Discover new perspectives

- Sports Announcer 1: Quarterback, Caleb Williams, he announced last weekend—

- Multiple Sports Announcers: [Inaudible chatter, talking over one another, multiple images of headlines about Caleb Williams appear on top of each other] 

- Caleb Williams (University of Southern California Quarterback, Mental Health Advocate): When the stadium lights are dimmed…when the cameras stop flashing…when the pads are off…the pressure sinks in and it’s just me. Just me in a world of expectation. Nobody can carry that alone.

I went to college on my first year and I actually was taking 11 classes or 10 classes, one or the other. I wasn’t in the position that I wanted to be, which was actually on the field and playing because I didn’t play the first half of the season, and so when that happened it was a very…probably one of the more tougher times in my life.

I was actually a meme last year on…one occasion was good and one occasion was not so good. One occasion was Texas and when we won, and the other occasion was where we lost to Oklahoma State, and the sad moment…I kind of turned off social media, Twitter, Instagram, anything like that and focus on, like I said, what I like to do. And then, you know, my support system, my team, my teammates…and then, what I mean by my support system is my either close friends, really close friends, my family members, my mentors that have been there and know me.

Pressure doesn’t have to be carried alone. What if we came together as a team? Embraced talking openly about our mental health.

- Christian John Bradley: If we reached out… Checked in.

- Shreya Ranganathan: Seized the awkward.

- Caleb Williams: Imagine what we could do.

- Christian John Bradley (Graduate Student, Sports Journalism): I started a conversation about a friend’s mental health by simply asking them “How are you doing?” whether that’s a text, a phone call, or even in-person. And if I get that canned “I’m good” response, I sit there, patiently look them in the eye, and say “Bro or Sis, how are you really doing?” and typically they open up and allow me in their corner. And I sit there and listen to them and affirm who they are in the circumstance—that no matter what’s going on, no matter what’s happening, they’re going to get through it. 

- Shreya Ranganathan (Undergraduate Journalism Student, Yoga Instructor): I feel great being supported. It’s almost like when you take a deep breath in and you’re holding it and all these pressures just surround you. But then, when you have a friend in your corner, you can take that exhale, that breath out and know that the weight’s lifted off of your shoulders. So, at the end of the day, I want to be there for someone else because I know what it’s like to feel alone. So just know…

- Caleb Williams: If you want to talk, 

- Christian John Bradley: I’m here. 

- Shreya Ranganathan: I’m here.

- Caleb Williams: We’re a team. 

- Shreya Ranganathan: To learn more about getting the conversation started, visit SeizeTheAwkward.org. 

- Hi, my name is Orion Carloto. And when I first started dealing with my mental health was late middle school, early high school. My best friend, Camo, was the only person that knew about everything that I was dealing with in my head. Having a friend, I feel, as cliche as it sounds, is important to just even just have somebody listen to what you have to say even if they have nothing to say back to you. Just to be an ear. If you have a friend that is dealing with anything under the umbrella of mental health, I feel like the most important thing to do is just listen. You don't have to feel obligated or pressured, unless asked for, to give advice. I feel like just to have somebody listen is more than enough. Just knowing that it's not in here, and it's somewhere outside of my brain or my journal feels like a giant weight is taken off my shoulder because I am one told someone.

I wrote this song last year and that was one of the hardest years of my life. I felt stuck in this place that I could not get out of for a while and I felt like I had no control over my life. I just needed to get it out. You know- I needed the conversation because I couldn't take it in my body anymore. Like I couldn't take the feeling of anxiety circling in my chest.
I couldn't take that anymore or I was gonna explode. That's how I felt.
No one understood it. No one around me understood it. Then one day my manager called me and he said, "I just talked to a friend for a really long time and I now understand what you're going through and I'm here for you if you need me." And that shifted everything for me. Just knowing that one person on my team understood. I think the main focus with people with anxiety and depression is speaking out about it. That's how I got out of it. Cuz if I would have just kept it to myself I would have never gotten the help that I needed. Go to talk to your doctor, go to talk to your counselor at school, talk to a friend, family member or somebody. Go to an adult. Speak up louder. Cuz once you do you're gonna find help. And the people that aren't suffering- just open your ears a little bit more. 'Are you ok? Is anything going on you wanna talk about? I'm here for you. I love you.' Let them know that they're supported. That they can come to you and that you are that person for them. I mean sometimes I don't know how to solve the problem. I'm only 19. I don't know how to solve a problem. I'm a baby. But if somebody's struggling emotionally I can come and help you. And so I feel like that's my strength, you know. Like I'm not gonna be able to ace a math test but I can definitely help someone out who's hurting or feeling the same emotions as me, you know? I think I missed so many happy moments last year. And I'm definitely appreciating life more. I just think it's important to live your life happily while you're on this earth. You only get one shot at it. For ways to start the conversation, check out SeizeTheAwkward.org.

