July 16, 2025 • 20 mins
Empowered Living With Jeff Byrd | Guest: Lauren Hope
Welcome to Empowered Living. Listen as Jeff tackles critical issues in a way that brings "Insight for business, leadership, and life!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/EmpoweredLiving
Welcome to Empowered Living. Listen as Jeff tackles critical issues in a way that brings "Insight for business, leadership, and life!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/EmpoweredLiving
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hello, this is Gabriella on the scene today with Talk
Network Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We have a real dread for you just around the corner,
and that is Empowered Living.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
With Jeff Bird.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Jeff is the owner of Jeffrey Ber Coaching and he
will be coming to you weekly to teach you more
about empowered living.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Now let's join Jeff already in the studio.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
This is Jeff Bird with Jeffrey Bird Coaching, and this
is Empowered Living Now. If you were with us last time,
you remember that we are in the middle of a
two part series with our special guest, Lauren Hope. Welcome back, Laura,
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, excellent to
be with you. So if you missed the last episode,
Lauren shared her story from her journey as a local
(01:19):
TV reporter, very well known and well respected, through depression
to a suicide attempt and back up to a renewed
sense of purpose and calling on her life to make
a difference in other lives. And that's what she is
passionately doing now and what we're going to do this
time is last week Lauren told her story and if
(01:39):
you have not heard that, it is powerful, it is
moving and there is somebody you know, if it's not
you yourself, which it may be, there's somebody you know
who can identify and who needs to hear that story.
So I highly encourage you please go back and take
a listen to that story, but don't do it before
you listen to the rest of this episode, because what's
going to happen this time is she told her story
(02:00):
last time. This time she is going to now she
is a peer recovery specialist, and she is going to
share how those steps in her story can be reproduced
in any story to help people get from what we
described last time is feeling like you're setting alone in
a dark room, no light coming from a door, a window,
(02:21):
just being all alone in the dark and not knowing
how to get out. So she's going to describe that
to us today. So welcome back, Lauren, and the floor
is yours, and we can't wait to hear how you
help people now reproduce the steps that you took to
get back to wholeness and recovery.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Thank you so much for having me, Jeff, you know,
recovery is such a big word. I do love that
we're starting to use the word recovery not just for addiction,
but also for mental health, because a mental health crisis
can really rehab it on your life. So I've been
in recovery for two years, which means I've been active
in treatment. I've been able to work and function and
(02:57):
things like that. Everyone's pathway to recover is different, and
I say that to mean that you know, the thing
that works for me may not work for you. So
here is what has worked for me. My recovery is threefold.
I do take an antidepressant daily. I pray daily. I'm
connected to a local church, so my spirituality is a
big part of my recovery in therapy. And this is
(03:19):
why it works that way for me. I described in
the previous show that depression feels like walking around with
a rain cloud over your head, and it taints everything
that you see and everything that you feel. The antidepressant
pushed the rain cloud away, but it didn't give me
a burning to live, a desire to get moving. It
just removed the rain cloud. It was God's love, what
(03:42):
he said about me and the word, the things that
I learned about what he does for his children. That's
what gave me the fire in my life, the burning
to want to rebuild and the belief that I could rebuild.
One of my favorite scriptures is stir My thirty one four.
I will rebuild you and you will dance again. And
I love the dance, y'all. Let me just say that.
(04:03):
So God can make me. God can make new all
of our brokenness. But I also want to say this.
There's also a scripture that says faith without works is dead.
We're in a relationship with God, right. Christ makes it
possible for us to have a relationship. So that means
I need to be an active part of that. And
(04:24):
so my works is taking that anti depressant every single day,
putting myself out there as a speaker, being active and
honest in therapy. And because I am playing an active
role in my recovery, I can feel God blessing me
through that. Now, for a big part of mental health
wellness is acceptance. It's hard for a lot of people
(04:46):
if they are diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
There's such a stigma around mental illness that acceptance is
so hard for so many people. So for me, the
first thing was acceptance. And you know what helped me
accept it was learning about my diagnosis. I went to
my doctor and I asked, what does the pression look like?
