June 20, 2025 • 19 mins
Help! My daughter won a goldfish and now I'm 8 again! Emma returned from the fair clutching a plastic bag with a tiny orange fish, my initial reaction of dread quickly transformed into a childhood flashback. Let's talk emotional support animals and "ugly" sandal summer tans.
Whether you're navigating summer with kids, processing your own childhood memories, or simply looking for ways to find mindfulness in everyday life, this episode offers gentle reminders that healing and connection often come from unexpected sources.
Subscribe to Mental Health-ish for more authentic conversations about mental health, parenting, and finding meaning in the messiness of life. Have your own pet story or unexpected memory trigger? Share your experiences—we'd love to hear from you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey y'all, welcome back to Mental Health-ish.
I'm Susie and I wanted torecord today because it is
officially summer break and soyou guys know what that means
it's summer activities time,it's time to figure out ways to
keep the kids busy for summerbreak, and so I'm really excited
(00:22):
about that.
I think for this year I usuallyhave something that I plan
where I'm like okay, I want totake Emma somewhere, whether
it's a road trip or, you know,catch a flight.
Not that we travel anywherelike too crazy, but you know, we
tried to.
We went to Florida last year, Ithink twice, and so other years
(00:48):
we've done road trips, we'vegone to just different national
parks, things like that.
So for this year, I think I wasjust so caught up with work and
I've just been so busy, not tomention that, as you guys know,
I got emergency gallbladderremoval surgery at the beginning
of April and so that kind offorced me to be on leave from
(01:13):
work for two and a half weeks.
So I don't have a lot of savetime like to go on vacation or
do things like.
Right now I'm literally in savemode.
I'm trying to save up as manyvacation hours as I can for the
fall Cause I know like forEmma's birthday we usually
always do something.
She wants to go places.
(01:34):
So I'm still trying to figurethat out.
Right now I'm just trying tosave enough vacation hours so
that maybe we're able to liketake a road trip, or maybe we're
able to I don't know.
Like I still haven't figuredthat out yet, but that's what
I'm doing right now.
So for this summer I've hadpeople ask me what are you guys
doing for this summer?
Do you guys have any plans?
(01:55):
And I'm just like, uh, no, likethere's no plans right now.
There's no, no plans, noplanning.
Like I really for this summerand just really looking forward
to being like just chill, likejust hanging out, not doing much
.
Like I literally just bought apatio table with chairs the
(02:21):
other week because I feel likeI'm just never home, um, the
other week.
Because I feel like I'm justnever home, I feel like I'm
always just busy, I feel likeI'm always at work.
I feel like I I never reallytruly get to relax, even with
Emma, on my days off.
Like, if you guys follow me onInstagram, you guys see we're
always at Disney, we're alwaysout and about doing stuff, we're
(02:43):
at the movies, we're at theplayground, we're always out and
about doing stuff.
We're at the movies, we're atthe playground, we're at the
mall, we're shopping, we're likewe're just always out and about
.
And so I don't really feel likewe really get to just be home
and just enjoy our home thatwe're living in and so, or like
we're always cleaning, like I'malways on cleaning mode on my
(03:05):
days off, so we don't really gettime to just relax.
And so for this summer, I justmiss the beach, I just miss the
sun, I miss getting a tan, likeI miss getting an ugly sandal
tan, if that makes sense.
Like I remember, before Emma, Iused to always be at the beach.
(03:25):
Like I used to be at the beachpretty much like almost every
week, multiple times a week, andyou know we used to go fishing
a lot with her dad, you know,when I was still with Emma's dad
and things like that.
And that's not to say like Iknow I'm at a different point in
my life right now and I knowthat I'm not going to go fishing
(03:46):
, right, like every week, I'mnot going to be going fishing
several days a week.
And like I have a job now, Ihave responsibilities, I have
Emma, I have clients now, like Ihave my private practice, and
so I know it's not going to bethe same, but I do want to just
(04:06):
do things more like be outsidemore, and so I think that's my
big plan for the summer istrying to at least go to the
beach twice a month, hopefullyeven once a month, depending on
what we got to do.
And so I went ahead and boughtus like a beach canopy, have
chairs, like I'm trying to getour little setup situated to, so
(04:30):
that we are able to go andmaybe just go for a walk at the
beach, maybe just sit and tan,get our feet wet, take some
snacks, just stay there, youknow, see some sunsets like
that's what I want to do thissummer.
