EPISODE 082

The Invisible Illness: Why We Need To Talk About Mental Health

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The Invisible Illness: Why We Need To Talk About Mental Health

One of the most important things we can do to raise awareness about mental health, is talk about it. We all experience feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, sadness and sometimes worse, at one point or another. But often times, we’re not taught the tools to cope and prevent these feelings from consuming us.

This week on the Happier & Healthier Podcast, Emmy Award-winning star of General Hospital, Maurice Benard, joins me to talk about mental health, his personal struggle with bipolar disorder and anxiety, and how he overcame the worst of it, to celebrate the launch of his new memoir, Nothing General About It. He offers lessons in perseverance that demonstrate the importance of believing in yourself, even in the darkest of times.

Maurice Benard

Actor & Mental Health Advocate

Maurice Benard, the longtime star of ABC's General Hospital, is a two-time Emmy Award–winning film and television actor, a member of the prestigious Actors Studio, and an advocate for mental health awareness. He lives in California with his wife, Paula, with whom he proudly raised three daughters and a son.

Transcript

Maria Marlowe: [00:00:34] Welcome back to the Happier and Healthier podcast. Today’s episode is all about mental health. This is a topic I love talking about because I feel there’s still a stigma around it that needs to be broken. In recent years, culturally, we’re talking about mental health. Now more than ever before. But I still feel there’s a long way to go. Despite all the advocacy around it, I feel it’s still common for people to feel alone when they feel feelings of anxiety or depression or even worse. And a lot of times people still feel too embarrassed to get help for these feelings. Today’s guest, Maurice Benard, is an Emmy Award winning actor who has been openly discussing his mental health struggles for the past few decades and doing a lot to rid our society of the stigma around it. In fact, he had his struggle with bipolar disorder written into the scripts for his character Sonny on General Hospital, of which he has starred for nearly 30 years. He’s here to discuss his memoir, Nothing General About It: How Love and Lithium Saved Me On and Off General Hospital. Now, while Maurice does acknowledge and credit holistic practices for helping him deal with his mental health struggles, he also sings the praises of the prescription drug lithium for saving him.

Maria Marlowe: [00:01:59] As a very holistic show you know that first and foremost, I advocate for holistic diet and lifestyle changes to heal our health. But I invited him on because I think it’s important to have multiple viewpoints and acknowledge that everyone is on their own journey and needs to find what works best for them. Additionally, I love that he’s making getting help for mental health more mainstream. And his motivational story offers lessons in perseverance and just demonstrates the importance of believing in yourself, even in the darkest of times. If you’re interested in a deeper discussion on holistic strategies to improve your mental health. We touch on them a little bit here. But a deeper discussion will be in some of my earlier podcast interviews with holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora and Dr. Kelly Brogan. And there’s also a great episode with holistic psychologist Dr. Ellie Cobb.

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Maria Marlowe: [00:05:55] Maurice, thanks so much for being here.

Maurice Benard: [00:05:57] Thanks for having me.

Maria Marlowe: [00:05:58] So first, congratulations. I know your book just hit the New York Times bestseller list, and I’d love for you to share about a little bit about your story. But first, why was it so important for you to share your story about mental illness and overcoming it?

Maurice Benard: [00:06:15] Well, you know, I’ve been sharing it or talking about it or whatever, however you want to say for like over 30 years. And it was important for me. Well, there’s a story that I say in the book where I was in the mental institution, and they put you in a seclusion room when you’re a bad boy, which means it’s four walls and you’re strapped down to a bed. And all I want to do is get out of that room and this whole thing with the with… I broke this latch off the wall and I started praying because I was thinking of doing myself in. And then I broke the latch and made it into a cross and put it by my bed. And I was praying to God, and I knew at that moment, deep, deep down inside, there was a reason why that was happening to me. And I think now I positively this is the reason.

Maria Marlowe: [00:07:17] Yeah, I think often we have to make our mass our message, and when we’re going through something really tough, it can seem, you know, we can ask like, why? Why me? Why me? But then we are, you know, very fortunate to be able to help other people who are going through that similar issue. So that’s incredible. So let’s take it back a little bit, and I’d love for you to share a little bit more about your story. You were diagnosed with bipolar disorder when you were about 20. So sort of walk us through that, you know? How did you feel when this happened and then how did this affect your life?

Maurice Benard: [00:07:54] Well, what it was, was I was 21 in the mental institution, and I had my birthday, my 22nd birthday in there, which was not fun, but nobody could tell me what was wrong with me. They just couldn’t say what I had or what was going on. And I was like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Guess he was the normal one. Somewhat normal. And everybody else was worse than him.

