Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness

Hey everyone, Elise here. This episode was a little difficult for me to sit down and record and I don't even think I said everything I wanted to or articulated it in the best way because it was a bit of a raw subject for me at the time of recording. I focus on self-worth and not letting people- friends, family, relationships, define your worth. Don't let them cause self doubt and destructi...

Hey everyone, Elise here. This episode has been a long time in the making and it is finally here! I had the chance to talk with Matt MacLean of "The Recombobulated Life" Podcast on his struggles and journey of living with Bipolar Disorder. I love that we also had a chance to talk about the current stigma on mental illness in society. Thank you all for tuning in being a part of the mental...

Hey  everyone, Elise here. You all know how I like to read inspirational and informative quotes and phrases, well this was one I had to share. In this episode, I talk about how I more or less wished my life away because of my depression, or at least large chunks of it. I was always looking forward to things like events, family visiting, etc. in order to cope; it's what I felt would help me sur...

Hey  everyone, Elise here. Get ready for part two of the anxiety chat I had with my sister-in-law,  Hannah.  In this episode, which is a little shorter this time, we briefly take about generational trauma, how anxiety is sometimes tied to depression and more! Hannah is currently studying for her Masters in Clinical  Mental Health Counseling and I hope to have more conversations on what she's l...

Hey everyone, Elise here! In this episode of Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I talk about my struggles with dating and dealing with depression. Relationships have not been my forte most of my adult life and a big part of that has been due to my depression. My depression was always there to tell me I wasn't good enough or enough of anything. More recently, I've noticed a patt...

Hey everyone, Elise here! In this episode of Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I talk about how cleaning can help you manage symptoms of your mental illness! What? Yep, you heard me! I've noticed that when things get too cluttered, my anxiety and depression start to kick into high gear. I start to relax when things get tidied up! You should give it a try! Tune into the episode for...

Hey everyone, Elise here! In case you missed the message last month- moving forward, OSS podcast episodes will be published once a month. Working 40+ hours a week has left me with less time to record and edit episodes more often.  Thanks for your understanding and support! In this episode of Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I had the opportunity to talk with fellow podcaster Joanne V...

Hey everyone, Elise here! Quick update- moving forward, OSS podcast episodes will be published once a month. Working 40+ hours a week has left me with less time to record and edit episodes more often.  Thanks for your understanding and support! In this episode of Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I found another quote that spoke to me. I usually won't talk about quotes unless I ha...

Hey everyone, Elise here! Quick update- moving forward, OSS podcast episodes will be published once a month usually on the second Saturday of the month. Working 40+ hours a week has left me with less time to edit episodes more often. Thanks for your understanding and support! In this episode of Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I got the chance to chat with my friend, fellow podcaster...

Hey everyone, Elise here. This week on Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I wanted to share some quotes I found related to mental illness. They are thought provoking and make you wonder if maybe it's a broken heart and not a broken brain that causes depression, and maybe anxiety is an expression of societal imbalances, not just chemical imbalances... Thank you all for joining me th...

Hey everyone, Elise here. This week on Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness, I was able to sit down an chat with my sister-in-law, Hannah, about anxiety and her studies to get a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.  We talk about her experiences, ways she's coped with her anxiety and a little about her current studies.  Thank you all for joining me  this week and being a part...

Things have improved greatly since the start of the pandemic, but at its peak, everyone was driven into some form of isolation and for those of us living with a mental illness who already live parts of our lives in isolation, it made things even worse. In this episode, I talk about my experience of living with my depression and how the lock down impacted my mental health. Thank you all for joining...

Living with a mental illness means living with this other part of you that can be your worst enemy. This week I wanted to talk about that voice, that part of us we deal with that never seems to want to give us a break and bring us down whenever possible. For those who don't struggle with a mental illness, I think this is something helpful for you to understand what we have to deal with on a da...

Hey everyone, Elise here! This week we are talking about how a lot of times symptoms of a mental illness increase at night. I don't know about you, but I have always experienced my lowest lows at night... and it looks like there are reasons as to why this happens. Do you experience worse symptoms at night? As always, I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to reach out on Instagram or...

Hey everyone, Elise here. This week I talk a little bit about overthinking when you live with a mental illness. We already have that voice telling us things and bringing us down, then adding overthinking on top of it all makes for a mess. Be sure to subscribe to Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness so you never miss an episode and find the Our Secret Self page on Instagram for more conten...

Hey, everyone! This week I wanted to focus on the struggles of reaching out to people for help when you live with a mental illness. It has certainly been a struggle for me over the years. As always, if you'd like to continue the conversation of the day, please feel free to find me on Instagram at Our Secret Self or join the private Facebook group, Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness....

This weeks episode talks a little about the physical symptoms a lot of us face living with a mental illness. From my experience with depression, energy levels and exhaustion have been major physical symptoms I've had to deal with. I offer some of the things I've tried to help with energy levels, so maybe there is something that might help you too! If you experience other physical symptoms,...

Potential trigger warning: I do briefly share my experience with suicidal thoughts. If that is something you are triggered by, please skip this episode. Hi everyone! I am so excited to have you start this journey with me! I felt that sharing a bit of my mental health and mental illness story would be the appropriate way to kick off the podcast. This new journey is a little out of my comfort zone,...

Hi! I'm Elise Dolinar a former broadcast professional, holistic health junky and mental health advocate and this is Our Secret Self: Living with a Mental Illness. As someone who has dealt with depression for more than half my life, I’ve really struggled to find people to confide in because most of them just don’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and friends and I’ve talked with therapi...