- Hi, I'm Remi Cruz. I have a very close personal friend in my life who has struggled for the past four years or so with extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and things like that. I kind of noticed something was different when they just kind of started acting a little bit strange, a little bit out of the ordinary. I didn't really think much of it, because I didn't really think that anything was really happening. But there was one specific night where I remember I went over to their house, and I noticed they had like dragged their mattress outside and were just laying randomly, which is like not a normal thing to do. So I went outside and I sat with them. I just asked like what's going on? Are you okay? What's happening? Like this isn't normal. And that night was the night that they were actually, like had extreme suicidal thoughts, and I had no idea. I didn't know that they were feeling this way for so long, and they just kept it bottled in. Asking them was definitely uncomfortable, especially because I didn't want to offend them in any way. I didn't want to make them feel like they weren't validated. That's a really big thing, I think. And it's an uncomfortable thing for sure, but it's something that needs to be done, too. After I realized that there was something wrong, I talked to my friend's family and I made sure that they knew what was going on too. By turning to their family and sharing it with them and other people that they love, it just became like this community almost, a loving, supporting community that just wanted the best for my friend and just to get them the help that they needed. My friend, to this day, is so incredibly thankful they got the help that they need. Now they go to therapy. They have their medication. I try my best to just keep up with them, make sure that they know that I love them, and that I'm here for them if they want to talk to me about it, and I just want to know and I want to learn, and just be there for them. My piece of advice, if you're in my shoes and you have people around you start acting differently or just like a little bit off, I feel like just keep your eyes open, be very aware, you know, because a lot of times they just kind of bottle it in and you can't really tell until you really like watch and you observe. And just make sure that you, the people that you do share it with are people that they trust and that love them and just want the best for them. That gut feeling that I had, it just kind of like, it was something you can't shake. I was just like, this weird thing where you're just like, it just like pushed me to go talk to them, and something that I just couldn't ignore. Honestly, if it weren't for that night, I really don't know what would have happened, so I just thank my lucky stars every single day that I was at the right place at the right time, and I said something.

Hi, my name is Markiplier, I run a youtube channel, but today I'm here to talk to you about the awkward moment in trying to talk to your friends. Mental health is an interesting subject because everybody knows about it, but nobody really knows how to talk about it. And no matter how much experience you have, there's no easy way to tell your friend that they seem off. Me and my friend Tyler, we've known each other since fourth grade. When I reach out to Tyler, it's because I see him hurting, and I see him being affected by the pressures of his life bringing him down, and he needs to hear that I'm there for him. As soon as you see that kind of person start to close off and throw up walls, that's when you know that something's going wrong. Tyler and I have such an understanding that the moment that we need to talk to each other, all we have to do is, "Hey, something's wrong with you, "you need to talk about this!" and then we start talking about it for a couple hours. For those who have new friends, or just see the signs in someone, and yet don't know them very well, that open dialogue is only welcome. If you really care about someone, and you really want to help, you understand that the signs may be there, and they may not want to talk about it. But it's always important to keep those lines of communication available. If not open, at least available. Let them know that you care enough to be there when they need it. Because there's times when I'm so closed off, that I want to work on my own stuff, it doesn't hurt me or make me angry that someone says, "Hey, I notice that you're stressed. "I'm not gonna intrude, but if you need to talk, "we can go catch a movie," or something like that. It can be that casual. As long as you acknowledge that it's there, it can lead to the help that is needed.

