Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • So just a heads up before I start this video, for those of

  • you that are looking for something uplifting and chipper,

  • this is not that video today.

  • May I recommend our cat cafe video or perhaps our visit to the Sailor Moon cafe?

  • So as some of you already know, I suffer from chronic pain,

  • but what I haven't told you guys is that I also suffer from chronic depression.

  • So normally, I don't talk a lot about my illness,

  • because I like to use humor to cope with it; it's kinda my thing that I like to do.

  • But lately, I've read a lot of emails and comments from people who are also suffering from chronic pain and

  • depression. And while it makes me super happy to hear that my videos can motivate and inspire people

  • I also realized I've never really shared with you how I cope with my depression.

  • Since you are only able to see videos that I choose to put out,

  • you only see videos of me being happy and frolicking at like a maid cafe, and

  • eating wonderful, gourmet sushi, and visiting the Sailor Moon cafe

  • and I seem like this super happy person. That super happy person is me.

  • But there are also days that are miserable, and crappy, and I never document them on camera

  • and share them with you, because I think that they would make you feel just miserable.

  • But on the other hand, I don't want to paint an inaccurate or unattainable way of living

  • with chronic pain or depression. So what I want to do today is open up to you guys and talk to you

  • very honestly about how I handle my depression.

  • Whaaaat? Depression? How can Martina be depressed?

  • Look at her hair - it's like a unicorn. Look at my outfit; it's totally made for a five year old,

  • but I was like I can fit into this, and I'm really happy that I can, because it makes me feel happy

  • to wear lion-shaped clothing, and I think everyone should have lion-shaped clothing in their life.

  • So first of all, for those of you that don't know, I was actually born with an incurable, genetic disorder

  • known as EDS. Essentially, I was born with a defect in my collagen,

  • and collagen is really important to keeping your entire body together.

  • Because I have a defect in collagen, my body likes to fall apart. So things dislocate, and fall out of socket.

  • I'm kind of like a Transformer. Transformers like can, you know, dislocate and turn into cars and trucks and stuff.

  • But I just like to transform into like a world of pain. There's that humor.

  • So in my personal situation, my chronic pain basically wrecks havoc both on my body, physically -

  • so like a dislocated shoulder will actually hurt, but it also creates a problem with the hormones inside my body

  • that are trying to cope with this pain and the feeling. And this is something that everyone can relate to.

  • You don't have to have chronic pain to understand what I'm saying. If you've ever had like a

  • toothache or like if you've broken a bone, you'll notice that, you're not yourself.

  • You're not exactly the happiest person on the entire planet, and everybody deals with pain differently.

  • Some people are super cranky, irritable, awful, mean people.

  • Other people are just withdrawn, like they're not themselves, and they're not talkative. We all

  • have different ways of dealing with pain. The difference is that if you break your arm or you have a toothache,

  • eventually, it will be fixed, and you will stop feeling that pain.

  • But in my case, I can never be fixed. There will be no end to my pain.

  • There is no cure for EDS, so I will always be in pain.

  • And my mood, and my mental state will always be affected by this pain. Forever.

  • This never-ending pain cycle can make it really easy for people with chronic illnesses to become really

  • mean, nasty, snippy people. And I really - you know, like I can't blame them for this, because

  • this exhausted body of never-ending pain will lead you to like really dark days of total depression

  • and utter hopelessness. Like I just can't believe that I'm never gonna be cured.

  • I can't believe that I'm getting worse. I look in the mirror, and I think, is this really my life?

  • Is this really - I'm not reading a book or watching a movie? This is actually me who will deal with this forever

  • and is only gonna get worse. And you just feel utterly despondent and hopeless.

  • I throw a lot of pity parties for myself. But I'd like to say I think this is the biggest turn out I have ever had for a

  • pity party, because whatever happy day you were having, I'm pretty sure that's over with now that you've seen

  • this part of the video. But I brought you guys to this pity party for a reason, because I wanna show you what I do

  • to help myself on these really, really low days. And the reason I say help is because

  • there was a time in my life when I gave up, and I let the depression completely wash over me.

