Harnessing Courage: Blindness and Mental Health Resilience with Laura Bratton

In this deeply moving episode of Overcome: A Mental Health Podcast, host Travis White welcomes Laura Bratton—author of Harnessing Courage, speaker, coach, and advocate for mental wellness—to share her powerful story of blindness and mental health resilience.

Diagnosed in childhood with a rare degenerative eye condition, Laura faced a gradual and permanent loss of sight. But it wasn’t just her vision that was impacted—it was her identity, her independence, and her mental health. She vulnerably opens up about the panic attacks, anxiety, and depression that began in middle school and followed her through adolescence.

Despite these challenges, Laura learned how to transform fear into strength through support, self-awareness, and a resilient mindset rooted in grit and gratitude.

This conversation dives into:

• The life-altering moment she realized she was going blind
• How denial evolved into debilitating anxiety and depression
• What blindness taught her about true strength and mental health resilience
• Physical symptoms of panic attacks and how she learned to manage them
• The role of therapy, medication, mindfulness, physical activity, and nutrition in her recovery
• How her guide dogs provided emotional healing and built confidence
• Why her parents holding her to the same expectations helped her heal
• Reframing independence as knowing when—and how—to ask for help
• How gratitude journaling became a daily anchor for emotional clarity
• Building small daily wins into long-term resilience
• Her mission to help others navigate change through coaching and public speaking

Whether you’re navigating a personal health crisis, supporting a loved one through depression, or searching for ways to cope with anxiety—Laura’s story is a beacon of hope. She proves that blindness does not define your ability to thrive, and that resilience can be built moment by moment, with the right tools and support.

Follow us, let's beat the stigma together.

 Learn more or contact Laura: www.laurabratton.com
Harnessing Courage — Now available on her website 

Shop Merch:

https://overcomepod.com/shop

Follow Overcome - a Mental Health Podcast

• Instagram: @overcomepod
• Youtube: @overcomepod

Listen to us

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

Want to have a real conversation about your mental health? Fill out this form!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & Guest Welcome
• 2:00 The Onset of Vision Loss & Emotional Impact
• 6:30 Experiencing Panic Attacks as a Teen
• 10:00 Identity Crisis After Losing Sight
• 13:00 Building Resilience Through Support
• 17:30 Learning to Cope: Therapy, Medication & Mindfulness
• 23:00 Letting Go of Negative Thoughts with Mindfulness
• 28:00 The Power of Gratitude Practice
• 31:00 Redefining Strength and Independence
• 36:00 The Story Behind “Harnessing Courage”
• 43:00 Nutrition, Holistic Living, and Mental Clarity
• 51:00 Advice for Those Struggling with Mental Health
• 56:00 Breaking the Stigma of Invalidated Emotions
• 58:00 Laura’s Coaching & Speaking Work
• 1:00:00 Final Words & Where to Find Laura

Transcript

Travis White (00:01)
Hello and welcome to Overcome a Mental Health Podcast, the place where you can share your mental health stories. I'm very excited for today's guest. I'm speaking with Laura Bratton. Laura is the author of Harnessing Courage. She's also a speaker and coach that empowers all people to overcome challenges and obstacles with grit and gratitude. And Laura, welcome to the show.

Laura Bratton (00:23)
Thank

you. I appreciate you creating this opportunity, this platform.

Travis White (00:29)
So without further ado, I'm just going to turn the time right over to you. And I just want you to tell you, the listeners about your journey with anxiety and depression.

Laura Bratton (00:41)
Yeah, so all the anxiety and depression started in middle school. So towards the end of middle school, I was sitting in geography class and it was just a normal school day and the teacher said, okay, I want you to take out your notebooks and start copying down the notes on the board. So just like I always have done, I took out my notebook,

grabbed my pen, I glanced up at the board and all I saw were these shadowy images. Nothing looked like a letter or number. just, was kind of fuzzy, blurry, like more like a shadow, not like anything defined. So I looked back down, I'm writing a book, kind of adjusting my pen, looked back up at the board.

And still that's all I saw. So I leaned over to my neighbor as she was writing down all her notes and said, how are you copying down the notes on the board? There's nothing to write down.

And her answer was life changing. She just said, Laura, the print is normal. What are you referring to? What are you talking about?

And I vividly remember I just dropped my pen on my notebook and sat back in my chair and just, was, I don't even think I took a deep breath, just was more in shock of my new reality. So a few years before this event, I was diagnosed with a super rare retinal disease. So the cells in my retina were dying. So they had told my parents,

she will lose her sight but we don't know at what rate. So as I was sitting there in that geography class and I couldn't read the print on the board anymore, that's when the reality of that diagnosis became real.

So from that day forward, that again, that's what started the anxiety, the depression. But even before the anxiety and depression, my immediate response was denial. This is not happening. Oh, this is not that bad. This is definitely not gonna last long. It's not permanent. It's not forever. It was complete denial of the situation.

Once that denial wore off, that's what started the intense anxiety of panic attacks, the intense depression. My whole mantra was, can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. And so the anxiety and depression came from that mindset of I can't. That was the emotional response to that mindset. So that's what started the intense.

emotional pain.

Travis White (03:46)
And what did your panic attacks look like to you? Because I know they're kind of all a little bit different for different people.

Laura Bratton (03:54)
So for me, it was that super intense, it feels like as a therapist would describe it, like an elephant on your chest. it just, my chest felt so heavy and so tight, it felt like I literally couldn't get breath in my lungs. Like it felt, it was very, it felt very difficult to breathe. Also the other,

symptom that I noticed with the pancreatics, as I noticed that heaviness, I could very easily get intense... It felt like indigestion, but it wasn't literally indigestion. It was just the burning tightness kind of in my throat that when I swallowed, it was like the food wasn't going down. It was literally getting stuck.

because I was so tight and tense, my airways weren't opening up. So it was the intense in my chest and then also just generally my body, it was the ansiness. I just feel like I'm about to come out of my skin. Just that jittery, antsy. So that's how the panic attacks manifested.