This is what I'm experiencing, being very honest about what
(05:09):
I was experiencing, listening to other people's stories. There are
so many communities out there people living and thriving with
the mental illness. There's this one community called This is
My Brave, their nonprofit who does shows around the country
with people who have mental illness, and it shows these
people in front of a live studio audience very bravely speaking.
They're truth. And these people standing in their truth made
(05:34):
me feel like, well, gosh, I'm not alone in this.
They're living through this. I can live through this. Interestingly
enough in them in the psych Word in group therapy.
Hearing those other people live through their experiences inspired me.
I was in the psych Word with an er nurse,
with a mom with an account executive. I was like, wow, like,
this affects so many people. The stat says that one
(05:57):
in four people will experience a mental health experience or
crisis in a lifetime one and four. So that normalized
it for me, and once that happened, I was able
to accept treatment better. I wanted to be my own
best advocate. I was more honest in therapy, working through
some of the triggers that lead that led to my
(06:18):
depressive episode, also connecting to a community of people that
can help you through it. The National Alliance on Mental
Illness has peer run groups people with lived experience, where
you can go and talk to these people about your experiences,
like you know, when I have an anxiety attack, it
looks like this, and then someone can say, oh, well,
sometimes this works for me, or have you tried this.
(06:41):
I've learned coping mechanisms through NAMI. They also have classes
called peer to peer and family to family. Family to
family is actually for loved ones who have somebody who's
living with a mental illness and maybe they don't understand,
so they can go to that class and get their
loved ones perspective, which can sometimes be lost if you're
in a mental health crisis. You know, you're only seeing
(07:04):
my loved one is acting out, or they're not being
the same, or they're participating in destructive behavior. NAMI shows
you where they're coming from. And then during period of
peer I had other people with the living experience of
mental illness teaching me how to live with fu mental illness.
The power of having a mental health advanced directive, how
(07:24):
to get the best out of therapy, understanding your medication,
things I would have never thought about had I not
gone an me. I've now been nominated to the Virginia
Chapter Board for the American Foundation with Suicide Prevention. I'm
extremely proud of, and I now do trainings called Talk
Saves Lives. I think everyone needs to know about suicide prevention.
(07:46):
They need to know the suicide Prevention lifeline, just like
we know CPR. That's one eight hundred and two seventy
three talk. I connect in those trainings just being as
knowledgeable as I can about my mental health struggle. End up,
the biggest thing. The biggest thing is that so many
people who are struggling with mental illness suffer in silence.
(08:08):
They don't feel like anybody understands, they're scared, or they're
worried about the repercussions. The biggest thing that I want
anyone to take from this is please speak up. Speak
up if you are struggling to your mother, your father,
a friend, a trusted counselor you do not have to
go through this alone. It's okay, not be okay. It's okay,
(08:29):
it's okay to take a step back and assess your
mental health. And then I want people in the community
if they see something to say something. If your friend
has a major mood swing, or they're having preoccupied or
they're preoccupied with thoughts of death, if they're they're eating
has changed, or they're sleeping all the time, if they're
(08:50):
isolating themselves, if they're giving away their worldly possessions. These
are some of the red flags that somebody could be
making a suicidal plan or they have suicidal ideation. Sometimes
people say, oh, that's not my problem. Well, somebody's going
to fix it. Don't worry about it. No, if you
see something, say something. Speaking up is a big way
we save lives. One of the things that as He says,
(09:12):
is to be the voice right, be that voice for
your fellow man. Spiritually, I know that God didn't put
us on this earth to be alone. He wants us
to be there for our fellow man. And this one
scripture and proverb says iron sharpens iron, so one person
sharpens another. A part of that is also speaking up,
being there. So that is the biggest thing I want
(09:34):
people to know is to speak up if they're struggling,
and thank you for those warning signs too. You know
I was I.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Told you before the show as we were chatting that
I had asked a group that I was thinking too recently,
how many of them had seen somebody that looked like
they were doing okay and then within the next month
of scene and found out they had suicide. And about
sixty percent of the room raised that hand. So those
warning signs in and just the fact that for so
(10:02):
many people, I still haven't gotten past this when there's
so many people who feel that there is just nobody
who's going to understand and cares. And I just want
to stress the point because I've been there in my
life in various ways, not the same one that we're
talking about, but in different ways, and it's like there's
just nobody I know to talk to. You do try
to talk to somebody and they don't get it. But
even if that's your case, if you are somebody who
(10:23):
don't know who to talk to and don't feel like
that there's anyone who understands and you are just alone
in that dark, there are people who have been there,
who get it, who have been through it, and now
you're four years down the road I think right of
taking next appropriate steps, and you listed a lot of
steps that you've take and you've made phenomenal progress, but
(10:44):
it all started with that one next appropriate step, that
time that you felt God saying to you, I need
you to get up, and you took that one step,
and that one step led to all these other steps.
