Liv Sain's new book is out today! #FREE DOWNLOAD
Click on the picture to download from Amazon.
“The world needs this book more than they could ever know. Not just the people struggling with mental health, but the loved ones around them that need to understand how to offer support. Until we talk about mental health and the stigma around it, the suicide rates will keep climbing. As a society, we must learn how to treat mind and body the same when it comes to medical conditions. If you have a healthy mind and a broken leg, you get the leg fixed. So why don’t we use the same urgency when treating the mind?
Liv not only gives you the transparency of her story in this book, but she offers solutions and tools that anyone can use to help themselves and their loved ones to a better mental state. We all need what she is giving…” Deana Mitchell, Founder of The Realize Foundation
One of my favorite lines in this book is, “Stories have the power to heal the human spirit and broken hearts”. This is the cornerstone of the Realize Foundation. When someone is struggling it helps so much to relate to someone who has been in a similar place. It makes them know they are not alone and they too can make it through. “Hopelessness is just a visitor” and “Don’t give up before the miracle happens” are my favorite lines in the book!
Liv’s ‘Letter to my younger self’ is brilliantly written and completely gives you a picture of where the passion for this book comes from. Her comment about “appreciate the struggles” is a theory I share 1000%. It proves that hindsight is 20/20 and it is up to you how you use that moving forward.
Liv’s comment that “The root cause of addiction is mental health” is profound and it is something that we need to talk about as a society in a big way. We are better at treating the symptoms than the cause.
I absolutely love the part where you talk about the people in rehab with you and how “you see their soul, the person they are meant to be”. Humans need to get better at seeing each other this way in any setting. We have to be more empathetic and treat each other with more kindness. You never know what the person next to you is dealing with and your words/actions can have a profound impact.
“They were never too scared or broken to create change, and although their faith was tested, they never lost that either.” This strikes me to the core, we are always stronger than we think. “If God is for us, who can be against” is one of my favorite scriptures. The truth of it has been proven over and over in my life. You just have to get up one more time than you fall and He is always there to pick us up.
“The moment you believe death is your only solution is the moment you become delusional.” It is just the devil trying to take you out! You have the “power to change. You can quit the self-defeating behavior.” Your “Current situation is NOT permanent”. Liv has demonstrated these things in her story and you too can overcome!
“Her therapist said, ‘you have to be healed to write this book’ and Liv disagreed.”
I agree with Liv on this! Broken people are who can tell a story best as they have lived through something traumatic. If they are willing to be transparent, as Liv has in this book, the raw emotions are what conveys the pain and makes the victory that much sweeter. It is the reason we seek out inspirational and motivational speakers, they give us hope that we, too, can overcome adversity and it motivates us to reach for goals we did not know we could reach ourselves.
“People do not want to be told to stay strong, they want to be inspired to open up.” The ‘stay strong’ directive only makes us hide our feelings and bottle them up inside, which in turn makes it worse. If we can ‘open up’ to someone, talking about our story is what starts the healing process. BUT it is crucial that the ‘someone’ will really listen and be supportive in the way that you need.
My favorite story is about your dad’s cross and the comment, “ I needed something greater than myself to help me out of my own misery”.
I have a similar story in my own journey and the cross my dad gave me was a symbol that kept me going for years. It brought me back to God who has saved my live over and over through the years.
Liv’s statement “darkness without hope means we have nothing to hold onto” is bold and true. Her demonstration in this book about hope in her own life and in the tools she is offering you to achieve your own hope is proof. Hope is the seed that brings us to solutions and healing.
Liv is so wise for her years in asking friends on her 30th birthday to “write her Eulogy”. It is true that we do not communicate the importance someone holds in our lives until it is too late to tell them in person. What if we all made this a habit? People would be more confident and open with feelings, which in turn would automatically improve mental health all around!