Travis White (05:15)
And that's, they can be really scary. I've had a few, not like a ton, but I remember being like in a parking lot, in like a huge parking lot. And I was worried about where I was going because some of these bigger cities, I'm used to small cities. So I get panicky when I go somewhere I'm not used to. I was in this big parking lot and parked the car and I all of a sudden got a loss, like of sense of direction. And so.

Laura Bratton (05:32)
Yes.

Right? Yeah.

Travis White (05:42)
I remember like feeling really antsy and hyperventilating and I couldn't like focus enough to get back on track. It took me 20 minutes to actually maybe longer to find my way out of that garage. And it was me calling my wife when I got caught my breath and saying like, I need help getting out of here. I need you to talk me through this.

Laura Bratton (06:02)
Walk me through, yes. That I completely agree

with that. And you said it perfectly. You lose your focus. You absolutely lose your focus. And it's not that you're distracted with something else. It's just that tightness in your chest, at least for me, it was so intense and I was putting so much effort on trying to breathe. I couldn't, I didn't have the, it's like I didn't have the energy to focus.

So I know that yes, that yes, I can relate.

Travis White (06:36)
How long did your symptoms go on for? Is this something you took care of right away or did it take some time before you got the help that you needed?

Laura Bratton (06:46)
So it was both. Thankfully, as these intense panic attacks started and clearly as a teenager, I didn't have that language to say this is panic attacks. I could just describe how I was feeling. Thankfully, my parents recognized immediately we need to get her help. so they, several factors.

Travis White (07:00)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Bratton (07:13)
very much significantly helped. So my mom made an appointment with a counselor, with a therapist that I could go and talk to. And so I started that. Also at the same time, they were very diligent to make sure that I was exercising, just to move my body to get the endorphins going. Every day, you know, there were some, let's go just walk the dog around the block after dinner.

you know, like my dad and I would just go take the dog outside, walk around the block or whatever. So it wasn't like intense pressure forced, some regimented thing, but just very making sure that exercise was a part of my lifestyle, again, just to keep my body.

moving. So it just helped that the blood flow and that that significantly helped my panic attacks and my they did continue through high school but I was better able to recognize when they were coming, why they were coming, and how to how to treat it.

Travis White (08:22)
And with your blindness, I'm just curious with the. Did you were you like losing sight like from that age you got diagnosed with the retina problem or didn't just all like were you trying to think of how to phrase that? Was it something that was? Yeah. OK, that's what I was getting to. I couldn't think of that. I couldn't think of the word.

Laura Bratton (08:36)
Yeah, so I lost...it was very...it was gradual. Yeah, so yeah, you phrased it...yeah, no...yeah, you phrased it perfectly.

So when I was diagnosed, after that I lost a very minimal amount of sight, very minimal. Like if you interacted with me, you wouldn't really know. The only difference was I would hold books a little bit closer to my face, but it was nothing...nothing really unusual.

And certainly if I had trouble, know, a magnifier, I would just grab it. It was no problem. But again, that middle school time was really when I lost a significant amount. So the way I never woke up one day and went from full sight to no sight. It wasn't like a dramatic go to bed with sight, wake up with out sight. What it was was I would lose a significant amount of sight and then it would stay that way for a while.

Travis White (09:16)
Okay.

Laura Bratton (09:32)
and then I'll lose a significant amount of sight and then it would kind of even out. So by the end of high school, that lasted about four years through high school, by the end of high school, I had pretty much what I have now. So no usable vision, a small amount of light perception. So for example, today was a rainy, cloudy, dreary day, I had almost zero light perception. On a clear sunny crisp day,

Travis White (10:00)
Okay.

Laura Bratton (10:02)
I have good light perception. So it really, really depends on the weather.

Travis White (10:08)
And that makes sense. And when you've lost your sight, think of your teenage years. How did that impact your sense of identity in your day-to-day life?

Laura Bratton (10:17)
So that was a huge part of the anxiety and the depression. Because all of sudden, I was other. I was different. I was the disabled kid. I was the blind girl. I was big into sports, and I couldn't do sports anymore. I was big into dancing. After school, several days a week, I was in multiple dance classes. And I've been doing that since I could.

literally since I could walk since I was like one and half or two. So much of what I loved and what I was passionate about as a teenager, I was not able to continue because of the vision loss. So that was a major major part of anxiety and the depression because it was that identity. Then who am I?

Travis White (11:08)
And so these moments of where you felt really overwhelmed or hopeless, whatever the word may be, how did you cope in those moments?

Laura Bratton (11:20)
So both words, both overwhelmed, hopeless, fearful of the present, fearful of the future. The way that I coped and the way that I moved through that anxiety and depression, it was not me just waking up or just choosing, hey, I believe in myself. Hey, this is all gonna work out. Hey, I'm just gonna choose to cope and all the anxiety and depression would go away. The way I coped,

was the support around me. So what I mean by that, a very tangible example was as I was overwhelmed, as I was hopeless, as I was fearful of the present and the future, my parents were saying to me, Laura, we're just going to take it day by day. We don't know how it's all going to work out. We're just going to take it day by day. And there were

there were weeks and days and months and years where that's how we functioned. The goal of the day was to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get to school on time. That's all I had to focus on. So it was the gift of my parents saying, we'll just take it day by day. And that's a lot of the grit that I talk about is, again, not the grit of just pushing forward, being positive, granting and bearing it.

rather that grit of setting small manageable goals and then working through those goals day by day, moment to moment. And so the other gift that my parents gave me was that foundation of you're still you and we still believe in you. So where I was saying, I can't, can't, I can't, they were saying, we still believe in you as our daughter. I have one older brother.

and he was still treating me as his little annoying younger sister that he would leave him alone and not bother him while he's doing homework and trying to do sports and all the fun things. So just that normalcy was incredibly healing because they were saying through their actions, we believe in you, we believe that you can day by day, moment by

And again, a real life example of how I moved through that anxiety and depression was one clear night that I totally remember, and my mom does not remember this at all. She has no recollection of saying this, but I still remind her of this. So I thought in my mindset of I can't do this in the depression and anxiety, I was trying, oh, well maybe just that.

pity that victim, maybe that'll work. Maybe that mindset will help me feel better. So I decided again, in my brilliant teenage mind, I'm just gonna gather the chores at home. I'm just not gonna do anything around here that I have to do. I'm just gonna use my blindness as an excuse. So one night when my mom said, okay, Laura, it's time to unload the dishwasher.