And just to say, you know, I often talk about
the law Mount Everest, and nobody takes three hops and
gets to the top of Mount Everest. It's one step
(11:05):
after another step, after another step after another step. So
I just want to encourage the folks that are listening
to do exactly what you said and to reach out.
If you don't know who to talk to, don't have
anybody you feel you can trust. There are people that
you can trust who get it and who deep that's
their life's purpose is to help you and to get
you to that next step. All you have to do
(11:25):
is take that one step and that creates momentum. They
can give you the encouragement to leave to the next step. So, Lauren,
this has been fantastic, And is there anything else you'd
like to say to that person who's just sitting there
and maybe listening to this and wondering should I call you? Know?
What do I do now? Is there any What would
you say.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
To them if you were just right there with them?
The first thing that comes to my mind is you
are worth it. Your life, It's worth it, you are
worth fighting for. There is beauty after ashes. I know
that I am an amazing submit to that. So if
you feel yourself in a dark place, hope plus, I
want you to know that you're worth it. You're worth
(12:08):
a second chance, You're worth getting out of the bed,
You're worth telling somebody I'm hurting, I'm struggling. Because on
the other side of that, right the other side of
taking that step, you open the door for healing, You
open the door for reconciliation, you open the door for recovery.
Want you to know that you are absolutely, positively worth it.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Jeff will be back shortly to wrap up today's message.
This is Gabriela still on the scene today with Top
Network Radio. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to
Empowered Living with Jeff Bird. If you've missed any part
of today's message, you can hear it again online as
well as the entire archive of Empowered Living.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
At www dot Tpnetwork Radio dot com or search keyword
hashtag empowered Living.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
We would like to acknowledge our music partners, Sound Ideas
for Corporate to the Max and Kevin McLeod for Airport Lounge.
Any scriptures read during this broadcast are from the New
American Standard version of.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
The Holy Bible. If you would like to learn more
about Jeffreybird Coaching, visit www dot Jeffbirdcoaching dot com. That
is j E F F B y r D Coaching
dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Do a Facebook search for at coaching rocks or drop
Jeff aligne at Jeff at Jeffbirdcoaching dot com again j
E F f B y r D Coaching dot com.
Let Jeff's coaching rocks be the building blocks of your
empowered success. Now let's go back to Jeff for the
(13:55):
rest of today's message.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And then the other thing to the GMA. You mentioned
how important the church, your church community is. I know
people who have been deeply benefited by their church communities.
Also other know other people who have been wounded by
church communities. So it's not the type of community so much,
I think is the type of people in the community.
So what and that's that's been another big part of
your process. I know, first of all, you had to
(14:20):
decide you were going to get up and start moving
and reach out, but then you also had to get
the right people around What are the quality that people
who are moving in the right direction need in the
people around them? Because I think so often you know,
the you know, they say that we're the we're we
have the success rate of the average of our five
closest friends. And you know, for a lot of people
(14:41):
who may be in a bad situation, our five closest
friends don't really have anything to offer. So what type
of people do we need to look for to have
in that circle as we begin to journey forward?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
A really good question. I'm so I've been so moved
by the woman at the well. So I always think
about myself and my away my peace as a well.