I don't have any like vacationplans.
I'm not going to be catchingflights, driving places, maybe a
(04:53):
little road trip here and there.
I'm not going to lie Likesounds nice.
I just went to go get my haircut today and I was talking to
my hair shout out Priscilla.
I was talking to my hairdresserabout summer plans and she
mentioned Catalina Island orsomething.
I was like you know what?
(05:13):
Like Emma hasn't been toCatalina Island, and that is
like like I can't even believethat.
I'm saying that becauseCatalina is like one of those
things where you would figurethat we have done already with
Emma.
But no, like Emma has actuallynever been to Catalina.
So I was like you know whatthat sounds like a nice little
(05:33):
like weekend getaway, you knowfor the summer, like maybe just
taking Emma to Catalina, gettingjumping on the ferry, you know
that little boat ride, like sheloves that type of stuff.
So I think that might be acontender for the summer
(05:54):
activities list.
But but yeah, I think for themost part we're probably just
gonna chill at home, go to thebeach, enjoy our outdoor patio
in the backyard, maybe do somewater balloons, do some art
activities, some painting, somecrafts, maybe play some board
games, some cards, like just bevery chill, and maybe go get ice
cream, you know, but nothingtoo crazy, and so yeah, like
(06:19):
just trying to do really funactivities like that.
Speaking of that, emma went tothe fair recently.
She went to the fair thisweekend and she went with one of
her little classmates and theyhad so much fun.
Like she had a smile, thebiggest smile in her face.
I was getting videos andpictures while I was at work and
(06:41):
she just looks so happy andit's just like friendships are
so important, like even for kids, and especially if you have a
kid who is neurodivergent, likeEmma is like Emma was just
diagnosed with ADHD.
I'm not sure if I've sharedthat in previous episodes, but
we went through the wholetesting and everything was very
(07:01):
difficult, challenging, but yeah, she was just diagnosed with
PTSD.
Whatever I say, oh my gosh, no,she does not have PTSD, she was
diagnosed with ADHD.
Um, you know, if you have aneurodivergent child, like they
could be a little sociallyawkward and if you guys have any
(07:22):
experience with that, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
Like it's just something likewhere they're just awkward and
so sometimes they're verysocially awkward and they have a
hard time making friends.
Okay, okay, and sometimes Ifeel bad for Emma because I she
doesn't really have a friendthat she considers her best
(07:47):
friend.
Like I don't see her hangingout with like the same kids
every week, like there's notreally like a close friend that
she has and she is sociallyawkward sometimes.
Like she doesn't know personalspace, like if she's really
excited, like she'll be like allin your face, like even at the
grocery store, social cues,things like that.
(08:08):
Like sometimes she just doesn'trealize, and so she'll get
super close to people or she'llbe like overly friendly, which
is good, like I don't want toshut her down.
Like she'll talk to thecashiers and she'll be like,
how's your day going?
And I'm like, okay, like she's,she's very friendly, she's very
outgoing, completely oppositeof me, cause I'm just like don't
(08:30):
talk to me, no, but any who?
So that was very nice, you knowto see that she went to the fair
and she had a really great time, and so while she was at the
fair, I get a picture message ofher holding a goldfish yes, a
goldfish.
So she played one of the littlegames at the fair and she won a
(08:52):
goldfish.
So you know my immediatereaction when I saw that
goldfish I was like no, no, no,like no, no, no.
And then I just it's likesomething clicked, so something
that a lot of people don't knowabout me, because obviously,
like I don't really talk aboutmy childhood or my past, like
(09:15):
it's something that I just kindof keep to myself.
I've always been kind of like avery private person and I don't
have contact with my family.
So I think, like you know, it'sjust not something that I talk
about a lot.
But when I saw that goldfish,after my initial reaction of no,
no, no, like I got flashbacks.
(09:36):
Yep, I got flashbacks of mychildhood because something that
nobody really knows is that Iactually, growing up, I had a
lot of goldfish out of all thepets that we had growing up and
we had a lot of different ones,and just thinking back with the
(09:56):
pet situation, I was like thatwas really messed up because
somehow every pet that we hadwould suddenly go missing and
you know my mom would always saysomething like oh, the door was
left open and you know he ranaway or she ran away.
