The Grass Got Cut And So Did My Stress | Episode 489

The Grass Got Cut And So Did My Stress | Episode 489

Some days, the biggest mental health breakthrough is finishing a basic chore. Justin Alan Hayes shares a raw “days in the life” update that starts with the mission behind Voices for Voices and ends with a surprisingly powerful story about mowing the lawn while living with ongoing mental challenges.

We talk through what it takes to keep a mental health nonprofit moving, including how you can support the work, where to find resources on voicesforvoices.org, and why we’re building a clearer home for our growing book collection. Justin also shares early details about the 2027 Voices for Voices Publishing World Tour and how schools, towns, and communities can request a stop, with a focus on clean content that people have been asking for.

Then we shift into real life: tall grass, sore backs, decision fatigue, and the quiet anxiety that shows up when the to-do list feels endless. Justin explains how mowing became a small win that challenged the belief of “I can’t do this,” and why reducing choices can sometimes calm the mind. We also check in on Lucy’s recovery after surgery, and how caregiving routines add another layer to stress management and daily life.

If you’re looking for mental health encouragement, trauma recovery perspective, and practical coping strategies that feel human, this conversation will land. Subscribe, share it with someone who needs a small push today, and leave a review so more people can find these stories.

*Donate Today: LoveVoices.org, CashApp and Venmo

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Amazon: https://voices-for-voices.org/3ZhJ6AW

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***Website: https://voices-for-voices.org/4byLXgb

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*Voices for Voices is a 501c3 nonprofit charity. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

Chapter Markers

• 0:00 Welcome And Why We Do This
• 1:55 Mission Goal And Donation Options
• 4:00 Website Updates And 2027 Tour
• 5:58 Book Collection And Myth Page
• 7:29 Mowing The Lawn As Progress
• 10:31 Grass Seed Lime And Overwhelm
• 10:54 Lucy’s Recovery And Daily Routines
• 19:15 Stress Lists And Getting Ahead
• 25:09 Social Posts Grief And Purpose
• 28:51 Final Thanks And How To Help

