Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me

"How do I learn to breathe my own breath again?" That is a question that all of us have spent time with at one point or another. It is a question that's lived rent-free in my head for most of my adult life. Selena Gomez was diagnosed with lupus, depression, and anxiety. She had a mental breakdown. If her story is of interest to you, feel free to watch the trailer that I've shared below and then watch the documentary about it on Apple TV. This post isn't about Selena though, it's about my friendship with the sound mixer for the project.

A text exchange earlier today with my friend Andy Theiss hit close to home. It was about the support system (or lack thereof) that surrounds us. I haven't seen Andy in close to 15 years, yet we somehow keep each other in the know about what we're up to (and always feel better about our time on the planet as a result). I don't have many friends that I can count on like I can count on him.

One of the things that I hope to accomplish with the personal entries that I share here is to bring awareness to the importance of how we treat each other and the impact that it has on our day to day. We get so wrapped up in our personal shit shows that we often forget to reach out to those who matter. I can't say that's ever applied to Andy.

Andy started on this project right before the pandemic. He was on location in Dallas with Selena when the crew made their second trip to the Lone Star State. He mic'd her up for the interviews that were conducted and followed her around on location in the scenes filmed in Dallas and Los Angeles. He also recorded all of the voice overs in the house and bedroom scenes. He mentioned that this documentary is the one that he's most proud of working on. That statement alone led to creating this post.

Take a moment to breathe your own breath today. Let somebody important to you know that you're aware that they exist and acknowledge the role that they play in your life. Rinse & repeat tomorrow.