Flashbacks During Spring Chores? Here's What's Actually Happening | Episode 488

Flashbacks During Spring Chores? Here's What's Actually Happening | Episode 488

A messy yard can be more than a weekend chore. Sometimes it’s a trigger, a mirror, and a mental health workout all at once. Justin Alan Hayes shares what happened when spring weather turned his hilltop lawn into a tall, waterlogged project and why the first mow of the year brought back anxiety, perfectionism, and memories from an earlier life.

We talk about the pressure to keep up with neighbors, the obsession over “straight lines,” and how quickly your brain can turn a simple task into a story about worth. Justin connects mowing today with past summers working at a golf course, where precision was everything and the fear of being reprimanded never fully left. That opens a deeper conversation about trauma triggers, flashbacks, and how the brain stores sensory cues, from sounds and routines to the places where hard moments happened.

The episode also gets practical about mental health medication management in daily life. Justin breaks down changing prescriptions, warnings like avoiding grapefruit, and a newer concern around hydration and salt or electrolyte levels. If you do yard work, exercise, or any physical activity that makes you sweat, you’ll hear clear takeaways on pacing, taking breaks, eating when you need to, and using electrolyte drinks to replenish what your body loses.

If you found this helpful, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about mental health, trauma recovery, anxiety, and real-world coping skills.

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Chapter Markers

• 0:00 Welcome And Community Thanks
• 1:41 Meet Lucy After Surgery
• 2:17 Rocky Weather And Tall Grass
• 6:12 Mowing In Sections On A Hill
• 10:38 Perfectionism And Neighbor Comparisons
• 14:51 Golf Course Flashbacks And Trauma
• 16:30 Med Changes And Grapefruit Warning
• 22:03 Salt Levels Hydration And Electrolytes
• 28:10 Free Ways To Support And Donations

