Overwhelmed

Hi this is Bernie Dick Loring thanks for joining us and welcome to wonderful words of life. Welcome everybody were glad you come back and we are excited today.

I am excited today to introduce you to a friend. Her name is Maj. Lori Miller welcome Lori, thank you Bernie date Lori is a little nervous. Everybody, this is her first episode she is someone that I would love for you to meet in person because she is awesome. Now she is the Salvation Army's Southern territorial coordinator for child and adult safety. The pretty serious job.

She has to do all of the training for us to help us understand is the best way to interact with young people and at risk adults. It's not the most fun job. Perhaps that were glad you're here. Lori, thank you, thank you.

Another cool thing about Lori is she's a mommy.

I am a mom.

She has two sets and a spare for those of you that don't bowl that means she's got two sets of twins and a spare or one who is not a twin or five kids, so God bless you Lori very much ongoing within four years of man, and she is a great writer. So if you get a chance to listen to these episodes you get little bit better chance to know her heart and who she is, but Lori welcome officially to the wonderful payments I really actually excited, excited and nervous. That's good because have you done anything like this before formal training in radio ministry. I hadn't done it either. It's is something that we want to encourage your listeners and we say through the lens of our faith, but basically through our own walk right lately. You and I can share the things that we've learned with our listener Lily will everybody. We also begin a new series called headspace a series on mental health and for the next 11 weeks will be joined by Eliana Dawkins. She's a licensed counselor who works with the Salvation Army in the nation's capital, and she has a passion for this topic, and a passion for people and the Lord I got to meet Ali on a couple weeks ago when we did all of the interviews with her and I know that might be confusing to the listeners who should get it all in one big package, but in order to bring them the best series we have to plan the stuff and have you done any mental health training or do you have some that believe it or not.

Before I became a Salvation Army officer, I was a tentlike therapist and so I worked hospitalized in chronically ill and terminally ill children. So I have some background in my current job as well. As you can imagine dealing with issues of abuse and trauma, and there's a good bit of mental health crises going on and what I do currently sell just a little bit.

I'm not an expert but yeah I know it finger to an impersonal experience you really think they'll have personal experience with our family or someone we know and love. And so absolutely this is a really important topic will just going through the years with Ali and then talking with her production team.

I've learned a lot and I'm excited to share this particular series with our listeners will be sure to follow us on social media will be posting links to many of the surveys quoted throughout the series, as well as where you can find help and more information. We begin a series without discussing stress in our world today. The speed of life and the demand of work can family looks so different they did just a few generations ago and so how do we manage everybody were glad that you're here welcome to wonderful words of life we have a new friend with us.

Her name is Eliana Dawkins.

She comes to us from the Salvation Army's national capital and Virginia division. She works at the area command and were excited because she's gonna talk to us. This series about mental health and first just want to say welcome Ali out of thank you so much for me and thank you for traveling to our very beautiful studios here in Atlanta, Georgia, and sitting down with me and just talk about mental health and I love it. Tell our listeners a little bit about your story. Where did you come from, why are you doing what you doing just so we can get to know you are okay. Grew up in South Carolina, southern Jericho grew up poor. Of course, but always thought always wanted to help someone so I was fortunate enough to be able to go to school. I made it initially in political science because I like to know the backdrop of how things work, how we build in this society, but had still wanted to get into starving like I was really calling me to do something different, something starve more work for a couple of organizations who provide a theft abuse treatment work-release services for clients who were exiting the jail or inmates who exiting jail and at that time. As I was saying earlier there was this one case latest guy who was in his 60s was able to he was signing out he was checking out he was free.

He was ready to go and so I walked him over to the jail in Charlotte, North Carolina, and address that you're free to go and he jested, and they will miss Alioto where do I go you know he had pretty much burned all the bridges in his life through his substance abuse, and so we stayed there for about 20 minutes and without him saying another word. He just kind of took off of the year running with dad in that moment, I just stuck with me. What happens to individuals who have no one to turn to no place to go, who helped Stan so from daycare.

I so like I was just calling me into that field and so I just went back to school, got the necessary degrees and certifications and licensors. But I've always believe inside the programs that provide service in the community and so I have been almost 19 years now, providing services to the homeless community, families and individuals in need and it's been wonderful and just having that clinical expertise on top of that, just I utilize it to help me work with people little bit better man will were glad that you're here glad that you're working with the Salvation Army. With that expertise in particular and that were going to do and 11 part series on mental health, 11 words of life and so no pressure, no pressure.

