by Lisa Cybaniak
Have you ever received a second chance in life? Maybe it was a second chance at love, friendship, or in your career. What about your mental health? Have you ever had something life-changing happen that caused you to literally change your life?
Today we’re talking about the second chances, or revelations, you can have through depression, to drive you through not only your own recovery, but in making a difference in the lives of others.
Yajna Panes is a Swedish artist, singer, songwriter and businesswoman who has led an extraordinary life. From her teenage snow-boarding career, her event producing in the action sport scene, to touring Sweden in a Gospel Choir and starting “Women Worldwide”, a company in Cape Town that helps local women start their own business making clothing and bags out of plastic bags and recycled materials.
Not to mention her singing career, documentary film making, her own record label, and her annual event “Femenomenal”, which will be the first African cultural event with only females on stage.
Seriously, this woman is incredible!
Meet Yajna Panes
Yajna’s entire mission is to help others out of depression and unhealthy relationships. That’s because, after her divorce left her a single mother, Yajna fell into not only a deep clinical depression, but into psychosis. To say she was on death’s door is an understatement. Yajna had to literally pick herself up off the ground and put back the pieces of her life, rising like a phoenix.
And that’s exactly where her inspiration came from, and was the title of her first single: The Rising Phoenix. From ashes into fire, stronger than ever and with a message of hope, love and power, Yajna is here today to share her story and her tips for coping with that negative mantra in your head, causing all your self-doubt.
Whether you’ve suffered clinical depression or psychosis before, perhaps even now, or you can relate to what it feels like to be at rock bottom, you can’t afford to miss this episode.
So, let’s dive right in!
Allow yourself to feel
Yajna’s first tip is to remind yourself that you can be sad, angry, or any other emotion. You need these feelings. Just remember that you will rise again.
Yajna recalls in her depression, and now on the other side, that it’s in the darkness where the stars are born. It’s that adage that you don’t know what you’re made of until you find out. In Yajna’s case, she felt she had to die a little bit to be re-born.
Positive thoughts about yourself
Her next top tip to coping with those negative thoughts that cast self-doubt in times of depression, and otherwise, is to start the day with positive thoughts.
Literally, the moment you open your eyes and register you’re awake, tell yourself at least one positive thing.
For example, Yajna tells herself each morning that this is going to be the best day of her life, that she is the rising phoenix, and she’s worth it and deserves it.
Positive Affirmations
Going together with positive thoughts about yourself, positive affirmations can go a long way. Many of us spend so long finding apparent “evidence” for all the reasons we aren’t good enough, why not repeat some positive affirmations about all the wonderful things we do deserve?
Yajna’s examples are, “I deserve happiness”, “I am strong and deserving”, and “I am worthy of good things and happiness”.
Level up
After everything Yajna has been through, she chooses to see life as not being hard, but rather filled with opportunities.
This requires a change in perspective – a change in mindset. I know looking at a painful circumstance as an opportunity is a step too far for some, but I can attest to this shift being vital in overcoming self-doubt.
Yajna shares so much more about her story, as well as her take on forgiveness and the power it holds. She includes the four things that helped her during her darkest days, and even helped to pull her out: Her children, believing in herself, finding something she loves doing (writing and performing music), and professional help.
This powerful episode is worth the listen. I can’t wait to hear about the revelations you have!
I’ll leave you with this one thought from this episode: When we speak about overcoming depression or self-doubt, we don’t mean we expect to never face them again. Rather, we’ve learned to deal with these issues quickly, the moment they arise. Recognising the moment those thoughts and feelings creep in is half the battle.
Press play on the episode above – you don’t want to miss this!
You can listen to Yajna’s music on Spotify, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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Voice over credit: Shari Vandermolen. Shari is offering a free download of one of her songs to the fans of the Life Like You Mean It podcast! Just visit www.GiftFromShari.com and tell her where to send it. Shari’s debut album is available for streaming on all the major platforms including Spotify and iTunes.
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