And I remember as I was coming out of my depression,
I remember God saying, we need people who are going
to pour into you, right, And I was, particularly when
I was homeless, that a lot of people who are
just taking, who are just taking, who are just taking?
(15:14):
So who are the people who are pouring into you positively? Right?
Who are the people who are reinforcing your dreams. When
you tell them something, they're not like, oh that's crazy, right,
They're like, yeah, girl, you can totally do that. Who
are the people that you feel feel peace around? Right,
They're not talking or gossiping about anybody else or tearing
somebody down. They make you feel peace and you laugh.
(15:37):
Who are those people? So looking for a community of
people who are going to pour into you positively, who
are going to push you into purpose. When I started
to walk into this purpose of being a speaker and
an advocate, the people around me were like, yeah, girl,
we totally see that for you. Yeah, when are you
going to go? Can you practice your speech with me?
(15:58):
So they were even showing in their acts is that
they believed in me. I also really found it important
that you're around people who are also chasing purpose, who
are happy, who are full, because sometimes if you surround
yourself with so many people who are negative and aren't
really moving anywhere else in life, it can drag you
down to So my biggest thing I always tell people
is have the well fillers in your life. Well, I
(16:22):
love that.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
What you reminded me of is a quote by Les Brown,
and he says shoot for the moon and even if
you miss, you'll still be among the scars. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
But if you don't have anything you're shooting for, I.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Think it was an exiglar that said is guaranteed you're
going to hit it every time, right, And so have something,
even something small, that you're going to do. When when
you told us your story last time, you said the
first thing was get up and take a back, you know,
and you know, get out of the house. You know,
I have a coach that says that get out the house.
You know, nothing nobody's going to come to you in
the house. You have got to tick some even if
(16:52):
it's a small effort, and reach out and get out
and get going. So, Lauren, thank you so so so
much for this, and I want you though, before we
go again, if you would give those contact numbers and
websites for people who either themselves or for someone that
they know, need to reach out.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Well, there are amazing resources online and by telephone. The
first one is a suicide Prevention Lifeline that's a twenty
four hour, seventy a week lifeline that helps people who
are struggling with sucidal adiation who have a plan, but
it also helps their loved ones and friends. If you
feel if you hear those those red flags of suicidal ideation,
a change in mood, restlessness, a change in sleep patterns,
(17:34):
overeating or not eating at all, giving away worldly possessions.
Call one eight hundred two seven three Talk one eight
hundred two seven three talk that you could talk to
them about your friend and they'll connect you to resources
in your area. They'll tell you, yes, this is a crisis.
You do need to call nine one one if you're struggling.
They'll talk you down from that situation and connect you
to resources. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is an
(17:57):
amazing resource that helps people learn how to live with
their mental illness. They break the stigma of mental illness,
and they teach family members how to be better caregivers.
If you go to www dot NOMI dot org that's
in AMI dot org, you can search for a NOMI
chapter in your area, get connected to a connections group,
peer to peer or family to family. There's also a
(18:19):
national organization called Mental Health America that's NHA dot org.
That's another amazing nonprofit that helps people. They have a
warmline that you can call and talk about your mental
health struggles. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention gives suicide
prevention training and communities all around the country. Go to
AFSP dot org find a training in your areas. You
(18:40):
can be best equipped to help someone who's struggling if
you ever encounter that.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Thank you so much, LN, and I just want to
encourage everyone who's listening please save those resource numbers and
websites there, and also please think about sharing this broadcast
because we just we never know if I could add
up the number of suicides that I've known in my life,
who maybe I could have shared something and they would
(19:04):
have listened to it, not feeling any stigma, but just
heard something that would have helped them even if they
were having trouble reaching out and singing where they were.
Maybe that could have saved some lives. So I would
ask you please to reshare this with your network because
there's very good likelihood that there's somebody in your network
who very much needs this and needs to reach out today.
(19:25):
So thank you so much for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Again.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
This is jeff Bird with Jeffreybird Coaching. I've been the
last two weeks with Lauren Hope again. She's the founder
of Good Girl chronicles. I encourage you to check that out.