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Transcript

Welcome And Community Thanks

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 0:02

Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining, whether you're watching or listening here in the United States or abroad. Uh, thank you so much. Uh, we are inching our way closer to 500 total episodes in our portfolio. Thank you. It's because of you that we're we're here. So thank you very much. And if you can give us a big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, repost, follow us, keep up to date on our Voices for Voices, uh social media accounts. And if you're able to reach out to 25 uh contacts in your phone, let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Uh, we are built on mental health, mental awareness, uh trauma, recovery, all those areas and many, many more. Uh, so thank you again uh for being with us on this episode. Uh we're we're definitely talking about mental health today, uh, as we always do. Sometimes it's more overt, meaning we use the words mental health, and sometimes situations test our mental health, and and then we talk about that more. Uh, but each and every episode has mental health uh ingrained in into each particular episode. Uh so I'll I'll cut to the chase. Uh, first off, over here behind me, you see some white hair. Uh so my hair hasn't grown that fast. Uh so our puppy Lucy, she she loves to be the watchdog. And so she's just hanging out, recovering from surgery. And even when she's not recovering from surgery, she always likes to uh get involved. So you might see her uh throughout the show. Uh her name's Lucy, and we're glad. Uh actually very happy to have her part of our family. Uh so uh with uh with today's episode, we've had rocky, rocky weather here, up and down, up and down. How do we dress? What what can we do outside? What can we do inside? And so as I mentioned on the earlier episode, not just our grass, but many people's grass in the neighborhood and other neighborhoods is like super, super tall uh for grass. And you know, we talk about we don't want to get started, you have to kind of keep up. So here we're in April, and so we got to keep up. And so that is one of uh one of my chores uh is to to do that. And so this is gonna cross mental health in a couple different ways. The first way is we talked earlier on an earlier episode about you know worrying about you know the next day, the next moment, uh what's gonna happen. And given where our dwelling is at, it is on it's on a hill. It's not it's not a mountain, it's it's not uh, but there's there's definitely some hillage going on there. Um and and so it can be tricky because when I was growing up uh in the summers that I was home from college, I worked at a local uh golf country club, and that was part of our job was mowing the grass. And if you know anything about golf, uh, you know, there's the tea boxes, then there's the rough, which is longer. The tea boxes, the fairways are cut very, very short, the greens where the flag is, where the hole is, where you you're trying to get uh the ball from the T to the green into the hole in the least amount of strokes. So um it is a I want a lower score as opposed to uh a lot of other sports where you want a higher score. So I've had a lot of experience mowing mowing grass and um so to bring that uh home here uh with the grass being how it is, it's not only tall, but it's waterlogged in a uh in some places. Uh we've with the weather that I've described, I mean, like I said, we've gotten some monsoon, uh just storms and there's so much rain and more than the ground can handle. So it's a little slushy in places, anyways. So I today, today's the day to get started. And so one thing I I'd like to recommend that I've learned is no matter because I'm not gonna judge how how big your yard is, or and if you don't have if you don't have a yard, you don't have grass, then you don't need to worry about this. You could maybe recommend to somebody who does, but uh this this particular area won't pertain to you as much. Uh and that is well, first off, the mowing the grass, having a lawnmower or a way to cut the grass, whether it's a a walk behind, um, or whether it's a riding mower, and then you have the weed eater, then you have the blower, and and and so there's there's a lot going on. Uh and and so the way I have usually chosen to cut the grass here is in sections or in parts. Uh let's give you an example. We uh I have a we have gas-powered cars, uh, but we have uh electric uh powered lawnmower. Right? So you gotta charge them. So the batteries were we had two batteries, they're all a hundred both of them were a hundred percent. So put them in the slot, close it up, got started, and just doing one, two, three, four, probably half, maybe, or a little less than half, because our our backyard is probably it's not huge, but again, it's on uh it's on a uh it's on the hill, so you know, we have you know the few trees, so you it it takes a little bit to you know go around that versus just a flat, flat yard where there's no hills, it's just back and forth, there's no trees or a few trees. That's the ideal, right? I mean that as the people in a neighborhood, when they have that, it's like all right, well, yeah, you you mow your grass more recent, but you also have a flat yard, and we don't. So cut it into pieces in the sections, get everything, and if it's a gas powered mower, make sure the you know fill it up at the beginning, and it's up to you to go as long as you want. Uh I recommend sections because uh I don't I don't get as much I don't say as as much exercise as I should. And so first off, there's that of back and forth up and down the hill. Now there's also the tall tall grass, and then now we also have places that are waterlogged. And so I I kind of divided it into sections and the I guess like the two sections that I I did, uh, which is we have like two kind of smaller front yard areas that um are on either side of the the driveway. So I cut the grass on one of those and then one of the one of the sides with the hills. And I knew that that was I was gonna be doing sections. So after I finished those areas a couple times the mower's top because there was so much grass that the the the blades are you know trying to trying to cut and and and and uh and uh I don't say spit out, but however it does its thing, however, the lawnmower does its thing. And uh, and so there was a few times that happened. Okay, big deal. Uh but all this is happening, you know, mental health-wise. It's like, are my lines straight? Well, look at if I look at my neighbors, like, well, they have really straight lines, but when they're mowing, and all those things come come to mind. I don't worry about it as much as I probably used to. I mean, when I was at the golf course, uh that that was there was really no exception there. Like you had to have straight lines, uh, that that was pretty much what uh what you had to have. And so we had you know uh a good group uh people and uh the superintendent would, you know, we come in every day and he would tell us what we were working on first thing in the morning. So usually it was two things a day at least. So, you know, the morning, at least part of the morning was greens, teas, uh fairways, uh, and if the fairways uh were longer and taken longer than the individuals that would finish their assignment, their teas or their greens, they would be uh asked to go up out with uh with the fairways and then with the rough, you know, the the taller, taller grass. Uh so all this is kind of getting to my my mind. It's it's it's bringing back memories every time I mow the grass. Uh my mind, it it's hard not to go back to those times, and I had some good times, I had some not so good times. Uh, because I was so worried many times when I was mowing the greens uh that I would get reprimanded, and like I was trying so hard, but I just it just wasn't my specialty. Some people like that's just how they're ingrained for me. Uh, I don't know if it's because I'm left-handed. I don't I don't know why. Uh so that crept into my mind as I'm mowing a grass current state. Um, and lines aren't straight, doesn't matter. It's just getting the job done. There's