Consider Your Mental Health

This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits.

Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. How fun today! It is wow, the 21st of February already. It's just flying by this year, and we are so blessed. As always, God has provided a guest.

We had a little confusion on who was going to be on this morning, but we got Fonda Bryant. With this. And it is, from what I understand, mental health. month, Brian, m Afonda, and this is critical for you guys, right?

Well, actually, it's not. And that's no problem. You're getting a little ahead. Mental Health Awareness Month is not until May, but mental health is 24-7, 365.

So as an advocate, I am always Willing and ready to help others. And since the start of 2026, I have been swamped with people reaching out for help. Besides, you know, me being a mental health advocate, I'm also a suicide prevention advocate, and I'm also a certified QPR, question, persuade, refer, suicide prevention instructor.

So my work does not stop even when we had those special months like May for Mental Health Awareness Month. in September for Suicide Prevention Month, what we're dealing with in this country is taking a toll on a lot of people and especially taking a toll on our mental health. Wow, I guess so. And so What does it mean to be a mental health advocate? It's a lot of work.

It is extremely rewarding, but it's also at times frustrating. Because, see, a lot of people don't really take into account. that mental health Substance abuse and suicide all go together. Because this is the thing I always tell people when they say, Oh, nobody in my family has a mental health condition. That's not true.

One out of five adults. And one out of five children have a mental health condition. That's. been proven so that means that everybody has somebody in their family probably more than one And they also might be dealing with it themselves. But see, because mental health gets so much of a negative wrap and connotation.

It's like it's almost a taboo subject, and it's a lot of stigma. Behind it, because you know, anything that goes on in the world negative is always blamed on people with mental health issues.

So, my job as a mental health advocate is to advocate for those who are ashamed of what they're dealing with, don't feel like they don't have a voice. And my job is also to educate the public and educate people on what mental health really is so they will so we can get rid of the stigma because that is the number one reason why people won't get help because of the stigma and the shame around mental health. Yeah, I love that fond. I really, really do because, um, I had a dear friend who actually is a doctor, psychiatrist, and he himself was bipolar. And what he um discovered When he shared at church, And he w that he w struggled with it.

That it was not something that you raise your hand in Sunday school and say, Can you all pray for me? Because I'm suffering with bipolar disease. He called it, in fact, he wrote an article, The Disease That Gets No Chicken Soup, right? If you got cancer or you got some other thing that is not your fault, right? And mental health is not, they weren't, they didn't decide, gee, I'm going to have a mental health problem, right?

So they need an advocate to say, Hey, hey, this is no different than somebody getting cancer or being in a bad car accident or heart disease. This wasn't something they chose. You know, this was this is something that they are in a position to fight, just like we're in a position to fight for our health, our physical health. We've got to be in a realize that these folks are in a position to fight for their mental health and to support them is just as critical. And maybe more so based on the stigma that you're talking about, right, Fonda?

Yes, because it's invisible. See, the thing is with me, not only am I an advocate and an instructor, I'm also a person with lived experience, which means I deal with a mental health condition. I deal with depression. And I deal with anxiety. And 31 years ago, as a matter of fact, last Saturday on Valentine's Day, it was my 31st anniversary of attempting suicide.

I almost died by suicide. And that wasn't my first one. And it wasn't because I was weak or selfish or crazy. I was dealing with clinical depression, which is the number one disease that can take us down that path. And people will look at you like, what are you talking about?

You know, because they think you're supposed to be sickly looking like you have cancer or anything else. And see something else too. Culture matters when it comes to mental health. Because in my culture, I'm black. You have Native American, you have Hispanic, you have Asian.

We've all been taught that mental health is a sign of weakness. And when you're raised like that, and especially, you know, as um Religious culture as the black culture is to pray about it, give it to God, it's a sign of weakness. You're definitely not going to seek out help. And then you have that other factor: you're crazy, you're nuts, you're psycho. I mean, look at what just happened in Charlotte last year where we had the tragedy of Irina Zaruska and then the Carlos Brown, who was suffering with schizophrenia, which I think is the worst mental health disorder of all because it's a psychosis mental health disorder.

So when he stabbed her, instead of looking at it, I felt sorry for both of them because they, you know, it's not about. racism. It's not about politics. It is about the broken mental health system. Like for instance, in Mecklenburg County, there are over 2 million people that live in Mecklenburg County.