Maurice Benard: [00:08:25] So when I left the hospital, when I escaped, it was about a couple months after that that I went to see a guy, a psychiatrist named Dr. Noonan. And I remember sitting in the chair and him looking at me, but writing a lot of stuff that what I was saying. And at the end, he looked up and he said, you’re manic depressive and I’ll put you on lithium. It’s going to take a little while, but you’re going to get better. And I felt like, wow, OK. At least I know what I had. And that was it. It took a while to get better. But that was it. The beginning.

Maria Marlowe: [00:09:05] Well, and the title of your book is Nothing General About It: How Love and Lithium Saved Me On And Off General Hospital. So where did the love part come in and how did that help in your healing?

Maurice Benard: [00:09:19] Well, the love part came in when I met my wife. She was 16 and she turned 17. We pretty much started living together. Soon after that. And we’ve been together over 30 years. I mean, look, you know, my wife & I, there’s a lot of deep love there. And it’s pretty much safe to say that I don’t know if I’d be here if if she didn’t help me. It’d be real tough. I mean, I know, you know, I did it on my own, the first breakdown, which was the hardest. And I can’t believe I did it on my own. It was I mean, I had my mom and dad there, but they they would have to go to work while I was home alone. It was tough. But I’m still going through things and my wife is still help me out. Even the last two weeks, I had two major panic attacks and it took a couple weeks to get through it. And when you’re in these things, you think you can’t. But the reality is you can’t.

Maria Marlowe: [00:10:19] Yeah. And you’ve been living with this for quite some time and working. You have a pretty high stress, intense job. Right? As an actor, I’m sure it’s quite hectic and there’s a lot going on all the time. So how have you really managed to, you know, get through work and get through life with these issues? Are there any practices that you use, any daily practices or what has really been helpful for you to, you know, still be successful at life? Because I feel like a lot of times when people feel depressed or are anxious, you know, our careers suffer or our relationships suffer. So how were you able to kind of pull through all of this?

Maurice Benard: [00:11:02] Well, as far as, like, my nervous breakdowns or, you know, being bipolar, I even had an episode in 27 years because I stay on my medication. I stress if you find something that works. Stay on your medication. Seek professional help. Yes, you can buy my book and that may help you, but that’s not enough. I’ve been able to do it, obviously, with my wife and my kids and my mom and dad. Early on was they were just incredible. And what I do now. I mean, I can speak as I was just I’ve been doing it because I had two panic attacks two weeks ago. You got to get out of bed, man, because when I stay in bed. When I wake up. I have some maybe some negative thoughts. If I stay in bed too long. That’s going to cause depression. So what I do is I get out of bed and I kind of made my own routine here because you have to understand, I was on a routine going to work for 27 years. That’s what I knew. And now with the corona virus, that’s all changed. So what I do now is I get up. I work out. I meditate. I go play with my goats. And that’s kind of what I what what’s helped me. And you have to stay out of, you know. Like I always say, don’t let the the movie in your head be bigger than the virus. I know the virus is big, but if it’s our own minds that make it worse.

Maria Marlowe: [00:12:39] Yeah. It’s really easy to get stuck in negativity and just thoughts that don’t serve us. But yeah, I think the two of the things that you mentioned exercise and the meditation, personally, I found those really helpful for my mental health more than anything else, more than the physical health. So how did you get into meditation and how long have you had a meditation practice? And for anyone who is listening, who is maybe has a tent to meditate but feels they don’t have the time or they don’t know how, what advice would you give them?

Maurice Benard: [00:13:17] Well, here’s my problem. My problem is as far as meditation and things like that, workout I’ve always done. But meditation, I kind of don’t do it. Even though I should until I have to. So in the last two weeks, I’ve been meditating and it has helped. And Charlamagne, the God, I was on his showed, he recommended an app called Calm and it’s a fantastic app and it gives you a different meditation everyday for ten minutes. I just did it outside & it was great. And but the thing that got me back in the last two weeks was really working out because what happened is I told my mind, even though it was very difficult. I said I’m sick of being sick. You know what I mean? So I went out in my garage and I start working out and I stopped that fight back. And with the fight back, it felt really good, at least for a moment, and then I started working out every day after that. It really has helped.

Maria Marlowe: [00:14:16] Yeah, I feel it’s always that initial first time of getting back into the routine or getting back to the gym. That’s the hardest. But once you do it, you feel so good that doing a second and third time becomes easier.