still areas that need weed eated. Uh and so it's gonna be it's gonna be a process here for you know the the first mow of the year. Uh but like I said, there were two batters two batteries in our mower, our lawnmower here. And just doing those kind of two sections. One of the batteries was still is still at four, still at full capacity. So I think there might be like four or five different cells, and one of them has all the the it lights up for all those, and then the other one uh was down to one one cell. So I thought, okay, well um I'm gonna just I'm gonna take a break. Uh you know, there's there's no there's no deadline in stone that everything needs mowed at a certain time. We're just trying to you know get get things going and then hopefully that the mowing just becomes an easier thing to do because if we keep up on it, then uh we should uh it should be a good good uh good space. But uh additionally mental health, so not only the like you know, the kind of the flashback trauma of then in one of those years, one of those summers was one of the ones where when I had overdose on the cold and cough medicine, and and so uh that that creeps into my mind into my mind as well. Um you know, it's just one of those things, you know, talking to my counselor, it's it's pretty fair fairly fairly or pretty normal uh for for that to happen. Like if you're listening to a song and you hear it, sometimes a song can take you back to a place where maybe it was a school dance, maybe it was a wedding, wedding reception, uh maybe it was driving in a car. Um I don't know. Uh but but the these things our brain doesn't usually forget those and definitely keeps the score. So we have that, that portion, and then the second portion uh as you know I'm uh bringing the mental health and uh into just a regular day. Um I I take different uh medications for my uh mental challenges. Big deal, I've been taking them for seven um three, six, so it's going on nine years. And uh sometimes uh medications change, sometimes different doses, dosages, like maybe you're taking ten milligrams, and then maybe then you're taking five at a at a certain point, or or maybe one doesn't seem to work as well as it did, and so maybe your provider or my provider decides, hey, let's let's try here, you know, here here are the similarities uh of what these particular uh medications help. And up until now, um I haven't had too many restrictions, you know, on things I can eat and that. I mean, obviously alcohol and drugs, like that's a that's a no for sure. Uh one of the medications, I think it was last year that got changed. Uh and I remember back in in my first therapy right out of the hospital because people talk, right? So uh we, you know, some of us would sit and I I think it was like college football was on sometimes, and we would just sit, and I mean, we're all going, there's a lot of us, and we're all going through a lot of things, and someone would say, Oh, I can't eat grapefruit with this medication. So meaning that on the label there was a notification saying, While taking this medication, please refrain from eating grapefruit. Okay. And so it was all the way back all those years when that happened, but uh it wasn't until last year with one of my medications that I actually see that on mine. Um, and I usually don't I don't say usually I I don't I very rarely, if ever, have had a grapefruit to eat or to the juice. And so I saw that on the label, and I was like, okay. So here's you know, I for some reason if I'm somewhere and there's grapefruit being served, I I can't eat it. I don't for me, I personally I don't I don't care for the taste. That's okay, that's just me. Uh everybody has their own distinctions and uh things they like and things they don't. And uh so that that wasn't a that wasn't a huge deal. Um when I was going through my therapy, I was also battling rapid weight loss. And so another part of my therapy was making sure that I was at least starting to re-eat. And so the medication started to clear just a little bit of space where I didn't feel like I was allergic to every food that I ever tried when I hadn't been allergic. Allergies can come up at I think any time, but I was at that point where I was like, ah, I can eat carrot sticks and plain hummus, that's all. And and so eating was a big deal, getting nutrients in my body is a big deal. So I was, you know, drinking insurers uh twice a day, I think. Uh when I got finished with the therapy, I was doing good, so I it was recommended I could uh since I was replacing some of the calories with real food, which I should have been doing anyways, uh I they said I could have taken I could take one. And so that's what I did for quite a while. All of this to get to the point of one of my medications got changed. It was either late 2025 or real early. 2026. And part of my diagnosis and in that is you know acute anxiety and depression. And it and and so when I saw the grapefruit thing on on the one medication, I was like, all right, I'm at least seeing it, but it doesn't bother it, it doesn't matter because I don't again, I don't eat grapefruit, I don't drink the grapefruit juice. Uh so it didn't that didn't really affect me at all. If anything, it was just kind of like, hey, FYI, you know, you can't or you shouldn't do this. So again, now with another medication, late 20, again, I it was either late 2025 or early 2026. One of my medications I got changed to had uh or now has because I I mean I'm still take still taking the one with the grapefruit restriction, and and the other one uh that I started, it was bringing up, you know, salt, like make sure I'm gonna have to look and see exactly what it says. But it's something like you know, make sure you're hydrated, make sure you're uh you know that this this can affect you know salt levels, you know, minerals in in your system. And I was like, oh now that's a little bit different because salt's in food, and um so I need to make sure in this case not to let my salt levels get too low, and so whether it you know an electrolyte beverage uh is usually how I I I try to at least have those particular salts, like the hydration. Um, how's that get into the mowing the grass? Well, when you when you're doing any type of physical activity, the more you do it, the longer you do it, a lot of us perspire or sweat. In our sweat are the very salts and minerals that are in these electrolyte beverages, like pediolite or Gatorade, and and and so now I have to actually be more cognizant of times when like there's no light that blinks that says, Okay, Justin, your assault level's too low. I I just have to do the best I can. And so that was another reason why it makes a lot of sense to me to mowing the grass or doing a physical activ physical activity, being outside for a while, uh and and not having access to water. Uh I just have to make sure that I'm hydrated. Yeah, and so that that falls in that into that bucket of okay, let's just take breaks and we'll do it that way, and then in between during my breaks. What if it's a meal time then I'll eat. If it's not, maybe I'll get a snack, but I'll have a electrolyte beverage that uh will help replenish some of the the salts and the minerals that when I sweat, perspire uh can leave. And and so kind of have to basically like replace, right? So it's like a store. You buy product A, let's say you have ten of them on the shelf. Well, do you wait till all ten are bought before you order another set of ten? Or do you wait till there's five or six that have been bought or purchased? Uh so that's replenishment of a product. And so with the salts, it's replenishing my body with the salts and minerals that one of my medications kind of pulls out extra. And the label doesn't say during physical activity, it just says in general. So sometimes I'll I'll drink a Gatorade or Pediolate, and even if it's not a time when I'm exerting myself physically. So hopefully this has been a little bit informative uh to you again if you're able to. Free things to do or give us a thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, repost, uh, follow us on all our social medias. We'd love to have you part of our community even more. 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