And then you have 217 people moving to Charlotte every day. That's a lot of people moving.

Now, out of all those people in Mecklenburg County, the people that have insurance, no insurance, and who are homeless, we only have about 300 and something beds. And some of those beds belong to youth.

So where are people going to go? And I know that when people are homeless, dealing with mental health issues, a lot of times people turn up their noses and that could never be me and that's not me. They don't realize something. If you cannot get treatment for your mental health condition, the worst thing it can do, I mean the worst is taking our lives. but there are other things.

decisions. Bad judgment, incarceration. Our jails and prisons are full of people with mental health conditions, and self-medicating. And that's what you see a lot of times with the homeless. If they can't get professional treatment, what do people think they're going to do?

And I always tell people: don't turn your nose up because any of us can be homeless. And then something else, too. See, it's people who work. Live in nice neighborhoods, got good families, highly educated. And guess what?

They're self-medicating too. It's just that we don't see them.

So, with mental health, It is it encompasses everything and no one is immune to it at all. No one. No, I I I myself am so affected by this fond in that. I attempted suicide uh three times before I was twenty. My mother.

Yeah. Had such a horrible attempt that she was hopeless. You know, when I was 11, she. Attempted it in such a way that she ended up being hospitalized for two years. afterwards and that they really had to give her her whole life story back because she'd lost her memory.

And of course, you know, that leaves the whole family. Um in the in In a situation, and then fascinatingly fond of my first wife, which I can talk about now because she's passed and was. But she was schizophrenic.

So I know that disease all too well. Um as she lived out. Um Like from nineteen, I'm gonna say eighty-seven. Through the end of her life, she sh which was probably About 2006, something like that, that um maybe 2008. But anyway, she lived in a in a in a mental hospital and all that time because, unfortunately, as you describe, with that psychosis, You know, people are talking to you that aren't there.

And she would react and do things based on what those people were telling her. And it was. It was horrible to watch. It was horrible to be affected by somebody you love like that. And so we commend this as a great, great topic today on Kingdom Pursuits.

But on a liar note, when we come back, we're going to play a little shenanigans just because it is Kingdom Pursuits and we got to do it. But Fonda, I'm so grateful that you could be on with us today. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion. and uses it to build the kingdom.

And as we've been talking with Fonda Bryant, she is a mental health advocate and a suicide advocate. But we were supposed to have uh a ministry on that that ministered to folks at truck stops and apparently they got Yeah. Going in the wrong direction or something, didn't make it here today.

So, you know, I can't help it. Keith, speaking of truck stops. Fun begins.

Now it's time for Lashen and Ag.

So Fonda, I know you you've done this show with Jerry. I don't know that you've ever done this show with me, have you? Uh Fonda, you're still with me? Yeah. Oh, she left, but we'll get her back.

Meanwhile, we'll play the music, Keith.

So I got you to answer my riddles.

So speaking of truck stops, after the COVID-19 pandemic and all the fuel shenanigans, you know, the price of fuel going crazy, we should honor truck drivers with a national holiday on October 4th. And I know what you're thinking, Keith. Why should we honor truck drivers on October 4th? Did you think about that? And I got nothing.

What do you got? Date the word doc would probably have the answer to this. That would be a big 10-4.

Okay. I like that. I'm going to take that one. How about this one? If you're in a truck stop and hit by a truck carrying a bunch of omega-3 capsules, Why is that okay?

Uh Why? Because you've only sustained Superfish oil injuries should be ashamed of yourself. Apparently, yeah, there's this one's a lot like that. Did you hear about the Musenex truck that collided with the NyQuil truck in the truck stop? No, I did.

What happened? The amazing thing was the entire area was congestion-free for over eight hours. That's a good one. I like that. So, you knew at the end of those shenanigans, I would have a riddle to call in and win.

And so, today's riddle is. What? was the best roadside ministry in the New Testament. What was the best roadside ministry in the New Testament? And if you can guess that one, Keith, tell them what they'll win.

Well To the winner, you can win one of our great prizes from the kingdom pursuits. Uh all of them yeah And I got to tell you, the prize wallet's been loaded up bigger since we were at the NRB, but of course, we have the official Kingdom Pursuits. Backscratcher, The Gospel Backscratcher with the Three Beads. We have books from all sorts of beautiful authors and, you know, just t-shirts, stuff galore. All you got to do is call us at 866.

