I Am Hope In The Chaos

05/26/2026

Listen in on this wonderful Cancerland, The Podcast I was interviewed on. It is always a difficult thing to open up about mental health and our struggles. But I truly believe that we as a whole can save so many lives as we talk about it, spread awareness and reduce stigma.

Being able to relate mental health struggles is something I feel any human can find connection in.

Give it a listen, and always remember that you are not alone. If you are in a mental health crisis, please reach out to 988 Su***de & Crisis Lifeline

🎥🎙️: https://youtu.be/21ufMYMbX9I?si=bIa68wXvTjgnAKKj

Jamie Wenn Kodra I Am Hope In The Chaos Brian O'Sullivan Danny Gereg Jeff Stibelman

Season 1, Episode 3: Mental Health, Identity, and Navigating the Sy...

05/26/2026

Watching my daughter graduate elementary school and prepare to head into 7th grade has me emotional in the best way. 💛

Life has thrown both of us challenges we never expected, yet somehow through all the chaos, we have continued holding each other up through it all. And that is something I never take for granted.

As she steps into this next chapter, I hope she soars to new heights, grows into everything she is meant to be, and always remembers this:

She never has to carry life alone.

Neither do you.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for someone is simply remind them:
“I’m here.”
“You matter.”
“You are loved.”
“You are not alone.”

If you are struggling today, please reach out to someone. And if you are in crisis or having thoughts of su***de, call or text 988. 🤍

Because even in the chaos… there is always hope.

05/24/2026

Sometimes the people who feel the deepest… think the deepest too.
And while overthinking can feel exhausting, overwhelming, and heavy… it also means we notice things others miss. We care deeply. We analyze because we want to protect, understand, love better, and make sense of a world that can feel incredibly loud inside our minds.

While in Boston for an advocacy event, my sweet friend and I saw this bear and immediately had to stop for a picture because it felt way too relatable. 💛

“Hold on, let me overthink this.”

Mental health isn’t always visible.
Sometimes it looks like smiling in a store holding a teddy bear that perfectly explains your brain. 💛

Honestly, that little bear made us laugh because it felt so real. But it also reminded me of something important today:

Overthinking does not make you broken.
Feeling deeply does not make you weak.
And having a mind that runs nonstop does not mean you are failing at life.

Sometimes overthinking can make life harder… but sometimes it also means we are thoughtful, empathetic, aware, and deeply caring people trying to navigate this world the best we can.

Sometimes we just need grace.
A pause.
A friend who understands.
And reminders that we are not alone in the chaos inside our heads.

To everyone whose mind never seems to slow down… I see you today. 💛

05/21/2026

Sometimes healing isn’t about becoming someone new —
it’s about remembering who you were before the world told you otherwise.

That’s what Hope’s Journey is really about — finding your way back to the light that’s always been within you. ✨

📖 Hope’s Journey: Finding the Light — available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0dPDGBi8

05/21/2026

For so many years, I thought strength meant never falling apart.
Never struggling.
Never letting people see the cracks.

But real strength isn’t pretending you’re okay.

Real strength is surviving the days you thought would break you…
and still choosing to keep going.

It’s learning how to stand back up when your mind, your heart, and your life have all tried to convince you that you can’t.

Sometimes we spend so much time focusing on everything we’re not…
that we completely miss the strength it took just to make it here.

So today, this is your reminder:

Look at yourself a little differently.
You are not weak for struggling.
You are not less because life has been heavy.
You are not broken because you’ve had storms.

There is power in your survival.
There is strength in your softness.
There is courage in continuing on.

And maybe the strongest thing you’ll ever do…
is finally start seeing the strength that’s already been inside you all along.

05/14/2026

Some days, surviving your own mind is the hardest thing you’ll do all day. And yet… you’re still here.

That matters.

Mental illness doesn’t always look obvious from the outside. Sometimes the strongest people are the ones quietly fighting battles nobody else can see. If today feels heavy, give yourself permission to pause, breathe, regroup, and begin again.

You are not failing because you need rest.
You are not weak because you need support.
And you are never alone in the chaos. 🩵

05/12/2026

I myself have struggled deeply with su***de. It is such a significant part of my story and the reason I advocate so openly today.

What someone actually feels inside can be so different from what the world sees on the outside. Sometimes the people smiling, functioning, joking, showing up, and saying “I’m fine” are carrying battles no one else can see.

Please check on the people you love. Show them you care enough for them to feel safe opening up. Sometimes simply feeling seen, heard, and understood can make more of a difference than we realize.

