Is Faith a Crutch? Let’s Talk

I mean , are these three parts of you in alignment with the person you believe yourself to be , or are you actively on your way to being ? Whatever side of the coin you are ? My solar rant this week should , I believe , help you gain some clarity . So what am I doing this week ?

I'm getting a little personal and sharing some of my views on faith , my journey through mental health conversations and the impact social media has on mental health conversations . So sit tight , get a cup of coffee , tea , water or food and let's dig in . I am Oluwatumise Oladapo . Having my faith questioned used to give me intense anxiety .

Used to I even opened a chapter in my book living mindfully a journey to being with that exact sentence . Faith and consciousness these are things I have carried with clarity for most parts of my life . But let's be honest . Let's be honest . I understand why people push back against religion .

In my opinion , all organized religions are based on interpretations , interpretations of sects , denominations and even traditions .

I won't pretend to know everything about faiths , especially the ones I no longer practice , though I must tell you I have explored quite a few in my search for meaning , but I do know this for those who follow the way , the resistance is often stronger . Why ? Because this belief system that's Christianity , the way preaches grace .

That's christianity , the way preaches grace , forgiveness and love . It's a system that claims to be the one , and yet the practitioners , again in my opinion , struggle , not knowing which side of the covenant they truly belong to . So here's the thing placing your faith in a higher power doesn't necessarily erase existential questions .

It doesn't mean you won't wrestle with doubt , because there are things in life that you will constantly question . The answers may never come , or maybe they're already with you , but you need to step back , be mindful and a huge dose of awareness to even recognize them , those that are right staring at you . The world , then , has become so noisy , unbearably so .

You have to work harder in these times to find the quiet . And for those of us who believe in the way , who are Christians at best , we are sometimes like Job's friends , conspiracy theorists of faith talking about God , not necessarily speaking for him .

My daughter and I had a conversation and she put it this way , that Job's friends weren't exactly wrong , but they were , as they say , gen Z's , as they say , talking in the nonsense , seeing God only through their own limited lenses .

And because we are called to hold each other accountable , we sometimes become caustic , self-righteous and I dare say modern day Pharisees , except even the old Pharisees of the first century , would probably learn a thing or two from us , because I don't think we are better .

But here's my challenge today If we sit with what we say we believe and then strip all of it to its core , does any of it , whether indigenous or adopted , ask us to suspend common sense as we search for meaning For the avoidance of doubt ? I believe in God through Christ . I also know . I know the damage humanity has inflicted in his name and on his name .

That is God . I do not like my faith and consciousness questioned , but in the questioning I have found clarity . I have found myself . Hear how I articulated it in my book Living Mindfully A Journey to being Faith and consciousness is what I call the chapter .

By the way , faith is a great part of my existence and the energy that flows from it is sometimes quite surreal . Yet it is not something I willingly do . It is something I allow my consciousness to bring to the front burner of my mind . I am one of those people who never really had an issue believing in a higher power , especially through Jesus .

I , however , was curious enough to be familiar with other forms of belief systems . Why , I really can't say . I just needed to understand why we're believed , how we believe and what shapes that for us .

It is very difficult for most minds to understand the concept of a bigger phenomenon to believe in , but it rarely , has never been a challenge for me , because experiences early in life made me know there had to be someone or something else that was fueling my existence . Disappointments came in so early in my life .

I was six years old when I realized that even my parents were powerless in the face of how dark the human mind could be . The options open to me then were few Acknowledge and bury Acknowledge , get angry and bury Acknowledge and pretend the child doesn't understand . Of all the options , none really truly addressed or solved the problems .

As a child , I would just sit in a corner and cry in the hope that the God I was taught to pray through and to would listen and heal . And I can say , yes , he listened , that healing is still ongoing . For me , faith became the only crutch that I could reliably lean on without the fear of being judged .

That passage sums up much of what faith has been for me Not a shield from pain , but a lens that gives me perspective . And this is where I see the tension in today's world . On one hand , we have those who see faith as a crutch , something weak people hold on to .

On the other hand , we have those who weaponize faith , turning it into a tool of judgment and exclusion , and somewhere in between . Social media amplifies both extremes . One of the most frequent questions I get , and have gotten on this journey , is how , tumishe , have you been able to keep your head above water ?

How do you manage being a person living with bipolar affective disorder ? The gift of medical intervention ? It gave me the language to understand why I showed up in different spaces with different versions of myself , why my emotions swung to the extremes , potions swung to the extremes .

But you see , my faith , that's something I've been able to hold on to since I was six . Did it stop the abuse ? No , did it prevent the molestations ? It didn't , but it gave me perspective . I could have easily , easily become bitter , I could have turned into the very thing that caused me pain , but faith gave me an anchor , something higher to hold onto .

So why is this heavy on my mind today ? Social media , social media I see anger . I see anger everywhere . Everyone is angry , everyone has an opinion , everyone is trying to be heard . The key has become a weapon .

There's a lot of anger at faith , at the people who practice any kind of faith , not just christianity I'm just speaking from my own lens here at faith , at people who choose grace . Adults will take the high road . They are called weak . On the flip side , I see how mental health conversations have evolved too .

Awareness has increased yes , it has , but so has its misuse . We throw around . I'm protecting my mental health so carelessly that the phrase has become so ubiquitous and , dare I say , irresponsible .

Become so ubiquitous and dare I say irresponsible Again , as my daughter pointed out , when we're having a conversation around this , those who truly need help now struggle to seek it because mental health discourse on social media has become so facetious .

