Danny Austin (12:31)
Yes. So I had. This is like, a huge factor that I'm actually still dealing with. But I told you guys, I had the influenza A, influenza B or Covid every month for 10 months out of the 12, 12. Like, literally, I was always sick, and then I would get over one, and then I'd be healthy for two weeks, and then I'd be sick again, like, just like, chronically ill. And so I'm going. I'm working with, like, an immune specialist right now trying to get to the root of it, because it's still happening. When I got. When I had my baby, I had bronchitis. I didn't leave the house, obviously. You know, I had a newborn and it just turned into influenza A. Then my kids got it, and then I got mastitis. So literally my first three weeks of being postpartum, I have had chills, aches and fever like, almost every single day. And breastfeeding on top of that, like, it's just. And this is just kind of like the cycle of my life. Like, I was always sick like this, but then I just wouldn't stop and I would just do more and more. I'd take some Advil, do more, more, more, like. And I mean, I was literally in the hospital, like, in the emergency room from this gerd. I was like, throwing up when I was pregnant because I had this horrible acid reflux. And I'm supposed to be making like a QVC. I'm supposed to be on QVC at 1pm and it's like 9am I'm like. I'm like, give me the drugs. I gotta make this flight. They're like, danny, you're not going anywhere. I just couldn't stop. And so I just needed this. I needed to honestly, like, blow up my life. And, like, I kind of did. Like, I literally. I mean, I told my friends and my family and we'll save a lot of the blow up. Or like, honestly, I would call it like a rock bottom. We'll save a lot of that story. We don't have to talk about everything right now. But I eventually told my. My friends, like, I have like, seven best girlfriends. And then I told my family and I was like, y'all will not be hearing from me. I will be going, bye. Bye. I Will not have my phone. I will be just off the grid. And. Yeah, and that's what I did. And I was able to focus a lot on, like, this inner healing that I needed to know. I know that's such, like, a, you know, I don't know, like, hippie. Hippie word. But, like, I really needed to do. I needed to know, like, what. Why am I like, this? Like, why am I so obsessed with accomplishments? Like, why do I, deep down, feel so empty and, like, I'm never good enough? And, like, it all comes from, like, your childhood, like, it always does. And, like, I. I've told you, but, like, I was, like, the sixth grader that, like, was running for class president. And, like. Like, if I didn't get class president, like, I would. It would make me sick to my stomach. Like, I would just be obsessed because I didn't feel like Danny alone was ever good enough. Danny needed to be class president. She needed to be captain of the volleyball team. She needed to be. Because otherwise, I wasn't valuable. Like, I didn't have anything special for people to actually like about me. I wasn't. I didn't think I was, like, pretty. I didn't think I was funny. I didn't think I was smart. I didn't think I was, like, anything. So I always thought, okay, I have to, like, manufacture this. This version of me that people will fall in love with. And for my childhood, I think it really worked because I got, like, a lot of attention and I felt important. I mean, like, y'all, I was literally class president or, like, some VP or so like, every single year from sixth grade till I was a senior, like, not even joking. And I was always the captain of whatever sport I did. I. I played every single sport. And I hated it. That's the funniest thing. I hated it. I had so much anxiety before these basketball games. Like, I weighed, like, nine, 80 pounds, and these girls are, like, demolishing me. And I. But I couldn't let go because I'm like, well, I'm an athlete, and I have to play all the sports, and I have to be good at all of them. And. And so it just, like. And then, you know, you take someone like that that's just not really ever really content with just being Danny. And then you put them on Instagram and you put them on. It's like the perfect drug for me. Like, it's like I get the dopamine hits that I always wanted every single day, every single moment of my life until I don't and then what do I do? Like, and then that's when, like, the depression kicks in. That's whenever, like, unhealthy patterns and toxic, like, relationships online. Not relationship online. Sorry, that sounded like I was, like, talking to boys online. No, it's not like that. Toxic friendships, like, start to happen. And. And there's this, like. There's this psychiatrist. His name is Gabor. Gabor, Mate. And he talks about your authentic self. Self versus, like, attachment. And your authentic self is, like, when you, like, actually love yourself and you're actually, like, willing to hurt other people or, like, let other people down because you are so confident in who you are, which is, like, kind of, like what we should strive for. But then there's this attachment