Welcome to the

Peak Revival Podcast.

My name is Vesna.

Today I am gonna talk

about depression, and

depression as a message.

If you are wondering or asking

yourself, am I depressed?

What is wrong with me?

Or you ask someone who

struggles with depression.

Then in this podcast, I

wanna share with you some

of my thoughts on depression

and things that I know and

have seen over the years.

One of the most common

things that I hear women will

say when they come into my

programs is, am I depressed?

What is wrong with me?

This is not like me.

This must be depression.

What's going on?

Am am I going crazy?

The long-term effects of

stress and going into burnout

can look like depression.

So it's a very common

symptom, but it's not

depression and it's treated

very differently, but

sometimes it is depression.

And I want to share

some of the things that

I've seen or some of the

insights I've had over.

The 20 plus years I've been

doing this work about what

works for these chronically

low moods and I guess a

bit of an insight into

depression because often

depression can have a stigma.

And so when I see women

who are either medicated

already for depression, you

know, they feel like it's

something that they, that kind

of diagnosis or that label

that they are stuck with.

And as they.

Do some of this work

that I'm gonna share.

They come out the other

end and they feel very,

very different, and so

hopefully this is helpful.

So let's talk about the

biggest cause of depression

is the chemical imbalance.

Now, this has been dispelled.

This myth has been dispelled.

If you've ever seen the

work of Dr. Kelly Brogan,

she really dispelled this

myth and she said there

was no valid study ever

confirming depression, uh,

being caused by chemical

imbalance in the brain.

And she saw depression really

as a signal as Kinda like a

smoke alarm that your body

needs some further attention.

Okay?

And so masking that

with medication is

actually gonna continue

the issues underneath

that are going

to be covered up.

And so I'm not gonna talk

much about the chemical

imbalance because that theory

isn't valid and it doesn't

contribute to improving,

the quality of life.

So I see a lot of women

still on the medication,

still not feeling.

Like themselves.

Um, and so we wanna look at

the things that will really

make the biggest difference.

So depression as a

meaningful symptom.

So one of the things that in a

lot of my work that I focus on

is because chronic low moods

can look like depression and.

Those symptoms can come

about due to chronic

long-term stress because

it breaks down key systems

in the body, and one of

those systems is the gut.

And we know that there

is a link between the

gut and the brain.

And when the gut is

on fire, as they say,

the brain is on fire.

And so there's a lot of

inflammation that comes from

the gut that inflames the

brain, creating symptoms

of low mood and depression

and anxiety as well.

And so the work of

nutritional psychology,

if you've ever heard of

Term is really looking

how food can improve your mood

it's working on a couple

of different things.

It's working on restoring gut

health because the gut has

such a big part to play with

the brain, and that connection

happens via the vagus nerve.

then the other thing that you

wanna look at is balancing

blood glucose levels,

removing processed foods.

So there is a lot that

interferes with proper brain

health, but also a lot of

our happy brain chemistry

is produced in the gut.

and the inflammation can

come from the gut, which

is really the biggest

disruptor for our mood.

so as I said, like women who

come through my programs, one

big part of it is also doing

a gut restore program in order

to reduce that inflammation,

because that inflammation

doesn't just inflame the brain

that's coming from the gut.

It inflames the entire

body, so women can get.

Any kind of issues,

thyroid issues, immune

issues, autoimmune

conditions, allergies,

joint aches and pains.

There's so many

different symptoms that

can arise from this.

So it's a really necessary

part of repairing that

fa foundational part

to restore your energy,

mood and metabolism.

So looking at that, kind of

bringing that together, that

physical or that dietary,

we're looking at diet,

we're looking at gut health.

We're looking at

environmental toxins, right?

We are looking at stress

and hormonal imbalances.

All of those can contribute

to chronically low moods

an throw a soft balance.

The third one, which I only

just heard the other day, and

when I heard it, I just went,

yes, that is so accurate.

So you've ever followed

the work of Bashar?

Bashar is like a channel.

Uh, he's very, very good.

But I heard him say

that depression is

not a pathological

condition, but a natural

introspective withdrawal.

And he said depression

is compression.

Right.

So it's an, it's a

natural urge to withdraw

and go inwards, right?

So this compression as a way

of not looking for the out

at the outside world for the

answers, but to go in and

to find your own answers.

And I thought that

was really beautiful.

Way to describe it.

Okay.

And so, because society

doesn't allow for us to, you

know, be withdrawn and go

into this mode of just kind

of going inward and being

introspective, you know, he

was saying that it's, it's

not, shouldn't be looked

at as a pathology, but as a

time that is important for

someone to go inwards and

find their own answers to

what they're looking for,

whatever it is in their life.

