- Hey, everybody!
It's finally Friday.
And you know what that means, it means I'm in Mammoth.
I'm on vacation, bitches!
What?
So, that's why I'm in like
a makeshift studio of shenanigans.
Look it's like, "You're on vacation, look at you skiing."
And important places, such as.
Anyway, so I'm in Mammoth,
so that's why I'm also in my long johns, hello.
And I'm here answering your questions.
So if you asked your question on Facebook,
and you used the hashtag #KatiFAQ,
I found it and I'm answering it.
I'm also answering someone's yesterday from Twitter,
because in my rush to get out the door,
I was like, "Hey, thanks for the question,
I'm not gonna answer it, I'm sorry, I forgot, oops."
So, I'm gonna answer it today.
Without further ado, first question is,
"Kati is in normal for self-harm,
or just disappear for two weeks, for no good reason?"
Question mark.
Yes, and to be truthful,
like I've said before in my videos eons ago,
our eating disorder, and our self-harm,
our depression, our anxiety,
are usually coping skills, right?
So something's going on in our life,
and we're feeling really overwhelmed.
It can be like a stressful period of time.
And so it kind of ramps up, right?
And we'll feel urges get stronger,
we'll feel more anxious, we'll feel more depressed,
we'll be exercising more, eating less, or binging.
Or whatever it is, to cope more in stressful times.
So, there are those times when we feel
really good about ourselves, and things are going okay.
And just, it's kind of business as usual, right?
And so during that time, our urges can go away.
But they'll often come back.
And from the way that this question sounds,
it sounds like they kind of came back,
and that's usually what happens.
And what I would encourage you to do,
is either find a therapist and start talking it out.
Or, and also, finding healthy coping skills
to add onto that.
So, we're not only talking about it,
and processing through what's going on in our lives,
but we're also finding other ways to cope.
Whether that other way is through music or art,
or spending more time with our friends.
Or going for walks with our dog.
Or whatever it is that makes you feel better,
and that you're passionate about.
We can sign up for, and we can do it, okay?
Next question, number two.
"Have any of your clients given you items they've cut with?"
Now, I paraphrased this question,
'cause she was talking about meeting with her therapist,
and not wanting to keep her self-harm stuff at home,
because it made her really nervous.
But she didn't want to bring a bunch of things
that she cuts herself with in her backpack, to therapy.
Is that normal, what will a therapist do?
And yes, I've done that with many of my clients.
Often times I'll ask them to bring it to me,
and I'll hold it for them.
And if they want it back, I'll give it back.
If they don't, we'll throw it away together.
It can be really cathartic
to do that together with a client.
And won't think it's weird at all.
Honestly it's huge step for you,
and I'm really proud of you for thinking of doing this,
and wanting to involve your therapist in this.
And so I would encourage any of you
who are considering doing this,
talk to your therapist about it,
and tell them you'll bring it in next time.
And see how it goes, okay?
Question number three.
"How can I integrate spirituality
or religious views, into my talk therapy?
I'm a very spiritual person.
I believe in meditation, mindfulness,
we're all connected, etc.
How do we do this?"
The person who asked this is saying that their therapist
said they could do this, but how do we integrate it?
Now, I ...
It depends on what you believe in.
For many of you, if religious and spirituality,
if those things make you think of God, or another person.
Allah, whoever you pray to, whatever.
You can integrate that in the fact
that that can be a coping skill.
Praying can be a coping skill,
reading the Bible can be a coping skill.
Going to church, or a youth group.
That can be something that's really healthy for you.
And you can create a community there,
that's like a healthy support system.
And I know many of my followers
have had experience with this,
so if you wanna leave your comments below,
and let people know how that's worked for you,
then share, right?
We can help one another,
and that's what's great about our community.
If, like the person who asked this question,
she was talking about how it's kind of more of,
honestly, along the lines of what I believe in.
Like, karma, and we're all connected,
and you treat people, while you get things back.
You know, I have to think of myself
as a very spiritual person, as well.