Tell us what you want. 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884 to call in and we will get you hooked up. And meanwhile, Keith is calling Fonda back as apparently she thought she was just on for one segment, but we'll get her back. And so we were talking today about the stigma around mental health.

And unfortunately, In my life. I've lived it on all sorts of levels. And so I love what Fonda's doing, what she's talking about. Um in that As churches, you know, we have this opportunity to love the unlovable, right? And You know, when people are in those situations, they can be hard to love.

I can remember my first wife, like I said, she was schizophrenic. And when those things were happening, I mean, she was really liable to punch me and did on more than one occasion. and and just really be in a bad way. And and it was really, really difficult as she was hospitalized and and watch her go through all the things that happened in her life. Um Neither you Unfortunately, at the time, you know, I wasn't a Christian.

And so, you know, nobody came alongside of me. I was. Just kind of on my own, trying to understand what was going on in my life. And I think, you know, clearly, my current wife, Tammy, we've been married 37 years. She's really helped me come to Christ first of all and begin to deal with a lot of those things.

So I'm so grateful for Fonda and her ministry. We got her back. And so, Fonda, welcome back. Yeah, I just know I'm supposed to be on the whole time. I'm so sorry.

Yeah, I am so glad that you're on the whole time. I'm so glad that you're staying with us because, as you can tell, this subject is near and dear to my heart on so many levels. And I couldn't agree with you more that. You know, this is something the church is such an opportunity for us to come alongside, not just the person that's suffering, but the family of the person that's suffering, right? Yes, and the great thing is, is that when I went through what I did, it still, because the thing is, when I was suffering with clinical depression, untreated and undiagnosed, once, and then I was actually handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility.

And just to tell you a little bit about that, I was 35. I had a son that's 12. He's 42 now. And I'm going on 43. And when it finally just came to a head, I was in so much pain.

People don't really realize when people are suicidal, we're in tremendous pain, physical pain, from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. And so I... you know, I said, you know, I can't take this pain anymore. I mean, it's just tremendous. It outweighs the love of our family, the love of our friends, or even the way that we're going to.

End our lives.

So, I um call my aunt Spanky. Her real name is Kelly. And when I do QPR training, I'm always telling people: when you take this training, you will become a hero, you will become somebody's hero, whether it's you. or somebody else, you'll become somebody's hero.

So I called her. And I told her, I said, you can have my shoes. That is a warning sign, giving away prized possessions. And one of my prized possessions are my shoes, because I got a lot of them and I love them. And so it doesn't have to be money.

It doesn't have to be jewelry. It could be something that person values. And if they say, hey, I want you to have this, you need to ask questions. Are you all right? Are you okay?

Are you thinking about suicide? Let me help you get help.

So I called her and told her, I said, hey, you can have my shoes.

So I don't remember much about the conversation, but we hung up. And then thank goodness she called me back and she said, Are you going to kill yourself? And the h Yeah. And she and this was before QPR training or us even knowing a lot about suicide and the warning signs. And she called me back.

She asked me, Was I going to kill myself? And I said, Yes. And she went into action like a superhero. And even though I didn't know what she was going to do, later on that day, I wasn't able to implement my plan because I didn't want my son to be around it anywhere. That was just my unwell brain thinking.

So before I could even do that, I was going to order pizza and just love on my son, but there was a knock at the door. And it was a humongous CMPD Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer. And he said, Are you fond of Bryant? I said, Yes, I am. He said, I'm going to take you to a mental health facility.

And I said, No, you did not.

So I went up the stairs. He came behind me. My son came behind me. Things kind of got out of hand because one of the things I always tell people, Yeah. When somebody is in crisis, it could be your husband, your wife, your partner, a child, coworker, friend, don't put your hands on us.

Don't do that. Because in that moment, we're not thinking clearly. We can be in a psychosis state and we're scared. And we could hurt you. You could hurt us.

We could both get hurt.

So what you do is you stay calm. No matter how we're acting, you stay calm. You let us know you're there to help us, that we can get through this and we can get better. And you don't curse us. You don't yell at us because what happens is when you do that, you can jack up to a situation where you don't know what to do.

And then if you just call up the police. and you don't know about crisis intervention team police officers, That helps us with mental health, addiction, and suicide. You can get us hurt or killed because we do hear about. People with mental health issues sometimes getting hurt or killed.

So, you know, it's just to just slow you down for one second, Fonda. We have somebody call in for the riddle.

