I'm not gonna do my regular intro. because I
Serve your neighbors. Okay. Well welcome everyone on my channel now. We just recorded the video for Katie's channel
By the way, this is Katie Morgan. I just realized I haven't introduced you. Yeah. Hello
Um, so tell the people a little bit about yourself because I only know so much as well. Yeah, okay
Um, I'm a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
Which is like just a fancy way :) of saying I'm a therapist you come and talk to me.
I'm like, how does that make you feel and that kind of stuff and I have a mental health education based channel and YouTube
Yeah, so she does fantastic stuff a lot of great advice.
I've actually watched a lot of your videos to figure out what the hell is going on with me.
and recently I (arghh the current realization of depression)
everybody knows I took the break that week long away from everything and I said that was burnt out and I had no
Spark left in me and I had to find stuff for myself
So YouTube put us in touch because she had just done a video about burnout
so we thought it'd be fun and I talked a lot about
like mental health and how to take care of yourself and I give people advice all the time and people who watch my videos and
What they're going through when I give I give advice based on my own
Experiences and what I would like to be able to do as well
But yeah a lot of it. I don't actually do myself either. I'm not any better
Even though I'm a therapist, doesn't mean I like have all my shit together
Yeah
And I kept telling people like it's okay to seek out therapy and you're not weak for
Looking for therapy and you don't need to be broken to do therapy
It's just a really good tool to have and I had never been doing it until recently
I went to see a therapist for the first time. So I'm trying. Okay. I'm working through it
But all the advice I gave is based. It's like anecdotal advice so which is super helpful, and I thought I'd be cool
If we had a licensed person a person who actually knows what they're talking about to give her some advice on stuff
I've already know where to start off cuz there's a lot of stuff that I want to ask you about specifically
We're going to talk about like burnout and youtubers themselves
because after my video
Everybody came to me and saying they were feeling the same thing and I'm sure everybody's going through the same thing and everyone's feeling burnt
Out at the same time and I don't know if it's because more people are talking about it
so more people are opening up about it or if it's
Systemic of the platform. Do you gets a little bit of both?
Do you have any thoughts and why it is how it is now? I think that being a youtuber myself
I guess I can kind of see both sides. So as it well as a clinician
because burnout occurs
So what we're talking about this term burnout that everybody uses really just means that the reward that we get
And the effort we put in need to be somewhat balanced
Yeah
but
being online
And having like we were talking before we start of filming like oh if you used to get like a million views for every video
And then you only get a hundred thousand which still is amazing numbers
but you see the discrepancy we feel the difference and our
Financial reward can change as well because of that and so as a youtuber you're still putting in the same amount of effort
Which is a lot of effort. Yeah, and then the reward is like this
And so if it like hangs a little bit lower than our effort for I don't know a month two months a year
Knows we can start to feel really burnt out
Because we're fine putting in a shit ton of effort. As long as our reward is high
Yeah, so that's just kind of what it is
and I think the reason that it's different on YouTube and
The that it's like the systemic of YouTube as a whole as well as like people are now talking about it
So more people are talking, you know, yeah
it's a little bit of both because just like anything people might have not had a word to put to it and then they're like
Yeah. Oh, that's why I've been feeling so terrible. Yeah, now I know what to call it. Okay
People have that and then I think the that YouTube as a whole tends to reward content that's coming out all the time
Yeah, absolutely. And I can't I'm that treadmill just running. I'm like, I can't nope can't keep up with that. Yeah
Well, that's it's funny
You mention a treadmill because that's how I keep
telling people about it because that's this is how I fall about and I keep giving advice to people ever since because they're feeling the
Same thing. Yeah
Is that it's like it's like a really fast treadmill that's always going and whether you're on it or not
That's just gonna keep working and for a long time. I felt like I was at the back of that treadmill and
My upload schedule was the only thing keeping me honored that consistency was keeping my legs going
and then I was afraid that if I missed an offload or if I let people down or anything like that that I would just
Fall off and it's so much harder to get back on. Yeah, whereas then I took a week off. I took a break
It's it's like the treadmill slowed down everything just slowed way down numbers drop money drops views drop everything drops
That's fine. It's quickly healthy
it's allowed to happen and
Then it gave me that
Chance like it back to the front of the treadmill and I feel like I'm going at my own pace now
And I'm not yeah
I'm not going at YouTube's rhythm anymore
And I'm in a very lucky position that the channel is so big that it kind of self sustains at this point totally