And there are ways that you can integrate this
in the way that you process through your issues.
So, that being said, you can do things
along the lines of, now how does this work
into you and your spiritual beliefs?
Is it something that you can do, like paying it forward?
Is it you reaching out to someone else,
that helps you in your process of recovery?
Often times, a lot of my clients will feel good
getting on the website, or getting on any kind of ...
Opening their own blog, where they're helping others,
and that's their way of kind of giving back.
And putting good out there.
Which then will feel like it's ...
Like we're getting back as much as we're giving.
Does that make sense?
I know that's kind of like ...
It's hard to conceptualize,
but whatever your belief is,
how can you do something that helps build that,
and breed what you're wanting to breed.
Whether it's karma, whether it's a spiritual community,
your church.
You can do things to kind of help grow that,
and integrate it into your treatment plan.
So that's what I would talk to your therapist about.
I'd bring up integrating that into steps
that you take in your treatment plan.
And that gives you goals to set and meet,
and people that you can ...
It just makes it more clear.
And then you can check them off as you do them,
and feel really good about the process,
and the progress that you're making, okay?
If you have anymore questions about that,
let me know and I can answer that further.
Question number four.
And I actually left this one up on my ...
I have so many screens right now.
I've got like another iPhone, and I've got my iPad.
I'm like screened out.
Okay, "So it's my 18th birthday this weekend, yay?"
Question mark.
"But over the past few years,
I've built up my 18th birthday
to be quite a negative thing,
so I'm not really looking forward to it.
How do I handle everybody celebrating
something I'm not particularly happy about?
Some background, I've had severe depression since I was 13.
And over the years, I've constantly promised myself
that I wouldn't be around for my 18th birthday.
I'm currently in the process of recovery."
Yay!
"And I'm trying to celebrate the fact
that I've been strong enough to make it to 18,
but I can't help feeling like a failure."
Now, for this person, it sounds like what's happening
is that negative, eating disorder voice,
or depression voice, is taking over.
And you're gonna need to take
some time every day, to talk back to it.
Especially on your birthday.
And what I would encourage you to do,
is to take all those negative things,
like, "I deserve to be dead by now.
I shouldn't have done this, I'm a failure.
I'm a loser."
Whatever it is you tell yourself,
I would encourage you to talk back to it.
And if you don't even believe the things you're saying,
still write them down.
"I'm amazing, I work hard, I'm really strong.
I've overcome a lot.
I'm only 18, I have so much more to live for."
There are a bunch of things.
And then I would even encourage you from there
to take it a step further, where you set little goals
for yourself this year.
Like, "This year I want to continue on my recovery,
and I want to reach this ...
I wanna make sure I see my therapist regularly
for x amount of days.
And then I wanna make sure I'm journaling
so many times each week."
Set little goals for yourself,
and make sure you're including things
that help you feel more positive.
'Cause it sounds like your depression voice is just ...
It's taking over everything,
and it's kind of ruining this happy time in your life.
So, often times I know it's hard
to talk back to the negative voice,
but if you need to pretend it's me talking back,
then pretend away.
Because, however we can make that go down
and get a little better, is a good thing, okay?
Now that's all of the questions I have for today.
The journal topic today, because I'm taking a little time,
for my girlfriend Ashley, it's her birthday,
and so we're celebrating in Mammoth,
and we're having a good time.
(cheering)
(laughs)
Those were my fellow partiers.
And I want you all to take time for yourself
this weekend, where you take time away.
Don't be so serious, have a good time.
Giggle with your friends, go out,
do something you've never done before.
Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone,
go do something good for yourself.
Because I promise that you'll thank me later,
you'll feel better about it later.
And it's always good to get out, not be so serious,
and have a good time.
I love you all, I'll see you on Tuesday.
My regularly scheduled video will be coming out on Monday.
And on Tuesday I'll be on Tumblr,
so ask your questions there, using the hashtag #KatiFAQ,
and I will answer them, bye!