  • And I fell into the darkest possible pit.

  • And I... I attempted suicide. And it didn't work.

  • And it was definitely the lowest part of my life.

  • But I felt like

  • If I was willing to end it all, if I was willing to just not live anymore, then

  • I had a stupid thought. Like, why didn't I ever get a tattoo? Why didn't I dye my hair pink?

  • Why didn't I take that exchange to Japan?

  • Why didn't I do all these things in my life? And

  • So then, slowly, I started to do things again.

  • I did really small things. I started to build

  • these small things that created like a ladder that helped pull me out of this really low, depressed pit.

  • And with each accomplishment, and with each goal, and each tiny adventure, I slowly started to add

  • rungs to this ladder.

  • And I started to see meaning in life again.

  • And a lot of these things, at first, were really small, simple things, like maybe

  • going on the internet and learning how to knit. And then the next thing I do is go out

  • to actually get thread - and that's a big step. And then from there,

  • I start to join forums and look things up online, and the next thing I know, I'm going to a cafe,

  • and I'm meeting real people and having conversations with them and, and -

  • All these little, tiny goals were just taking me out a little bit further away from this total pit of complete hopelessness.

  • So eventually, I kind of came to my life mantra, which is

  • Why not do all the things you wanna do?

  • I mean if you're willing to end it all, then...

  • why not do everything you want to do? That makes no sense. You - there's no consequence.

  • You're gonna end it, so you might as well do everything you wanna do.

  • So that's kind of worked its way into my life, currently, in my now mind state in life, which is

  • why am I gonna sit around and feel miserable and be in huge amounts of pain, when I could be

  • dancing at a live show and watching an amazing DJ?

  • Yes, the next two days after that, I'm gonna feel more pain than I would have felt if I stayed home.

  • But I still would have felt pain if I had just stayed at home. I, I still would have been sad,

  • and I still would've dealt with chronic depression. The difference is that when I'm 90,

  • I'm not gonna look back and say, "Oh my, that time when I watched Netflix and cried all day,

  • cuddling my stuffed toy pig was a highlight of my life!"

  • What I'm gonna say is, "Oh man, remember that show I went to with Simon and Dan in Tokyo?

  • When we saw that DJ, and I danced like a maniac, and I wore my LED light-up shoes?

  • And then the next day, I just like couldn't walk?"

  • But I was able to have this kind of adventure and this memory, and that memory and adventure

  • adds another rung to my ladder, and that pulls me a little bit further out of that pit

  • on those days that I'm feeling super depressed. Just last weekend, we flew to Ehime,

  • which is a part of Japan, and I climbed all these multiple hills, and sat squished in a van for hours.

  • And all of this wrecked havoc on my knees, and my shoulders, and my bodies, but I got to eat an

  • orange straight off of a tree, and it was starting to rain, and we were on a mountainside, and I

  • surrounded by these chefs, and as the rain was falling on my face, and I was eating this orange,

  • it was the best tasting orange I've ever had in my entire life. It was such an incredible and simple moment

  • for me to just pull an orange from a tree and eat it, but it was just a magical experience.

  • And after I returned from this trip, the next two days were awful, because airplane travel,

  • and car travel, and sleeping in a hotel that isn't your bed, and pillow's hard, walking, and climbing

  • All of this made it so that Simon actually had to physically lift me off the floor

  • of our own house, because my body like gave out. It was like, "You're not standing today."

  • And Simon was like, "Okay! I've been working out so I can pick you up." And he was able to pick me up, and

  • I felt really miserable, and it was really tough - but

  • now I have these incredible memories, and these incredible memories help me push forward.

  • When I was on the ground and I felt miserable, did I say to myself,

  • "Ugh, I shouldn't have climbed that orange tree and had that amazing orange that will now define every orange

  • you eat for the rest of your life? I should've stayed home, and just stayed in the house and watched TV."

  • No! I was able to say to myself, "I don't regret it."