But you've worked hard to get there - yeah, like you're in a lucky position, but that's come with a lot of work
It's numb with a lot of work and stress and no social life or anything like that. So it's anybody watching
It's okay to take a break
Yeah, you're fine
Totally and I think something that I always try to remind myself of I'm just saying this so we have like record that I said
It out is like normal people normal jobs. They have vacations. They have holiday time. Yeah, we don't get that
and yeah, and we we feel guilty taking it mhm versus a normal person who works in like
I don't know at the post office. They're like taking all the vacation. They get two or three weeks a year
We don't get that. So like you took a week that was like the bare minimum of vacation time in it
Yeah, but to me because we were saying it's all relative to each other
That was a huge amount of time and I'm done down to one video a day
Which to me is crazy because it's it's literally half the work
Yeah
Or half the perceived work have the the perceived productivity, but it's just it's made me so much healthier good
It's made me so much more balanced that can actually hang out and talk with friends and come and do these types of videos
I used to turn down so many opportunities because I didn't have the time to go do them
Of course cuz you gotta keep up with your treadmill. Yeah, I know everyone's schedule is different
I mean I'm talking about like 14 videos a week
But you do two a week and it's it's all
However much you can do I always say be as consistent as you can be
Yeah, Yugi Blake's consistency, but to be as consistent as you can be like if that's once a month once a week
That's your consistent rhythm. Yeah, exactly
That's what's important cuz then you can bulk and ebb and flow as much as you want as long as that schedule
Is there I think you can work through it a lot easier and manage your time a whole lot more?
Since a lot of people come to me a lot of people ask me for advice and stuff and I can give my own advice
But are there any like professional pieces of advice you can give people on how to not not so essential that cure themselves?
But to help prevent in work through it
Yeah, there's quite a few things we can do and we kind of know them to be honest. Like these aren't like
There's no magic wand. Alright, they're like fix things. I wish if you find one, let me know
But but there are a lot of things that we can do because therapy for me helps
Give me a place where I can talk about things without judgment. Yeah, like they only know what I tell them
They only know this story that I'm stringing together, and I know that that can sound like really false
But it gives me a place to be like this is shitty and I feel bad about this and I don't know what to do
Yeah, and it's no one's being like well last year. You said the same thing? No one's like, you know jabbing me
she's just like let's fix this and so I think therapy's a great way to help yourself and then finding ways to
diversify income so we're not only
reliant on YouTube Adsense
because that does peak and wane depending on like you take a week off like you don't have videos going up your views are gonna
Go down absence goes down
and then getting help like having a manager an assistant or an editor absolutely all really really helpful things and
Everybody's gonna be different. Everybody has a different level of like
Ability to manage like it sounds like you're you're like function at this level. I'm like
You know in first gear, but knowing what your limits are and feeling it like if you're feeling really burnt and you're feeling frustrated
One of the ways I know if I'm feeling burnt out is I'm like angry at my job
Oh, yeah, which is not me like I love it
I feel super fortunate, but if it was like irritable, oh my god
I don't want to film like why I have to do this then then I know that it's like something's wrong
Yeah
That's why I keep telling you like my YouTube friends to take a break when they're feeling that way cuz you start you do it
Because you love it
Yeah clearly
You wouldn't work this hard and get burnt out if you didn't love it because it's a huge passion of mine to do it
But after a while if you start disliking it day to day then you start building up this resentment that you don't know is there
Totally and you never ever want to resent the thing that you love
Yeah
Cuz then it's it's so much harder to get back into it cuz you'll always have that mentality that
There's there's like a bad side to it. I think yeah. No, I totally agree. It's this we love it
So if I'm angry at it why?
Yeah, it doesn't make sense
And that's always like for me. It's a clue to be like oh
You should probably like take some time for yourself and that's why you're going on walks and stuff
Um, so that's something that people can do just incorporate something that you up makes you feel good
That could be talking to friends. But anytime with friends that could be going for a walk. It could be sitting in silence
Yeah, I can't know that sounds weird, but I'm much more of an introvert. So like silence is golden
And so anything to make you feel better, I think overall spending more time doing that
100% will help ya and I think the point about therapy is good because
Everyone tends to think that therapy is for broken sad people who are going through like the bad parent
No
But I I've I've always said the therapy is just good to go to in general
Because like you you want to take care of your body you go to the gym. You eat healthy?
