Hi, I'm Paolina. And have I got a story for you...
I'm a storyteller. I have been my whole life. My favorite stories are those celebrating the triumph of the human spirit and the power that lies within each of us to bring about change for the better.
Growing up, being the caregiver to my mom and sister, both of whom were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, I learned to find the funny in the absurd, to make friends with the fears, and to shine a light on the darkness. Now I speak, write and teach, helping others find the magic in whatever madness they're in.
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"Don't Let Your Struggle Become Your Identity."
This, Too, Shall Pass (Like A Kidney Stone...):
How "HaHa" Helps with "Cray-Cray"
One particular Christmas I went to visit my little sister who had been committed to a psychiatric facility. It had become my family's tradition: Christmas and Crazy. Because, without fail, and for reasons I have never really understood, my little sister seemed to go off her meds and off the rails just in time for the holidays.
After clearing security and waiting a while in the lobby, my little sister gleefully bounded down the hall toward me. In her hands, she eagerly held out a thick leather bound book, and when she reached me she handed it to me, whispering, "I wrote this." I looked down at the book's cover and the words "Holy Bible" glistening in gold. I wanted to laugh. Instead I just smiled and said, "Catchy title."
On another Christmas, as I approached the checkout lane at the grocery store, I remember one out-of-breath 20-something dressed in his Sunday best. He raced ahead of me to be first in line. He shrugged apologetically, waving two cartons of eggnog over his head. "My family drives me crazy," he said to me over his shoulder. I smiled. "I know what you mean," I replied. Knowing full well he hadn't a clue what crazy, as a holiday get-together or as a lifetime for an individual, really meant.
There's only one drug of choice for me when it comes to mental health and that's HUMOR.
Through her real life stories, Paolina interacts with her audiences, sharing insights and offering up 3 doable "how-tos" to start making humor work for you and the people you love.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Every person (with or without a mental illness) still has their funny bone
- Laughing WITH and not AT is key
- Humor helps us hurdle the day-to-day cray-cray and helps us play with the possibilities of tomorrow
Sometimes, The Strongest Among Us Need Help:
Caring For Yourself While Caring For Others
In the workplace, we're given three days to "get over it" when someone we love has died. If you need help with the grieving process, even if your employer offers it, we don’t want to reach out and ask for that help. There's a certain stigma attached to ANY mental health issue. And for those of us who are caregivers - whether it's by choice or it's been thrust upon us - sometimes, self-imposed stigmas present even more challenges.
In my own situation, professionally, I was climbing the corporate ladder, large and in charge with a seat at the table, an office with floor to ceiling windows, a nameplate that started out with the title of "Chief" and dozens of staffers who looked to me for the answers. From the outside looking in, I exuded power and strength and success. Inside, however, I was struggling to keep all those plates spinning, scared to death of what would happen if I let one fall.
Add to that, a personal life consumed by serving as caregiver to both a mom and a sister diagnosed with a mental illness, and my own mental health was suffering. BUT I felt that to ask for help meant I was admitting defeat. I was a failure. I wasn't "super woman" and "cool" and "on top of it"; even worse, to ask for help meant that I was on the road to being "just like my mom, my sister, and everyone else who had a "mental illness".
Caregiver fatigue is real. Strong powerful people who seem to have it all are depressed. Recent suicides of celebrities underscore the fact that we need to make it okay to not be okay and to ask for help.
In this keynote, Paolina focuses on the strongest among us who are at risk of not getting help when needed. Keeping up the game, the façade that we can handle it -- no matter what "it" may be -- on our own can be fatal. Paolina helps audiences learn to embrace being selfish in order to have more to give when caring for others.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Putting on your own oxygyn mask before assisting others
- Learning to foster work environments and cultures that prioritize self-care and encourage mental health days
- Realizing the courage it takes to get the help you need, even if you're the one everybody comes to for help
Wishing For A Better Past: Letting Go Of What Did Happen In Favor Of What Could Happen
Childhood is supposed to be carefree and full of fun. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many of us. Intended or not, horrible things happen to children. Classmates often bully. Parents sometimes abuse. Friends suddenly ignore us. Maybe cancer or some other illness takes hold of us. Or a trusted neighbor sexually assaults us.
I remember sitting with my own therapist going over and over and over my past. Until one day, she asked me, "Paolina, when are you going to stop wishing for a better past? Because it's never going to happen."
That was the moment everything changed for me. I realized that while I had no power over what came before, I had ALL the power over how much I allowed it to influence what was to come.
In this keynote, Paolina takes audiences on a trip through memory lane, helping them to become more aware of old haunts and past stories that no longer serve our best interests. She then uses storytelling techniques to open up a future of possibilities that aren't dependent of whatever came before.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Recognizing your inner child deserves to have his/her voice heard, finally
- Learning to let go of the past so you CAN move forward healthier and stronger
- Understanding that you have the power to rewrite the perspective of your past and write the next chapters of your life
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