Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6jxvAUVGYc Starts at: 01:13:03 (jump to 01:13:03)
Reed Chancellor: ‘Hardcore Anxiety’ — Punk Rock and Mental Health
[01:13:03] from kentucky always a comic book creator that’s pretty dope [01:13:16] hi my name is reed chancellor i am a comic book artist and author specifically i wrote and drew [01:13:23] the book hardcore anxiety a graphic guide to punk rock and mental health [01:13:30] and the book is essentially my journey through [01:13:33] discovering mental health issues in my life as well as an introduction into punk music and culture [01:13:41] and hardcore music and hardcore culture and it is it’s it’s my own journey through that because [01:13:46] that’s that’s where i learned all these things that’s where my you know journey really begins [01:13:53] with mental health is intertwined with my introduction into punk music and the main [01:13:59] thing i think i really want to talk about is this idea of of do-it-yourself of diy and it’s [01:14:06] something that i talk a little bit about in the book but i think it’s something that needs to be [01:14:12] said because honestly i feel like i have to tell myself this every day that while do-it-yourself [01:14:18] is a great mantra when it comes to learning three chords and having a kick drum and you know [01:14:27] yelling something into a microphone [01:14:29] and putting out a seven inch and just creating a scene creating the things that you want to see [01:14:35] in the world do-it-yourself is fantastic for that and i’m not saying that do-yourself is a [01:14:42] is a negative thing in the world at all as a whole but the one thing that i wish punk would [01:14:51] have taught me as i grew up in it and as i learned more about the genre and more about myself as i [01:14:57] wish that somebody [01:14:59] would have said that you you don’t have to do it yourself you know that that’s the beauty of a [01:15:06] community is that it’s not a bunch of individuals just saying i don’t need your help the community [01:15:11] is everybody working together towards a common goal and whether that common goal is 200 people [01:15:19] in a sweaty basement with a terrible pa screaming along the words of a song or the common goal is [01:15:29] having the courage to talk to somebody about what you’re feeling [01:15:34] it’s it’s never something you have to do yourself and you shouldn’t do it yourself i know i used [01:15:45] busyness and exhaustion as a coping mechanism because all i could do because all i thought i [01:15:54] could do all i thought i was was somebody who played in a band i didn’t think i had to do it [01:15:59] i didn’t think i had worth in other areas of my life i couldn’t be a student dropped out of college i [01:16:03] couldn’t be a teacher i quit that i couldn’t hold down a job that was more than 30 hours a week i [01:16:10] couldn’t do these things because my identity was put into this thought of i have to do this on my own [01:16:20] and that’s no way to live and so in 2015 i finally made i made the jump [01:16:29] i i said i can’t do this on my own i can’t live every aspect of my life diy i i got help and i started [01:16:41] seeing a therapist and after months turned into years and session after session and talking after [01:16:53] talking and a lot of missteps and a lot of misunderstandings on my own part and trying to [01:16:59] figure out who i am or who i want to be i finally came to the conclusion that [01:17:08] i don’t need to do anything diy i don’t need to do anything myself [01:17:14] because i have a system i have a support system i have a wonderful wife i have a [01:17:21] beautiful family i have a great identity in something that’s more than power core [01:17:29] and as much as i love listening to the bad brains and listening to black flag and the ramones [01:17:40] and how they’ve taught me nearly everything that i want to know and everything that i hold dear [01:17:52] they’re they’re not saving my life i i’m saving my life and [01:17:59] it’s the truth you have to make that choice i say in the end of my book that punk rock opens the door [01:18:09] to a lot of awareness of mental health you know people screaming about shock treatment and nervous [01:18:18] breakdowns and fixing my head and all sorts of depression but i’ve never heard the punk song [01:18:26] you know i need to go to my therapist early and even if it’s something anywhere that doesn’t involve me and always, you know i still achieved everything with it. Because it’s the truth. [01:18:29] And I don’t know, that might not be a very good song, but it’s something that I think people need to hear. [01:18:41] And so, five years of steady therapy, and medication, and positive thinking, and ways to do it, [01:18:49] and in this I finally feel like I have the identity that I want, and the identity that is true. [01:18:57] And that’s who I am, and that’s what both punk has taught me, and what punk didn’t teach me at all. [01:19:14] So for the days that I feel great, and I’m able to vent to people, and talk to friends, and family, and doctors, and anybody, [01:19:27] I have that ability that I don’t have to do it myself. [01:19:32] I have that thought process that I’m not stuck in this on my own. [01:19:40] And for the days that I don’t feel like I have that, I still have the Clash. [01:19:45] I still have the Ramones. [01:19:48] I still have Black Flag. [01:19:50] I still have Fugazi. [01:19:56] And they’re all saying the same thing. [01:19:57] That you’re not alone, and we’ll all make it out of this alive.