Maurice Benard: [00:14:29] Yes, yes. Then there’s also you have to eat. Well, the whole it’s a lot of things. I mean, take vitamin D, I mean, I’ve been taking Vitamin D and some other stuff, and you just gotta take care of yourself and stay out of your your negative thoughts. That’s a killer right there.

Maria Marlowe: [00:14:48] Yeah. Because it is really easy to go down that spiral. But I think having these lifestyle practices in our life and incorporating them into our life more regularly ask habits like exercise, meditation, the healthy eating that really helps keep them at bay as much as possible. But yeah, of course they always creep back in here and there. So I mean, anything someone can do in the moment, like if someone’s in a negativity spiral right now, is there anything in the moment that’s worked for you?

Maurice Benard: [00:15:20] Well, for me, I’ve got to tell you, when I was in a panic attack, you know, it’s in my book, but I’ve gotten off to clients. I’ve had them open the doors. And that’s a tough, tough thing. But now I’ve managed to get on planes because I just breathe. I breathe in four times, hold it four times and breathe out for five or six times. And that’s the pattern. And if you can breathe, you can breathe through your anxiety attack. You can breathe through it. And it calms down completely. So that’s one thing. And I have a thing that I do called state of mind every Sunday on Instagram story. I’ve been doing it for over a year speaking about mental illness of my life with mental health. And I call anxiety Freddy Krueger. So sometimes I wake up at night and Freddy’s looking at me, but you can’t run. You got to stay and fight Freddie. And by fighting him, I mean breathing in & you get rid of him. And sometimes, like the last two weeks, two weeks ago, he got the best of me for two nights. But I’m still standing.

Maria Marlowe: [00:16:34] So, yeah, and I’m glad that you mentioned breath work, because I find that’s a really powerful tool as well, especially in the moment, because it immediately comes our nervous system down and takes us out of that fight or flight mode. So breath work is. Yeah, just an incredible free tool we always have at our call and we can always, you know, do in the moment.

Maurice Benard: [00:17:00] Absolutely. Breathing is in the moment and maybe take a pace around a bit, just a bit to get rid of some of that energy, that somewhat helps, but don’t keep pacing because then you’re going to screw yourself up.

Maria Marlowe: [00:17:16] Yeah. And actually, I was watching one of your recent Instagram stories when you were talking about stress and anxiety and you had said something that I think, that I just want to share because I think it’s so important. You were talking about how if you break your bone, you will go to the hospital or go to the doctor and get it fixed. But if you break your brain, so to speak, or if something’s not going on or something’s not right, mentally, we are so scared or we don’t want to go and get help for it. I think there’s this big stigma around it. So do you want to just share a little bit more about that and maybe how you got over it or, you know, some tips that could be helpful?

Maurice Benard: [00:18:02] Well, yeah, that was in my last Instagram, actually, state of mind. Look, I went to work one day with a cut on my arm. It was a pretty decent cut. And people thought that I had gangrene. They couldn’t stop talking about. But I’ve gone to work literally on the verge of, I don’t know what, you get me? And everybody just. Oh, you’ll get over it. Oh, yeah. I had anxiety five years ago. It is such a total difference, obviously, because you don’t see it. And unless you’ve gone through what I’ve gone through other people with panic attacks and nervous breakdowns and depression, you don’t understand it because you don’t see it. But yet a cut on my arm. I was sent right to the doctor, but me crying in the corner of my room with anxiety, I just went right upstairs, did my scenes. Man, now I’m breathing heavy, just talking about it.

Maria Marlowe: [00:19:10] Sorry about that. Yeah, it’s just interesting how as a society we kind of shove the emotions under the rug and kind of teach people to put on a tough face and to maybe not share our feelings or to a like you said, just, you know, go downstairs and give your lines like, don’t worry about it. You’ll get over it kind of thing vs. a physical illness. They’re like, OK, you need to go to the doctor right now, get this fixed.

Maurice Benard: [00:19:41] I will say this. There is nothing, although the truth is I have never broken a bone or had a stitch, but there is nothing in my life that I felt more painful than depression, anxiety or a manic episode. There’s nothing more terrible for me than that. But the reality is, no matter how terrible it is, no matter how fragile I am, because I’m very strong in one way and fragile on the other. You can get through it. That’s the key. It’s not so terrible that you can’t get through it because you can’t. And I’m living proof and I’m still going through it.