What's the website for that, goodirl chronicles dot com. That way,
you know, so easy enough, So encourage you to check
that out. Thank you so much for tuning in. This
is empowered living God bless you and we'll see you
next time.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
About the a
Hello, this is Gabriella on the scene today with Talk
Network Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We have a real dread for you just around the corner,
and that is Empowered Living.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
With Jeff Bird.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Jeff is the owner of Jeffrey Ber Coaching and he
will be coming to you weekly to teach you more
about empowered living.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Now let's join Jeff already in the studio.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
This is Jeff Bird with Jeffrey Bird Coaching, and this
is Empowered Living Now. If you were with us last time,
you remember that we are in the middle of a
two part series with our special guest, Lauren Hope. Welcome back, Laura,
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, excellent to
be with you. So if you missed the last episode,
Lauren shared her story from her journey as a local
(01:19):
TV reporter, very well known and well respected, through depression
to a suicide attempt and back up to a renewed
sense of purpose and calling on her life to make
a difference in other lives. And that's what she is
passionately doing now and what we're going to do this
time is last week Lauren told her story and if
(01:39):
you have not heard that, it is powerful, it is
moving and there is somebody you know, if it's not
you yourself, which it may be, there's somebody you know
who can identify and who needs to hear that story.
So I highly encourage you please go back and take
a listen to that story, but don't do it before
you listen to the rest of this episode, because what's
going to happen this time is she told her story
(02:00):
last time. This time she is going to now she
is a peer recovery specialist, and she is going to
share how those steps in her story can be reproduced
in any story to help people get from what we
described last time is feeling like you're setting alone in
a dark room, no light coming from a door, a window,
(02:21):
just being all alone in the dark and not knowing
how to get out. So she's going to describe that
to us today. So welcome back, Lauren, and the floor
is yours, and we can't wait to hear how you
help people now reproduce the steps that you took to
get back to wholeness and recovery.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Thank you so much for having me, Jeff, you know,
recovery is such a big word. I do love that
we're starting to use the word recovery not just for addiction,
but also for mental health, because a mental health crisis
can really rehab it on your life. So I've been
in recovery for two years, which means I've been active
in treatment. I've been able to work and function and
(02:57):
things like that. Everyone's pathway to recover is different, and
I say that to mean that you know, the thing
that works for me may not work for you. So
here is what has worked for me. My recovery is threefold.
I do take an antidepressant daily. I pray daily. I'm
connected to a local church, so my spirituality is a
big part of my recovery in therapy. And this is
(03:19):
why it works that way for me. I described in
the previous show that depression feels like walking around with
a rain cloud over your head, and it taints everything
that you see and everything that you feel. The antidepressant
pushed the rain cloud away, but it didn't give me
a burning to live, a desire to get moving. It
just removed the rain cloud. It was God's love, what
(03:42):
he said about me and the word, the things that
I learned about what he does for his children. That's
what gave me the fire in my life, the burning
to want to rebuild and the belief that I could rebuild.
One of my favorite scriptures is stir My thirty one four.
I will rebuild you and you will dance again. And
I love the dance, y'all. Let me just say that.
(04:03):
So God can make me. God can make new all
of our brokenness. But I also want to say this.
There's also a scripture that says faith without works is dead.
We're in a relationship with God, right. Christ makes it
possible for us to have a relationship. So that means
I need to be an active part of that. And
(04:24):
so my works is taking that anti depressant every single day,
putting myself out there as a speaker, being active and
honest in therapy. And because I am playing an active
role in my recovery, I can feel God blessing me
through that. Now, for a big part of mental health
wellness is acceptance. It's hard for a lot of people
(04:46):
if they are diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
There's such a stigma around mental illness that acceptance is
so hard for so many people. So for me, the
first thing was acceptance. And you know what helped me
accept it was learning about my diagnosis. I went to
my doctor and I asked, what does the pression look like?
This is what I'm experiencing, being very honest about what
(05:09):
I was experiencing, listening to other people's stories. There are
so many communities out there people living and thriving with
the mental illness. There's this one community called This is
My Brave, their nonprofit who does shows around the country
with people who have mental illness, and it shows these
people in front of a live studio audience very bravely speaking.