I said, oh mom, I can't unload the dishwasher, I'm blind. And she, being an elementary school teacher, turned around and looked at me and said, Lara, unload the dishwasher. And when she said it in the teacher voice, I knew I was in trouble. I knew I didn't have any option but to unload the dishwasher. And I said, oh but mom, I can't unload the dishwasher, I can't perfectly put the silverware in the silverware drawer. And she just again said, Lara,

put the silverware in the silverware drawer. And then she just left the kitchen, she just walked out and went on and did whatever she was doing, folding clothes or I don't know, whatever. And in that moment, I remember thinking, that's a mean mom, she's a mean mom. The gift that she gave me is the gift of teaching me and showing me through her presence, through her action, you're still you.

and you're still held to the same standards just with accommodations needed. So if she had said, okay Laura, you don't own the dishwasher, you never do chores again, that would have taught me from a mental perspective, I can use this to get pity, to play the victim. What she told me was, you can navigate through this anxiety and depression as you continue forward. You're still you and you're still capable

with accommodations. So the way I tell that story to say that's how I coped. I coped with the anxiety and with the depression through the family, the brother, the teachers, the friends that still treated me as me while making accommodations. Then there had to be that point where after receiving that foundation,

I had to make the conscious choice of I accept this grit and I accept this gratitude for myself to believe that I can where my mindset was I can't. I had to finally accept my new normal and accept and become comfortable in my own skin.

Travis White (16:56)
First of all, I think that's really cool. Like, and I've said this time and time again, that this podcast is building a support group, having that support around you is huge. Yeah, it's a, exactly. And that's always a big thing that I like to point out. But I love how they still held you accountable to the same standards and because in

Laura Bratton (17:08)
huge. There are not enough words to convey the power.

Travis White (17:27)
then in your mind, it seems to me like you would still feel like, I'm capable of doing everything that, you know, to a certain degree of what I could do before. And so in my eyes, it seems like it helped you build some resilience to keep pushing forward.

Laura Bratton (17:32)
Yes.

Right.

100%. Yes, you took what I said in a very long story in a couple words. Yes, to build that resilience. That's exactly what my parents were teaching me is they were showing me, we believe you can move forward. We're treating you. basically, not basically, we are giving you the resources to move forward. So now that we've laid that foundation, you can choose it. So yeah, absolutely.

Travis White (18:10)
Yeah.

Laura Bratton (18:12)
Having that foundation of resiliency was so incredibly valuable. was the game changer. mean, that's what supported me in my healing that gave me the strength to move through that anxiety and depression.

Travis White (18:29)
Yeah, yes. And don't get me wrong, I love the stories. I love them. Every single one of them. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, it illustrates exactly. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So were there, other than your parents, there like any other methods of killing that you used? you, like, for example, did you have to go to therapy or anything like that to help you cope with this?

Laura Bratton (18:35)
Because it illustrates our real world experience, right? Yeah.

Yeah, so I did therapy. So my mom connected with, found a therapist and I started, it worked with adolescents. So I started to see her and that was, seeing a therapist was incredibly helpful. At the same time, I was also seeing a psychiatrist that I was on anti-oppressant, anti-anxiety, sleep medicine, just to help regulate my system.

because the anxiety and the depression was so deep that I had to have the help of those resources. Also, mindfulness. Mindfulness was incredibly healing to learn how to control my thoughts and to learn that thoughts are thoughts. Where I was using thoughts as facts, as like permanent. To learn the gift of mindfulness and also,

through mindfulness, realizing the body scan, how to identify tensing my body, where I'm holding tension. Part of the pain attacks, would hold my, not even realize I was doing it, hold my shoulders so tight, so like clench them almost. I was causing severe shoulder pain because my body was so intense and actually I got physical therapy.

Travis White (19:52)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Bratton (20:10)
because of that. It was my left shoulder. I was holding it so tight. It was pulling my spine, my shoulder blade, getting everything out of my whole body, out of alignment. So when I first went and saw a physical therapist, I remember this so clearly too. I was in high school and I was laying down on the physical therapy on the table and her first words to me,

Were you in a car accident? And I was like, no, I'm not realizing where she was going with this. And I said, no. And she said, your body is out of alignment in your shoulder. Like I've seen a lot of people who've been jarred in a car accident. And that's when I realized, oh no, that was just anxiety. That was, I was just holding my, it like I was holding all the anxiety in my shoulder.

So yeah, all the therapy, the medicine, the physical therapy, like I was mentioning, the exercise, also focusing on the lifestyle of what I was eating. Once I cut out a lot of sugar, my anxiety incredibly decreased. So that, it was a whole holistic approach of a mind, body, spirit, focusing on all of it, not just one aspect of.

of healing.

Travis White (21:36)
Yeah, that's crazy because you hit it like right on the spot of you basically describe me with when you said I was looking at things that everything is fact. And it's like, that's exactly what I went through like this last year. I had to learn how to, you know, throw those bad thoughts away and not look at them. They're factual. This just not even happened yet. Like it's I can.