So it was always something.
So now, as an adult, I'm likedid those pets really run away?
(10:17):
You know what I mean?
Or did you just get rid of themBecause you didn't want us to
have any pets or you didn't wantto deal with pets?
So now, as an adult, I see itlike in a whole different lens.
But yeah, like, growing up wehad, I had a cat which was very
traumatic.
Traumatic because I rememberone night, late at night, middle
(10:40):
of the night, like it was latenight, like there was no cars in
the streets type night, youknow, like that's how you know
it's late when there's no carsaround.
I remember like all of us mymom, my brothers getting into
the car with our cat and Ididn't realize what was
happening, but it was so sadLike my mom was actually driving
us to the middle of likenowhere, like in this kind of
(11:04):
industrial area where there's alot of factories, things like
that, and she was driving thereto pretty much abandon our cat
and get rid of it because shedidn't want the cat anymore.
And that's horrible Like I justeven thinking of that situation
now as an adult, like Icouldn't picture putting Emma
through that.
When you have a pet that you'reattached to as a child and then
(11:27):
, like your parent is justliterally throwing it away, like
all I remember is I was justcrying, I was crying, I was so
sad, but yeah, she pretty muchjust like I was crying, I was so
sad, but yeah, she pretty muchjust like let the cat, the cat
out of the car and just droveaway.
So super sad situation and I'msure that's something that
people still do is like abandontheir pets, like you see videos
(11:49):
online right of people just likedropping their dogs off and
like this empty road and thenjust driving away.
But yeah, so we've had pets,like I'm saying, and like they
suddenly disappear.
So now it has me questioningright, we also had a bunny, and
that bunny the door was leftopen and it ran away, right, but
(12:12):
we actually had him also forlike a really long time, cause I
remember we got him when he wasa baby and then when he
disappeared he was like a fullgrown rabbit, you know, adult if
you will.
But any home the pets that weactually ended up keeping were
the goldfishes.
And so from a very, very earlyage I think, when I was probably
(12:37):
Emma's age, we got goldfish andI don't remember how it started
.
I don't remember if we also gotstarted with one that we got at
a fair and then it just kind ofgrew from there.
But, yeah, just, we had, weactually went in and we got a
fish tank and we kept goldfishfor a really long time and our
(12:58):
goldfish lived forever.
I'm talking about you'd besurprised at how long goldfish
live, like I'm not even joking,like I had to look it up just to
like make sure it's normal,because the goldfish that we had
grew, like they literally grew,like they started off as small
little goldfish and then theygrew like maybe the size of
(13:23):
almost the size of a small hand,like they were kind of big, and
we had those goldfish for, Ithink, 15 years or more, even
because when I moved out of mymom's house, I was 18 years old,
we still had the fish and Iremember visiting her, like when
I would still visit her yearsafter.
The fish were still there.
(13:44):
They were big.
So those were literally theonly pets that we kept out of.
All the pets we had was thefish.
And so, yeah, like those fish,like we fed them, we cleaned
them.
I remember like cleaning thefish tank several times,
changing the water, cleaning thepebbles, the decor right for
(14:07):
the fish tank.
So I thought that was so.
Here comes Emma, right on thisSaturday night with a little
goldfish and for me what startedoff as like an initial, like
initial, was like no, no, no.
The more I start I was like, ohcrap, like here comes the
memories, the childhood memories, because then I started
(14:28):
thinking about, you know, mychildhood, because we had so
many fishes.
And then now here I am rightreflecting on pets and all this,
and now I'm like, well damn.
So anyways, there's gonna.
It's just crazy how there'sjust gonna be.
There's situations in your dayto day life that will trigger so
(14:50):
many childhood memories andlike even like traumatic
memories from your childhood andit's just so crazy how it could
just happen so fast.
And how do you deal with that?
Right, thankfully, I'm at thispoint now where I did the
therapy and things like that.
So now when these things comeup, like it doesn't affect me as
(15:14):
much, it's just kind of morelike a oh, like I remember that,
like oh, like it kind of justbrings memories up and it's just
so fascinating and interestinghow the mind works.
But yeah, something like this,like before, would have had me
in tears and just likeoverthinking and you know, blah,
blah, blah.
But yeah, so we have a fish, agoldfish, and his name is Steve.