- Hi everyone! My name is Jessie Paege, and I'm a 19-year-old YouTuber from New Jersey. Growing up I had severe social anxiety and I definitely have faced a lot of isolation from it. I personally isolated myself. I was put into special treatment and I had an aide growing up. And I was always just known as the kid that needed an aide and couldn't be alone. I think most people that go through social anxiety will relate to me when I say that it doesn't, it can't always permanently go away and you're always gonna have relapses in certain forms, but I definitely feel like I have a lot better control over it, which I'm just really proud of myself for. It can seem incredibly awkward to talk about mental health, but I encourage everyone to really start the conversation. One of the most important things with friends trying to help out other friends that are going through anxiety is to make sure that they know that they shouldn't be ashamed of this thing, and you shouldn't treat them as if they're a special case. Definitely don't let it seem like it's something crippling. Also, just reiterating like, it's okay, and like it's going to be okay is even so helpful. Make it a point to like share your intentions. Like hey, I just wanna talk to you about this because I care. Because i just I wanna see you happy. Because I wanna see you do your best. I think just letting people know your intentions is super important.

- Well I was homeschooled in high school and it was really difficult for me to meet people. And I went to high school just for one year- to public school. I remember walking in the first or second day and I had a pb&j sandwich and I went to the bathroom to eat. Because I didn't want to be seen. I felt like people were laughing at me. I was the new girl. And who wants to be friends with the new girl? I had to do my own thing- I started writing songs, I just got in my own little cocoon. I come from an Albanian family where we share all of our emotions and it's taught me to really be helpful and reach out to someone if they're not like that. To say, 'hey I know you're feeling bad about this thing but don't put yourself down. You can't just focus on that one moment. I would tell my friends and cousins that when I saw they were down and didn't want to talk about their emotions Because I think it's super important to talk with somebody. And seek help when you're not feeling mentally there. Cuz we've all been there and it's normal. I think it's important to know we all have challenges in our life. We all have problems in our life We all go through ups and downs every single day. It's not out of the ordinary- we all feel down sometimes. I had a friend, she got her heartbroken and she was hurting herself mentally and not leaving her room. She just felt so down after this break up. It wasn't healthy. So I went inside her room, turned on the lights And was like, 'we're going shopping.' I think it's important to help people when you see they're down. It doesn't have to be shopping it could be going to watch a movie with a friend or taking your friend out to dinner Or taking your friend out for a walk to talk. You can really help a lot of people just by knocking on their door And seeing how they are- a text like, 'hey how are you doing?' Make it about them. Reach out. I know I keep saying this but it's so important. If you think your friend is struggling with mental health- reach out and start a conversation. For more tips visit Seizetheawkward.org

- Over the past 25 years, I've been in and out of therapy, and it's meant so much to me to lean in and try to grow. I learned all this through therapy, and also through having open conversations with all my friends. I have a group chat that are filled with women whom I love, and we're all over America, but we check in with each other every single day. We literally say things like, "Hey, how's everyone doing." Every single time I've had a really serious issue, someone has reached out to me individually, and either said, "Me too," or really just shown me that they were there for me. It's just... it's the best thing. In my life, when I'm struggling, I text my friends. So check in on your friends. Start a conversation. Learn more at SeizeTheAwkward.org.

