I spoke in church like a year and a half ago or something,

and I texted my bishop. I was like, if I named my talk, it would be, “God will listen. God will love. God will stay.” And those are the kind of

three principles I think that I’ve had friends kind of be

good examples of.

In 2013, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but before that I kind of thought it was just depression.

And I thought I was depressed and that it would go away. And so I was like, oh, it’s not a big deal. I thought maybe it was just like, you know, circumstantial or maybe I wasn't trying hard enough or something kind of a thing. And when I was in college, I went to college for a year, and the whole time I just kind of would come in and out of these depressive episodes. I guess I didn’t know what to do about it. But I did a screening—like, an online screening of if you might have a mental illness or something. And it just kind of flagged a couple things.

When I started seeing a therapist, I was able to kind of see some issues and patterns of thinking maybe that I had and see maybe areas where

my thoughts were sort of not productive thoughts, I guess. And after a couple of months of seeing a therapist, she was like, you know, let’s see someone who can diagnose you and see if we can get some medication. And it was kind of something that I had been really opposed to at the beginning. But it's been like a lifesaver overall. It's been a lifesaver. There's a lot of little things that I remember people doing for me, you know. So one of my roommates in particular, I spoke in church about mental health a little bit. And so after church, he brought it up to me and said, Oh, can you tell me about that? And he was just really inquisitive about, like,

can you tell me what it's like? How does it manifest itself, you know, in your life?

And so we talked a bit about it that day. And since then we’ve had a number of conversations. Like, he’ll get home late at night and be like, Hey, how’s it going? Let’s talk. And we'll just kind of have a late conversation. And I had a friend in college and we were out

talking, and she had a class coming up soon. So I knew it was going to be a short conversation, just like, here are some things I'm struggling with. I'm really having a hard time right now.

And she just kind of listened and stayed there with me. And then I said, you know, aren't you going to be late for class? And she said, No, not today.

And I just thought that was really kind of her, you know, And it’s had a lasting impact on my life all these years later. I have another friend who just every time he sees me, he’s just like, Hey, Eldon, I love you. How’s it going? And that’s just who he is, you know, and he means it.

And so I think those are kind of the examples I think of is, like, people who will show that they care and that they’ll try to be there for you. And so there's been a lot of little things like that over my life, over the course of, I guess my journey, if you will, where just seeing someone

trying to make an effort to be there for you and to listen to you and to empathize with you.

But I think a big thing for me is setting up expectations for yourself. Like if you’re struggling—

I know a lot of times when I talk to people, I feel like they respond wrong. which I don't know if there's a right response, but just knowing that they’re trying to respond with the best they can with the knowledge that they have, they're trying to help. Like, if you set your expectation that maybe they won’t say the right thing, but they're trying to love you, I think that makes a big difference.

I think early on I kind of recognized that depression was going to help

sort of make me as a person. I think our trials kind of shape who we are, and how we overcome those trials makes a big difference in who we become.

And so I was like, You know what? This is going to help me become a better father, brother, son, everything.

And so when life doesn’t work out the way you want it to, I think there's a lot of times where you can kind of blame yourself or you can kind of change your—maybe like, this is not the plan anymore.

Let’s make a new plan that we can work on and find a new trajectory to work towards, you know, and kind of reevaluate, What are my priorities? What are my goals? And how can I work towards those things with this new challenge?

And so your plans change over time, and how you deal with the

hurdles that are coming will determine how easily you can get to the other side and become a better person. And, you know, the person who I think God knows we can become.

I think one of the hardest things about mental illness is you feel really isolated and alone. You know, the Savior, when He went through the Atonement, to be able to feel what we felt,

He had to be completely alone for a minute.

And so I look at that and I can say, Oh, I felt that. I know what that’s like. And He knows what that’s like. He can relate to that.

And so I think that's really powerful just to know that someone has been through some of the hard things that you've been through

and just knowing that you can turn to Him and say, you know,

I don’t know if I’m strong enough today. And He can strengthen you, I think. And then looking back on it, I think that sometimes we're just strengthened just enough to get through those moments so that we’re not crushed by those burdens. But it’s not so much that the burden goes away instantly or something like that, you know. I think it’s that you’re strengthened enough to make it through those hard times. You really have to focus on relying on the Savior and building up your own strength. And I think you’ll find that you can do more than you could on your own if you rely on the Savior.