wait every
time i try to work out i injure myself and she would say this out loud right
and but i don't Watch how you speak into this world.
But you can still work out even if you cannot walk. People do it all the time.
(18:40):
I said, what about them wrist weights I bought you?
What about the three-pound waist bag? You can buy a jump rope. You can run in place.
There are free workouts on YouTube. When you truly know the importance of it, you will make a way.
Just like how people preach like, oh, yeah, we know when a man...
I always circle back to dating and relationships because we're human beings
(19:02):
and we are attracted to love.
Whether it's friendships or romantic partnerships. It's just the easiest.
But you know when we girlies say like, oh yeah, we know when a man is serious
because like he, it will be known.
Yeah, you will make a way. And then the last thing that mentally strong people do, they go hard.
I started going hard at this, and woo, they count their consumption.
(19:23):
The best thing the iPhone came out with, y'all might be like,
oh, the receipts, oh, the FaceTime.
Okay, yeah, the FaceTime is up there. I won't give it that. FaceTime is up there.
The best thing that the iPhone came out with is screen time.
There's this saying, and I say this all the time.
People usually talk about it when they're talking about finances.
When it's miscounted, it's misused. If it's not managed, it's misused.
(19:45):
That can go to anything. thing. If you do not manage your screen time on your
phone, you will abuse your phone.
If you do not manage those calories you intake, you will abuse that as well.
If you do not manage the relationships you keep, you can ruin your life forever.
If you do not manage your finances, you can lose it. I literally just applied
it to every aspect of your life.
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Mentally strong people count their consumption.
And how you're going to count your consumption, you're going to do a survey
of the things that you consume now, how much you consume them.
Take a look at your screen. When's the last time you took a look at your screen time?
After that, because you want to do an audit. What is going on?
You don't want to just start changing things without doing an audit because
it's hard to change things and to set realistic goals if you don't know where you're currently at.
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You can't do a budget without knowing somebody's income.
In order to do that, you need to do that in all aspects of your life.
You need to look at your finances.
What are you consuming? What are you buying? What do you spend most of your money on?
What do you don't spend money on you need to look at
your music that spotify wrapped that apple
music yearly review it was a like i
got woken up god had humbled me and i
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looked at my spotify rap and it said i listened to over 3 000 hours a little
baby you know the holy spirit said what does little baby talk about for you
to listen to him for 3 000 hours 3 000 hours i could have killed i could have
cured cancer for all we know and i'm over here listening to little baby 3 000
hours Look at what your Spotify rap is telling you.
Spending countless hours listening to something that does not provide any substance outside of.
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Y'all can say it. I don't even have to say it. Let's say it.
Let's say it in our mind together. Oh, okay.
Oh, okay. That's all you consuming? Look at your music. Look at your movies.
Look at your TV shows. Look at your food. What are you consuming?
Do a whole audit. This audit is going to take you a very long time.
I got to do a whole nother video on this audit.
(21:39):
But just start small. Start in one area first. Start with music first. It's the easiest.
People listen to music every day. Start with that. Do your audit.
After the audit, you're going to set some goals.
And you're going to realize, especially with music, if I'm listening to hours
and hours of something that does not talk about anything outside of,
maybe I need to incorporate some positive music.
Because if I want mental strength, I need something that's going to be positive.
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I need something that's going to speak life over me. There's a reason why there's
songs you can't get out of your head that say certain things.
Ain't no jokey joke. Listen to the words. I kid Kid you not.
Strip the songs from the melody.
Melody, look at the lyrics. I just posted a TikTok about lyrics of a song. I asked Holy Spirit.
I was like, yeah, I need to pull out these lyrics so I can hear immediately
what's going on. Because sometimes you get lost in a beat.
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You be like, oh, this is good.
Whole time, they saying a whole seance. You don't even know.
Next thing you know, you singing it over your life. Next thing you know,
you wondering why you're depressed.