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Transcript

Welcome And Why We Do This

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 0:01

Hi everyone, it's Justin here with Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us. We're so grateful for you. Uh, whether you're watching, listening, here in the United States or across the world. Thank you for being with us. Uh, we are over 480 episodes in our catalog, and we recommend that you check some of those other episodes out. Uh, if you can give us the big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, repost, uh, that would greatly help us reach more people. It's free to do. You can also follow us on all of our social media accounts, and we drop the latest and greatest on those uh uh accounts, and we are uh just so uh so blessed to be where we're at, to have the audience that we we do, that we have the people, the individuals, the organizations, so many people wanting to help, so many people believing in our mission uh to share mental health, mental challenges, trauma, recovery, uh, because I'm going through mental challenges, have been my whole life. Um again, you know, the 2017 is kind of that low point for me, was also a point where I started to take my mental health serious and not worry about what others really thought uh when it came to that, that I I had to I had to do that or I wouldn't be here. So thank you all for that love and support. I say that a lot, but it is because of you that we're even here, that we even have a show uh that we're pushing 500 episodes. We wouldn't we wouldn't have a reason to do the show uh if it wasn't for you. So thank you very much. And if you could also do us a favor and reach out to maybe 25, 50, 75, 100 contacts and your phone, let them know about voices for voices, our show. We have this humongous goal to reach and help at least 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Uh, and it's all because of you. We're well on our way to hitting that goal. So amazing to even be in the position that we are. So we are Voices for Voices, we're a nonprofit charity. Uh, so any donations uh through lovevoices.org, lovevoices.org, lovevoices.org, or you can head on over to Venmo or Cash App and donate. And if you're here in the United States, all your donations are 100% tax deductible. Uh our website, I'm happy to announce that we have started adding uh our uh book collection uh to our website. So we had them in a different spot, and it seems that now where we have them is the best place for right now. And so if you go to voices F-O-R voices dot or g hit enter or tap, tap enter, tap to get to uh have the URL come up, you're gonna notice uh a couple big changes. Uh first is we are going to be embarking on a 2027 voices for voices publishing world tour. More information to come. And there's also uh information below that that if you want us to add your town, your school, um to our tour, uh, please fill that information out fully and completely. And we would love to come to your city, town, your school, uh, bring in that clean content that so many people have been requesting over the last couple of years, and so that's what we're doing. We're gonna fill that void. Uh so again, 2027, Voices for Voices Publishing World Tour will be kicking off. And if you would like to have us uh add your city, your town, your school, your school district, your college, uh fill out that form and that will get to us, and someone from our team will get in touch with you as soon as humanly possible. Now, if you scroll down a little bit more, then you start seeing the books that we have for sale. So you'll be able to see front cover, back cover, title, author, description, and links to purchase. Uh and and so more will be added in the coming days. And we also want you to visit the mythical creatures around the world Facebook page, uh, new myths and folklore are being uh posted as posts and reels. Uh, so please check that out. If you have a voice, if you have the a Facebook account, some people don't. Uh, I would recommend adding uh a Facebook account and following not only Voices for Voices, uh, because we have a Facebook account too, but also the mythical creatures around the world, Facebook account uh that has uh over 96,000 followers. So thank you everyone. Wherever you're at, you're making this at all possible. Uh yesterday, I mean we talked about uh I mean we talked about mental health, right? And so one of the one of the chores, one of the things that I I needed to do this week uh was to mow our grass, right? So had both of the batteries charged, ready to go, and the last two days, the two days ago, I I mowed like two sections and then took a break. Uh, and then yesterday I I mowed uh the rest. And and and so I feel accomplished. I feel like I did something, I did. Um I think all too man all too much we think that we're not capable, we're not able to do certain things. And again, I I've mowed a lot of grass over my years, a lot at a golf course, uh, as I mentioned, uh, in between my uh college days in the summers. Um and and and with the the grass being as tall as it is and as thick as it is, uh it it just took a little extra time. It really needs weed eat it, weed eat it uh around because it's just so high, so tall. Uh so the next couple days we'll probably be doing that uh just to uh get that going. And we have we have a spot in in the the yard that uh apparently there's some fiber optic internet option that is added or will be added. Anyways, uh they did some digging, and uh they didn't really do a good job at putting uh grass seed in. Uh and plus I think it was very cold. Most of the time they were digging, so the seed wasn't gonna do much. I from what I've read on grass seed, uh, one of the best times is you know, you have at least three, at least three days back to back