They're truth. And these people standing in their truth made
(05:34):
me feel like, well, gosh, I'm not alone in this.
They're living through this. I can live through this. Interestingly
enough in them in the psych Word in group therapy.
Hearing those other people live through their experiences inspired me.
I was in the psych Word with an er nurse,
with a mom with an account executive. I was like, wow, like,
this affects so many people. The stat says that one
(05:57):
in four people will experience a mental health experience or
crisis in a lifetime one and four. So that normalized
it for me, and once that happened, I was able
to accept treatment better. I wanted to be my own
best advocate. I was more honest in therapy, working through
some of the triggers that lead that led to my
(06:18):
depressive episode, also connecting to a community of people that
can help you through it. The National Alliance on Mental
Illness has peer run groups people with lived experience, where
you can go and talk to these people about your experiences,
like you know, when I have an anxiety attack, it
looks like this, and then someone can say, oh, well,
sometimes this works for me, or have you tried this.
(06:41):
I've learned coping mechanisms through NAMI. They also have classes
called peer to peer and family to family. Family to
family is actually for loved ones who have somebody who's
living with a mental illness and maybe they don't understand,
so they can go to that class and get their
loved ones perspective, which can sometimes be lost if you're
in a mental health crisis. You know, you're only seeing
(07:04):
my loved one is acting out, or they're not being
the same, or they're participating in destructive behavior. NAMI shows
you where they're coming from. And then during period of
peer I had other people with the living experience of
mental illness teaching me how to live with fu mental illness.
The power of having a mental health advanced directive, how
(07:24):
to get the best out of therapy, understanding your medication,
things I would have never thought about had I not
gone an me. I've now been nominated to the Virginia
Chapter Board for the American Foundation with Suicide Prevention. I'm
extremely proud of, and I now do trainings called Talk
Saves Lives. I think everyone needs to know about suicide prevention.
(07:46):
They need to know the suicide Prevention lifeline, just like
we know CPR. That's one eight hundred and two seventy
three talk. I connect in those trainings just being as
knowledgeable as I can about my mental health struggle. End up,
the biggest thing. The biggest thing is that so many
people who are struggling with mental illness suffer in silence.
(08:08):
They don't feel like anybody understands, they're scared, or they're
worried about the repercussions. The biggest thing that I want
anyone to take from this is please speak up. Speak
up if you are struggling to your mother, your father,
a friend, a trusted counselor you do not have to
go through this alone. It's okay, not be okay. It's okay,
(08:29):
it's okay to take a step back and assess your
mental health. And then I want people in the community
if they see something to say something. If your friend
has a major mood swing, or they're having preoccupied or
they're preoccupied with thoughts of death, if they're they're eating
has changed, or they're sleeping all the time, if they're
(08:50):
isolating themselves, if they're giving away their worldly possessions. These
are some of the red flags that somebody could be
making a suicidal plan or they have suicidal ideation. Sometimes
people say, oh, that's not my problem. Well, somebody's going
to fix it. Don't worry about it. No, if you
see something, say something. Speaking up is a big way
we save lives. One of the things that as He says,
(09:12):
is to be the voice right, be that voice for
your fellow man. Spiritually, I know that God didn't put
us on this earth to be alone. He wants us
to be there for our fellow man. And this one
scripture and proverb says iron sharpens iron, so one person
sharpens another. A part of that is also speaking up,
being there. So that is the biggest thing I want
(09:34):
people to know is to speak up if they're struggling,
and thank you for those warning signs too. You know
I was I.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Told you before the show as we were chatting that
I had asked a group that I was thinking too recently,
how many of them had seen somebody that looked like
they were doing okay and then within the next month
of scene and found out they had suicide. And about
sixty percent of the room raised that hand. So those
warning signs in and just the fact that for so
(10:02):
many people, I still haven't gotten past this when there's
so many people who feel that there is just nobody
who's going to understand and cares. And I just want
to stress the point because I've been there in my
life in various ways, not the same one that we're
talking about, but in different ways, and it's like there's
just nobody I know to talk to. You do try
to talk to somebody and they don't get it. But
even if that's your case, if you are somebody who
(10:23):
don't know who to talk to and don't feel like
that there's anyone who understands and you are just alone
in that dark, there are people who have been there,
who get it, who have been through it, and now
you're four years down the road I think right of
taking next appropriate steps, and you listed a lot of
steps that you've take and you've made phenomenal progress, but
(10:44):
it all started with that one next appropriate step, that
time that you felt God saying to you, I need
you to get up, and you took that one step,
and that one step led to all these other steps.