But if you want to take care of your brain
No one's doing anything for it totally and going to a therapist is like having a trainer
Okay, I really would like to feel stronger in my legs. I need you to do exercises with that
Yeah, why would that be any different from going to a therapist? Cuz you're like working out your brain
Yeah, you're like helping me feel better. I don't like this. I need to be stronger in this way
Yeah
And it's also just giving you tools to help you cope with stuff that might end up building up
Eventually, like my wait till you're you know on fire to like start doing primitive measures
Yeah, like you don't need to be burned-out to actually go to therapy and this is like advice for everybody
This is not just for people who are doing YouTube. It's just very
Like we both of us do youtube. So it's it's obviously within our wheelhouse but
Any of you out there who are doing anything? You look say
I see a lot of
artists a lot of like writers a lot of
people who like taking photos and fill them and everything and they're all getting burnt out on it because it
Feel like it's going nowhere. Yeah, I've always said to like compare yourself to yourself instead of to everybody else
Yes, one of my favorite quotes as comparison is the thief of joy
Because you're not gonna be like anybody else. You aren't them. That's the great thing. I'm not like anybody else. I'm me
Yeah, so I think you should only compare yourself to yourself. Like how how am I doing today versus yesterday?
Yeah or last week and that's about as far as I would go like timeline-wise
Okay, don't do like years cuz then they're just like oh my god
But you can just keep it within like a week or so. Yeah, I'd be like, hey today's a better day than yesterday
Yeah up and up
And if you look back from yourself for like three years ago and you cringe at it that just means you've grown as a person
Yeah, it should be cringy. Yeah, I shed the skin to that person. I don't know that anymore. I'm a holder now
Katie yes lay it on us
Let's get scientific
With all of this because we can we can give the hokey-pokey cliche sounding advice all we want it's it's they sound cliche
but it's solid actual advice and I think that's a hurdle a lot of people have to get over the cynicism builds and it's like
Taking a break whatever it is. We'll walk. Yeah, it works
but there's very
Scientific reasons for all of this stuff to do and this is why you're here because you're qualified you're able to talk about this stuff
Yeah, and I find this stuff so fascinating the brain is really fascinating in general because it's regenerative
So if anything happens or you don't like the way you're feeling it can get better
Yeah, but the reason that burnout occurs
So the amygdala which is like kind of in the center of our brain and it's a teeny
Almost like a being shaped a little bit of your brain and it's your fire alarm
So like when you're a kid and you're throwing a tantrum your amygdala is like wow, it's like we hate everything
and
So it's the fight flight or freeze response and it comes from your amygdala
And so it sends a signal and burn out when our reward starts to go down and we start to get
Frustrated like those symptoms we're talking about like, oh, I'm just so annoyed. I don't want to do this
That's our amygdala like sparking up and it's getting our we're essentially getting really angry and very frustrated and we don't know why
so it sends us alarm because when we don't have a reason to be upset that we can tangibly be like, ah,
It thinks it's like fight or flight or freeze it like sends us into our emergency response
Yeah, and so when the amygdala is firing all the time to keep us going on that treadmill
We're just like barely sustaining its sound sounding the alarm
So often that all of those synapses and all the roads the pathways out of the amygdala to the other parts of the brain
They keep us going keep us like moving doing the thing. We need to and also make us feel really frustrated and angry maybe
It's on those pathways all the time and it's essentially like when you drive on a road
But you never repave it
Because synapses need time and parts of our brain you time to regenerate because they regenerate if they're not given that break
then it's like
It's like on a rough road like can't get the message out and we just start having these bizarre symptoms
We can feel really fatigued easily. We can feel eight key. We can be really irritable to friends and family
We can like have trouble recalling information. It should be super simple like it's in our wheelhouse something. We've known forever
Yeah, we can be like ah
What's that guy's name? Like it just drives you crazy because your brain is burnt
Yeah
Essentially those it can't send anymore signals and you have to like to take a break and so I always think that's really fascinating something
To remember that like those little times we're saying like take a break go for a walk spend time with friends
It was essentially like repaving the roads in your brain so that it can keep doing what it needs to do because you're burning it
out Yeah, so it might it may sound hokey pokey
But there's real evidence to back up that it works. And that's the thing you like about meditation
So because I've been trying to get into that a lot. Yeah, me too. It's hard
Yeah, and like a year and a half ago. I was very much like meditation is for like Buddha's and
monks and
It's like a movie scene more than it is to actually help
but the more I've
Like I've gone on tour with all these people who are on the road all the time and they're in work mode constantly
But they seem to just have such a grasp on it
They seem to just be
Really good at it stuff flies off the handle all the time and they deal with it and they come about very positively about it
And just fix the problems. I was like well how the hell do they do this? And they all do yoga meditation?