Maria Marlowe: [00:20:22] Yeah. I mean, that’s the important thing to keep in mind is that you can get through this and you’re stronger than you think. And I’m just really glad that you are using your platform to share and talk about this, because I think you sharing your story will help other people get the help that they need. So it’s really great that you’re being so forthcoming, whereas I think a lot of people, especially in your position, may keep this behind closed doors.

Maurice Benard: [00:20:54] Especially men. Men don’t want to talk about still. Women are. You know, Lovato. And there’s quite a few other women who are talking about mental health, but men seem to not want to talk about it. And you know the responses I get from people over the past, I don’t know how long. But one just hit me and it’s not even a big deal. One woman just wrote because of state of mind, she says, I watch. I watch a lot. And she said. One thing that by watching you, I don’t feel alone & I don’t know why that hit me, because I guess I was figuring out what’s going on with people. They’re into this, but I don’t really get it. I mean, I get it, but not, you know. But by her saying that she’s not alone meant so much to me. And that’s why I continue to do it, because I was thinking here I am talking on this thing. No one’s responding back to me. It’s just me doing a little monologue. You know what I mean. And I said, what are people OK? Cool. It’s about mental health, but I don’t. And then I realized how many people are suffering from mental health. It is staggering how many people. And I’ll tell you, I get responses from people who are like, I don’t know what to do. My son is on the verge of wanting to end his life. And, you know, I get I get a bunch of responses like that. It is a it is what it is.

Maria Marlowe: [00:22:24] I think that say it’s bad enough to have these feelings of depression or anxiety or worse. But what makes it worse is that what people do feel alone and they feel like they’re the only one that’s experiencing it and maybe they feel like something is wrong with them. Whereas the reality is, I think every human goes through these periods and emotions at different times in their lives. And I think that our diet and our lifestyle and our habits can play a really big role in mitigating some of these things. So, again, yeah, just sharing I think talking about it and having this conversation in the public vs. keeping it behind closed doors is the best thing that we can do.

Maurice Benard: [00:23:14] Yeah, I don’t know. Honestly, if Nothing General About It would have done as well without the corona virus because I think people.

Maria Marlowe: [00:23:23] Oh yeah. You know, I think people in these people are experiencing depression and anxiety. I feel like now more than ever, I think it’s really bringing everything to the surface.

Maurice Benard: [00:23:31] Yeah, completely. It did with me. So I can imagine other people. It’s like, wow.

Maria Marlowe: [00:23:40] So I had read an interview with you and you had spoken about finding your joy a couple of years and finding happiness. Can you share a little bit about that? What was that turning point for you and how did you find your joy and your happiness?

Maurice Benard: [00:23:56] Well, what’s funny is I used talked to my psychiatrist about what you’re saying because he hadn’t heard about this because I hadn’t talked to him in a while but now I’m talking to him, thank God. And I think I said, look, I did play John Gotti in a movie. It was a hell of an experience. The producer wasn’t a fan of mine and that made my life miserable. But but I got through it and I felt proud that I got through it. Now, not not that long after that, I. I’ve always had this feeling in my gut since I was a kid, since I was little. And it wasn’t a nice feeling. It was an ugly feeling. But I accepted it. And then when I got older, I accepted that I’m bipolar. And that’s why I have this feeling. Well, a couple of months after John Gotti, that feeling that I had for 57 years was gone. And what I realized was I felt joy now for the first time. I’ve been happy, of course, my kids being born and everything. I’m happy, but that real inside joy I haven’t had. And to me, I said to myself, my doctor said, I guess that’s what normal people feel like.

Maurice Benard: [00:25:13] Because I was like it is the greatest feeling in the world that it’s over a year, like maybe a year, three months, year and a half, whatever. And of course, now with the panic attack two weeks ago, it was gone, obviously. But now, as I sit here with you, 95 percent feels good. That’s the joy that I’m talking about. And never really a joy like I’d sit out with the goats. And I just have a tear coming down my face without even thinking about. That’s the kind of. That’s Joy, now to me. I can laugh deeper. Now, if you ask me why it came, he said it could be that what I went through in that movie. I can’t tell you what it is.

