hey everybody happy Thursday if you're
new to my channel on Thursdays I put out
a video answering your questions you
yeah you and you can ask them below my
YouTube videos on Mondays and also on my
website katimorton.com under kati's
videos and submit a video ideas that's
where I usually find them but you can
send it to me on all social media
platforms and I try my best to answer
them all so today's question is hey Kati
thank you so much for your videos I
cannot begin to describe how much
they've helped me and made me feel less
alone oh that's my whole goal yay
the question says I was wondering if you
might be able to do a video on if it's
normal to link our disorder and to our
identity and if so how can we separate
the two it's a good question isn't it
for so long when I try to think of
myself and Who I am
I think of OCD trauma eating disorders
anxiety disorders and depression often I
catch myself making a list in my head of
all the things that are wrong with me
and all the ways in which I fail to
function as a normal healthy human is
supposed to i want to base my identity
off of things I enjoy or I have enjoyed
when I felt well enough to enjoy them
and not offer the things that hinder my
functionality and fulfilment thanks
something was a really good question
because I know a lot of you have
struggled with your identity and how do
we actually tease out and separate
ourselves from our disorders in the
truth about this and that's why I really
love this particular question is because
she talked about how she finds herself
making lists of all the things that are
wrong with her hindering her ability to
live her life and that is our key right
there because it's all about how we talk
to ourselves it's all about how we
define ourselves right other people
don't define us at the end of the day
it's actually how we feel think and
believe about ourselves and if someone
else has told us something we have to
take that in accept it and agree that it
is part of who we are does that make
sense I'm kind of telling you how we
come to decide who we are and what our
identity is and so that tells us how we
can change it and so I would encourage
any of you if you are struggling with
this where you feel like your identity
and your disorders are like one and the
same and you don't know how to tease
them out or how to focus on all the
other things that make you wonderful and
amazing notice how you talk to yourself
and when you find yourself thinking
about
all of the disorders and the illnesses
and all the things going on with you I
would encourage you instead at that
point to stop almost in the same way we
stopped those negative thoughts cycles
or eating disorder or self-harm voice I
want you instead at that point think to
yourself Kati would say stop shut up put
we halt and then I want you to think of
a couple things we'll start with like
two to three things about you that
aren't related to your illnesses or
disorders
maybe you sing maybe you're really great
at picking new music
maybe you're very artistic and you paint
or sculpt maybe you're really good at
sports maybe you're a wonderful mother
father sister brother maybe you're a
wonderful friend I don't know there
could be so many different facets to
each and every one of you and so I would
encourage you to spend some time if you
can making a list of those things and
writing it down reading them every
morning these are all ways that we can
get back into our head and instead of
pushing in our brain things that are
wrong with us and things that we're
getting help for and all of that we can
instead be putting in positive wonderful
things about what makes us who we are
and who we want to be also know that
it's very normal to feel this way it's
very normal to feel like our identity
and our illnesses are one and the same
because we spend so much time working on
them or dealing with them and managing
the symptoms and so it's very normal for
us to get caught up and feel like it is
part of who we are and yes our diagnoses
and illnesses can be part of who we are
and get like I always think some of the
nasty things that happen in my past gave
me the strength to build in to be Who I
am today and so we can kind of use those
I like to call them like scar stories
whether they're actual scars or they're
emotional scars those are what we grow
on to become the better stronger version
of ourselves and that's completely fine
but there's also a lot more to each and
every one of us and so I would encourage
you in the comments tell me two things
that are wonderful about you that are
something that's something else it's not
your illness something that you love
something that makes you who you are I
want to see I want to read them and I
want all of us to get some ideas on what
makes us who we are
how we can identify ourselves separately
from our diagnosis or our illness or any
other things that were struggling I hope
you found this helpful if you're new to
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see you next time
right