Laura Bratton (21:50)
Yes, yes.

So.

Travis White (22:06)
get rid of them, just toss them aside. Yeah, it's like, it's really simple, especially once you learn how to like, kind of pinpoint out those thoughts that are negative, be like, you know what, this isn't even happening right now. I don't even need to think about this anymore.

Laura Bratton (22:09)
so easy right? when I learned that I was like

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

What was most, most helped for me is that was learning mindfulness. I'd love to know if you learned this as well or if this was helpful. What I learned with the mindfulness teacher, so I did an eight week class on mindfulness. And when they just said, you know, think about your thoughts either as a cloud passing by the sky, but what...

Connected with me the most is they said view your thoughts like at the end of a movie when they're showing all the credits how they just quickly They're certain on the screen and they're gone and then they're certain on the screen and they're gone. It's just a quick Blip on the screen. That's our thoughts. They just come they go they come to go that was so Helpful for me to realize. they can just come and go what you said. They're not factual. They're not there to stay forever

Travis White (23:21)
Yeah.

Laura Bratton (23:22)
So what method did you learn to help do as far as the letting go that they were fat?

Travis White (23:29)
So my method was, said, my therapist said that imagine that you're standing by a stream and the water's like running and it's very heavy. And it's like, he's like, you need to subconsciously stand there and you need to think, okay, do I need this thought? Do I need this thought? He's like, and you really need to dig deep into your mind because if you don't need it, you can just throw that thought onto a lily pad and watch it float by.

Laura Bratton (23:38)
I love that. ⁓ I love that.

⁓ my gosh, I'm gonna think about that. I love that image.

Travis White (24:01)
So I found myself pausing during my day after that therapy session. I'd feel that when the anxiety would come into my head or that thought, and I'd be like, okay, is this needed? Is this not? Is this true? Where does this lie right now? I'm just thrown away. It made it so easy. was like, if I could have done this years ago.

Laura Bratton (24:23)
Yeah, life changing, right? A lot would have been different.

Travis White (24:28)
Yeah, so crazy. it's just like those little things. It's just crazy. Those little things can help so much.

Laura Bratton (24:30)
Wow.

Yes, they can make an

incredible difference. Yes.

Travis White (24:44)
What practices or routines do you use to support your mental health now?

Laura Bratton (24:50)
So I still use all the same, so very much focused on my eating. So again, I do very little processed food. I can feel the difference when I have a lot of sugar or have a lot of carbs. can just feel that, can feel my anxiety just getting more, generally getting more anxious in my body. And the exercise is incredibly helpful.

routine with having exercise is very, very, very helpful for me and incredibly powerful. Another routine that has been life changing is the gift of gratitude. That has been an absolute game changer in my perspective. So backing up to those high school days when I was incredibly depressed,

deeply anxious, having constant panic attacks. A mentor or a teacher of mine in high school, I don't even remember what our conversation was about one particular day, but she said, at the end of our meeting, she was like, Laura, I want you to start thinking about grad. I want you to start writing down three things that you're grateful for. And as she said that, of course, in my southerness, I just smiled and

Travis White (25:59)
you

Laura Bratton (26:16)
Nodded but in my head I was thinking I Don't think you're a good mentor. I'm severely depressed. I'm incredibly anxious. I can't even function in school I'm trying to adjust to life without sight and you're telling me you're grateful. I have nothing to be grateful for So in my complete stubbornness and honestly my desire to prove her wrong

Travis White (26:19)
you ⁓

Laura Bratton (26:46)
I started writing on things I was grateful for.

And the day became three days and the three days became seven days. And what I realized is I thought she was saying and teaching me, write down what you're grateful for because of the blindness.

Travis White (26:50)
you

Okay. ⁓

Laura Bratton (27:08)
That is not all what she was teaching me. What she was saying was, think about what you're grateful for that helps navigate through your blindness. So for example, be grateful for the parents that held you to the same standard. Be grateful for the brother who can do to treat you like that little annoying younger sister. Be thankful for the teachers that make accommodations in

school so you can complete.

your academic requirements. Again, I thought she was saying be grateful for the change, for the anxiety, for the depression. She was saying be grateful for what helps you navigate through the anxiety, through the depression. Learning that shift in gratitude was and still is every single day

a major way that I

hope and navigate through the day.

Travis White (28:11)
Yeah, I could I've heard of something like that before I honestly have never done it It's like one of those things that I always say like I want to try I should try this Just to see where it leads me because yeah

Laura Bratton (28:20)
Yeah.

The world leads, yeah.

Well take the perspective of me, in stubbornness, say, no, this doesn't work, I'm gonna prove everybody wrong. And what it is for me now, again, this was in high school, what it is for me now today, because I've done it for so long, I don't stop at end of every day and think back on the day, just throughout the day as events and interactions happen.

Travis White (28:30)
Yeah.

Laura Bratton (28:51)
I just instantly become grateful. So as I have a ⁓ conversation, I will be grateful for that conversation, that stranger that was a great interaction, or it can be as simple as I'm grateful for that lunch, I'm grateful for the sunshine, I'm grateful for pets, whatever it might be just throughout the day. And some days it's grateful that the day's over.

Travis White (28:57)
you

Thank

Thank

you

Laura Bratton (29:20)
That's what I've learned about in gratitude. It doesn't have to be just focusing on those major life events. It's noticing and recognizing the everyday tiny mundane moments that we're grateful for. And that has helped me reframe my anxiety.

Travis White (29:27)
⁓ Yeah,

that's really cool. I love hearing these stories of people learning how to kind of turn, shape their mindset and turn stuff around. But you totally reminded me of something my therapist once said.

Laura Bratton (29:51)
Yes.

