Kelsey Maynor Authors “Help! I’m Talking to Myself: 50 Speeches I Wrote to Keep from Going Cra

Kelsey Maynor, a man well known in the Atlanta area, has made an impact on his community by exposing truths that most people have been afraid to. This year, Kelsey released his book “Help! I’m Talking to Myself: 50 speeches I wrote to keep from going crazy”. This book opened up the conversation of mental health in our community. Quickly becoming an important resource in our community, there is still so much more to learn about this young black man.

Please tell us who is Kelsey Maynor.

Kelsey Maynor is a father, author, entrepreneur, community leader, minister and soon to be husband. Aye!!! Being incredibly involved in the community, I acquired a firm grasp on the importance of education, leadership, and perseverance. I’ve organized hundreds of community service projects, developed dialogue series, and facilitated school programs for underprivileged youth.

Honestly, I just enjoy helping people. I work off my spirit. There are times where I zone out and truly hone in on someone. All my energy focuses in and I start listening and thinking. I try to feel people, and understand what people are feeling. This gift, I suppose, has allowed me to travel to Ethiopia and work in both rural and urban community schools, researching the education policy. I visited Equatorial Guinea, where I helped orchestrate an African Youth Summit around topics such as technology, business development, agribusiness, and leadership. These experiences led me to write… writing my thoughts, my experiences and my dealings with people.

When did you realize that the topic of mental health had to be discussed on a broader level?

I realized it needed to be discussed when I started experiencing things in life and had little outlets for it. I immediately thought back to times when my friends in college were stressed out or experiencing anxiety attacks and thinking, “they were tripping or crazy.” But of course, when it hits home it gets real. But more importantly, I couldn’t talk about it because crazy is the term used when we speak about this topic. Mental Health is just as important as Physical Health, but we don’t treat them as such.

Tell us more about your book.

My book is literally the title itself. “Help! I’m Talking to Myself: 50 speeches”, I wrote to keep from going crazy. I wrote this book alongside a spiritual journey I was taking, where I was leading a prayer group daily for a little over 2 years. I needed it. I wrote daily, based on ideas and thoughts I was having, things I had read or as you will see, music I was listening to. But you really get some inspiring, empowering and motivational concepts that I had to write down for fear that I would forget them myself.

How important is it to discuss difficult topics in our community?

Discussion is extremely important! Not just difficult topics but we should talk more about what goes on. But most importantly, we have to expose ourselves more to experiences and also different treatments. Exposing one another is key, but providing access to helpful remedies, treatments, facilities etc is also a huge factor that needs to be talked about. This shouldn’t be a secret or something we consistently speak on behind closed doors. We have to help each other.

What is your overall goal with your brand and platform?

My overall goal for my brand is to really reach people in their space. Talk about real things and break down as many traditions that have held people in a stuck place. Break molds. Break ties. Break chains. Break mindsets. My platform is about uniting concepts and building community. Period. Goal/Step 7: Open my own chain of restaurants throughout the nation. Start an Initiative Project where playgrounds are placed in small cities throughout the African continent.

To connect with Kelsey Maynor or to order his book, visit his website.

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