(15:40):
I'm gonna name him Steve.
That's a cute, interesting name, right.
So here I am, like likeclockwork, like it, just like
muscle memory just kicked in,right, with the goldfish, and I
ended up buying a little fishtank for Steve, some pebbles,
some decor, and now we're here,right, changing fish tank water
(16:06):
and feeding the fish, makingsure the fish eats every day,
right, Changing fish tank waterand feeding the fish, making
sure the fish eats every day,right?
Isn't that just so crazy?
How things could just like,like, what?
Like who would have thought Iwas gonna have a goldfish, like
a week ago?
But craziness, right.
But anywho, let me know whatyour pet stories are and what
(16:30):
your childhood experiences werewith pets or just anything pet
related.
Your child brought home a petand you didn't know about or,
like you know, whatever,whatever you guys want to share,
but that's my pet drama andexperience for this week.
I now have a, a goldfish, and Iguess here I am, eight years
(16:52):
old again, taking care ofgoldfish, like I was right with
my own, eight year old now.
But yeah, I mean, pets, as weknow, can be so soothing and,
like we know, a lot of peopleuse pets as their emotional
support animals and it's crazyhow that works Because, like, as
(17:17):
I'm changing and I'm fixingthis fish tank and I'm making
sure the pebbles are perfect,and you know, I want this color
pebbles and I want to place theplants here and I want to like.
It's just crazy how it actually, now that I think about it,
like it was kind of a stressreliever because in that moment,
like I wasn't thinking aboutanything else, about any other
(17:37):
things that are stressing me out.
I was very mindful in thatmoment.
So, hey, go pets.
Okay, go pets, go pets, okay,go pets.
But, anywho, make sure to pleasesubscribe to this podcast for
just some real stories, somereal experiences, real mental
health talk and go ahead andshare with your friends, with
(18:01):
your family, and share your ownpet experience with me for this
week's episode, and make sure tocheck out all of the past
podcast episodes that are posted.
The previous one was a reallygood one where we talked about
abusive relationships, thingslike that.
So if you haven't checked itout, go ahead and check it out,
(18:22):
and I hope you all have a greatrest of your day.
But thank you for listening andgo ahead and hit that subscribe
and that like button and leavea five-star review if you like
the past episodes and yeah,thank you guys, go ahead and
check out our YouTube page,mental Healthish, where I will
be uploading some of the podcastepisodes, such as this one.
(18:45):
If you haven't subscribed, goahead and subscribe.
But yeah, thank you, have agood one.
Hey y'all, welcome back to Mental Health-ish.
I'm Susie and I wanted torecord today because it is
officially summer break and soyou guys know what that means
it's summer activities time,it's time to figure out ways to
keep the kids busy for summerbreak, and so I'm really excited
(00:22):
about that.
I think for this year I usuallyhave something that I plan
where I'm like okay, I want totake Emma somewhere, whether
it's a road trip or, you know,catch a flight.
Not that we travel anywherelike too crazy, but you know, we
tried to.
We went to Florida last year, Ithink twice, and so other years
(00:48):
we've done road trips, we'vegone to just different national
parks, things like that.
So for this year, I think I wasjust so caught up with work and
I've just been so busy, not tomention that, as you guys know,
I got emergency gallbladderremoval surgery at the beginning
of April and so that kind offorced me to be on leave from
(01:13):
work for two and a half weeks.
So I don't have a lot of savetime like to go on vacation or
do things like.
Right now I'm literally in savemode.
I'm trying to save up as manyvacation hours as I can for the
fall Cause I know like forEmma's birthday we usually
always do something.
She wants to go places.
(01:34):
So I'm still trying to figurethat out.
Right now I'm just trying tosave enough vacation hours so
that maybe we're able to liketake a road trip, or maybe we're
able to I don't know.
Like I still haven't figuredthat out yet, but that's what
I'm doing right now.
So for this summer I've hadpeople ask me what are you guys
doing for this summer?
Do you guys have any plans?
(01:55):
And I'm just like, uh, no, likethere's no plans right now.
There's no, no plans, noplanning.
Like I really for this summerand just really looking forward
to being like just chill, likejust hanging out, not doing much
.
Like I literally just bought apatio table with chairs the
(02:21):
other week because I feel likeI'm just never home, um, the
other week.