Maria Marlowe: [00:26:04] Ok. Well, at least you got to that point, regardless of how you got there. Yeah. I think, you know, joy and happiness. It’s funny, I used to think that really positive and happy people, people that were happy all the time. I used to think they had a really great life, like, wow, their life must just be amazing. You know, everything is going so well for them. But then I realized that people who are happy and joyful and perpetually in a positive mood, it’s not that their life is perfect. It’s that they’re choosing to look at things in a positive light and they’re choosing to make their own happiness despite whatever circumstances they have. And I think it’s a matter of really training our brain to look at the positive, to be grateful. And it is really a practice like you literally have to train your brain to go in that direction, because I think it’s so easy for a lot of us to just go in the opposite direction. So, yeah, I think once I had realized that it had become a lot easier for me to stay, enjoy and stay in positivity because I realized, you know, there’s no such thing as like a you know, a person who has a perfect life or a person that’s always happy all the time. It’s it’s really a choice and a practice and something that we need to work on.

Maurice Benard: [00:27:26] Yeah. I mean, you said it better than I could have said it. That’s about as perfect as you can say. I’ll say something on top of that. For me because I still struggle with what you just said. So I’m working on that. But for me, what you have to do, I think and I tell people this is you have to be proud of being mentally ill. You got to be proud of being bipolar or anxiety. You got to be proud of it, because when we come through it, it makes us better. It just makes us better. And. But you have to work and it like you just said in your own thoughts. But I always say, when you when you go through hell, you come through the tunnel of hell, there’s going to be light at the end of the tunnel. But you still got to work on that. So the light can continue. That’s the difference, right?

Maria Marlowe: [00:28:19] Yeah. And whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Yeah, that is the key.

Maurice Benard: [00:28:24] I mean, look. ‘Cause so many people say I don’t want to be. I feel ashamed. I don’t want. I said, look, if it makes you stronger, it makes you a fighter. You get through what it’s just like anything. Like a sports player. Like a boxer. The toughest fight that he has at the end of it, whether he wins or loses, he’s gonna be better because of it. And I love boxing. That’s why I just made that analogy.

Maria Marlowe: [00:28:51] Yeah. I think the important takeaway that I’m getting from our whole conversation is that one, that you shouldn’t be ashamed if you’re having any of these depressive thoughts or anxious thoughts or have any sort of mental illness. It’s not something to be ashamed of. And it is something that you can work on. It’s not you know, that’s not your destiny. You don’t have to stay stuck in that place. You can work on it. You can make changes. And you can get to that light at the end of the tunnel.

Maurice Benard: [00:29:24] Yes. Yes, absolutely. It’s not impossible. It’s very possible. And you can do it. Don’t say you can’t do it. I know they look. I say I can’t. When I’m in it, I literally can’t say, honey, I can’t do that anymore. But look, you and I are talking right now. This was two weeks ago that I said I couldn’t do it.

Maria Marlowe: [00:29:49] And you’re here.

Maurice Benard: [00:29:52] And I’m here feeling great.

Maria Marlowe: [00:29:56] I think that’s another thing that we need to work on and think about it are our words and what we say. You know, even in that that moment, like saying I can’t say or thinking we’re not going to get through it. I think if we change that language, for me personally, I find that also helps me get through things a little bit easier. When I don’t allow myself to say to say those things and again, immediately change it, you know, I can.

Maurice Benard: [00:30:25] Yes, you’re absolutely right. That’s what you should do. But I wish I could in those moments. But it’s just sometimes, you it’s yeah. It’s like it’s like I don’t know how to explain in. But, you know, that’s when anybody tells you what you just said is what a psychiatrist would tell you to do. And what I would tell you to do. What I try to be as realistic as I can. But in the moment, it’s so it just seems like it’s it’s so hard. Right. I mean, but you still have to do what needs to be done. So even in that moment, you’re not supposed to run. For instance, running like in that moment, I’ll give you a little example.

Maurice Benard: [00:31:09] In the moment of a panic attack I go on my bed under the covers. And I’m shivering like a leaf and it’s not cold and I’m thinking, what the? And then in my mind I’m thinking I have the coronavirus. And I get under the covers. Now, I should stay under the covers, but I have to get up. And so what happens is all night I get in bed, get out of bed, get in bed, get out of bed, get in bed. Get out of bed. So there is the pattern. No sleep. So what you should do is stay in bed. No matter how hard or how uncomfortable the feeling is, stay in it and fight. Don’t flee. But easier said than done. And I can’t tell you that I did that. But by the third night, I think I did try to. Yeah. Well, we’re getting deep here in this conversation.