So I'm a. I'm going to just ask you to hang on. Believe me, we want to hear the rest of this story. It's awesome. From a standpoint, it's showing me so much, and I've learned two or three things, just what you've talked about.

But we've got Bob Wilkerson, who's in Archdale. He's got to answer for our riddle. And so, Bob, you are on. Kingdom Pursuits. What are you thinking?

Well, I'm kind of thinking it might be the story of a good smirk. Yeah, he was the roadside ministry, if ever there was one, right? Yes, sir. That's absolutely beautiful.

Well, I'm so glad you called in. And man, you got a fondus got some wonderful information, doesn't she? Yes, she does. Yes, she does. Oddly enough, I was listening to her and many years ago when I was in addiction, I had tried to commit suicide five times.

And uh I I can definitely relate to some of what she's saying that, you know, when you're in that mindset of Feeling like the whole world's crashing in and there's no hope. You just need someone to speak to you.

Softly, and to give you a ray of hope, something to grasp a hold of rather than push you deeper into. Right. That's pretty much it. It's a good word she's given. Thank you.

Thank you. Bob, I just go ahead. We know that ray of hope is the life and breath of Jesus Christ. Exactly right. You're exactly right.

Well, thank you, Bob. I'm so grateful for your call today and your study of the scriptures. Keep up the great work. All right. Thank you, sir.

I appreciate your show. All right. God bless. I'll put him on the hole to get Fonda back.

So. When we left her here, Ofonda, she was on her way up the stairs. The officer laid his hands on you, unfortunately. And I. I kind of know where this is going, but go for it.

It was a terrible day because, like I said, I had no idea what my aunt had done. And when the police officer put me in handcuffs, my son said, you know, the only thing that really calmed me down was my son said, Mom. You need help.

So that's what really kind of calmed me down. And it was a terrible day.

Well, now we've got to go to a break. But Fonda, stay with me, please. We'll be right back with a whole lot more Kingdom of Resuits. Stay tuned. Find your local event at lightthenight.org.

Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits where we hear how God takes your passion. And uses it to build the kingdom. And anybody that listens to Fonda would know her passion. As wow, God has used her, as 2 Corinthians says, to comfort others with a comfort that she's been comforted with in so many different ways. Absolutely beautiful.

So, Fonda, your son helped calm you down. And unfortunately, right, they uh uh as I saw my wife get taken away in handcuffs, my first my my first wife, it's against the law to commit suicide. Yes, and by the way, while we're talking, I wanted to tell you about that terminology. Commit suicide. When I do, and hopefully you will get to get QPR training, and your listeners will reach out to me to take question, persuade, refer, suicide prevention training.

And language has a lot to do with stigma.

So I'm not sure if you or your listeners even are aware that before 1971, it was a crime to take your own life. It was a crime. Even if you died by suicide, it was a crime.

Well, thank goodness things have evolved. And we now know that 46% of people who die by suicide have a treatable mental health condition. 46%, so that's almost half. 90% have shown symptoms and signs of a mental health condition.

So we now know it's not criminal. You commit a robbery, you commit a crime, you do not commit suicide.

So when people use that terminology, that is referring to a criminal act. And we know now that Suicide is not a criminal act, since so many of us are dealing with a mental health condition.

So you can say, died by suicide. Taking their own life, kill themselves. Hopefully, one day we won't say it all. I know one day we won't say that terminology at all. But when you say commit suicide, you're criminalizing it.

And we know now that it is not a criminal act. It is because many of us are dealing with a mental health condition.

So, getting back to that.

Okay, well, since you're on the subject of words, and I think what you're talking about is. Phenomenally important in that. In my my wife's case, her brother. I took his own life. And If I say And and it just she cannot deal with when I say he killed himself.

Mm-hmm. And so those words really do mean something. And and and for those people who are unfortunately been inflicted in some way or another with a family member or whatever, the words are really, really, really Something to think about and pray about and ask God to help you because you just can't, you just don't know that the words you say, um. can really hurt people and like you say, I I can see why that would Um You wouldn't want anybody to criminalize something that wasn't. Right, they yeah, that wasn't criminal, it's just something how education is really the key, and that's what being an advocate is all about: is to educate people because this thing that I have learned being an advocate through education, and that's why I'm always asking people to get educated on mental health instead of just like I was right, right?