  • I don't regret anything. I don't regret climbing that hill and eating that orange, 'cause it was such a great memory.

  • And I never would've had that if I didn't... You know? So this kind of pushing through is extremely important.

  • So some of you might argue - and this is my doctor's standpoint -

  • If I didn't go out at all, I wouldn't have as much pain, so I shouldn't go out. And my doctor has actually told me

  • that I absolutely should not be climbing orange groves, and I shouldn't be surfing in Hawaii,

  • and I shouldn't leave the house, and I shouldn't exercise.

  • He's told me that I should go to a swimming pool, and I should walk in it.

  • I can't even - I literally can't even swim. I was like, "Oh, I can go swimming!"

  • And he's like, "You should just walk in the pool."

  • If I did that, and I listened to all him, and I listened to all the people that told me not to go out,

  • I would still be in chronic pain, and I would still be in depression.

  • It wouldn't change it. But all these adventures I go on and all these things that I push myself to do,

  • have become fuel to push me to get out of depression on those shit days.

  • So when I was younger, depression had full control over me, and I almost lost to it.

  • But now that I'm older, I realize that depression will always be part of my life.

  • But I've learned different ways to add rungs to my ladders and to climb away from the bottom.

  • And while I know I will probably never get out of this pit, one thing I do know is that

  • I'm never going back down again.

  • While I don't have control over my pain or my depression, what I'm trying to have control over

  • is how I respond to both of them.

  • So I totally understand if you ignore my invitation to my next pity party.

  • This was a pretty bad party. Didn't even have canapés, there was like no music.

  • It got weird there for a bit. There was some crying - sorry about that.

  • Totally sucked.

  • I hope that with this video, those of you that are suffering from depression - whether it be from a

  • chronic pain or chronic illness, or whether it be from an outside force that's wrecking havoc on your life,

  • I hope that this video can give you some tools or some strength to get a handle on your depression.

  • And I'd like to say that I'm sorry we haven't been putting out as many videos as we first did.

  • When we first started vlogging and putting out videos back in Korea, I had a lot more energy, and

  • the pain wasn't as intense, and as I get older, it's really just getting worse, so

  • our videos are getting shorter amount of release dates, 'cause of all the crying

  • and all the pity parties, so I'm sorry about that. But I do love seeing all your comments on the videos

  • that we do put out. You guys still give me strength to keep going and making videos.

  • And then I give you strength, and then you give me strength, and it's this amazing cycle of wonderful positivity

  • in the Nasty community.

  • So let's get some positive comments started and give each other some support so that we can start

  • all building our own ladder. #buildaladder

  • Hashtags... do they still work? People still do hashtags? Is that a thing?

  • I don't know. I'm not hip and cool and with it. With the kids.

  • Ow, I really hurt my elbow doing that - for real. Where's my pig?

  • I'm wearing pajamas from waist down - you just can't see it.

  • This was a hard video, guys.

  • I cried; I'm sorry. I cried on camera. I feel so embarrassed.

  • I feel so embarrassed that I cried that I'm gonna cry again.

  • I'm sorry I'm doing this; give me a hug.

  • Internet hug.

  • I'm sorry that I'm getting fat; I can't go to the gym, but I love eating.

  • I just love eating so much; it makes me so happy.

  • Come here, big duck. Come here, big duck.

  • Come on.

  • You're my big duck. I'm sorry, big duck.

  • Don't apologize, girl.

  • Thanks for taking care of me.

  • He's working out so that he can take care of me.

  • I'll always take care of you, girl.

  • He's literally working out so he can carry me around.

  • He's not that good yet.

  • I'm getting there!

  • He can lift me off the ground, but I keep eating and gaining weight so he has to keep working out more

  • because I weigh more than I used to.

  • I used to weigh like 140 pounds, and now I'm at 176.

  • How is he gonna keep up when I'm 200??

  • You have to become the mountain. Is it too soon yet?

  • S: Such is the plan. M: Yep.

So just a heads up before I start this video, for those of

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it