Travis White (29:56)
And I don't remember the exact words. It was like some little phrase that he used, but it was pretty much celebrate the small stuff. He said he told me and it was different words that he used and I really can't remember it. He said, like, if you get out and do something like even if it's a little teeny like do it, like celebrate it, say, you know what? This was a win for today. if it's, yeah, even if it's out like looking at the sunshine.

Laura Bratton (30:05)
Oooh!

Lola.

win. Yeah, absolutely.

Travis White (30:26)
It's a win. Like don't forget to celebrate the small stuff because it's not life isn't all about like the big things that happen.

Laura Bratton (30:26)
is a win.

big major moments. Absolutely.

That's I completely agree and celebrating those wins is what helps me cope and move forward from the anxiety because focusing on those small wins that all builds up to going, circling back to what you were saying earlier, that all builds resiliency. All those little moments add up to being a resilient

Travis White (30:48)
Thank

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. ⁓

Laura Bratton (31:02)
person having a resilient mindset, a resilient spirit. 100 % degree.

Travis White (31:11)
So let see if I'm in this tier. This is one that I was curious about. So how has your experience with blindness reshaped your understanding of ability, strength, and independence?

Laura Bratton (31:26)
Great question. So as a teenager, as I'm going through this transition from sight to no sight, I viewed independence and strength as you do it on your own. You accomplish life independent from health. What I realized and what took me a long time to realize was strength.

and independence comes from knowing our needs and being able to communicate those needs and trusting others to support us. I, example, I viewed asking for help as a weakness. I'm not good enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not independent enough, because I can't complete this task.

That makes me not independent. That makes me not strong. That makes me weak. What I had to realize is asking for help is a deep, deep source of strength because it's having the self-confidence, it's having the self-love, it's having the self-compassion to say, I know my needs. I know myself. I know that I need help with this task.

Travis White (32:19)
Okay.

Laura Bratton (32:45)
And I'm trusting you

as a family member or friend, I'm trusting you to support me in that. So that was a major mindset shift for me. And that helped a lot with anxiety and depression, where being overwhelmed and fearful of how I ever accomplish all this, learning that I will accomplish it by depending on others, by trusting others. And that's...

Travis White (32:51)
you ⁓

Laura Bratton (33:13)
That's the source of strength, the source of courage, not a source of weakness.

Travis White (33:20)
And it's crazy how many things that like you're saying that are like kidding on some of my life experiences. It's just insane. yeah, I had some medical. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Bratton (33:31)
Yes. The human experience is so similar as far as our emotions, our emotional experience.

Travis White (33:42)
I had some medical problems. I had to learn how to depend on others and I feed it the same way. viewed like depending on others, it's kind of like a weakness. So I I did dare to ask for help.

Laura Bratton (33:50)
weakness.

Right, right. You would rather suffer and be in pain, right? Than ask for help, absolutely. Or fake it or just go without. Rather than asking for what you needed. Yes, that was a long process of learning that. Because like I said, that takes a lot of self-confidence to being able to ask for that. And ask in a clear way. Ask in a way that meets your needs.

Travis White (33:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And not only self-confidence, but it's like you have to be vulnerable sometimes to do this.

Laura Bratton (34:25)
Yes, 100%.

Yes. Are you familiar with Brene Brown's work? I love her work on vulnerability.

Travis White (34:34)
He, you know,

I have heard the name. I've seen the name pop up a couple of times, but I've never really looked at her stuff.

Laura Bratton (34:42)
So

when you have time, read her book, Daring Greatly. I absolutely love the book because she teaches about vulnerability, how we were just describing. It's not vulnerable like I'm vulnerable, I'm weak. It's vulnerable like I'm strong to know what I need. And so I'm being vulnerable to open up to you to ask.

Travis White (34:44)
Thank

Yeah.

Laura Bratton (35:06)
that, yes, that

that vulnerability piece again is a big part of the coping through the anxiety, through the depression.

Travis White (35:13)
Thank

Yes, it totally is. So I'd love for you to tell the listeners a little bit more about your book, Hardest Encourage.

Laura Bratton (35:28)
So, Harness and Courage,

first I want to talk about the title. So the reason I named the book Harness and Courage for two different reasons. The first reason is, so I've had two guide dogs and the leather strap that goes around the dog and then the end of that strap, which is the, obviously the handle that the person holds, the blind person holds, that's called the harness.

Travis White (35:45)
Thank

Thank

Laura Bratton (35:57)
So the dog wears the harness, the person holds it, and then as the dog moves forward, you're following, you're being led by the harness. So the courage it takes to trust that dog. Again, my first guide dog was a 54 pound little black female lab. So I just trust that dog to be my eyes to keep me physically safe. So I named the book Harness and Courage.

Travis White (36:12)
Thank

Laura Bratton (36:26)
to honor her and out of deep, deep, respect for her because it took a lot of courage to hold that harness and to trust her moving forward. The other reason that I named it Harness and Courage was from the emotional mindset perspective. So every single day, I have to choose and make the choice to harness the courage that I need for that specific day.

Travis White (36:35)
You. ⁓

Laura Bratton (36:58)
in our human experience, unfortunately we can't just one time say, okay, I feel courageous so I'll be courageous for rest of my life. Or I don't have anxiety today so I have anxiety for rest of my life. Rather it's a day-to-day lived experience. So every day making that conscious decision, I have to choose to be courageous today. So that's the reason for the title. The reason that I wrote the book

was to tell my story and tell it through the perspective of grit and through the perspective of gratitude so that anyone could pick up the book, regardless of the change they're going through, mental, physical, spiritual, they could receive those resources of grit and gratitude and that could be a healing tool as they move forward. Because the foundation that was around me and the support that I received

Travis White (37:34)
you

Laura Bratton (37:56)
I was passionate about paying that forward, about paying that support forward

to other people that they could benefit from the support that I received. So my passion, my driving force behind the book was to tell my story, but again, tell it in a way that so many other people could benefit.

