Keith Battle - Mask Off - Part 3

This is «Mask Off,» the final episode, and in this episode, we want to bring some hope. I hope that thus far, this documentary series has been helpful to you. Maybe you deal with mental health issues like anxiety and depression; I hope it has encouraged you and given you the tools to keep fighting. Or perhaps you live with someone who struggles with mental health illness; I hope this has been helpful for you as well. Today, as we conclude this series, this episode is all about hope because we need hope at this time. I’m hearing from so many people who are typically described as strong and vibrant that they are tired. I think all of us are emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically wiped out. This whole situation has us exhausted. On one hand, we’re fighting a pandemic and just trying to stay COVID-19 safe. On the other hand, we’re facing all the seething tension in our world, all the upheaval going on. We’re battling injustice everywhere, and amidst those two struggles, we must also take care of ourselves. Here’s the deal: emotional pain doesn’t discriminate; it will come knocking on all our doors at some point, and sometimes it may kick the door in, coming in uninvited like a thief. Although all of us are different in many ways, we all have one thing in common: we know what it feels like to be helpless and hopeless. So today, I want to bring some hope. I want to close this out with some tools that can help us during these difficult times, and I want to start now by giving all of us permission to be patient with ourselves. Listen, you don’t have to be a superhero; it’s okay. All our pain is different, and all our treatment is different. One thing we need to understand is that being patient with ourselves and those around us who are struggling emotionally is the right thing to do. Emotional pain and trauma are not something you can just snap out of. The reason I went all over the place with Job’s story is that that’s how his life was. One minute he’s worshiping, the next he’s weeping. One minute he’s weeping, then he’s waiting on God. It’s not sequential; it’s not like you start off weeping, then worship, and then wait, never weeping again. You go from waiting in one chapter to weeping in another, then worshiping again, and back to waiting. It’s cyclical. Sometimes, in life, we want people to get it right: you shouldn’t be crying anymore; you should be worshiping now. Are you serious? I might be worshiping today, but I might be crying tomorrow over the same thing. I might be waiting today; I might even be waiting with an attitude. Yes, I’m still here, Lord, and you’re still leaving me out here. I’m doing my part; I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. When will you change this? Sometimes you wait with an attitude; sometimes you wait with the right attitude; sometimes you wait with adoration and worship. Sometimes, it’s just not easy. You have to be patient with people. Do you understand what I’m saying? See, on the same road right now, one person is waiting, another is weeping, another is worshiping, and don’t get it twisted. You might be worshiping today, but you might be in that weeping seat next week. You never know what might happen in life—it’s all fact. One of my hobbies that I’ve taken up now, which is ironic, is that I enjoy riding roller coasters. I love going to amusement parks and riding roller coasters, and the irony is that I used to be scared of them. Now, I can’t wait to get on one. I don’t know what happened; I think it actually relieves stress. Now my world is so chaotic that roller coasters don’t scare me anymore; they actually relieve stress. Something changes in my brain. Roller coasters affect the chemicals in your brain; I don’t know what it is, but if any of my roller coaster riders are out there, you know what it’s like to be on a roller coaster. The classic ones start off real slow, climbing up this hill, building anticipation—it’s like the calm before the storm. You creep up this hill like everything is normal; it reaches the top, and then WHAM! All heck breaks loose. You go down, break the next peak, go through twists, turns, and loops, and then there’s screaming and hollering. All of that happens in an instant. Whenever I think about roller coasters, I think about our world. For many of us, March 10th was a pretty normal day; we were just going along like any other Tuesday. But by the next day, March 11th, the World Health Organization declared that the world was in a pandemic due to COVID-19. By Friday the 13th, the entire United States was shut down, and we were all sent home. It happened suddenly…