to backing at least uh a low of at least 50 degrees or higher uh to to help that germinate and and and start you know getting below the surface uh to start growing those roots. So that's something I'll be uh probably doing here uh shortly, as well as uh with having Lucy, she's snoozing right now, she's very much at peace. Uh she's just doing amazing uh uh you know, given you know the the surgery and everything. She's she's back, I think, to her old her old energy. So finished her medicine. Uh and so that that's always a a good thing. So we just have just over a week and a day uh where uh she'll have to wear the cone, which isn't which isn't fun. It's not fun for her, and it's not fun for us. Uh and uh drink drink water uh and then you know for going going to the potty outside, you know, we got have to have to give the treats. So uh yeah, so that's kind of where we're at. Like uh what's what's been going on last couple days uh been uh trying like like mental health wise I I usually like to have music playing. I have pretty much every kind of listening device type. Like I have airpods, I have headphones, I have other I have all kinds of ways to do that, and and that's usually what I do uh when I'm mowing. Um because my my mind doesn't have that much time at ease where something's not going on that I have to make a decision. The only decision I have to make when I'm mowing the grass is to mow where it hasn't been mowed yet, and and so uh there's there's not a a lot of thinking that goes on uh which uh which I think is good. So I uh I I chose not to uh uh put on any music when I was mowing. Maybe that helped uh the the efficiency uh of just getting things done. Um maybe did, maybe didn't. I don't know. All I know is uh all areas of our grass are mowed. Now it's like I said, we gotta get some grass seed. I need to get some lime uh for one uh that helps. Uh I guess it's with the the acidity level, the pH level, uh having a pet and then go to the bathroom, you know, on your grass or grass, uh could have bare spots, could turn the grass uh brown. I I remember the first so when we first moved to where we're we're living, uh the past owners had pets in the front yard. There were you could you could see the two or three spots. There was one that was pretty big, a pretty big spot that was brown, the grass was brown, and and then there are others. Uh, so you could kind of see where their the the former owners' pets, their favorite spots the to go to the bathroom. Um and so what lime is supposed to do, not like the squeezable lime, I'm learning. Uh anyway, so it took two years because I started treating it right away. Uh you know, doing some overseeding, overseeding, uh, doing you know, some extra watering. Uh, it still took at least two years. It's like two, two and a half years for that to come back. And that was with, you know, even fertilizer treatment and all that. And and so that's kind of like where I'm thinking, I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't want that to happen again. Uh, because we didn't have we didn't have a pet then, and we didn't we we we it really just didn't cross our mind. Uh, because there's also like an electric fence, too. So uh when we go to air, when we get asked if we want to aerate, which basically just punches little holes in the grass, and then you would go ahead and you would over you'd add grass seed into those holes, and then uh it would all kind of come together, and and so it would make the roots thicker, the grass look fuller, and that's something I've wanted to do, but we we have this electric fence uh for the pets from our former owners, and I don't know exactly where obviously it's the perimeter of our property, uh, but where exactly those lines are underneath uh that affects where we would get that aerated because the aerator machine that punches the holes could punch a hole where where the uh the electric fence is. And so we had we had no intent, we hadn't we had no intention of getting a pet right away, and we didn't. And so part of me was like, well, we could just like who it doesn't really matter where uh where they aerate because we don't have a pet, and what we weren't really at that stage where we were looking for a pet. Um so I haven't been able to do the air aeration and and and that. So I usually just go out with there's uh we have like kind of like the push sprutter, and then we got I got a manual one where you you hold it and then you it's like a hand crank, kind of like the old cars where you crank the windows down and up before you know all the automatic uh technology came came to be. Uh so it can seem overwhelming. Uh that that's that's for sure. Uh and then given the weather that we had over the past winter, is really uh really taking some time to thaw out the ground, too. So there's some spots that where Lucy hadn't gone and doesn't go to the bathroom that are just little bare spots where it just looks you know like mud basically. And and so the overseeding, I'm not just gonna overseed on that that that spot where there was the digging. Uh I'm gonna overseed kind of that whole whole spot, like that whole section, uh, as well as the other side. Anyways, why am I bringing up all this? Excuse me. Number one, it's real life. So these are things that happen in real life. Um, number two, it's mental health related because I'm in my mind, I'm like, oh crap, you know, I have I have this to do, I have that to do, I got this, I got all these, all these things I have to do. Uh, and and and then I gotta do more, uh, do some extra things. Luckily, I was able to get up. Unluckily, I've been getting uh a sore back when I wake up in the morning, so I've been getting up earlier, but luckily today, uh getting up earlier helped me go into our site and add a couple more books that we have on voicesforvoices.org that