Travis White (38:19)
That's so cool. I love the reasoning behind the title. And I can't imagine what it would be like.

Laura Bratton (38:24)
It was very deliberate.

Travis White (38:30)
I mean, I have a dog, but I can't imagine what it'd be like putting my life in his hands. I trust him a lot, to start that off and do that, it'd just be... I can't even imagine what it would be like. It's...

Laura Bratton (38:40)
Yes.

It's literally step by

step. And I mean that again, very literally. I mean, the first time I was with the dog, we literally walked a block. And that's all we did that first day. And that felt like 12,000 miles. To trust that dog, the steps through the block was like trusting a very long way. So yes, it takes a lot of trust in that.

that connection, that human-human animal connection.

Travis White (39:19)
And when you first start off with that guide dog to you, have somebody with you, like walking you through it all.

Laura Bratton (39:23)
Yes, 100%.

So the trainer is on those the first couple of days, first weeks, the trainers right there with you. So the training is a month long. Each week, they're always with you. But each week, they get a little bit further behind you. That first week, they're basically walking right behind you almost side by side. And each week, they walk a little bit further behind you just to give you that sense of

I'm on my own, but they're right there if anything, if anything happens or they need you, you need them. So yes, that's another level of security that helps build that trust that as I start trusting this dog, there's someone else that's watching me observing and knows what to do if I need help.

Travis White (39:53)
you

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, don't get me wrong. It's really cool that dogs are able to do that. And you said you've been through two different dogs. Can you actually tell difference between the different dogs' behaviors and the way they pull you or guide you?

Laura Bratton (40:15)
Yes, yes, they are incredibly gifted.

Yes, a thousand

percent. So when I applied for my first guide dog, I thought a dog's a dog, a dog's, they're all the same. And on the application and part of the process, they came and they measured my gait. They measured my height. They measured everything about me, the length of my arm. They interviewed me about my lifestyle.

what would my lifestyle be like? And I couldn't really, I mean, I could cognitively understand why they were doing all that, but I couldn't really emotionally understand how's this gonna make a difference? Are you just gonna give me a dog and it'll all work out? know, like, that doesn't matter. But it drastically, incredibly matters. So when I was in class both times, it was about 20 other people. And I could tell you by the end of that class,

Travis White (41:06)
Bye!

the

you

Laura Bratton (41:24)
this dog would never have worked for me. ⁓ this dog, you know, was a great fit. this dog, might have worked, but not really good connection. So yes, absolutely. Can you tell a difference in the person's personality, the dog's personality is very different as far as, when I say they're different, I said they're different because they're human and animal. But I mean, as far as matching them up, that yeah, it's not just a dog.

Travis White (41:24)
you

you

Thank you.

Okay.

Yes.

Laura Bratton (41:51)
to a random person, but it's very specific. And even with the dogs, the two that I've

had, their personalities were similar, but they were different how we interacted. So my first dog was very headstrong, very take charge, very just like my...

Travis White (42:07)
you

Laura Bratton (42:15)
Dying dog trainer literally said, oh yeah, you got me a little fireball. She's a little fireball. That was just her personality. My second dog wasn't, she was obviously still driven, but not, she wasn't as driven. was more laid back. She wasn't as take charge as the first dog. She still did a great job and was a wonderful guy. It just was not the same personality. So I could tell a distinct difference.

Travis White (42:17)
you

Thank you.

Laura Bratton (42:45)
in the two dogs.

Travis White (42:48)
So yeah, I love hearing like I have a fascination with dogs. it just sounds like a like way longer process than I mean, I've seen little parts and pieces of like how they do it, but just curious, think coming from someone who's used a guide dog before. So it's.

Laura Bratton (43:11)
Yes,

and part of the anxiety and coping with anxiety depression was their presence. So I had each of them about 11 years and just their presence, that unconditional love, that genuine just calmness, just petting the dog was an incredible source of healing that I give my first guide dog so a lot of credit.

for my emotional healing, the physical safety, absolutely, but also just emotional healing because she was such a gift of presence and such a gift of just that support as I adjusted to the new normal. So yes, an intense source of healing. They are an incredible resource.

Travis White (43:52)
Yes.

I 100 % agree. have a, he's a lab shepherd mix and about 70 pounds around that. So he's fairly big, but I, he's, I can't say like what he's done for my anxiety because it's like unexplainable.

Laura Bratton (44:15)
Yes, it is literally

unexplainable. You cannot put it into words.

Travis White (44:22)
Yeah. And it was like, it was a moment when I wasn't even planning on getting a dog. saw, I was living with my, at the time I was engaged and I was living with my, in my future mother-in-law's house because I was going through some stuff and I couldn't like keep down a job. couldn't afford to live anywhere else. So she's like, yeah, stay here. Then when you get on your feet, can move out. And so we, my fiance at the time, who's now my wife, we saw this dog in a parade.

Laura Bratton (44:39)
Yeah.

Travis White (44:50)
just walking by and I was like, I love the looks of that dog. So we were at the park afterwards and I was like, we get a dog? And I was like, it was like one of those moments where I was like half kidding and

Laura Bratton (45:01)
Right, of course.

Travis White (45:02)
she, and she actually called her mom because it wasn't my house. And she's like, I actually think a dog would be really good for Travis right now. And so we ended up paying like $300 for him at that time. And

Like we've done extensive training with him. had a little aggression problem, but like, so we, we've put him in training. did puppy camps. it was, but it's been that the whole experience, like, and my wife will say this today is she saw my anxiety go from way up high to like even out when he was around. Yeah.

Laura Bratton (45:18)
Yes.

Even. Yes, I believe it.

I believe it. That is very real. Yeah, that is very real. The power and the healing power and just the support, right? Just that constant support. Yeah. Wow. That is such a benefit.

