Welcome back to my channel.
My name is Nathaniel and if you've been watching my videos,
then you know that my focus lately right now has been all about
raising the quality of my life and
just getting more out of every day.
So that includes things like being more disciplined, how to be healthier,
and of course how to manage
anxiety.
If your car breaks down I would hope that you have like a tool kit or a spare tire,
something along those lines.
And if it's a little bit more serious, I would definitely hope that you have like car insurance, right?
So then you have somebody that you can call up to help you get off of the side of the road.
Either way, it's good to have some sort of back-up plan if things go awry.
I've started to view my own mental well-being in the same way.
Having some sort of checklist or
like a toolbox of things that you can resort to, can be huge.
So if you find yourself on the side of the road or metaphorically speaking,
at least you can be proactive about it.
Now I have fears and doubts just like anybody else. That's called being human
If I ever give the impression that I have things figured out then I'm afraid you're mistaken.
I stumble every now and again.
Garyvee says that figuring things out is a forever game,
and I happen to agree with him.
The difference, I feel like, is that now as opposed to a year ago or further back in my life,
I feel like I have more tools, more things that I can resort to, that help me stay on track
or get back on track and
just be more of a positive, less panicky person.
So I'm going to break things down into three parts.
Three things that are super easy to remember even when you're spiraling in self-doubt
or whatever may be going on.
Before I dive into that
I think it's important to start from the beginning and mention something that's really important that I think we all
more or less are aware of,
but then I think should be included in this video anyway.
And that is that you should be as consistent as possible with your sleep, with eating, and with your exercise.
I'll even include hydration in that because I find that when I am dehydrated I get very lethargic and negative.
So those four things should be the very first things that you address if you're starting to feel anxious.
These are very primary pillars of
well-being and should be addressed first before anything else.
I find that even if everything else is going great in my life
If I'm depriving myself of sleep, for example, there are gonna be problems.
Okay. So let's assume that you are being consistent with these things.
Sometimes that's not enough, right?
Sometimes there's more going on.
And that's why I think it's really important to have an operating system or something to fall back on,
because when I feel stressed or anxious
I know that my decision-making is not at its best.
I am NOT operating at my best.
Just a final note, I want to preface all this by saying that if you're dealing with a severe condition
or something a little bit more serious,
I don't think my advice is necessarily for you. It might be smarter to talk to a
psychologist or a therapist or somebody who dedicates their life to this.
The first thing is perspective.
Usually when I'm feeling anxious
it's because I have I've lost perspective. I'm lacking perspective.
So it's important for me to get myself out of whatever bubble i'm in.
Maybe I have tunnel vision because I'm all caught up on trying to finish a video on time
or I'm lacking creativity and inspiration.
Could be anything. Whatever the case may be, I need to take myself out of the situation,
because if I stay within it
I'm going to spiral.
That anxiety that I'm feeling can actually be a good thing
because it's something within me that's telling me that I'm getting frustrated
and that I need to change something.
So in that case, it's really important to break
whatever pattern you're in.
Go take a walk outside, when I go take a walk outside,
I can get out of the drama that's going on in my head and I can see that...
Look, the minimum wage in at Mexico isn't even five dollars a day.
I'm gonna be okay, you know what I mean?
That's a little bit of perspective right there.
Or speak with a friend that understands you or understands where you're coming from.
I find that when I speak with fellow creatives or other freelancers,
it helps me feel less alone because they're going through a lot of the same things. That's perspective.
It's perspective to know that I'm not by myself that I'm not feeding into the drama that's telling me:
"Oh, no! The world's ending!"
Okay. So number two is action.
I will
get stuck replaying scenarios in my head, either
that have already happened in the past or imaginary scenarios in the future
and that is not a good thing.
I feel like it's the mind's way of trying to prepare you for situations,
but it's not useful and it's not efficient by any means.
If you catch yourself thinking things over and over in your head,
like something that you've got to do or like a deadline that's coming up,
just do something.
The trick is that it can be
anything, no matter how small.
Just starting on something
gives you that boost because you're you're being proactive about it.
It brings you closer to your goal and it breaks that cycle that's going on in your head.
Do not let the endless dialogue that's going on in your head drain you.
So for example if I'm kind of
stressing about an ambitious video idea that I have
and I don't know where to start and blah blah blah.
What I'll do is I'll open up one of my journals
or I'll open up Google Drive and I'll just
start putting down some of my ideas.
No matter how stupid.
This breaks the cycle that's going on in my head and it also feels good because I'm doing something that brings me closer
towards the creation of that video.
Now, if scripting out an entire video feels like too big a task,
fine go even simpler.
Just open up a new document on Google Drive
and just put a title. Title it. That's it.
What I've found is that you're almost certainly not going to think your way out of a situation.
Catching the thoughts and doing something about it is a way better use of your time.
It's a great habit to build.
And finally if I've done everything else and I'm still feeling anxious
I am left with confrontation.
Face the anxiety.
And I know that sounds counterintuitive.
Like isn't that what we're trying to avoid? Isn't that giving in?
The answer is no it's not.
There's a lot of things going on in all of our lives and sometimes a little worry, a little concern
will pop up in the back of my mind.
Often times I will run from these little things because I'm human just like anybody else
and I like to feel good, right?
I don't want to feel these concerns, these things that pop up.
Sometimes if I don't address these things these little worries will grow to a size that doesn't reflect reality.
They become bigger than they actually are.
What I have found, is that if you seek
discomfort and you flash a light on the monsters in your mind,
they are rarely as big or as scary as you think they might be.
How do I do it?
Sometimes I journal,
i'll often meditate with the express intention of just sitting down and
feeling the anxiet,y and exploring, being curious about it.
But there is no magic formula,
so we all have different ways that we operate and there's a lot of potential ways
that you can go about addressing this sort of thing.
But the point is, what matters, is that you go directly to it and you ask yourself: "What's going on?"
So that's pretty much everything that I wanted to talk about today.
I feel like this is a really important topic
because I don't think there's ever been a time when there's so much stimulus,
so many things that are demanding our attention.
Sometimes the really important stuff falls between the cracks.
There is still kind of a stigma,
I feel like, talking about these kinds of things, it's a little bit awkward,
it's a little bit weird.
We don't know how to discuss these sorts of things and fortunately I feel like that is changing very quickly.
But I think that there's a lot of uncharted territory and it's really important to have discussions like this.
So if you feel like I missed anything or there's anything that you would love to add to this,
please feel free to add in the comments.
I hope that you found this video helpful.
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Ok. See you soon.