From the outside looking in on “famous people”, we see flashing lights, autographs, praise, cheers, magazine covers, glamor, interviews, and most enviable of all, the inundation of money. “Must be nice,” we lament. While many find it interesting to focus on the perks of fame,most seemingly ignore the perils of stardom. Have we not witnessed the Justin Biebers, Lindsay Lohans, Demi Lovatos and Amanda Bynes spiral out of control? Some, unfortunately, are no longer alive to tell the tale of their personal struggles with fame, whether they’ve succumbed to substance abuse or committed suicide. And many to this day are still struggling behind the scenes with various mental health issues.
“Fame” is, according to psychologist and author Pamela Stephenson, “extremely bad for your health.” Stephenson made this conclusion after studying high-profile athletes and performers.
“I’ve also done some research myself on what fame is really like for celebrities, and to summarize my findings, they say it’s both a blessing and a curse. The blessing aspect of fame is obvious – the allure of wealth, access, preferential treatment, public adoration, and as one celebrity puts it, ‘membership to an exclusive club,’ keeps the famous person stuck in the perpetual need to keep their fame machine churning,” said Donna Blackwell, a clinical psychologist who specializes in celebrity mental health.
And while many celebrities struggle through this fame personally, add in a COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 and prior, and you get the perfect blend of chaos sometimes.
Teal Swan, who has been popular for a while now through her teachings, speaker sessions and best-selling books, experienced the perils of fame on a level that made her consider quitting her career for the first time since she began.
Although Teal herself has been a survivor of extreme childhood abuse, she has used that experience and others that have come into her life to help inspire millions of people worldwide towards truth, authenticity, freedom, and joy, and to be able to see past their own mental health issues and the pandemic, and into the light.
But 2022 was hard on Teal, like a lot of people. In an exclusive reveal to us, she said, “To be honest, I wish that I could say there was some major career accomplishment this year that I am proud of. But the reality is that what I am proud of is much closer to home this year. 2022 was probably the hardest year of my adult life. I experienced the perils of fame on a level that made me consider quitting my career for the first time since I began. I was betrayed by the person I was closest to in this life after spending 18 years building a life together. During all of that, I had to go through a hysterectomy. And then suffered a complication due to that surgery which put me back into emergency surgery all over again, and while I was overseas doing a European Tour that I could not cancel. What I am most proud of is that instead of closing my heart to people or quitting, and despite being injured on an emotional, mental and physical level, I kept my heart open and showed up on every single stage that I was booked for across Europe. As a result, I found an even deeper commitment to my life purpose than I had before.”
And through pushing through this life-changing moment that was brought on by an ex for his own gain, Teal followed her own teachings and advice and used it to help in her own self-development and spiritual journey. But that journey also has started to take a shift in 2022, and only seems to be changing within her industry.
Teal explains, “The self-development/spiritual industry is going through an extreme shift. As the information age has brought about the era of social media, every single person on earth has a platform to share information. And quite frankly, the internet is over-saturated with information. Information is flying at people from every angle, all day long, every day. And every person on earth has a platform now to broadcast their opinion. There are upsides to this. But the downsides are making it especially hard in my field specifically. Because information is so available and the market is so saturated with it, it is not valued the way it used to be. It used to be that people went on pilgrimages to seek those who were considered experts specifically for their knowledge. Their information was cherished and they were greatly respected for it. They didn’t struggle to make a living and didn’t have to compete with each other because people so valued their information. Attention is very much a commodity. Now, there is no respect for hierarchy of information anymore. The era of social media has ushered in the idea that everyone’s opinion is considered equal. It is hard to know how this is all going to end up. It is a scary time in the self- development/spiritual field.”
While these changes are yet to be determined, social media is indeed taking over. But with social media comes the sense of loneliness sometimes. People hide behind their screens and their own personalities go out the door, as some experts would warn. Because of this, finding a true connection can be extremely difficult, and in 2022 Teal saw this happening with people she worked with and started a movement to help those individuals out.
“This year, I created a new event called The Connection Factor. I created this event to be the antidote to the loneliness that people all over the world are experiencing in the wake of the COVID crisis. It is an event that serves as an opportunity to learn about how to connect to other people and form meaningful relationships. It is also an opportunity to be in the same room as other people who, just like you, are looking for connection. We have just done our first pilot event in Las Vegas and in 2023, I plan on touring the event around the US and the world. Also, in 2023, we are continuing to put our energy towards carrying out Clinical Trials with a process that I created called The Completion Process. It is a process that helps people put themselves back together again and overcome traumas. For many years now, I have been training psychiatrists and psychologists to facilitate this process. And I have my eye on making it so this process is adopted into mainstream psychology.”
As we get set to head into the new year, and with Teal handling her own sense of fame and what that means / the power of it provides in terms of using it for the better in helping people, she left us off with this advice to everyone who may feel uncertain as the new year approaches:
“Every person has a different reason why they are going through a tough time. This is the reason why, for the last eleven years, every single Saturday, I have released a new video on my YouTube channel answering to the various issues that people may be facing. I would encourage people to go look at my YouTube channel and search for a video that applies to whatever struggle they are facing. I would also say that no matter what struggle you are facing, you cannot expect yourself to do it alone. Right now, loneliness is the human epidemic. Pain is bad enough. But pain plus isolation is unbearable. And it is important to understand that connection is the number one human need. Do not let yourself slip into isolation. Don’t be passive to this need. Instead look for opportunities to connect with others and/or create those opportunities. Put thought and action into connecting with other people in literally any way that you can, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Each and every person that you meet is a resource for something valuable. And you never know what person will cross your path and be the thing you need or have the answer you are looking for. The payoff of consciously seeking connection will be worth it!”