Travis White (45:44)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And there's one thing that you've talked about a little bit that I want to touch base on again because it's come up a few times in My podcast now and that is eating healthy The holistic view like holistic diet like no sugar and less processed foods This that's like incredible what like that does

Laura Bratton (46:07)
Yes. Yes. Yes.

It is incredible just my anxiety

and this well not I can point more towards the anxiety than the depression.

Again, it's like the dog. I can describe it, but words can't accurately put into, I can't accurately put into words how much it affects me when I have a lot of sugar, when I eat a lot of ice cream. You know, just, it's a dramatic, drastic difference. I can just feel.

Travis White (46:35)
Thank you.

So.

you

Was it?

Laura Bratton (46:56)
My sleep is all, my sleep is not as good, my dreams are not good. It's a very clear, I don't wanna exercise. So yeah, having that balance. And also, another thing that I've learned with the food is the timing. So eating in a smaller window, whether that's, you know,

12 hours a day, know, within a 12 hour, eating your food within a 12 hour window or a, you know, like a 10 hour window. Just as long as I'm not constantly come snacking throughout the day, late night, you know, I've very much found like late night affects my sleeping. So it's, yes, it's very powerful how the fresh vegetables and fruits.

Travis White (47:32)
Thank you.

Yeah.

Laura Bratton (47:48)
drastically change how my mind and body just react. mean, all kind of issues that holds in my panic attacks just drastically affect

the food. I just, yes, it's motivation to eat well because I feel so good. And when I don't eat well, I can feel the difference. I don't feel well and it doesn't feel good. And the other

Travis White (48:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, and

it doesn't.

Laura Bratton (48:15)
Yeah, go ahead.

Travis White (48:17)
I was saying it doesn't take much like because we've been kind of doing this. We've started lowering our sugar and we're keeping we're getting to the point where all I keep include free stuff in the house. And but I can tell the difference in kids and it doesn't take much like when we go eat out to like actually feel sick.

Laura Bratton (48:30)
Yes.

Feel

sick, exactly. Yeah, feel sick and it doesn't take much at all. Yeah, a hundred percent. It's a drastic difference. what I've also realized is important is not being super, super strict about it. And I say that from my own experience of, at first I went to the too extreme of I can never have sugar.

I'll never eat ice cream again. I'll never eat a cookie again. I'll never eat a piece of pizza again. And that's not healthy either because then all you do is crave it, right? So what's helped for me that mentors I've learned from a lot of help people is that 80-20 rule. So 80 % of the time eating not processed food and 20 % of the time eat your ice cream, enjoy it.

Travis White (49:11)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Laura Bratton (49:30)
And what I found by

Travis White (49:30)
⁓

Laura Bratton (49:31)
that balance is when I want ice cream, having a little bit of ice cream, that's all I want. I don't have to eat the whole pint gallon of ice cream, right? Like I don't have to, I don't have this huge craving. So again, it's not that I'm depriving myself of food, it's that I'm choosing most of the time to eat healthy. So that's great. You all have experienced that as well, because that has been.

Travis White (49:41)
you

See you.

So, thanks for watching.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's game changer. And we've actually found us a sugar substitute that we use to like bake our goods. Yeah, we use alulose and it's it tastes it obviously there's taste difference than like the regular sugar, but it's way more expensive. But it's it's so

Laura Bratton (49:58)
⁓ major benefit. It is.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. OK.

Right.

Travis White (50:22)
like worth it to not, yeah, to not feel those.

Laura Bratton (50:22)
It is worth it. Yeah, it's so

worth it. And I mean, I'm going to have family members and friends notice a difference in me. Like, what have you done? What have you done different? I mean, it's tangible to them that, you know, who know me well. And when I say, you know, focus on my food and healthy eating, it's encouraged other people to do the same. And they're like, wow, you're not kidding. This really does make a difference. So.

Travis White (50:49)
you

Laura Bratton (50:51)
Yeah, the power is incredible.

Travis White (50:56)
And I can tell a huge difference with my kids and the way they act.

Laura Bratton (50:59)
Yes,

yes, 100%. Absolutely, yes, definitely.

Travis White (51:08)
So somebody that may be struggling with a mental health problem today, what advice would you give them?

Laura Bratton (51:15)
So my first advice, the first step in the advice would be to acknowledge that you are struggling. And what I mean by that is circling back to what I was first sharing about that denial in those middle school, high school years when I was in denial and in that I can't, can't, I can't perspective.

I was not willing to sit in the pain and acknowledge this is incredibly painful. I am anxious. I am depressed. I am fearful. I wasn't giving myself the space to acknowledge how I feel. So my first, the first part of my advice, the first step of that advice is for anyone struggling, acknowledge that you're struggling. Acknowledge, yes, this change is really, really hard. What's causing the depression?

Travis White (52:06)
you

Laura Bratton (52:10)
is incredibly difficult. What is causing anxiety, that actually is incredibly difficult. So once we acknowledge what we're feeling and give ourselves that self love and self respect to acknowledge it, take it day by day, moment by moment, hour by hour, rather than getting overwhelmed at the whole entire future. How am I going to go from panic attack

Travis White (52:36)
Thank

Laura Bratton (52:39)
to no anxiety, rather just say, how do I get through the next hour? Just like you are giving that example of having a panic attack in a parking lot rather than saying, how do I live life so I never have a panic attack again in a parking lot or anytime ever? Just saying, okay, what do I have to do to calm this panic attack in the next five minutes, in the next 10 minutes? So that's

Travis White (52:44)
Thank

Thank

you

Laura Bratton (53:09)
That's my advice that I wish I had had in those high school days. Acknowledge your struggle, acknowledge what you're feeling, and then choose to take it moment by moment by moment.