You wondering why. You see how all of this comes together? So yeah,
do an audit. replace with positive things and things that pour into you.
So if you're doing a food audit, replace with positive, good food,
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that's going to actually nourish your body, not just keep you not hungry, but nourish your body.
And then after that, you're going to continue to do that because you have to
be watchful. You have to be watchful. There's a verse in the Bible.
Oh, what verse is that? One day I'm going to get so good. I'm going to just
start being like, oh, it's da-da-da-da-da.
I'm working on it. It's a verse in the Bible that talks about how you have to
be watchful. Basically, the Bible say you got to keep your head on a swivel.
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That's a couple of verses, but I'm talking about 1 Peter.
I know I'm talking about 1 Peter 5, 8. Be sober minded.
Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
Let me tell you something. You have to be watchful.
When I say watchful, I mean after you do this audit, after you start to replace.
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There are going to be days when you start slipping.
There are going to be times where, oh, you forget. You're not putting your sword
of the spirit. You're not saying your affirmation of your Bible verse.
You're not realizing that healing is linear.
You're not using your authority that God has given you.
I mean, you're not even taught. You're not going to church.
You're hanging out with different friends. It's very easy how like you ever
(23:54):
set a club. So a long time ago, I never was a morning person.
And I set it out to my duty. I was like, I'm going to become a morning person.
It got to the point where I was like, I'm going to start becoming a morning
person. and then I'm going to work out in the morning and then I'm going to
love it. I used to even hate working out.
I had forced my, it's so crazy how the Holy Spirit could just cultivate you.
(24:14):
And as I was like getting up in the morning, it's crazy that the more you do
something, the easier it becomes, right?
So I was getting up in the morning, but there are certain things.
Yes, it becomes easier, but you can also get out of that habit.
So it became easier for me to wake up at 430 in the morning.
Very easy. I had a routine for one. And then my body just got acclimated.
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So when you start being watchful of the music that
you're listening to your body your ears your
soul your mind will start to acclimate there's gonna
be a period of withdrawal i promise you because i did a 30-day secular
music fast and you would have thought i was like addicted
to like like it was crazy i was
like tweaking and i was like singing songs from like
(24:59):
og atlanta 2006 like why am i singing mr snowman
i haven't even i haven't listened to gz in years all
of a sudden it reciting something from Trevor Dye like what
is going on it was crazy it was really insane I'm gonna
have to do a whole video on my 30-day music fast secular music fast
like comment down below if you really want that but just like that
you will get acclimated to eating healthier foods you will get acclimated to
(25:20):
listening to things that pour into you so much so that when you listen to something
that doesn't it will like it will make you feel terrible you'll be like oh my
gosh what is this this is this is terrible that's why like we always talk about
somebody grandma always always complain about the music.
And no, like, I'm like, I told my friends, like, am I a grandmother?
I don't even have children or children.
(25:42):
Am I somebody's grandma? Because I'm like, uh-uh, turn this off.
Turn this off. This ain't, this ain't, this is not saying nothing. Please.
You wore a jean vest. But just like waking up early in the morning, things can slip.
All of a sudden, you stand up all night and then boom, one day, it happens.
It creeps up on you. One day, I don't wake up at 4.30. One day, I sleep in until 7.
(26:03):
Then the next day, I sleep until 9. The next thing you know,
I'm getting up at 10, and it's hard for me to wake up in the morning again.
Isn't that crazy how things just happen? It always starts off with like one day.
I hope you all enjoyed this video, my five things that mentally strong people
do and how to become more mentally strong, how to gain mental strength, baby.
Like, subscribe, comment. Comment down below if y'all want to see that 30-day
(26:26):
secular music fast video.
And don't forget to check out that podcast episode that I tell y'all about in
my website if you want to join my community.
Not if you want to, so you can join my community. Because be for real,
girly, I'm not going to have you doing no seance or nothing.
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