Maria Marlowe: [00:32:08] We like to get deep on this podcast. No, I think that you know and I thank you for being so candid with that because yeah. Sometimes these, you know, techniques and things are easier said than done. And when you’re in the moment, they are harder to do. But again, this is a great example of that, A, You’re still here even though you said you can’t. Yeah, you can. And you’re still here two weeks later. And and B, that, you know, get try and try again. You know, it’s a practice. All of these things you practice, it’s not something you once you know, it’s like you can’t expect to take a shower and smell once and smell good forever. You have to do it constantly, right. Every day. So it’s the same with all of these tools and techniques.

Maurice Benard: [00:32:50] And also, let me bring another thing up here. During that two weeks, you got to understand where I was in my life. I had a book coming up that now I couldn’t do. I couldn’t go to New York to do publicity for. I had Corona virus hit me. I had my mom and dad. We had a little bit of a argument and I had my work shut down for four weeks. So it hit me, hit me hard. And that’s when the panic attack start. Now you have to understand some. I thought that there was no publicity for the book. It was over. But HarperCollins is fantastic. And Heidi, the publicist is amazing. And she still got me the publicity, but all virtual.

Maurice Benard: [00:33:37] But little did they know that I was dying of anxiety. Art imitating life. So, but one thing that I have here is where the strength comes in. I don’t care if I’m dying. I will make you think I’m not dying. When it comes to performing, it’s just that my life suffers. But when it comes to doing Dr. Oz, this that, Charlamagne, the God, whatever, I’ll make you think I’m fine. And that’s what I went through for two weeks. And you know what’s funny is the day they call me to tell me I was New York Times bestseller. I was numb. I had no emotions. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any great news feeling like that ever in my life. So I couldn’t. I was just. It was not good. Only until like an hour or so later I walked outside in the sun and I start to cry a little bit. But that was what happened in those two weeks. Well, you got the whole scoop here. You got my whole deal.

Maria Marlowe: [00:34:46] I love that you’re sharing all of this because, again, you know, people think, oh, your life is perfect right now. You have a New York Times best seller. You’re on Dr. Oz. You’re on this. You’re on that. Right. People think it’s so perfect. And they’re wondering why. Like, their life is not perfect and it’s so refreshing to see what’s really going on behind the scenes and that you’re sharing this with everyone. So it’s really refreshing. And yeah. Well, I’m glad that you’re still here. I’m glad you push past all the anxiety. And how are you now? How are you now? Are you putting on a show right now? Or you’re good.

Maurice Benard: [00:35:27] No. I’m actually great. You know what’s funny is. And you have to understand something about life, that’s the way life is, man. Life comes to you when it wants to. And why couldn’t the publicity have been right now starting the next two weeks? Well, I’m feeling amazing because that’s not life.

Maria Marlowe: [00:35:49] You could do another two weeks. Add another two weeks on.

Maurice Benard: [00:35:54] That’s true. But I mean, why did. It’s like life is like I’d say it’s like a roller coaster. You go up. You go down. You just got to deal with when you’re down, get to know how to deal with it. But I’m thinking right now, after this interview is like, damn, let me just take back all those other interviews, because I know they’re not as good as this interview because of the way I was feeling. They’re good. They were decent because I could fake it. But when you’re feeling good, it’s going to be better. But then again, it may not be as authentic. I don’t know. You never know. But what I’m trying to say is life when you want something at a certain time. Life doesn’t want to give it to you.It comes when it comes. So I feel like Deepak Chopra right now.

Maria Marlowe: [00:36:45] We just gotta go with the flow. And life comes to us when it wants to come to us, you know? Right. It’s like you make plans and God or, you know, our universe laughs right? Yeah. So one last question that I like to ask all my guests. If you have just one tip or one piece of advice that you can leave our listeners with on how they can live a happier and healthier life, what would that be?

Maurice Benard: [00:37:12] This is something that I said a long time ago when I was auditioning and I felt that I was great and nobody cared because I didn’t get hired. And I made it. I had my own saying to help me through it, which was deserve everything. Expect nothing. Very well said, yes, just to show so that the time. And then there’s another saying that my dad says is ” Uke va pasaar, va pasaar” which means what’s going to happen? It’s going to happen. That’s how you live.

Maria Marlowe: [00:37:49] That’s a good way to live. Everyone else is living very anxiously, right. With all these expectations. But, yeah, that’s a great way to live.

Maria Marlowe: [00:37:58] Well, the book is called Nothing General About It: How Love and Lithium Saved Me On And Off General Hospital. Maurice, thank you so much for being here. Best of luck with the book and the rest of your press. And thank you for sharing all of your your wisdom today.

Maurice Benard: [00:38:15] It was a fantastic interview. Thank you. I appreciate it.

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