Travis White (53:13)
Thank

you

It's awesome. I love it. When you were finally able to acknowledge your struggles, especially your anxiety and depression, what did that look like? Was it like an aha moment or was there something that you remember like, okay, well, I've gone through this and I need to get help?

Laura Bratton (53:43)
Yes, absolutely. It was acknowledging that I'm going through it and saying, I need help. And that was incredibly healing. Saying that to myself and realizing that to myself was actually a source of healing. Once I again, and that's you perfectly said the first part of that advice. Once I could acknowledge in myself, I need help because I'm feeling anxious because

this anxiety because of this intense depression, that was a step of healing. So that's my encouragement. Just acknowledge you're feeling what you're feeling. And that's not a weakness. That's not making you less than. It just is what it is.

Travis White (54:25)
And do you feel like for you there was like a moment that like triggered that particular instance for you to actually realize that you needed help or do you think it was just like built it all up over time?

Laura Bratton (54:37)
For me, it was building up over time. So there wasn't one major moment. It was building up over time where the anxiety was so much and the depression was so deep. And again, because I had the support around me laying that foundation that I could be resilient, I could move forward, that's when I slowly realized it's gotten so bad emotionally.

Travis White (54:57)
Thank

Laura Bratton (55:05)
and yet I had the support of resiliency around me, how can I work through this anxiety and this depression so that I can be resilient? So was definitely a series of building up and then a series of working through the anxiety and depression.

Travis White (55:12)
Yeah.

And sometimes it's so sad that like it takes years to actually realize that you need that help.

Laura Bratton (55:27)
Yes. Yes.

It takes years because it builds up slowly, right? it's life, as different life experiences come at us, it builds up slowly. So it takes years for us to recognize actually how deep we are. And because it happens so, we don't realize how deep we are, how much we are in it and absorbed in it.

Travis White (55:35)
Mm-hmm.

Thanks.

and we'll see

Yeah, exactly. And then next question is, if you've listened to my podcast, you probably know this is coming. Probably some pretty generalized questions. I just love to hear the different feedback I get. What do you believe is the biggest stigma to mental health?

Laura Bratton (56:12)
Our feelings are not valid.

the anxiety and what I mean by that, again, going back to my own experience, the reason I say that is I can, I remember countless situations where I would express that I'm feeling anxious and the response was something like, get over it, ⁓ be strong, ⁓ think positive, ⁓

Travis White (56:41)
you

Laura Bratton (56:43)
Other people have it worse than you do. It was minimizing the validity

of my feelings. So for me, that's what I first think of.

Travis White (56:56)
Yeah, and that's very true. it's like when somebody tells you that after you're stating your feelings, it's like, I don't even want to talk about it anymore. No, completely.

Laura Bratton (57:05)
It shuts you down, right? Yes, you just shut

down from your emotions both within yourself and being honest with others how you really feel. Because again, my assumption was, I'm not going to share how I really feel because the next person, again, I assume this, was just going to say the exact same thing. So why even share? Right. Yeah. And that increases exactly how you're feeling. That intensifies the anger, the sadness, the depression, even more so.

Travis White (57:25)
Yeah. ⁓

Laura Bratton (57:34)
So it just builds on itself. Yeah.

Travis White (57:37)
Exactly. And I've left just one more thing here. I'd love for you to just touch base on your speaking and coaching.

Laura Bratton (57:46)
Yeah, so my speaking and coaching is all about the grit and the gratitude. And specifically, it's how do you use grit and gratitude to navigate through change. So I speak to organizations and to groups of people about, yes, this was my life situation. This was the change I experienced. And here's how I navigated through it with the mindset, the perspective, the tool.

of grit and of gratitude. So here's how you can also apply it in your direct situation. And again, just like for the book, my passion for the speaking, for the coaching comes from the place of, as I received such an incredible foundation of supports, I want to go and speak on that and work with other people as they go through change, as they go through loss, as they go through anxiety, depression.

I wanna be that support to them, with them, for them.

Travis White (58:52)
Awesome, I love it. And I love that you're doing something to help people.

Laura Bratton (58:58)
Yes,

yes I was working with a speech coach and she said, so you're giving your pain purpose. And that was so well said. I love that. It's giving the emotional pain purpose.

Travis White (59:06)
That's a good way to put it.

your pain purpose given to your pain purpose. Right. I'm writing that one down because I might use that here and there because I love that.

Laura Bratton (59:15)
Yes, I love it.

Yes!

definitely use that. That has been great. I use that all the time now since she said that. I'm like, yes, you're right. That's exactly what the speaking coaching is doing. It's giving the pain purpose.

Travis White (59:39)
Perfect. And where can people find you?

Laura Bratton (59:43)
The Best Place is my website. So barbratton.com has all the information about the speaking, the coaching, and the book. So that's the best resource.

Travis White (59:54)
Perfect. Is there anything that we have not discussed that you would like to?

Laura Bratton (1:00:01)
Again, I just want to reiterate, and I'm saying this from my own experience, advice I wish I'd received regarding mental health, mental wellness. Just as I said before, I want to say it again. Give yourself the space to feel what you're feeling and trust yourself moment by moment, by moment, by moment, and know that that

the feeling, the difficult feelings, taking it moment by moment, that is enough. And that's all you need to do in that moment, in that day.

Travis White (1:00:42)
I love it. Laura, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the show. It's been a...

Laura Bratton (1:00:48)
Absolutely, thank you

for creating this platform for people to give voice to tell their story, to give a safe space to be vulnerable and to be open. Again, that our feelings and our stories have voice. So thank you for the opportunity.

Travis White (1:01:08)
It's a bit of pleasure speaking with you and it's stories like yours that keep me going. So thank you to our listeners. Thanks for joining in today and please subscribe to our channel. Follow us, like our stuff and share it. That's the best thing you can do for us right now is to get the name of our podcast out there. And thanks again for listening. Until next time.