While we've got you here in the studio we just want to talk about each of the topics and the first week is going to be under the topic overwhelmed and I think that you have. All I know you have a passion for mental health in particular. But when we say that word overwhelmed.

What what what kind of bells go off in your mind.

I'm from me all the way down comes the word balancing you know as a parent myself and probably from majority of the listeners you asked what we do on a daily basis. We balance what we have to do what what we want to do and what we need to do and in terms for some of us. The majority of us that balancing act can get out of hand and we lose grip on it.

Then we are overweight now and the feelings of being overwhelmed for individuals is different but for the most part I believe that it's been a spirit will we've just kind of let go, our ability to be humans and interact with individuals and were so focused on getting to the next thing the next thing that we forget that God is kinda given us the precious pricing to absorb for a minute and so that auto wellness has us at a balance that work out a balance in our family lives. Very few people because of working so much to keep up with I'm not. I don't know who those saying keeping up with the Joneses where losing a family time where working more hours then traditionally maybe our parents D making more money a lot more successful than probably most of our parents are, but the breakdown in the family is having an effect on on who we are not able to maintain that type of continual going through life on a daily basis without pausing and having a minute to ourselves and I think that's where people get overwhelmed the speed of life today, but singly with social media and keeping up with the Joneses are keeping up with the fictitious pictures that we seizure and social media is having an adverse effect on who we are hominids actually taken a hold of our mental health were not able to relax, calm down. I think I heard someone. Interment of fear of missing out photo, you're missing fear of missing out on what's going to happen so we always have to be in something or do something everything is so fast and people stopped writing the basin text messages or do a quick call on the phone and they want answered now for everything.

There's no taking a breath when you're overwhelmed you need Deborah Deborah you need that breath to take a break and even in which a scenario garden emails the whole purposes. As soon as you see it at work. You need to respond but then another one comes in and in your recent mind and before you know it you've missed lunch minutes.

It's time to go and then uses Simon, let me say five more minutes and five minutes turn into 30 minutes. And therein lies that whole breakdown of the structure of having the time to relax and so we are in a society that wants us to keep going going going going.

I really do believe. In essence, it is not what God intended for us. You know he made the earth in six days. On the seventh day he rested and so we as society are not putting that time into rest to be there to be with our families.

We are on iPhones so we have to be engaged in everything so engaged in work. We engaged in Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, we don't even have time. We have a rule in my house where you know 7 PM.

Everything shuts down while you know we go back to the old ways of doing homework, reading books and things like that just so we can just disconnect from technology you need that to let our brain just kind of relate rest and relax. That is why I appreciate you doing, because our children need people in their lives that need to be the people that are present in their lives. The relationships that we have with each other, whether it's in the workplace sorts of it's a personal relationship. If you're not present. I don't know how they can be fruitful relationships and I will were so distracted by our phones remove the media that we have just hounding us for our time at from every angle.

Yeah I never set off when looking at the news were keeping up the news. The changes in the stock market. We never have the opportunity to shut off were talking of anyone is listening to this today I want to be able to give yourself permission to let yourself off the hook is okay to take a day off it's okay to not cook one evening. It's okay if you don't mow the grass this weekend and so hopefully these podcasts and we talk about being overwhelmed will just give somebody some I will give themselves permission to be okay to take a break. You have permission to take a break all the other dock and says so. I'm Bernie Dake with wonderful words of life.

Thank you for joining us now if you keep coming back week to week for the 11 week series, you may hear all the other saying I will make any promises, but if she doesn't, I will publish you take a break. The Salvation Army's mission doing the most good means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army visit Salvation Army USA.org to offer your support and we would love to hear from you. Email us at radio@uss.salvationarmy.org or call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at PO Box 29972, Atlanta, GA 30359 20 contact us will send you our gift for this series is totally free for listeners like you, one per household, while supplies last.

You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes or your favorite podcast store and be sure to give us a rating.

Just search for wonderful words of life follow some social media for the latest episode extended interviews and more.

And if you don't have a church home. We invite you to visit your local Salvation Army warships are glad to see this is Bernie Dake inviting you to join us next time. Salvation Army wonderful words of life