- Hi, I'm Hannah Hart, and I'm here to talk if you're willing to listen. So I lived my whole life without knowing that depression was real thing. I thought depression was like kinda the same thing as being sad or bored or whatever. As I got older, and my life got bigger and broader, I still kind of carried what felt like a lead jacket with me, wherever I went, like there was this inherent sense of sadness that no amount of talk therapy was seeming to sort through. Eventually I started going to a different therapist, and she was just like, "Well it just sounds like, you know, you have depression." And I was like, oh, so, now what? I personally did a lot of research, I started reading about it, and I found a lot of like-minded people that were like, "Oh my God, you experience this same thing, there's not just something wrong with me?" And as I started to realize what was going on with me, I was able to express it better to the people around me. One of the most important things to remember if you're reaching out to someone you love who's keeping something inside is patience, and don't get frustrated, and if the conversation doesn't go well, don't feel like, "Oh man, I did this." Set your intention before you even pick up the phone, and for me it's, "No matter how this goes, it's not about me, I'm trying because I feel compelled to try, and I'm gonna do my best, and I'm gonna listen." A good rule of thumb, listen twice as much as you speak. If somebody wants advice, they're gonna go, "I don't know, what do you think I should do?" And that's when you tell them. I feel like we have a tendency to wanna fix problems, and solve, and give people advice, "If you just did this, this, and this, you'd feel better, kay, great, resolved, check-check." And I do this too, but that's only because we don't want to see the person we love suffering, but unfortunately, sometimes we have to let them suffer in that moment, so they can let their suffering out. If somebody's starting to cry, and it makes you feel really awkward and really uncomfortable, just sit with it man, 'cause odds are, they need to cry. Your friends wanna help you, your friends wanna be there for you. They just don't know how, for instance, my partner's like, "Why can't I make you happy?" And I'm like, "This is my happy." So it's okay to take some time and research what might be the right thing for you. When I'm really stressed out, or I'm really feelin' not my best, I just need someone to be like, "Yeah?" And then I can be like, "Yeah!" Word vomit, word vomit, word vomit, word vomit, and then I'll feel better, it's not about telling every single person in your life. "Hey guys, I'm depressed today." It's about finding the support in your life, so you know who to tell, that way they can be there for you, and you're not just alone in the feeling anymore.

- Hey guys, what's up? It's Liza Koshy and today I'm gonna tell you a little story about my anxiety. So I turned 20, I had been moved out to LA. I was doing different stuff out here and having fun, just being myself until anxiety hit me like a brick. Mine specifically is social anxiety which is ironic for the job that I have as a social influencer. Talking to a camera was something that always made me feel comfortable. Talking to a camera right now is much better than me talking to a person because I'm a socially anxious person so dealing with my anxiety was hard and I'm still dealing with it, but it's not something that can't be dealt with. I have a friend who opened up to me about his OCD and it was something that was very tough for him to open up about because he had never opened up to anybody about it before. And I completely related to that because I had been holding in my feelings about my anxiety for an entire year. It just started this free-flow of conversation between both of us about my anxiety, about his OCD, about these two things that we didn't know about each other. We thought we knew each other so well, but it wasn't until we opened up about our mental health that we really, really connected even more. Now we actually have a code name whenever I'm feeling anxious or whenever he's having his thoughts, It's called Tiffany, it's just like, "Hey Tiffany's here, she's freakin' here man." It feels good to be able to label something and put it away in your brain rather than let it become your entire brain in itself. Everybody has some sort of mental health to take care of. It is a part of your health. It's something that you live with and that's something that you learn to deal with by opening up to people about it. It allowed me to understand myself more as a person, allowed me to accept that it's a part of me rather than pushing it off and saying, "No, this isn't me, this isn't me." It's a part of me and it's something that I'll always live with and deal with, but it doesn't define me.

- Hi, my name is Shannon Beveridge, and I have had a lot of personal struggles with both mental health and suicidal thoughts, starting when I was in high school until sort of the beginning of college, because I was struggling with my sexual identity. It's a really hard thing to talk about, it's a really awkward thing to talk about. Sometimes it can feel like almost impossible, but I'm so grateful for the friends that I had around me, because if I didn't have people encouraging me and just being there for me in general, literally just being there, I don't know where I would be today. I think that being there for a friend can be anything as simple as just a text message or an invitation or for me personally, I mean, I don't really like talking about my feelings very much so sometimes my friends being there for me was just them sitting on my couch with me and watching Netflix for like hours, and that was enough. Just to remind me that there are people out there who care about me and wanted me to stick around. It made it less awkward for me to talk about my feelings the more I realized that my friends were being open about their own feelings. Just knowing that they were going through struggles at all, like anything was bothering them, it was nice to know that like I wasn't alone in feeling kind of like different or upset. If you have friends who are being honest with you, it makes it way easier to be honest with them. Talking about how I felt at all helped me so much, and I was really lucky to find a platform online, but I think you can get that in a lot of different ways. I think you can do that with therapy, I think you can do that at a counselor at your school. With teachers, with mentors, with neighbors, with friends, with anyone you feel like you can speak to at all. If you're just opening your mouth and you're saying the words out loud, there's so much power in that and it will make you feel so much less alone. Something that I do with my friends and how I try to be there for them is just to like be around. You don't even have to say I'm worried about you, it's more than that. It's just being like, I see you. I see that something's going on and because of that, on this Friday night, I'm not going to go out. I'm going to sit on the couch with you and we're going to hang out, and like, we don't have to talk right now. But just letting them know that they can talk to you eventually, whenever they're ready, I think that's super duper duper important. I had a lot of friends who were like, Shannon, come do this with us, come do that with us, and inviting me places all the time, and that was such a big reminder to me that there was life outside of my room and there's so much to live for, and this world is so beautiful and there's so many things that you can and should experience. And if you just open your door, and you go out and you be around people, it's like a huge reminder that your life is so worth living.