And just to say, you know, I often talk about
the law Mount Everest, and nobody takes three hops and
gets to the top of Mount Everest. It's one step
(11:05):
after another step, after another step after another step. So
I just want to encourage the folks that are listening
to do exactly what you said and to reach out.
If you don't know who to talk to, don't have
anybody you feel you can trust. There are people that
you can trust who get it and who deep that's
their life's purpose is to help you and to get
you to that next step. All you have to do
(11:25):
is take that one step and that creates momentum. They
can give you the encouragement to leave to the next step. So, Lauren,
this has been fantastic, And is there anything else you'd
like to say to that person who's just sitting there
and maybe listening to this and wondering should I call you? Know?
What do I do now? Is there any What would
you say.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
To them if you were just right there with them?
The first thing that comes to my mind is you
are worth it. Your life, It's worth it, you are
worth fighting for. There is beauty after ashes. I know
that I am an amazing submit to that. So if
you feel yourself in a dark place, hope plus, I
want you to know that you're worth it. You're worth
(12:08):
a second chance, You're worth getting out of the bed,
You're worth telling somebody I'm hurting, I'm struggling. Because on
the other side of that, right the other side of
taking that step, you open the door for healing, You
open the door for reconciliation, you open the door for recovery.
Want you to know that you are absolutely, positively worth it.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Jeff will be back shortly to wrap up today's message.
This is Gabriela still on the scene today with Top
Network Radio. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to
Empowered Living with Jeff Bird. If you've missed any part
of today's message, you can hear it again online as
well as the entire archive of Empowered Living.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
At www dot Tpnetwork Radio dot com or search keyword
hashtag empowered Living.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
We would like to acknowledge our music partners, Sound Ideas
for Corporate to the Max and Kevin McLeod for Airport Lounge.
Any scriptures read during this broadcast are from the New
American Standard version of.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
The Holy Bible. If you would like to learn more
about Jeffreybird Coaching, visit www dot Jeffbirdcoaching dot com. That
is j E F F B y r D Coaching
dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Do a Facebook search for at coaching rocks or drop
Jeff aligne at Jeff at Jeffbirdcoaching dot com again j
E F f B y r D Coaching dot com.
Let Jeff's coaching rocks be the building blocks of your
empowered success. Now let's go back to Jeff for the
(13:55):
rest of today's message.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And then the other thing to the GMA. You mentioned
how important the church, your church community is. I know
people who have been deeply benefited by their church communities.
Also other know other people who have been wounded by
church communities. So it's not the type of community so much,
I think is the type of people in the community.
So what and that's that's been another big part of
your process. I know, first of all, you had to
(14:20):
decide you were going to get up and start moving
and reach out, but then you also had to get
the right people around What are the quality that people
who are moving in the right direction need in the
people around them? Because I think so often you know,
the you know, they say that we're the we're we
have the success rate of the average of our five
closest friends. And you know, for a lot of people
(14:41):
who may be in a bad situation, our five closest
friends don't really have anything to offer. So what type
of people do we need to look for to have
in that circle as we begin to journey forward?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
A really good question. I'm so I've been so moved
by the woman at the well. So I always think
about myself and my away my peace as a well.
And I remember as I was coming out of my depression,
I remember God saying, we need people who are going
to pour into you, right, And I was, particularly when
I was homeless, that a lot of people who are
just taking, who are just taking, who are just taking?
(15:14):
So who are the people who are pouring into you positively? Right?
