Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that next week I'm going to be doing a live Q&A right
here on my YouTube channel. We're going to do it next Thursday at 6:00 pm Mountain Time. That is 8
o'clock Eastern Time. So if you have any questions you want me to address, go ahead and leave them in
the comments below on this video, and um show up and ask some questions then too; I would love to
talk with you all. Anyway, I hope you all have a good day. Gracie, can you say bye-bye? Bye.
Nothing ever looks that steep on camera, but it is. Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to walk
you through my personal process of dealing with stress and anxiety. I feel a little bit like a
dweeb because I'm doing a selfie video while hiking, but this is where I'm at right now.
And I'm wearing yesterday's makeup, got a pack on my back. I'm training for a big hike in two weeks
and um dealing with a lot of stress with my work. So I bet some of you guys can
understand that idea. Dealing with enough stress that it bothers me throughout the day
makes my stomach hurt a little bit, interferes with my sleep. So what's my game plan? Well,
game plan number one, honestly admit it. Say to the stress like "Okay,
this is stress; this is anxiety." And then number two is just like acceptance, right?
Like okay, if I want to do good in the world,
if I wanna make YouTube videos that help people and if I get big enough there's gonna be problems,
there's gonna be people who come after me or mean comments or just the stress of trying to run a
small business when I've never run a business before and not doing that perfectly, right? So
my first step is like okay, stress is part of the game. Then my second step is like okay,
what else can I do to decrease my stress, right? What else can I do to change how I'm feeling?
First step for me is well, I love exercise. It helps process all those stress chemicals,
helps me feel better, helps me relax. So here I am. I'm out hiking the Y. It's uh only a mile,
but it's a thousand feet of elevation gain. Okay, it's a little more than a mile. And uh
it's my morning workout. Next thing I'm gonna do, I'm going to look at what can I cut out.
What am I doing that is too much? What do I need to let go of? So I'm making a better to-do list
and I'm reminding myself it's impossible to do everything, it's impossible to fix everything,
it's impossible to control everything. So instead I'm just gonna choose what I'm gonna act on this
week and what I'm gonna let go of. And then the next step is just facing it head on.
I seriously feel so nerdy talking to the camera while I'm hiking.
So facing it head-on. So I'm facing some issues, like it's an area where I'm I'm not an expert
in at all - legal issues. I'm legally in the right; my lawyers tell me so. But still every
time I think about legal issues and contracts and stuff my stomach drops a little bit. So
how do I face this head on? This anxiety, bring it on. Let's do this. As soon as I get done with
my hike, I'm gonna go sit down and write it all down, right? Never worry inside your head.
Write it down. Put it on paper. And then you can choose, I can choose to take action.
Now right now I'm feeling pretty composed about this. The last week - no,
it's two weeks ago - I woke up at like six in the morning just like freaking out about this.
Like just I never wanted to be famous - I'm not famous, but I do have a certain amount of exposure
when a million people watch you every month. I'm like an introvert, right? Like my career calling
was to sit in a room with one person and talk about your feelings.
I never thought I'd be on YouTube, so that's a lot of pressure. And the other day, two weeks ago, I
was having like an anxiety attack about it really early in the morning. So I tried to calm down,
I tried to do some breathing, I tried to talk myself through it, and I was still like
just feeling really upset. I was crying - I cry like all the time, so that's like normal for me.
Not all the time; I easily let myself cry. Not a big deal for me. But two weeks ago this was
a bigger issue. So I'm trying to make all this anxiety go away, and it's making it worse.
And so instead I say "Anxiety, bring it on. I can handle you; let's do it.
Do your worst." And I tried to feel as anxious as I possibly could.
And honestly, that like released, it like it dropped the whole struggle with it. Then I called
a friend at like seven in the morning. I'm like "Hi, can I cry to you?" And she was like "Sure."
And then I cried to her. And then I felt better. And I was like "Okay, I know what I need to do.
I need to choose my value direction, which is continuing to do good in the world,
continuing to make content, continuing to try to help people even if it does expose me to some risk
or some haters or to, you know, the stresses of just trying to run a business or whatever.
So then I just move forward, like I'm gonna do today. Anyway, I hope this video is helpful for
some of you out there. This is my actual process. I am human. My husband will tell you I experience
stress and anxiety all the time. And he's like "Emma, um do you know uh an expert on anxiety
or stress?" And I'm like "Shut up" because - I mean, I'm not mean about - I'm joking with him;
he knows everything. But he's like I'm like yes, even though I know all the things,
I still feel a lot of the feels. But I just choose how I'm going to move forward with them.
Oh yeah, one last thought: I'm gonna make a YouTube video about it, right? I'm gonna
take my fear, my stress, my anxiety, I'm gonna channel it into doing some good. Anxiety isn't
always a bad thing, right? It motivates us to action, can motivate us to feel more deeply
with other people and to reach out and help them too. So yeah. There's the top of the way up there.
Well guys, I made it. I'm up at the top of the Y. Just wanted to say thank you all for watching
and a big thanks to all my patrons who are helping support my channel. I'm hoping to be able to hire
a video editor soon so that we could potentially make a little bit more content or a little
bit faster. So I appreciate all the patrons who are supporting my channel. And um yeah,
look how pretty it is up here. Pretty cool, huh? Like a two-year-old beat me up here, so that's
showing how impressive I am. But yes, sweet. Okay, have a great day everyone. Oh, by the way, I'm
feeling pretty good. Like I don't feel so stressed out anymore. So thank you all for listening to me.