Because I feel like I'm justnever home, I feel like I'm
always just busy, I feel likeI'm always at work.
I feel like I I never reallytruly get to relax, even with
Emma, on my days off.
Like, if you guys follow me onInstagram, you guys see we're
always at Disney, we're alwaysout and about doing stuff, we're
(02:43):
at the movies, we're at theplayground, we're always out and
about doing stuff.
We're at the movies, we're atthe playground, we're at the
mall, we're shopping, we're likewe're just always out and about
.
And so I don't really feel likewe really get to just be home
and just enjoy our home thatwe're living in and so, or like
we're always cleaning, like I'malways on cleaning mode on my
(03:05):
days off, so we don't really gettime to just relax.
And so for this summer, I justmiss the beach, I just miss the
sun, I miss getting a tan, likeI miss getting an ugly sandal
tan, if that makes sense.
Like I remember, before Emma, Iused to always be at the beach.
(03:25):
Like I used to be at the beachpretty much like almost every
week, multiple times a week, andyou know we used to go fishing
a lot with her dad, you know,when I was still with Emma's dad
and things like that.
And that's not to say like Iknow I'm at a different point in
my life right now and I knowthat I'm not going to go fishing
(03:46):
, right, like every week, I'mnot going to be going fishing
several days a week.
And like I have a job now, Ihave responsibilities, I have
Emma, I have clients now, like Ihave my private practice, and
so I know it's not going to bethe same, but I do want to just
(04:06):
do things more like be outsidemore, and so I think that's my
big plan for the summer istrying to at least go to the
beach twice a month, hopefullyeven once a month, depending on
what we got to do.
And so I went ahead and boughtus like a beach canopy, have
chairs, like I'm trying to getour little setup situated to, so
(04:30):
that we are able to go andmaybe just go for a walk at the
beach, maybe just sit and tan,get our feet wet, take some
snacks, just stay there, youknow, see some sunsets like
that's what I want to do thissummer.
I don't have any like vacationplans.
I'm not going to be catchingflights, driving places, maybe a
(04:53):
little road trip here and there.
I'm not going to lie Likesounds nice.
I just went to go get my haircut today and I was talking to
my hair shout out Priscilla.
I was talking to my hairdresserabout summer plans and she
mentioned Catalina Island orsomething.
I was like you know what?
(05:13):
Like Emma hasn't been toCatalina Island, and that is
like like I can't even believethat.
I'm saying that becauseCatalina is like one of those
things where you would figurethat we have done already with
Emma.
But no, like Emma has actuallynever been to Catalina.
So I was like you know whatthat sounds like a nice little
(05:33):
like weekend getaway, you knowfor the summer, like maybe just
taking Emma to Catalina, gettingjumping on the ferry, you know
that little boat ride, like sheloves that type of stuff.
So I think that might be acontender for the summer
(05:54):
activities list.
But but yeah, I think for themost part we're probably just
gonna chill at home, go to thebeach, enjoy our outdoor patio
in the backyard, maybe do somewater balloons, do some art
activities, some painting, somecrafts, maybe play some board
games, some cards, like just bevery chill, and maybe go get ice
cream, you know, but nothingtoo crazy, and so yeah, like
(06:19):
just trying to do really funactivities like that.
Speaking of that, emma went tothe fair recently.
She went to the fair thisweekend and she went with one of
her little classmates and theyhad so much fun.
Like she had a smile, thebiggest smile in her face.
I was getting videos andpictures while I was at work and
(06:41):
she just looks so happy andit's just like friendships are
so important, like even for kids, and especially if you have a
kid who is neurodivergent, likeEmma is like Emma was just
diagnosed with ADHD.
I'm not sure if I've sharedthat in previous episodes, but
we went through the wholetesting and everything was very
(07:01):
difficult, challenging, but yeah, she was just diagnosed with
PTSD.
Whatever I say, oh my gosh, no,she does not have PTSD, she was
diagnosed with ADHD.
Um, you know, if you have aneurodivergent child, like they
could be a little sociallyawkward and if you guys have any
(07:22):
experience with that, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
Like it's just something likewhere they're just awkward and
so sometimes they're verysocially awkward and they have a
hard time making friends.
Okay, okay, and sometimes Ifeel bad for Emma because I she
doesn't really have a friendthat she considers her best
(07:47):
friend.
