Episode 125 of the Live Authentically podcast presents Keith Anderson, a lawyer, consultant, keynote speaker and founder of Worth Living Mental Health Consulting. He’s also an author of “Life Worth Living: A Mental Health Anthology.”

Keith knows mental health struggles all too well. He founded his business because he had depression for 16 years himself.

He says he lives authentically by being very real to himself. Keith talks about a very vivid mental breakdown he went through almost 20 years ago. He remembers the day. He remembers where he was. He can still picture what happened.

“After my breakdown and recovery, I went to therapy for a couple of years and had great family support, I worked hard on myself at it as well,” Keith said. “I’m grateful every day. That’s how I come in as real. That’s how I start the day– I’m grateful I’m still here.”

Keith sticks to the present by telling Pam that he’s grateful he gets to chat with her. He says having someone new to connect with is special and keeps him grounded and real. He also expresses how he remembers the darkness, but how he also celebrates his life now through connecting with others. 

And Keith isn’t afraid to admit that he will never be completely healthy as far as his mental health goes. He uses an analogy of the ankle he broke to explain why this is the case and how he copes with it.

“Am I 100 percent healthy in terms of my mental health? No. Never will be,” Keith said. “I broke my ankle one day. I went through the crutches, the cast, physiotherapy, all those things, of course. Is it 100 percent? No, it’s not. Never will be. But it functions. I can walk, I can run, I can get around.”

Keith delves deeper into the time he had depression. He says he did not realize he had it. He talks about the tragedies he endured in his young life that likely contributed.

“My father had died young, and with his passing, my everyday life changed,” Keith said. “I kind of just compounded at the time. I didn’t get it, didn’t understand what it was until I had hit a wall.”

Keith went to see his family doctor the morning five days before his mental breakdown. He spent half an hour with him, which was rare– normally he’d only spend five minutes or so. They talked about depression. Keith had no idea what it was at the time.

He believes the mental breakdown literally saved his life. You can learn more about Keith and his business by watching the podcast here. Or you can visit his website or follow him on Facebook or Instagram.

The Live Authentically podcast is back with Sharon Lebell, a bestselling author, composer, speaker and performing musician. Sharon joins Pam to talk about Stoicism, how to live your best possible life and her internationally bestselling book, “The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness.”

As per usual, Pam asks Sharon a pertinent question: “How do you live authentically?” To which Sharon responds, “I seek to live authentically every day by asking myself one question, and it’s simply this: What can you do with the moment? What can I do with this moment? Because when you think about it, well, it’s all we have.”

It’s true that the present moment is all that we have. And in this present moment, Sharon says we can make a choice that can resonate with us for years to come. It’s hard for any of us to know exactly how, but we have the control to change the course of our lives by the decisions we make at any given moment.

Getting out of the process of constantly unconsciously doing and shifting toward creating conscious choices isn’t easy. It’s not a problem that Sharon can conclusively solve. “But what I do believe we can do is set deliberate reminders to take a pause, to draw yourself back into yourself again, or to remember to remember,” Sharon shares.

One of the ways Sharon says she does that for herself is by remembering that she’s a musician. Sharon put a sticky note on one of her instruments so that when she passes by, she has to read it. The note reads, “Pay the toll,” prompting Sharon to play a tune on her instrument any time she reads the note.

“I would urge other people to just find ways of reminding themselves… For lack of a better way of saying it, remind yourself to be who you decided you were going to be. I mean, you know, one of those aspects of that question for me is I’m a musician. Well, if you’re a musician, pay the toll,” Sharon chuckled.

Learn more about Sharon and what she has to offer by watching the full podcast episode here. Or you can visit her website, or follow her on Facebook.

Episode 123 of the podcast is back with David Wood, a previous guest on episode 84 of the show. With over 20 years of experience as a life coach, David is also the founder of Focus.ceo. 

David starts off part two of his podcast with his latest book, “Mouse in the Room: Because the Elephant isn’t Alone”. The book talks about how the elephant isn’t the only animal in the room. David says there are many other more subtle animals to see that not everyone in the room may be aware of. He provides a recent example.

“Like, a couple of nights ago, I was at an acting class, and I suggested to someone something she could’ve done a little differently,” David said. “My story in my head is that ‘That didn’t land well,’ that she kind of felt a little bit insulted, and she did not want that feedback. And so, that’s a mouse.”

“Now, I could just let that mouse hide, or I could identify it and say, ‘Oh, okay,’ and reach out (and I probably will today) and leave a message and say, ‘Hey, I just got the feeling that didn’t land well and that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, and I wanted to apologize.’”

David stresses the importance of identifying the mouse in the room in the first place. That’s part of why he named the book what he did, to center the problem in the room that many people are too scared to confront or name otherwise.

“It’s about authenticity,” David said. “It’s about stopping the act that we’re always presenting to the world, because we don’t want to get in trouble or feel uncomfortable, and finding artful ways to name your mice so that you can be seen for who you are and generate more connection, confidence and be a better leader.”

Naming the mouse in the room also generates more trust, according to David. Being real (or honest) in a situation can get you farther than pretending that the problem doesn’t exist in the room in the first place. It’s also the point of good leadership.

“It works for leadership as well. If you’re not willing to be revealed and give people a sense of who you are and what’s driving you, and why you care about this and actually name what’s happening, who’s going to trust that?” David said. “They’re not going to want to follow you. So, there’s business application. If money’s a driver for you, I think you’ll make more money.”

Watch the entire podcast episode here to learn more about David, his work and book. You can also follow David on social media: Youtube or Instagram.