Inner-Strength Check - Ep. 3 - Catchup & My Hobby Trajectory.

Ep. 3 - Catchup & My Hobby Trajectory.

07/08/22 • 49 min

Inner-Strength Check

Hi All,

Been a while between episodes - a LOT has gone on this year.

I've had a bit of a crisis of confidence in this whole podcasting stuff, so I have avoided it for a while. Plus mental health stuff. Today's episode I do a bit of a catch-up on where I'm at in 2022 around work, hobbies, life etc, before the meat of the episode 'bout halfway through.

Rounding out the first few initial episodes to give you, the listener, some overall scope on your hosts' lived experience with mental health recovery and fun stuff, is a dive into how I've more recently fallen down into nerd hobby holes I never thought I would.

We dive more into how the hell a weird bogan-nerd-hybrid like me ever went from scoffing at Tabletop RPGs as a hobby ('You mean telling stories with paper and maths?! Gross, yuck, ew no') to that now being a huge aspect of what I enjoy in my non-working life.

As this is a podcast focused on how mental health and other factors intersect with enjoying and growing in non-work interests, we go briefly into how that, executive dysfunction and other factors play into it too - these will be touched on in a more meta level in future episodes.

From here, I do intend on making the podcast less 'me-focused' (although using lived experiences as examples, ofc) and more on the meta of gaming, music, mental health in the community as well as strategies and tips for you guys, too.

Stick around, some in-depth stuff coming in the future, but more casual and fun stuff as well.

If you wanna support the podcast - don't. Donate to a good, charitable cause (and me not slamming $10 house pints til I'm near-chundering) at:

https://www.dryjuly.com/users/brady-irwin

Cheers, and both good fun and mental health to you!

Thanks for listening.

Brady

Hi All,

Been a while between episodes - a LOT has gone on this year.

Stick around, some in-depth stuff coming in the future, but more casual and fun stuff as well.

If you wanna support the podcast - don't. Donate to a good, charitable cause (and me not slamming $10 house pints til I'm near-chundering) at:

https://www.dryjuly.com/users/brady-irwin

Cheers, and both good fun and mental health to you!

Thanks for listening.

Brady

Previous Episode

Ep. 2- Inside the Ear Canal

a.k.a. a bit of a retrospective look into the powerfully formative impact music has had for me in terms of my mental health, coping strategies, values and identity. As well, a bit of discussion around sensitivity and the arts, perfectionism and the broader millenial generational backdrop to how my musical journey has formed over time.

There's a fair bit of prelude discussion before hitting the 'meat' of the topic itself however I feel it's still worth a listen to set the scene. If you'd like to (as they say in Holy Grail) GET ON WITH IT to the topic, by all means please skip forward to roughly 25min mark (time-stamps TBA).

Please Note:

Content Warning for discussions of mental health, depression and anxiety.

Not a family friendly pod. We're hitting pretty deep stuff here and I've got a bit of a potty-mouth, so not kid-friendly!

Thank you.

Some Resources for Self-Help:

1. CCI WA:

Have a brilliant set of self-help cognitive behavioural therapy resources you can use on your own, with a professional or with a friend/close one. There's also conversely some good specific information on 'Taking Care of Others' too:

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/

2. My Possible Self:

If I could recommend a nice all-in-one mental health toolkit app, this is it. Mood tracking, mindfulness and meditation exercises, podcast episodes, inspirational posts, instructional exercise vids, nutrition tracking, etc:

https://www.mypossibleself.com/

3. BeyondBlue:

Fantastic phone counselling and general/specific mental health information services. Chat to a trained counsellor via phone, email or chat, as well as forums and lots of information for you, your family, workplace etc.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Next Episode

Ep. 04 - The Great Sigh of Resignation.

In this episode, I speak a bit to my own struggles in post-pandemic life, but moreso really drill down into a lot of unspoken/downplayed concerns that are coming up for a lot of people. Good people, who are languishing and struggling overall in the post-lockdown period, and feeling unnecessarily guilty for doing so.

Particularly, we look to critique the almost-inexplicably-stupid regression back to hustle-culture in a time of ongoing ambiguity and collective exhaustion. A culture fed unrelenting standards imposed by some strange continued need to propogate the pre-pandemic model of life under neoliberal austerity. Plot twist - that isn't working, and I'm fed up.

It's a bit rambling and tangential, but that's on-brand.

Hopefully you enjoy the show, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023.

Brady.

I'd like to acknowledge the leadership, sovereignty and strength of the Wadawurrung people of the Kulin Nation, traditional stewards and rightful owners of the land upon which this recording took place. I'd also like to pay equal respects to the People of the Gumbaynggir Nation, upon whose lands I was born and raised, and all sovereign First Nations.

Support your local National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Close the Gap.

Intro audio courtesy of Minus Life, from Brisbane.

Bandcamp:

https://minuslife.bandcamp.com/music

Background ambience courtesy of Audiomirage.

https://freesound.org/people/audiomirage/

Rights of ownership are solely those of the artists, and not my own.

[Did You Know?]

As as Australian mental health consumer, you have the right to search for and find a Medicare-rebated psychologist as part of any Mental Health Care Plan completed under the care of your GP. The APS (Australian Psychological Society) has a Find A Psychologist search engine that includes gender, suburb, treating issues, method of delivery, specific quals etc.

Link:

https://psychology.org.au/find-a-psychologist

Likewise, did you know you can search for a local/telehealth-providing psychiatrist using a similar search engine offered by the FRANZGP?

Link:

https://www.yourhealthinmind.org

Finally - if you're struggling with your finances, an unsafe living situation, rent, bills, support or just want a place to connect with people, I can't recommend AskIzzy enough as a great portal for self-Googling to your local appropriate service:

AskIzzy.com.au

More resources to be added to the website - stay tuned!

Twitch: @innerstrengthcheck

Youtube: @innerstrengthcheck

Web: innerstrengthcheck.com