when you scroll down, uh you'll you'll start to see. You'll be able to see the front cover, the back cover, again, title, description, uh how many pages, uh recommended, you know, age, age level or age range, uh and and and and that for each of the books, and then all the all the links of where you can you can purchase it, uh purchase them because we have more, we have four, we have four up right now. Um and uh and so more to be added uh that we've we've found through kind of focus groups and and uh requests to have a a uh specific spot makes it easier for people to find uh the books, as well as easy above where the books are on the home, our homepage, voicesforvoices.org. Uh for the 2027 World Tour. Uh people want to know how they sign up to have their city, their town, their school, uh, their school district, uh, and so much more how they get added to our tour. So that's feedback that we're we're taking in real time. And so I was able to uh by getting up a little bit earlier. Usual today, sore back. Uh was basically the key key reason is like I felt like I had enough sleep and and my back was sore. So I was thinking, well, I could get up and I can do a couple of those things, and that way it'll cut down on some of the some of the stress and anxiety when I'm talking about, you know, getting the grass seed and that that now I can go do that uh here shortly. I don't have to have to wait uh a little bit, which is what I would have to do. Uh and I was talking well, talking to myself, talking to my daughter, um, talking to my mom. And so I don't say it's rare, but I think it kind of is uh that we get ahead of schedule or ahead, yeah, ahead of where we thought we would be with our chores, with our work, with our projects. And and so there was a couple of times I made I made some statements like, well, let me check this because it's this day. It's it's meaning that yesterday I thought today was the next day in the week that it wasn't today, because I'm basically a a week ahead of schedule, uh, not a week. Yeah, yeah, probably a week. Uh, but within this, within this week, even on top of that, uh, I'm I'm ahead of schedule by an extra day. So it's kind of like an like an like a week and a half, a week and a day, so kind of like eight days ahead of where I thought I was. And so it happens so rare for me, maybe maybe it doesn't for you. Maybe you get ahead of schedule uh a whole lot. Um but for me, uh it caught me off guard. I was like, oh wait, Justin, it's not Thursday, it's Wednesday, those types of things, and so it makes you it makes me laugh. Uh and and that's all you can do. Because we all make mistakes. Uh I'm not gonna beat myself up over it. Uh but what uh what I can do is if if I'm able to, I can take advantage of kind of this extra extra day, extra almost a day, on top of the w uh uh extra week ahead of schedule. Uh but I will say I am behind schedule on our social media posts for our uh Voices for Voices, TV show and podcast episodes. Uh so what most likely will be happening after this show, we'll get this one processed, we'll get this one out to you, and uh probably starting tomorrow uh start hitting the pavement pretty hard with uh you know getting getting these episodes uh up on to our social media platforms. They're already out there. They're already you can already watch and listen to to all the episodes, and then even today after after we we finish up with this episode and uh we process it and we upload it and description, title, tags, uh all those uh once uh cover photo. Uh once we once we do that, we'll get that out to the world. Um but we'll be seeing a lot of a lot of social media posts here coming up. Um so we're just excited. Uh so I just wanted to share kind of day uh days in the life of me. Um and uh every time I I look out or um outside looking up to the sky when it's blue skies, uh I can't help but you know think about you know all the people we've we've lost and lost too soon, uh, especially my dad, uh, and and and just think that you know we're we're blessed to have blue skies, nice weather temperature-wise, uh, and and uh and Jesus is looking down on on us. And it's uh the other best thing I think I can do is to continue our mission to reach and help at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Uh, I know I'm not gonna live forever, nobody is. Uh so uh I think this is the best way I can honor my dad is just to keep going and keep going and and and keep helping and keep sharing. Uh and again, I I was able to mow the grass, and I'm dealing with a lot of mental challenges, and and and so I'm happy that I was able to do that uh at a little bit of a quicker s quicker pace than uh than I thought I would be able to do it. Uh doesn't mean that everything's gonna be like that, it just means that uh what you know what with the with the mowing the grass, that's something that that that's helped, and that's kind of helped get ahead of schedule. And just want to say thank you. So if you can give us big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, repost, we'd love it. Follow us on social media, we're everywhere. Reach out to 25 or 50 contacts in your phone, let them know about the voices for voices, TV show, podcast. We'd love to have more subscribers, more viewers, more people watching, listening, no matter where you're at across uh the United States or across the world. And you don't need to be a believer uh to watch or listen to our show. Uh, we're all in this together, and thank you for joining this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Uh, this is Justin, your host, and let's celebrate all the voices in the world, and let's also be a voice for not only ourselves, but uh potentially somebody else that uh may need some help sharing their voice. So thank you very much. We'll see you on the next episode. Bye bye for now.