So, so going back to the story of my wife, my first wife. Um and this was n not prior to it wasn't like 1970 I'm I'm gonna say this happened in 19 And What happened was she just simply Took all her medication, which was in her case was definitely a fatal. would have been fatal had it Had she not been treated. And so when I found out about it, I took her to the hospital. And Fortunately, she survived.

Although it was quite a struggle for two or three days. When the struggle was over, Literally. I'll never forget it as long as I live. The sheriff showed up. They did put her in handcuffs.

They put her in a police car. and they told me that she was under arrest for attempting to take her life. And they drove her I know, 'cause I was in the car behind him. Um, they drove her to Buttner. which is up there above Durham, where she lived the next three or four years of her life before she ended up going to another mental hospital in Texas for the rest of her life.

I You know, I don't know, again, what Okay. Again, at the time, I certainly wasn't in a position to get a lawyer or whatever else, and it just seemed like she needed help desperately, and she was very violent at times. And so I didn't know what else to do. And I certainly didn't have somebody like you to call and say, Hey, what do I do? And you know, and I and I feel for y'all guys, especially when y'all are dealing with people who have.

I psychosis mental health disorder. But that's why I said we've evolved now. It's medications more for people with schizophrenia that makes me smile every time. Because the thing is, with schizophrenia, is another great class to take. For educational mental health called Mental Health First Aid.

And it's a great class, it's way longer than QPR training, which is two hours. Mental Health First Aid is eight hours. But the fascinating thing about it is, it goes through every single mental health disorder there is. Schizophrenia, depression, anxiety. And they put the names of the disorders on the floor.

We do a little role play. And then they give us the age ranges that we think each mental health disorder starts.

Now, I was 35 when I was struggling with depression and anxiety, but we know for the most part, by the time a child is 14, 50% of us are already dealing with a mental health condition. By the time we're 24, it's 75%. And if we do not get help, 50% turn to substance abuse.

So that's why I said mental health, substance abuse. and addiction I mean, mental health, substance abuse, and suicide all go together.

So this class showed that schizophrenia is a late blooming mental health disorder. It usually does not start until late teens, or they can't really diagnose it until late teens, early 20s. By then, people are grown by law, and you cannot make Someone gets help.

So the thing is, what I look now at how far we've come, especially with schizophrenia. is because we have medications now that they don't have to take pills because they're very paranoid a lot of times. They don't want to take medication.

Well, we have shots now to help people with schizophrenia. We have Howdah, one shot once a month. And a lot of them function and get out here and do everything else that everybody else does. Then just what, four or five years ago, they just came up with another one called Invega Half Eura. It is two shots a year.

And I think it's wonderful.

So we're making progress, but it's not just about the medication. It's also about us putting in the work. And that's the thing. A lot of times we don't even know what to do ourselves.

So that plays a part in it as well. And we do need that family support. And that's why thank goodness we have organizations like NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, that helps people and their families to cope with a loved one or themselves dealing with a mental health condition. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more that NAMI is hugely important to make sure. Uh if you know somebody who has a close family member that that they're involved in because It it is it is devastating to the caregivers.

And hard to know. How to react, what to do. Um Mm-hmm. It leaves you in a very, very difficult place. And so I am very, very grateful for your work.

And and and y y you yourself have a website, right? Yes, I do. It is called Wellness Action Recovery. And the acronym spells war. Because, see, I go to war every day just to get up out of the bed.

Now, I work out three to four times a week. I'm volunteering. I'm doing all kinds of stuff. But there are days that I don't have the energy to brush my teeth, comb my hair, or take a shower. And this is where sometimes that people who don't understand mental health and they look at me and they see I'm athletic, they're like, What are you talking about?

Because it's invisible. It's invisible, and then also, I go to war with the public, like I told you before, to dispel those myths that we're crazy, we're nuts, we're psycho. That's not true. And in QPR suicide prevention training, we go through the myths and facts of suicide. And two of the myths that I bring up are about bombs.

We can talk about that when we come back. Oh, thank you. We got one more segment, Fonda. I'm so grateful for you being on with us today. It says wonderful.

And we'll be right back with a whole lot more from Fonda. And so stay tuned. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes. Your passion. And uses it to build the kingdom.

And we are really blessed today with Fonda Bryant. As her testimony is powerful and helpful, as you know, so many families don't want to talk about this stuff. And because of the stigma, because of all those things. But I would say, as a pastor and somebody that has a chance to talk with individuals all the time, one of the things I often hear from people is You know, my family is so nobody else is. Oh, let me tell you.