Transcendental Meditation. Yeah different things like that. Just taking 20 minutes for themselves and breathing in and out focusing on your breath and just letting
Basically allowing your brain to like slow down
Yeah shut off for a little moment and it like cleans out all the gunk
Essentially like any of those little road bits? I did. I love analogies if you can't tell but like those little
Broken off pieces of asphalt it's like okay time to clean the road
Yeah, and then you feel better and then you're actually able to think more clearly
Yeah, so it's hard to do and it's something that you have to train yourself to do
I think and your mind wanders very often
But it's good to like allow it to wander but be aware that it wanders and bring yourself back to Center and everything
And yes, it's worked for me
At least it is really hopeful, um, it's hard but it's it's like a muscle that you need to build up
Yeah, get the easier
Yeah
and I think the more you do it like if you do it at the start of the day or middle of the day and
Kind of just lets you get through the rest of the day. Mm-hmm a lot a lot less anxious. Yeah
I was just listening to Amy Schumer and Oprah she an Oprah interviewed her
Um, Amy Schumer is a comedian anyway
And she's been on tour forever and she does train gentle meditation
twice a day 20 minutes 19 20 minutes at night and she said it's like
Changed her life
Yeah
Like she's like I'm able to go on tour for like three months longer than I used to I made a little stay more present
I think I'm actually funnier. Yeah, I was like, wow, I gotta get into this
yeah, so I think for me the reason it worked so well is because
feeling like that schedule has to keep going and if you are in a position if you're in a
Stressful job that does keep you going all the time
Sometimes you don't have the time like take a vacation or go walk outside or anything
But just taking ten 15 20 minutes a day to just go to a quiet place and close your eyes and let yourself breathe
Yeah, totally it helps you just get through the next phase
Exactly. Okay, so to sum up we've talked a lot about like workplace burnout and stresses and strains
so
If you could go through like the signs
what to look out for or what it is and how to just just to sum it up so we have it all in a
nice neat little package
Yeah
I think if you're like avoiding work things used to get excited about you're not excited about anymore if you've been feeling extra tired
Yeah, if you're irritable or like snappy with either people in your life
but if you're not even interacting with people if you find online, you're just like
Agitated easily. Yeah, you know those are signs of it and I think just overall not feeling like yourself that's for me
Like I don't feel like myself I get tearful easily anything that just feels a little bit off
That's a reason to start working on finding a way to make you feel more like yourself
Yeah, I think that's exactly what I started to feel. So I didn't I love what I do
I'm very energetic and like out there but then as soon as that started to change I was like, okay something's wrong
What what do we fix? Oh, yeah, it's good. It's good to be aware of it
Yeah, and notice what it's like for you. I always tell everybody like track how you're feeling. It's not the ever best
Keep a journal we can keep just a bullet point of like hey today was good
You know, I ate pretty well. I slept pretty well. I saw some friends
I'm feeling good so that you can see when things kind of go off the rails
Yeah, you can track back more easily and put some, you know tools in place
Yeah, so take care of yourselves take some time. But thank you so much. Yeah, I mean you're talking to us about it
We're gonna do another video where we talk about
Just in general mentalities and everything not just specific to work and how you go through that. So look forward to that
But thank you so much. You can find Katie on her own and on her social medias. I will be linking into the description
She does fantastic videos
They're very they're like life hacks
and they'll help you through a lot of stuff and it's nice to have a
Qualified professional talk about this stuff and help us all but thanks for watching. See you next time!
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