Thinking About Suicide Is A Mental Health Alarm Bell

00:00 Thinking about suicide is actually an alarm, a red flag, an indicator that all is not well. The stress and strain that you're going through each day. If I could just switch that off, it would be bliss. Okay, what are my options for switching that off? It's in those situations that it comes around as one of the options. And then you start to say, oh, how would I do it? What would that look like? What would people think? That is a warning sign that you are experiencing a mental health problem. Welcome to the Johnny Jensen Show, where modern dads discover how to create the true riches, relationships, and results they deserve.

00:40 Get your high value man blueprint and join our community at highvalumanproject.com. Let's go. Thinking about suicide is actually an alarm, a red flag, an indicator that all is not well. It was World Suicide Prevention Day yesterday. Now, don't tune out if you think this is going to be dull or not irrelevant. The number of men who kill themselves is still ridiculously high. Still the highest killer of men below 50. 75% of suicides are male. And the thing about that stat, as I started to talk about and zone in on when I do bring when this subject does come up for me, is that whilst that is shocking, consider how many people, because men and women take their own lives, but consider how many men are thinking about doing it, but don't

01:35 actually do it. And thinking about doing it, mulling over different options, thinking about whether life would be easier for the people around you if you weren't there, the stress and strain that you're going through each day. Like, what would it be like to just switch that off? If I could just switch that off, it would be bliss. Okay, what are my options for switching that off? It's in those situations that it comes around as one of the options. If you don't know my story, sadly, my brother took his own life. My little brother took his own life in 2014. And yeah, you can watch my other videos around that. The experience, though, and someone else very close to me tried and failed.

02:21 It's quite a funny story. But sitting at their bedside in hospital was an experience as well, was a great relief, but it was also an eye-opener as this topic is for everybody, you know, in the wider peripheries of it, you know, the extended family, the friends, the people that are affected after the death, is you just didn't realize that they were at that place, right? So this, I'm trying to share with you today is twofold. If you are having thoughts like that, like, what are my options? How am I going to get out of this situation?

03:00 How am I going to shut this business? How am I going to fix my relationship? How am I going to address this struggle, this suffer that I've got going on? And one of the options ends up being, oh, I could take my own life. And then you start to say, oh, how would I do it? What would that look like? What would people think? Like, that is a warning sign. That is a warning sign that your mental health is in, you know, is in, you know, you are experiencing a mental health problem. You know, you need to seek help, right? And it seems like, oh, what am I going to go and do moan about? How's that going to help? I need to fix this, not talk about that. That is the thing. That is the thing. You have to get

03:40 the topic out of you. And if anything, this realization, this reality that you're thinking about it should be an indicator for you. Oh, I'm internalizing this problem way too much. I need to take it outside. I need to get help and share it with people around me. You know, the idea that, oh, people don't want to hear your problems isn't true. And I always say to people, well, what would you do if a friend came to you and said, I'm struggling, can you help me? Like, you would want to be there for them. There's so many organizations, right? Whether it's High Value Man Project, right? There's men in there who have been through all levels of experience, you know, from struggling to thriving, awesome, great, right?

04:25 And everything that goes along with that journey. There's down in Kent, we've got Dad Space across Sussex and Kent, you've got Dad La Soul. Across the UK, you've got Andy's Man Club, you know, Calm, Samaritans, a local church, like let alone your brother, sister, friend, parents, like they're all there to support you. One person who you shouldn't dump all this on is the person you're married to, the person you love the most. It's not that you can't share this with her, but you have to balance the load because no doubt that what's going on is going on for both of you.

05:08 Being in communication, being aware of what each other's needs are and where each other's struggles are is important. But if you're leaning too much on that person, if they're your only source of comfort and counsel, then that's a problem for you both. It is not going to help. Okay, so I don't mean keep them in the dark, but I like to talk about it, you know, inside of the single dad advantage, right? Is your fab four, and it works whatever stage you're in in life. Is to wherever you're at, have four people you go to for that subject, because then they're never, it's never one person that's shouldering it all. Plus, you get a broader perspective on the subject from more than just obviously one person.

05:51 Now, if you think one of your friends, one of your brothers, one of your son is going through something like this, then they're not always going to talk to you about it when you approach them. But that doesn't mean that you stop. And I've been guilty of this in the past. A friend of mine, close friend, I was going through my own divorce and tough times. And turned out that he was as well. But when I said to him, Are you all right? And he said, Yeah, I'm fine. I just got back on with my own stuff. I didn't see the telltale signs of what was going on for him.

06:28 So telltale signs are going to be things like lack of motivation, constantly distracted, don't come out anymore, drinking too much, you know, any kind of distraction. So X or Y too much, drink, gaming, suddenly smoking more weed than they used to. Even exercising or working hard can be a distraction tactic, anything to put their mind off thinking about the thing. What you can do for them isn't all on you. It can be a degree of support. You don't have to fix it for them. You know, probably not a good answer is, let's go out and get absolutely blasted, right?

07:08 That can be fun, but you need to be aware of that. That's just more for them of the distraction tactics. Here's a good one: is that quite often, if you're talking to a lad or blokes, right, we converse better when we're side to side. So when you're walking or driving, when you're sat side to side rather than face on, people open up quite a lot more. A man will generally open up more. One of my closest friends in those dark times said to me, let's go climbing. And he flipping took me to Austria. We climbed a mountain and it turned out to be an incredibly

07:56 word. What's almost coming out is catastrophic, but it's clearly not cathartic. There you go. Cathartic. It was a very cathartic experience amongst everything else that I was doing. And in terms of my recovery, once I started to put myself back together, the exercise, the eating right, the sleeping right, the seeing my friends, the having more fun, consuming positive, uplifting content, watching comedy and old favorite TV shows, like really filling my heart with joy. It's all part of the rebuild, along with some counseling and actually along with antidepressants at that time.

08:37 Which the doctor said to me, Johnny, was when I sat in front of a doctor and actually talked to him about what was going on for me. He said, you're trying to fix this all on your own. But what you need to know is that based on the experiences that you've been through, the miscarriages, your wife's health, the divorce, the family court, your brother's death, like all of that over an extended, over four years, you are mentally unwell, trying to fix this, like a rabbit digging deeper and deeper into a hole. You need treatment. And as it was, the holistic things that I did along with the antidepressants and the counselling is what got me back on my feet in a, you know, in a fantastic way.

09:23 And here I am, what is now, although it might seem like, blind, we're talking about 10 years, but here I am, whilst my life isn't perfect, whilst I'd like the business to be bigger or have more money, who wouldn't? My children are thriving, my relationship's awesome. I've just had an incredible summer seeing friends, going to parties. Like, like life is good. Like, I go to bed happy and I wake up excited for the day. That is possible for all of us. So if you're not at that point, if things look dark, like. like the world is closing in on you, like we call it the low-value death spiral, then you got to talk.

10:01 You've got to get out there and talk to people. If this has resonated with you and you don't know who else to talk, then just DM me. That's dead easy. And otherwise, take some of this on board, write down that Fab 4, reach out to people, get real, talk to your doctor, and get the subject that's inside out. It's as simple as that. Okay, men, let's go. Share this with anyone you think needs to hear it. Thanks for tuning in to the Johnny Jensen show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow dads.

10:38 Creating the life you deserve starts with you. Get your high-value man blueprint and join our community of motivated modern dads at highvalumanproject.com. Let's go.