side of yourself that, like, you will completely deny your true self just so you can have attention and love from. From other people. Like, if. If there is a version of you that people like better, that gives you more attention, gives you more laughs, gives you more smiles, like, you're, like, screwed. Screw the real Danny. Like, I'm this Danny today. And, like, that is so me. Like, I did everything for the attachment because I wanted to feel important and I wanted to feel valuable. And, you know, it's just so funny because it all really works until you have kids. I mean, when I say it works, it's unfulfilling and it's sad, and, like, you have to struggle a lot. But, like, when you have kids, it was really hard for me because, like, I don't think that I. I realized until 2024, like, I have. I always felt this huge responsibility with, I'm gonna say 3 million people, because we're about to hit a million on TikTok with these 3 million people that follow along with our life. Like, I've always felt this, like. Like, I. I genuinely feel this, like, heart for those people. I really do. And I feel like God gave me that. That heart for those people. But. But I've always known, like, I. There. There's, like. I don't know, like, I wasn't taking care of myself in order to take care of those people. And then I felt like I prioritized the 3 million people over the 3 people now I have in my home, which are my kids. And I feel like my true calling now is to Minister to my three little babies in, like, prioritizing that over my 3 million. And, like, that will come. But, like, my true calling is as a mother. And, like, I've never been able to accept that. I've always been, like, I'M a, I'm a girl, but I don't call myself a girl boss. But like in my head I'm like, I'm a career woman. Like, I'll never be a stay at home mom. Like, I'll always be working and all this. And in 2024, like, I feel like God started to change my heart in that way. Like, he was like, no, like you, like, I want you to be a mom. Like, I want you to like, take care of your babies and prioritize your family. And like, I just went down like kicking and screaming and fighting and. But then I feel like my heart truly changed and like, I didn't know, I didn't know how to change myself. So when it came down to the social media break, it was a very, you know me, I don't really think about things. I just kind of do it. Sometimes if I think about it too much, it stresses me out. So if there's a task at hand, I'm like, okay, let's do it right now. That's kind of how I felt about posting about my social media break. Like, I kind of was just like, I'm gonna jump into it, dive head first, see what happens. I didn't really have a plan of like, what I was when I was gonna come back, how much I was gonna share what was going on. Like, I really didn't have any of that. But I knew I needed to change my behaviors in my life and I knew I needed to change my environment. And when I say environment, I didn't mean like, I don't think you always have to change. Like literally moving to a new city or, you know, like change, move into a new house, whatever it is. I, When I thought of environment, I thought of the people I was around, what I was consuming, what I was doing on a daily basis, what I valued. Like, I just felt like I needed to like, throw it all away and like start from scratch. Um, and then when I thought of changing my behaviors, like, I was like, I know that in order to change, like actually change, like to be a changed woman, I know it's going to take time. Like, I knew it wasn't going to be overnight. And that kills me because everything I ever want to do, I want to fix it instantly. I want there to be an instant fix. And that's probably like a little bit from my childhood. Like, I mean, I love. My parents were amazing because they always like introduced me to my faith, took us to church, but there was a lot of like, pray it away type of Behavior in my like childhood, which, so I don't know if I'd ever seen like real change, like someone actually change and like what it takes to change as a person. Like how much work goes into it. And it was shocking when I started my break because I started to actually sit with myself and like see, like, okay, what do I value or what do I like or what is my calling or what? And it was like sad. Like it was sad how, how little I had matured over the past like five to ten years. Probably because of how much my work got in the way. Like I felt like I was 20 years old. Like I was like, what do I, what do I even value in life, in my life? What do I like about myself? Am I even funny? Am I nice? Am I a good person? Like, and you have to sit with all these things because you don't have work or this dopamine rush to like get you going anymore. So you just sit with it and like stare at yourself. And so, I mean half of the break was just, that was just like sitting in the muck and being like, well this is what I don't. Like, this is what I don't want to be. And but yeah, I don't think I would have ever been able to do that if I wouldn't have just like stopped everything.