The Vision: I founded Respect Your Gift in January of 2017. That was the beginning of my advocacy. At the time mental health was a me too culture: “I’m diagnosed with this… I suffer from that…” My response was what I call Optimistic Mental Health….

The Last Lecture: “When you do the right thing good stuff has a way of happening.” – Randy Pausch A feedback loop is a process of getting feedback and responding to it. The first time I heard about this concept was during The Last Lecture….

Mr. McCarver: As a player and color commentator, Tim McCarver was a baseball legend. In the movie Moneyball his voice is used during a scene that talks about the career of the main character, Billy Beane: “… he’s got to be successful to be confident.” …

I began building the Respect Your Gift message in 2017. Three years later I created Volume ’19: a summary of the year’s best content. Since then I’ve created a “volume” video at the end of every year. Introducing, Volume ’23: Five things I’ve learned about…

Bill Nye: Mental health is foundational. It’s like DNA. That also means that taking care of our mental health is different for everyone. It’s a process of figuring out what works for us, and because it’s a process it requires adjustments. Adjustments are part of…

The work works… There’s a TikTok of a guy named John Green (@literallyjohngreen) walking. While he walks he talks about how much he dislikes walking. He also talks about why he walks: because it’s good for his mental health. As it relates to our mental…

Connect the Dots: You Gonna Luv Me… I don’t go to the movies very often. The last time I went was to see I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Before that it was to see Straight Outta Compton. I like history. And I like music history….

Write it Down I enrolled in college as a part-time student in 2005. I was 24 years old.  The week before classes I got my textbooks. Also, for the first time since high school, I got a planner. And, with my rediscovered agenda appreciation, I…

All About the Benjamins – “You’ll never find a hairline like mine…” Not every conversation about mental health needs to be heavy. Years ago I cut my hair before a job interview and my attention to detail became an obsessive compulsion. I wound up pushing…

Food Impacts Mental Health: The definition of impact is to have a strong effect on someone or something. I used to teach a social and emotional learning class and one of the lessons focused on the difference between objective and subjective. Objective is fact. Subjective…

What’s Your Medicine? For me, running is medicine. One of the reasons why is because running can produce a runner’s high. A runner’s high is a relaxing state of joy following intense, lengthy exercise. Research to understand this process is ongoing but one thing we…

Resourcefulness… We respect our gifts by taking care of our mental health. And we take care of our mental health with wellness. Wellness is the active pursuit of good health: mind, body, spirit. Spirit is the energy we keep, attitudes we carry, values that guide…

Respect Your Gift’s mission is to move the culture of mental health toward wellness.  Wellness is the active pursuit of good health: mind, body, spirit. And wellness is how we take care of our mental health. A culture of wellness is value-based and solution-focused. It’s about building…

Perspective is Priceless… “It’s about finding the best version of yourself and doing what you can to bring that version out.” When we focus on mental health’s value we tap into a motivation to take care. And how do we take care of our mental…

I started creating personal development content in 2012. It took six years and hundreds of videos to produce the two most signature things about Respect Your Gift. Motto: Small steps. Great distances.℠ Tagline: You know… Let’s go!℠ It took six years and hundreds of videos. Adjustments…

Small steps. Great distances.℠ A bunch of steps in the right direction will eventually lead to a gratifying journey down the road to success… I went to bed thinking about that quote. Specifically, I thought about the business writing class that I took in college,…

What is optimistic mental health? It’s how Respect Your Gift champions the topic and motivates people to take care. And it’s defined by the same brand attributes used to design the R.Y.G. logo: Optimistic Perspective: We draw positive associations to the topic of mental health.  Foundational…

The Respect Your Gift logo was inspired by three principles that define our message: 1. Optimistic Perspective: Optimism supports effective communication. Respect Your Gift uses an optimistic perspective to communicate the value of our mental health. The color white represents optimism. The depth in the…