We have to make this world feel safer to talk about what is really going on inside. Because when people feel forced to hide the chaos out of fear of judgment, shame, or stigma… that is when lives are lost.

You don’t have to hide the chaos. 🤍

***depreventionfoundation

***dePrevention

05/07/2026

If you have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD/Clinical Depression), your experience matters more than you probably realize.

Researchers are currently looking for people living with MDD — and caregivers of those with MDD — to help share REAL experiences that could improve future mental health education, support, and treatment understanding for others walking this road.

Too often, people struggling with depression feel unheard. This is an opportunity to use your voice to help create change while also being compensated for your time.

To qualify, you MUST:
• Have an official diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD/Clinical Depression)
OR
• Be a caregiver for someone with MDD
• Be between ages 18–75
• Have been diagnosed within the last 20 years

Compensation:
• $175 for a 75-minute online activity
• $75 for a 30-minute follow-up interview

Total compensation: $250

We are urgently trying to find qualified participants in the next few days, so if this sounds like you — or someone you love — please apply or share.

If prompted for a referral, please use my name: Jamie Kodra

Scan the QR or Apply here:
https://community.just-worldwide.com/newdesign/site/justworldwide/index.php?surveyID=c2g0791sbcv&published&id=7b19ff57204869fcb2943a9fa&utm_source=chatgpt.com


Brian O'Sullivan
Just Worldwide LLC

05/07/2026

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to share something deeply personal.

After having my children, I began gaining a significant amount of weight from depression medications, epilepsy medications, and then even more through trial after trial of mood stabilizers. We eventually found one mood stabilizer that I am genuinely grateful for because it is not commonly associated with weight gain and has a more favorable metabolic profile — and that was such a huge positive after years of struggling. I will forever be grateful for and this medication. But many of the medications before that had already taken a major toll on my body and health.

By July 2022, my health was severely declining and I felt like I was losing myself.

So I decided to take my life back.

It has not been easy, and honestly it is still a fight. But through perseverance, learning to care for myself again, and reconnecting with the things I loved as a younger Jamie — exercise, yoga, biking, hiking, and simply moving my body again — I kept going.

Almost 4 years later, I am now 115 pounds lighter.

But this journey was never just about weight.
It was about survival.
It was about mental health.
It was about finding myself again.

Through health struggles and mental health struggles, finding an outlet — something that reminds you who you are — can truly help carry you through the darkest seasons.

Mental health matters.
Your health matters.
And most importantly… you matter.


HOTWORX
HOTWORX
Johnson & Johnson

05/05/2026

There’s a part of bipolar I with psychosis that people don’t talk about.

Not the mood swings.
Not the labels.

The moments where your mind stops feeling like your own.

Where reality shifts.
Where what you see or believe feels completely real…
even when it’s not.

And the scariest part?

You don’t always know it’s happening.

People think these episodes are a choice.
That you can “snap out of it.”
That it’s just being dramatic.

It’s not.

It’s your brain trying to make sense of something it can’t control.

For me, it meant living in moments that felt real, terrifying, and isolating—while the world around me couldn’t see what I was experiencing.

And when it ended…
I was still left to pick up the pieces.

This is why accurate diagnosis matters.
This is why compassionate care matters.
This is why listening to patients matters.

Because behind every diagnosis is a real person trying to understand what’s happening to them.

If you’re living this too—you’re not alone.
Even in the moments where it feels like you’ve lost yourself.

And if you’ve never experienced it—
I hope this helps you understand just a little more.

There is always hope in the chaos.

I’m passionate about using my lived experience with bipolar I with psychosis to support awareness and patient-centered work. Open to collaboration.

05/04/2026

Such important insight here about bladder cancer—especially how often symptoms in women are dismissed or misdiagnosed as something less serious.

But what I really want to highlight—and why I’m sharing this—is the mental health gap that’s being uncovered within the bladder cancer community.

Because behind every diagnosis is a human being trying to process fear, uncertainty, body changes, and a completely altered sense of normal. And too often, the emotional and psychological impact is overlooked or left unsupported.

We can do better.

Filling that gap starts with acknowledging it—by making mental health part of standard cancer care, by creating space for honest conversations, by connecting patients to support groups, therapy, and peer communities, and by simply seeing the person beyond the diagnosis.

To my bladder cancer advocates—your voices matter here. And to anyone walking this path, you deserve care that supports both your body and your mind.

Because awareness should never stop at the diagnosis.

.liz