That's funny , fake , whatever , however , you want to interpret facetious the synonym that you want to use for that so performative . She said that it's further stigmatizes instead of liberating . Now , let us be clear .

Let us be clear mental health conversations are not about creating a fantasy where life is painless and free of fear , of failure , of wickedness , because as long as there are humans , good and evil will coexist . Let me draw from my Yoruba heritage for a bit here . There's a saying , an aphorism , that says we're born into both good and evil , or bad .

So what's the answer to the question to me , how do you keep yourself above water , your your head above water ? How do you navigate living with bipolar affective disorder , mood swings , and all of that within the space of all the craziness that's going on ? For me , the answer is quite simple I live mindfully .

Yes , I know it's an obvious answer because , hey , the , the , the podcast is called Mindfully With Tumishe , the book is called Living Mindfully and all of that . But it truly is the answer for me , trying to step away from the noise and sitting with myself to understand why situations and events trigger me , why , how do I resolve this ?

How do I find the me that is supposed to respond and relate , reflect and resolve those things , for me to live as authentic as I can afford on the side of eternity . As , as we navigate these conversations faith , mental health , the digital age I want to challenge you .

I want to challenge you to be intentional about what you believe , about the words that you use on yourself and with other people and , most importantly , how you engage online . How you engage online . In the past three , four weeks I have consciously stayed offline . Even a movie , a movie . I watched a movie in the .

I really did like the movie and how men were portrayed and the whole story of healing and forgiveness and all . And yesterday I decided to go on social media and I saw the

ratings of the movie and the anger that was coming from . Why should there be forgiveness ? Why should there be grace ? And I'm like why are we doing this to ourselves ?

Be careful , be intentional about how you engage online and the things that you take in online , that you take in online , because they will affect the way you think , the emotions that come up from the thoughts that have come in your head and , most importantly , how you relate with yourself and others . Number two be mindful .

Again , a very obvious call to to action . Find quiet in the chaos . Kill the fear of missing out . Literally kill the fear of missing out . You don't know everybody on earth and it's impossible for you to know everything that's going on on earth .

Even with your spouse , with your partner , with your children , especially if you have teenagers and young adults , you don't know what's going on . Kill the fear of missing out . It will drastically help you manage worry , anxiety , phobias and everything that comes with your everyday mental health questions . I'm not talking mental health .

I'm talking mental health questions like your thoughts , your emotions and your behaviors . Be anchored Obvious , yes , be anchored , whatever that means for you . Find something that keeps you steady when the world is shaking . Find something that keeps you steady when the world is shaking . I have said the way I find .

My own anchor is God , through Christ , whatever higher power , and trust me , you can go Google it or search it . Psychiatrist psychology is saying now that people who have their anchor , people , especially people living with mental health questions and mental ill health , who have anchors in the higher power , tend to come around faster than people who do not .

And that's because I think there's hope . You know there's some form of hope , there's some form of place that you anchor yourself , and I'll use myself as an example Again . When I was six , I had an audience of one .

If you read Living Mindfully , I talk a bit about how that relationship anchored me and how it helped me to understand that the evil that is happening to me was also happening for me . I remember that the first time I went to the hospital , to the psychiatrist , and the psychologist asked me all of this , have you done this to someone before ?

And I'm like , why would I do that to someone ? It caused me pain . Why would I want to cause someone else pain ? And he said to me to be honest , that will be a natural response you want to hurt because you've been hurt .

But I dare saying that because I had this perspective of yin yang , the good and the evil you know , being part of existence , because you can find good in good . Bad you can understand . Or you can yeah , you can understand bad and good . Yes , because when the good does come after you've been through bad , you can then appreciate it .

And then it was like that's quite rare , um , I'm I'm sure I'm not the only one who lives that way , but if , if you have been , you are part of that community where someone is hurting and you're thinking revenge or you're thinking justice , which is quite I don't know , I didn't know how to describe justice , and that's a conversation for another day .

May I invite you to find yourself anchored and understand . Like I said in the first tip , you believe what you believe . You know , even if you call him the supreme one , you call it the universe .

However , we , just we cannot invite you to sit down with that and strip it to the core to be able to find out how you can navigate , to be , to be the good and the bad in existence , because on this side of eternity , in this dimension , then some answers would never , ever get .

And if you take nothing else from this solo rant , remember mental health isn't a trend and faith isn't a weapon and social media isn't real life , live mindfully . And that's the end of my rant , my solo rant today on faith , on mental health questions and on social media impact on these narratives .

So if you have any questions for me or what you think I should have done and I didn't do with this conversation or this rant , you can send me mail , um , send me message B-L-A-C-K-H-E-M-A-G-E-Scom , or just go to the description of this episode . The link is there to send a mail . Or you can just send a text . Send me a text , also in the description .

Leave a comment on socials and follow me on social media of course , ironic . I , I know mindfully with my name is oluwa tumishi or ladak okuku . Love yourself , love your neighbor , love this country or your country , and , above all of this , love god . He is the essence of your being next week a very , very interesting conversation .

I have one of the most interesting guests sitting on the other side of the mic with me . Do not miss that . Until then , remember it is worth repeating Mental health isn't a trend , faith isn't a weapon and social media isn't real life . Go become , live mindfully .

Who comes along when you cry for help ? I know I can't change the past , but as the river keeps flowing , I'll keep on moving on .