Unfiltered Storytelling with Dacari Middlebrooks

A Greek Pool Party, Cascade Skating Rink, and a Detour Sign That Stopped It All

Nobody plans on it. You just wake up one day and can’t find the road back. This page is yours to keep.

The model

Surviving unmet expectations

Depression doesn’t show up. It accumulates. This is the loop from the book, and the loop we walked through today. It runs again and again. The work is what makes each lap healthier than the last.

Expectation the story you were handed Filter image and silence Detour the road closes, honesty is left Work daily, on purpose Surviving unmet expectations
ExpectationThe story you were handed and the one you told yourself about who you were supposed to be by now.
FilterCatfishing yourself. Running on image and silence so nobody can see the gap.
DetourThe road closes. Honesty becomes the only road left. That is not failure. That is grace.
WorkMentorship matters. Counseling matters. Self discovery matters. Daily, on purpose, because surviving is a practice, not a finish line.

Your three answers

Sip. Rink. Sign.

You wrote these on the card. Write them here too and this page holds them for you on this phone. Nobody else sees them.

The habit that looks harmless and isn’t. The thing you reach for because everybody else is.
The place you keep circling to look fine. Smooth on the outside, going nowhere.
The one person or office you will tell the truth to this week.

Friday · faculty and staff

50,000 Hours and the Math Nobody Does

You don’t have to hate it to be carrying too much of it. Three lines, for you only. They save on this phone and nobody else sees them.

The reason you took this job, in a sentence. The version before the committees.
Not what the title says. What a Tuesday says.
A task, a title, or a story about yourself. It does not have to be the job.

If today is the day

You don’t have to carry it alone.

If you are thinking about hurting yourself, or you are not sure you’re okay, reach out right now. These lines are free, confidential, and open all day and all night.

This is for students and for the people who serve them. Faculty and staff: the SU System employee line through BetterMynd is on this page too.

Call 988 Text 988 Chat at 988lifeline.org

988 is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.

Southern University Counseling Center

8710 Elton C. Harrison Drive, next to the Health Center. Free and confidential for students. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Call the Counseling Center · 225 771 2480

After hours and weekends, the Center’s 24 hour crisis line through Holistic Behavioral Health:

24/7 Crisis Line · 225 368 9602

Email counselingcenter@subr.edu. Free online sessions through BetterMynd and peer support through Togetherall, both with your SUS email. Louisiana Mental Health Crisis line: 1 866 310 7977, or text REACHOUT to 741741.

Keep going

Still becoming, out loud.

Every Sunday evening I take one real scene from my life and turn it into something you can use. It’s free. It’s called Undecided Major, because that’s the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Read Undecided Major on Substack free, every Sunday Instagram @dacarij reels and the carousels LinkedIn the work side

Want the whole story? The Depressed Millennial: Surviving Unmet Expectations is the book this talk came from. Find me at the tables and I’ll sign yours.

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