MAA #044: With Sharon Andrews

Interview with Comedian Sharon Andrews, who started comedy pretty much by accident a couple of years ago at Aireys Pub.  Sharon now performs regularly in Melbourne, and also co-runs the Red Door comedy room in Geelong (on the first Thursday of the month) for the Surf Coast community as well as visitors from Melbourne.  You can catch Sharon's first solo show in May at the Butterfly Club – it's called People With Glass Dildos Shouldn't Throw Stones. We discuss: Sharon's academic approach to start comedy, her fear of public speaking but being up for the challenge, being diagnosed with depression 12 years ago, consciously considering how to actively look after her mental health, teething problems with anti-depressants, the absence of information about how to come off anti-depressants, research and views on medication, the issue of people tending to stay on anti-depressants for the long-term, the contested view of prescribing anti-depressants with people expressing suicidality, awareness of protective factors, listening carefully to herself and her needs, reframing unhelpful/anxiety-provoking self-talk with reassuring thoughts and worst-case scenario planning, mindfulness at the beach, Sharon's super power, and her general message that you are more powerful than you think – you have great capacity to contribute to your wellbeing and seek out people and things to bring you joy and enhance your life, and also to choose to avoid things that do not.