Like I don't see her hangingout with like the same kids
every week, like there's notreally like a close friend that
she has and she is sociallyawkward sometimes.
Like she doesn't know personalspace, like if she's really
excited, like she'll be like allin your face, like even at the
grocery store, social cues,things like that.
(08:08):
Like sometimes she just doesn'trealize, and so she'll get
super close to people or she'llbe like overly friendly, which
is good, like I don't want toshut her down.
Like she'll talk to thecashiers and she'll be like,
how's your day going?
And I'm like, okay, like she's,she's very friendly, she's very
outgoing, completely oppositeof me, cause I'm just like don't
(08:30):
talk to me, no, but any who?
So that was very nice, you knowto see that she went to the fair
and she had a really great time, and so while she was at the
fair, I get a picture message ofher holding a goldfish yes, a
goldfish.
So she played one of the littlegames at the fair and she won a
(08:52):
goldfish.
So you know my immediatereaction when I saw that
goldfish I was like no, no, no,like no, no, no.
And then I just it's likesomething clicked, so something
that a lot of people don't knowabout me, because obviously,
like I don't really talk aboutmy childhood or my past, like
(09:15):
it's something that I just kindof keep to myself.
I've always been kind of like avery private person and I don't
have contact with my family.
So I think, like you know, it'sjust not something that I talk
about a lot.
But when I saw that goldfish,after my initial reaction of no,
no, no, like I got flashbacks.
(09:36):
Yep, I got flashbacks of mychildhood because something that
nobody really knows is that Iactually, growing up, I had a
lot of goldfish out of all thepets that we had growing up and
we had a lot of different ones,and just thinking back with the
(09:56):
pet situation, I was like thatwas really messed up because
somehow every pet that we hadwould suddenly go missing and
you know my mom would always saysomething like oh, the door was
left open and you know he ranaway or she ran away.
So it was always something.
So now, as an adult, I'm likedid those pets really run away?
(10:17):
You know what I mean?
Or did you just get rid of themBecause you didn't want us to
have any pets or you didn't wantto deal with pets?
So now, as an adult, I see itlike in a whole different lens.
But yeah, like, growing up wehad, I had a cat which was very
traumatic.
Traumatic because I rememberone night, late at night, middle
(10:40):
of the night, like it was latenight, like there was no cars in
the streets type night, youknow, like that's how you know
it's late when there's no carsaround.
I remember like all of us mymom, my brothers getting into
the car with our cat and Ididn't realize what was
happening, but it was so sadLike my mom was actually driving
us to the middle of likenowhere, like in this kind of
(11:04):
industrial area where there's alot of factories, things like
that, and she was driving thereto pretty much abandon our cat
and get rid of it because shedidn't want the cat anymore.
And that's horrible Like I justeven thinking of that situation
now as an adult, like Icouldn't picture putting Emma
through that.
When you have a pet that you'reattached to as a child and then
(11:27):
, like your parent is justliterally throwing it away, like
all I remember is I was justcrying, I was crying, I was so
sad, but yeah, she pretty muchjust like I was crying, I was so
sad, but yeah, she pretty muchjust like let the cat, the cat
out of the car and just droveaway.
So super sad situation and I'msure that's something that
people still do is like abandontheir pets, like you see videos
(11:49):
online right of people just likedropping their dogs off and
like this empty road and thenjust driving away.
But yeah, so we've had pets,like I'm saying, and like they
suddenly disappear.
So now it has me questioningright, we also had a bunny, and
that bunny the door was leftopen and it ran away, right, but
(12:12):
we actually had him also forlike a really long time, cause I
remember we got him when he wasa baby and then when he
disappeared he was like a fullgrown rabbit, you know, adult if
you will.
But any home the pets that weactually ended up keeping were
the goldfishes.
And so from a very, very earlyage I think, when I was probably
(12:37):
Emma's age, we got goldfish andI don't remember how it started
.
I don't remember if we also gotstarted with one that we got at
a fair and then it just kind ofgrew from there.
But, yeah, just, we had, weactually went in and we got a
fish tank and we kept goldfishfor a really long time and our
(12:58):
goldfish lived forever.