And I thought that was

a really beautiful way

to look at it because it

doesn't have that negative

connotation and it, then

can be nurtured rather than

something to move away from.

Okay.

It can be nurtured in order

to find the answers that you

need and to have that healing.

And then to come

out the other side,

The fourth one is

understanding low moods this

I feel like people don't

actually really understand,

so when we're in a low

mood, we don't feel good.

Our life doesn't feel good.

We probably don't

like our relationship.

Maybe we don't like our

business or our job feels

like our life sucks.

We're in a low mood.

Everything looks.

Bad.

We, we don't look at things

in the same way as when we're

in a good mood or a high mood.

And so low moods

don't feel good.

And often when things

don't feel good, we, we

wanna try and fix it.

And so low moods or

chronic low moods can

look like depression.

Now what we have to understand

is that low moods are a cycle.

It's very normal to experience

low moods without anything

happening in your life.

Okay?

Because it's like

the seasons, right?

We have the seasons and

they change, and that's

a very normal part of

life on planet Earth.

And to not have a

season would be weird,

would probably be very,

disruptive to life and food.

And life on the planet, right?

So low moods is a natural

part of our cycle.

It's like the seasons.

We have good high moods

and we have low moods

and high, and so we we're

kind of going up and down.

We're riding the waves.

But when we're in a low mood

and we don't understand low

moods as being a very normal

part of human existence.

We can think, well,

this is my life.

My life just sucks.

Like I'm just so over it.

Like this problem and that

problem, I've gotta fix

it, or I can't fix it.

I'm gonna stay like this.

And so sometimes we

don't understand that

we're in a low mood.

We looks like it's coming from

our life, and then we can kind

of keep ourselves stuck there

for a long time, when really

we should be able to bounce

back up quite naturally.

And so.

We can innocently keep

ourselves stuck in a low mood

because we are resisting it.

like, same with a symptom.

If you've got a

symptom, if you are,

I wanna get rid of it.

What, what can I take for it?

What supplement, what

do I need to change?

What do I need to do?

If we've come so

hyperfocused on it, we

create resistance to it and

it's more likely to stay.

Okay, because we're so focused

and the same thing with a

low mood, the more we fight

against it, the more actually

we push ourselves into a

lower mood and it feels even

worse and it feels like we

can't get out of that hole.

But again, low moods are

part of a season, they're

part of the cycle and

they're very, very normal.

And we are designed

to, to elevate and come

back up to a high moon.

And the last one

is going to seem.

Way off, but it's based on

the work of Joseph Campbell

and the Hero's Journey.

And the reason I learned

about this years ago because

Joseph Campbell talked

about the hero's journey.

Like there, there's a point

in your life where you're

gonna get what he said

is called to an adventure

and it's a call to break

away from your life.

There's your spirit is pulling

you in another direction.

And quite often what we

do is we ignore that call

because I don't wanna.

uproot our life

and disrupt things.

And you know, it's not

the best, but it's okay.

It's gonna, I'm

gonna make it work.

Right.

And then there is this nudging

from the spirit constantly.

And Joseph Campbell said, if

we keep resisting that call.

Then eventually that energy,

that spirit that's trying to

push you forward, that energy

becomes stifled and it leads

to anxiety and depression

because we are meant to be

making a change and we're

not making those changes.

We're meant to be, you

know, following our path.

We're not following our

path, and eventually we do.

Eventually everyone.

Answers the call, as he said.

And then we begin the

hero's journey, which we

go through hardships and

challenges until we come out

the other side as the hero.

And you know, then we teach

others and we share our

experience with others.

And I thought that was

a really beautiful way

and it made sense to me.

'cause I could see people

in my work that, you know,

they were stuck in their

life and they really.

And their energy was stuck

and they were so burnt out.

They were so tired and

so unhappy, but really

they were being called

to make changes that were

really scary for them.

And then through our work

together, when they made

those changes, I saw people.

Recover from their, burnout

or adrenal fatigue from

one week to the next.

Okay.

And that is because their

energy was released, right?

It'd been stifled and

then it was released.

And I think that, you know,

if this is you and you

may listen to this, this

and think, Hmm, there's

something in that for me.

And if that is what

you're getting, that you

need to look into that a

little bit deeper, because

that's already a message.

So I hope that was helpful

because I know that for

women who come through

my programs that it

feels very much something

that they're stuck with.

But really, depression can

be a symptom of something,

you know, to look out

for, whether it be on the

physical side from our

health or in the bigger

picture of our life as well.

So I'd love to hear

your comments below.

What, what did you

take away from this?