"I'm okay with people having their opinions … but I'm not okay with them saying it's the only way." – Barb

In this week's episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle, the mother-daughter duo get personal about mental health, asking for help, and how to make practices feel like your own.

Michelle gets vulnerable, sharing her experience with the loudest voices in the self-help world. They once convinced her she could meditate, journal, or affirm her way out of depression, and she opens up about how long she suffered before she let herself ask for support. Barb reflects on what 42 years in recovery have taught her, and why no teacher, treatment, or trend is ever the final answer.

Together, Barb and Michelle push back on the stigma around mental health medication and the pressure to follow one person's set of rules, word for word. Their advice? "Be the scientist in the laboratory of your own life." Try things on for size, and listen to and trust what your body and intuition are telling you.

Barb and Michelle also discuss:

• How to spot someone selling you “the one way” in a self-help journey
• Finding your practice, your teachers, and your community, and building an emotional well-being toolkit that works for you
• Ways to use social media for mental health education while still seeing a licensed professional for a real diagnosis
• Practicing self-compassion: forgiving yourself for what you didn't know before you learned it

Whether you're new to personal growth or decades into your practice, this episode is a reminder that there’s never any shame in needing support.

🎙️Life Happens with Barb and Michelle is a weekly mental health podcast, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday.

Make sure you subscribe & join us next week for another episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle!

Hosted by:

💕Barb Schmidt https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/

💕Michelle Maros https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/

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