Who are the people who are reinforcing your dreams. When
you tell them something, they're not like, oh that's crazy, right,
They're like, yeah, girl, you can totally do that. Who
are the people that you feel feel peace around? Right,
They're not talking or gossiping about anybody else or tearing
somebody down. They make you feel peace and you laugh.
(15:37):
Who are those people? So looking for a community of
people who are going to pour into you positively, who
are going to push you into purpose. When I started
to walk into this purpose of being a speaker and
an advocate, the people around me were like, yeah, girl,
we totally see that for you. Yeah, when are you
going to go? Can you practice your speech with me?
(15:58):
So they were even showing in their acts is that
they believed in me. I also really found it important
that you're around people who are also chasing purpose, who
are happy, who are full, because sometimes if you surround
yourself with so many people who are negative and aren't
really moving anywhere else in life, it can drag you
down to So my biggest thing I always tell people
is have the well fillers in your life. Well, I
(16:22):
love that.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
What you reminded me of is a quote by Les Brown,
and he says shoot for the moon and even if
you miss, you'll still be among the scars. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
But if you don't have anything you're shooting for, I.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Think it was an exiglar that said is guaranteed you're
going to hit it every time, right, And so have something,
even something small, that you're going to do. When when
you told us your story last time, you said the
first thing was get up and take a back, you know,
and you know, get out of the house. You know,
I have a coach that says that get out the house.
You know, nothing nobody's going to come to you in
the house. You have got to tick some even if
(16:52):
it's a small effort, and reach out and get out
and get going. So, Lauren, thank you so so so
much for this, and I want you though, before we
go again, if you would give those contact numbers and
websites for people who either themselves or for someone that
they know, need to reach out.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Well, there are amazing resources online and by telephone. The
first one is a suicide Prevention Lifeline that's a twenty
four hour, seventy a week lifeline that helps people who
are struggling with sucidal adiation who have a plan, but
it also helps their loved ones and friends. If you
feel if you hear those those red flags of suicidal ideation,
a change in mood, restlessness, a change in sleep patterns,
(17:34):
overeating or not eating at all, giving away worldly possessions.
Call one eight hundred two seven three Talk one eight
hundred two seven three talk that you could talk to
them about your friend and they'll connect you to resources
in your area. They'll tell you, yes, this is a crisis.
You do need to call nine one one if you're struggling.
They'll talk you down from that situation and connect you
to resources. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is an
(17:57):
amazing resource that helps people learn how to live with
their mental illness. They break the stigma of mental illness,
and they teach family members how to be better caregivers.
If you go to www dot NOMI dot org that's
in AMI dot org, you can search for a NOMI
chapter in your area, get connected to a connections group,
peer to peer or family to family. There's also a
(18:19):
national organization called Mental Health America that's NHA dot org.
That's another amazing nonprofit that helps people. They have a
warmline that you can call and talk about your mental
health struggles. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention gives suicide
prevention training and communities all around the country. Go to
AFSP dot org find a training in your areas. You
(18:40):
can be best equipped to help someone who's struggling if
you ever encounter that.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Thank you so much, LN, and I just want to
encourage everyone who's listening please save those resource numbers and
websites there, and also please think about sharing this broadcast
because we just we never know if I could add
up the number of suicides that I've known in my life,
who maybe I could have shared something and they would
(19:04):
have listened to it, not feeling any stigma, but just
heard something that would have helped them even if they
were having trouble reaching out and singing where they were.
Maybe that could have saved some lives. So I would
ask you please to reshare this with your network because
there's very good likelihood that there's somebody in your network
who very much needs this and needs to reach out today.
(19:25):
So thank you so much for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Again.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
This is jeff Bird with Jeffreybird Coaching. I've been the
last two weeks with Lauren Hope again. She's the founder
of Good Girl chronicles. I encourage you to check that out.
What's the website for that, goodirl chronicles dot com. That way,
you know, so easy enough, So encourage you to check
that out. Thank you so much for tuning in. This
is empowered living God bless you and we'll see you
next time.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
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