It would be a rare, rare, rare, rare family that doesn't have some of this involved. And, and, um, And it leads to hurt on all sorts of sides, and it brings on tension, anxiety, and all that on the other family members as well as they are trying to figure out how to deal with it. The point that Fonda is making beautifully is there are resources. There are certainly. um Christian counselors and things like that we've known.

And you gotta seek help on that without the stigma. But there's also the resources that Fonda's talking about, not to mention Fonda herself and her website. Tell us again that that website, Fonda? It's wellness action recovery dot wellness actionrecovery dot org. And you can go to it.

I gotta do some updating, but the thing is, people can always reach out to me for help. And resources. And like you were saying, resources are really the key in helping people. Because, see, even though I'm willing to help anyone, Anywhere, I get calls, I get emails, I get social media hit ups. From all over the country to help people.

And I used to just make sure I called every single person. But when I was doing that, I could feel my battery draining. And I'm like, man, you're helping way, you're helping all these people, but you're not helping yourself.

So I had to set boundaries if I was going to be a really good advocate and keep my mental health in check.

So what I do now is when somebody reaches out to me, you know, I'm always kind. I don't want people to ever think I'm being rude or anything. But I ask them where they are and what they're, you know, dealing with. If they need help for a family member or a friend, where they are. And the first website I really go to is NAMI.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a national organization. Then it breaks down to every single state has a NAMI, NAMI, North Carolina, NAMI, California, NAMI, Texas. Then it breaks down to affiliates, NAMI, Charlotte, NAMI, Cabarris County. And in Forsyth County, they have joined, I think it's NAMI Piedmont, if I'm not mistaken. Or whatever it is, but I always go to the NAMI website because they have a resource page for that particular area.

Also, people can type in mental health resources in the area that they're in. And also, what they can do, most people are still working nowadays. They have an employee assistance program called an EAP. It is wonderful. It helps with grief.

Finances, caregiving, mental health, weight loss. It helps with an array of stuff. And how you find your EAP? You go to your employee website. Or you can call your HR and say, hey, can you please give me the phone number?

to the EAP. You call, you will talk to a counselor. They will ask you, hey, what's going on with you? You tell them, and especially if it's mental health, they will send a list of providers. Therapist to your email, and you can decide which therapist you want to go to.

And not only that, it's free of charge. And depending on your company, you can see a therapist three, six, nine times, maybe even more. And the great thing about an EAP, it's bound by HIPAA, so they can't say a word to your supervisor unless you're a danger to yourself or a danger to others. Anyone who lives in your household can use your EAP. Like I live with my son, I can use it.

Also, if you got children in college, they can use it.

So that's some of the resources that we have because resources are the lifeline to getting help and getting back on track to wellness. Oh, absolutely. In the very few seconds we have left, what are some other signs people could look for in suicide prevention?

Okay. Well, this is what I always tell people even about mental health. We all have days we get depressed. We all have days we're full anxiety because we're living in critical times hard to deal with. But if it lasts for more than two weeks, and it starts interfering with your everyday life.

you need to make sure you reach out and talk to someone because guess what? It won't get better. It can get a whole lot worse. And then as far as some of the warning signs, it can be like for me, my whole appearance changed because I didn't have the energy to get myself together in the morning.

So somebody's appearance can change.

Someone can be turning to substance abuse more. Talking about being a burden to others. Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain. Remember, I told you I was in tremendous pain. Talking to somebody about feeling hopeless or worthless.

Somebody might be eating too much. And in my case, I quit eating, period. I was extremely tired, not regular tired, debilitating tired. My work was suffering. I was withdrawing.

And something I want everybody to know before we hang up. Isolation is not your friend. We heard a lot of that during COVID. People will tend to isolate themselves.

So people need to check on one another and always remember you're not alone and treat people like you'd like to be treated because you never know what someone's going through. Absolutely beautiful.

Thank you, Fonda, so much. We're just blessed that you came on today. And again, Um You know, there's no stigma there. Get some help. It's make it so much easier.

Don't isolate. I love that advice. Thank you again, and thank you all for listening to Kingdom Pursuits.

So much good programming coming, encouraging prayer, followed by the Mike's Wick Show, and then it's time to man up with Nikita Koloff. Thanks for listening.