a podcast can be a journal, just the act of saying it out loud rewires my brain and allows me to gain control of a negative feeling. with so many people and students going through mental health issues that affect their motivation, i feel it's very important to share my personal struggles not so we can all just complain and stay stuck, but so that we can find solutions to becoming OURSELVES again. because negativity is not your fault, it's not permanent, and there is always a way out. Journaling and podcasting is great, but the second i shared this struggle with my students i felt significantly better, and many of them explicitly showed a lot of compassion that actually changed me. The more you share your struggles with caring people around you, the faster you can go back to being YOURSELF, the happiest most motivated version of yourself.