For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we’re interviewing life coach and Clapper creator, Nisaa Robinson.
Nisaa Robinson (also known as @NisaaRobinson) is a content creator and mindset coach, helping people change their mindset and reach their goals. She focuses on burn out and specifically works with therapists, social workers, counselors, and other coaches so they can continue to do what they love longer. In this interview, we talked about the beginning of her journey in the mental health profession, what burn out really looks like, what she wants her content to do, advice for creators, and more!
Keep reading this Deep Dive to follow this creator’s inspiring story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @ClapperCreator account to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Talks. Nisaa is a guest in our Mental Health Awareness month series, and will be back next week for our Mental Health Panel.
Tell us a little bit about yourself! Where did your journey in the mental health field begin?
So I’m going to give y’all a real cliché answer at first, because that’s just the way it is. This work chose me: I didn’t choose it. But I came to this point where I didn’t know what I wanted to do, what direction I was going. I had this whisper in my head that I believe everybody has about the greatness in them. But I ended up experiencing a level of poverty that I did not have to experience. I saw the impact of untreated, unaddressed substance abuse issues and mental health disorders. From that experience, I learned the power that was present within to utilize mindset. To shift my whole being, change my paradigm, cause myself to be different in the way that I saw myself. It’s an indescribable experience to go through that kind of transformation. So that’s where I come to living out what I had in my mind as a child. To be in a position where I’m actually helping to serve others, to have that experience for themselves. There is absolutely nothing like walking through the transformation journey with someone else.
For those of us that don’t know, can you tell us a little bit about burn out? What is it, and what are some ways that it can manifest?
What I’m seeing a lot of now is the term burn out being used to describe being tired, exhausted, overwhelmed, and I get it. From the APA definition of burn out, it’s the physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It is accompanied by decreased motivation, reduced performance, and a negative attitude toward yourself. It results in high levels of stress, and you even get to a place where you lack empathy for other people. And you don’t quite believe that you have the ability to make your situation something different. That’s when things get really, really dangerous when we talk about burn out.
But with being emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed, we absolutely want to pay attention to that! We need our proactive tools and supports in life, and we need our reactive ones. We need to do some things to ensure we don’t get to that place in life, and we need the tools so if we do come to that place we can get up out of it. When I’m saying burn out, I’m talking about both. I understand that both types of burn out need to be addressed and dealt with so people can improve the quality of their life. Because, listen! You’ve got greatness in you, you’ve got purpose in you, somebody is waiting for you to show up. And you have to be able to show up in the fullness that is you.
If someone is experiencing burn out, how can they combat that? Especially if it’s something like work, where you can’t really step away from it for a while?
I’ll come at this a couple of different ways. If you think that you are experiencing burn out, it is a good idea to speak to your medical provider and a mental health professional. Someone who can help you sort out whether or not you can utilize strategies given to you, or if other diagnoses need to be considered. And you need to get checked out medically, because we understand at this point that stress and high levels of cortisol impact every illness we’re going to experience.
There are 3 things you can do starting today. The first is don’t overswing: don’t go from having no kind of exercise regiment to running 3 miles a day. You’ll burn out on that, so don’t do that to yourself. The second thing is incorporate a 5 minute pause each day. Find a few practices that you can incorporate in short periods of time where you have the opportunity to check in. Identify what you are experiencing, accept it, understand it, and find what strategies will help you to move in the direction you prefer to be in. And do things that you will actually do. If you set yourself up to do things and you do not do them, then that is going to increase the experience you are having.
You post quite a bit about changing your mindset. This seems like such a huge thing to tackle! How would someone start this journey?
Self talk. Self talk is the answer, and it’s the simplest and most profound answer. If you think about this, back in the day you had an infomercial and there’s a line of words going across the bottom of the screen that you can’t read. The words are there, they’re going on, they’ve got some meaning and they have a purpose, and they don’t stop. That’s what self talk is like. Self talk is happening all the time, it never stops, and it is what contributes to what we identify as our mindset.
And here’s the thing. Depending on where you do your research, you will see that people have between 60,000 – 90,000 thoughts a day. And 80% of them are identified as being negative. And approximately 75 – 90% of those negative thoughts are repetitive. That’s the self talk, that’s the line of the words going across the screen of your mind and subconscious all day long. Now your subconscious is what tells you what to do, think, say, feel, how to behave in reaction to the stimuli that you’re experiencing.
So identify your self talk and craft counter statements to anything that doesn’t serve you, then you identify what you’d like to believe about yourself. Then, what would be the behavior that would confirm that belief. Your beliefs are informing your thoughts, your thoughts are informing your feelings, and your feelings inform your behavior. So your mindset can be shifted and reprogramed by the reprogramming of your self talk, because that’s what you actually have control over. Then do some affirmations – but you’ve got to feel what it would feel like to believe every part of that thing is true. So you have to feel it and put your body into it.
So, when did you join Clapper? How did your journey as a content creator begin?
I heard about Clapper on another platform and just decided to check it out. That was March 31st of this year, and I just decided to see what it was about!
When it comes to your content, how do you create it? How do you generate video ideas?
The short answer is my own life, my own growth and transformation journey. As well as the experiences that I’ve had with folks over the years. I have a background in education, but I’m really my aim is to help people leave with something that’s applicable. Sometimes it’s a quote to ponder on, some tool or practice that someone could grab and take for themselves, that’s my preference. For it to be something that can be immediately applied to someone’s life, right now, in real life situations and circumstances.
What do you enjoy most about Clapper? In what ways do you feel like Clapper needs improvement?
Well, I want to connect and learn and grow with others. There is much for me to gain and learn by being here. Be in community, learn about stuff I have no knowledge of, be challenged, have some fun. And my belief about my own purpose in life is that I am purposed to love and to serve, and that’s really it when you boil it down. So however I can contribute, to help bring some motivation and inspiration and activation.
As far as what could be improved, I think you all have a good idea of different features and permissions people would like to see. I think I heard somebody say that they want to be able to unlock a Live or Radio after they’ve locked it. What I would appreciate is a chat in the Radio because it provides folks that can’t come up and speak the opportunity to engage while they’re in the Radio. But the other thing is being able to somehow notify someone who invites you to speak that you can’t come up right now. Instead of not answering, a message could come up saying “thank you, but I’m not able to come up”. I think that would be helpful.
What advice would you give creators that are struggling to balance mental health and social media?
Prioritize you. For me that’s nonnegotiable. Whatever that means, that would be my advice and admonition there. And ways to do that is having time blocks where you commit yourself to actually sticking to those time blocks. Schedule time for content creation, for when you’re engaging on the app, then when you’re going to post, when are you going to be doing the follow up you might need to do. My aim is to help people to live inspired for excellence. So you identify a plan, work your plan, and if the plan’s not working, revise it. You don’t change your goal. If you know your goal is the right goal, you change your strategy and your methods.
And you said the word balance but my preference is harmony. Because it might be completely okay for me to be putting in 10 hours of work towards my business, and getting 1 hour for myself. That’s harmony, not balance. It’s not the same amount of time, energy, and effort in all areas. But it’s time, energy, and effort in the areas I’m prioritizing. And can afford to do so while still show up for myself and others
We hope you enjoyed getting to know Nisaa Robinson– and got some insight into your own mental health struggles! To learn more, check out her Clapper profile. For our last Deep Dive on @BeatAnxiety.Me, read here.