I'm talking about you'd besurprised at how long goldfish
live, like I'm not even joking,like I had to look it up just to
like make sure it's normal,because the goldfish that we had
grew, like they literally grew,like they started off as small
little goldfish and then theygrew like maybe the size of
(13:23):
almost the size of a small hand,like they were kind of big, and
we had those goldfish for, Ithink, 15 years or more, even
because when I moved out of mymom's house, I was 18 years old,
we still had the fish and Iremember visiting her, like when
I would still visit her yearsafter.
The fish were still there.
(13:44):
They were big.
So those were literally theonly pets that we kept out of.
All the pets we had was thefish.
And so, yeah, like those fish,like we fed them, we cleaned
them.
I remember like cleaning thefish tank several times,
changing the water, cleaning thepebbles, the decor right for
(14:07):
the fish tank.
So I thought that was so.
Here comes Emma, right on thisSaturday night with a little
goldfish and for me what startedoff as like an initial, like
initial, was like no, no, no.
The more I start I was like, ohcrap, like here comes the
memories, the childhood memories, because then I started
(14:28):
thinking about, you know, mychildhood, because we had so
many fishes.
And then now here I am rightreflecting on pets and all this,
and now I'm like, well damn.
So anyways, there's gonna.
It's just crazy how there'sjust gonna be.
There's situations in your dayto day life that will trigger so
(14:50):
many childhood memories andlike even like traumatic
memories from your childhood andit's just so crazy how it could
just happen so fast.
And how do you deal with that?
Right, thankfully, I'm at thispoint now where I did the
therapy and things like that.
So now when these things comeup, like it doesn't affect me as
(15:14):
much, it's just kind of morelike a oh, like I remember that,
like oh, like it kind of justbrings memories up and it's just
so fascinating and interestinghow the mind works.
But yeah, something like this,like before, would have had me
in tears and just likeoverthinking and you know, blah,
blah, blah.
But yeah, so we have a fish, agoldfish, and his name is Steve.
(15:40):
I'm gonna name him Steve.
That's a cute, interesting name, right.
So here I am, like likeclockwork, like it, just like
muscle memory just kicked in,right, with the goldfish, and I
ended up buying a little fishtank for Steve, some pebbles,
some decor, and now we're here,right, changing fish tank water
(16:06):
and feeding the fish, makingsure the fish eats every day,
right, Changing fish tank waterand feeding the fish, making
sure the fish eats every day,right?
Isn't that just so crazy?
How things could just like,like, what?
Like who would have thought Iwas gonna have a goldfish, like
a week ago?
But craziness, right.
But anywho, let me know whatyour pet stories are and what
(16:30):
your childhood experiences werewith pets or just anything pet
related.
Your child brought home a petand you didn't know about or,
like you know, whatever,whatever you guys want to share,
but that's my pet drama andexperience for this week.
I now have a, a goldfish, and Iguess here I am, eight years
(16:52):
old again, taking care ofgoldfish, like I was right with
my own, eight year old now.
But yeah, I mean, pets, as weknow, can be so soothing and,
like we know, a lot of peopleuse pets as their emotional
support animals and it's crazyhow that works Because, like, as
(17:17):
I'm changing and I'm fixingthis fish tank and I'm making
sure the pebbles are perfect,and you know, I want this color
pebbles and I want to place theplants here and I want to like.
It's just crazy how it actually, now that I think about it,
like it was kind of a stressreliever because in that moment,
like I wasn't thinking aboutanything else, about any other
(17:37):
things that are stressing me out.
I was very mindful in thatmoment.
So, hey, go pets.
Okay, go pets, go pets, okay,go pets.
But, anywho, make sure to pleasesubscribe to this podcast for
just some real stories, somereal experiences, real mental
health talk and go ahead andshare with your friends, with
(18:01):
your family, and share your ownpet experience with me for this
week's episode, and make sure tocheck out all of the past
podcast episodes that are posted.
The previous one was a reallygood one where we talked about
abusive relationships, thingslike that.
So if you haven't checked itout, go ahead and check it out,
(18:22):
and I hope you all have a greatrest of your day.
But thank you for listening andgo ahead and hit that subscribe
and that like button and leavea five-star review if you like
the past episodes and yeah,thank you guys, go ahead and
check out our YouTube page,mental Healthish, where I will
be uploading some of the podcastepisodes, such as this one.
(18:45):
If you haven't subscribed, goahead and subscribe.
But yeah, thank you, have agood one.
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