- Hey guys, I am Tyler Posey and I am going to be sharing a personal story of mine with mental health. And just dealing with with awkward silences and friends helping me out through it. Almost three years ago, I lost my mother to breast cancer. She was just there for me more than anybody and I would go to her for everything. And then when she died, I felt like I didn't really have anybody to go to. I think humans need to break down and cry every now and then and I would do that with my mom. And then after she died, I felt like I had no one to do that around. My friends, I gotta be tough in front of my friends, in front of my brothers, in front of my dad. I would go to work and I would go home. There were a bunch of times where my best friends would hit me up and if I wasn't looking so well, or doing so well, they would bring it up. And be like, "Hey man, are you okay? "What's going on?" I'll be like, yeah I'm okay. I wouldn't really get into it and I realize that that didn't make me feel better. When I get depressed, I feel like I'm a burden on people and I don't wanna burden them with my problems. So once I got over that, I was able to open up more with them. And we just have these great deep conversations now whenever we're feeling sad. I even have a tattoo of two hands shaking like this and it has a lot of different meanings but to me, it means literally to reach out to my buddies when I'm in need of them. If you know somebody well enough. It's easy to tell if something is a little off. One of my buddies just recently had been going through some stuff. Whenever we have a party, he would isolate himself in the back and I could tell that he was down. Sometimes I try to let him come to me first and see if he wants to ask for help or say hey, man I'm kind of low right now. But if he doesn't, I'll usually reach out to him. It's always awkward to start that conversation. But now I think we've gotten comfortable enough with it and I've seen the good that it does. I try to get rid of that awkward feeling and just go right for it. It's easy to forget that reaching out to your friends really almost immediately makes things better. Therapy is something I discovered a few years ago then I started doing it a lot. I'm a huge fan of therapy. I use myself as an example and say hey, man I've been to therapy and it works. And just talking your feelings out, getting everything off your chest. That's therapy in itself. If you recognize that a buddy is struggling or you yourself are. I know how hard it is to reach out for your own reasons. I have my own reasons why it was hard. Just do it. It is an awkward situation and not the most natural, but think we have to get over and make it overly natural situation. So just do it, just face your fears and ask somebody. You'll save a life. Save mine.

- Hi, my name is Meredith Foster, and I have a few friends that have struggled with mental health issues in the past. You never know when someone may be struggling with something or battling something. When someone just doesn't seem themselves and they seem a little bit more quiet and reserved, and they're not opening up to other people as much as they usually do, you always have to listen to your gut feeling, and so it is so important to, even if it's awkward at first, to reach out to them and ask them how they're doing. Be that person that they can count on and let them know that they're not alone in this and there's people that will support them through whatever they're going through. When someone who is very close to you is struggling with mental health issues, it can be really tough, especially when you want to help so much and you know that they want help, but they don't ask for help. Even when they say they're okay, sometimes they're not. Letting that person know that it's okay to feel the way they're feeling, and their feelings are valid, and there's nothing wrong with that, because I think sometimes they're afraid to tell someone how they're feeling, how they really, truly are feeling. And so, just being able to be open with someone, and honest, and let them know that you're there for them, and there's no judgment, and they can be honest with you, is really important. The best thing you can do for someone who is struggling with mental health issues, someone that's either close to you, or someone that is just an acquaintance, is be there for them, be their support team, and let them know that they're not alone in this, and you always have their back.