 After cleaning up his order lifestyle, Garrett Watts made a commitment to make videos on social media, making videos, but not only has he not been making videos, but he hasn't been present on social media either, so I can relate to what Garrett is going through. In this video, we'll be talking about why I'm worried about Garrett Watts. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health, and what I like to do is pull different topics from the YouTube community, try to teach you how to improve your mental and emotional well-being. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So real quick, we are so close. We are so close to 10,000 followers on Instagram. I could taste it. Like as of recording this video, we are only a hundred away. Don't you want to be my 10,000th follower over on Instagram? Don't you want that? Don't you want that memory to share with me, huh? So go over on Instagram at the Rewired Soul, make sure you're following me. We are so close, and pretty soon we'll have that stupid little swipe up feature, which will make both of our lives a whole lot easier. But also, follow me on Twitter. It's fun stuff. I talk to a lot of you like, a lot of you ask like what the best way to get a hold of me is, Twitter. I have my DMs on private, but I will have conversations with a lot of you if I'm around, have time. So anyways, follow me on Twitter, same tag at the Rewired Soul. All right. Anyways, Garrett Watts. Oh, this dude. This dude. I made videos about him and Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams and Morgan and Andrew, like going over and helping them clean up his hoarder lifestyle. And I was so proud of him. I made like a 30 minute long video. I was so happy, so proud of Garrett to be doing this. So he basically said that one of the reasons that he wasn't filming as much was because of his house. His house being dirty and all of that. And I made a video. I don't know. Around this time he posted his last video about getting his ears pierced about how I was proud of Garrett Watts because he talked about his small success of, you know, keeping his house clean, even if it was for a month, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. But we're talking like it's been like three or four months. And Garrett actually commented on my video because I said I was setting up a calendar date to see if Garrett actually started making videos, right? And he actually commented and said, Hey, I'm setting my calendar too. But what we've all seen is that Garrett isn't posting any new videos. He isn't on social media either. And what I want to do is kind of explain my thoughts and my experience as to why that is. So although I don't know Garrett, I feel like I can relate and what I'm always trying to teach all of you is to try to relate to what you're watching on YouTube or what's going on in the community. And hopefully I can provide you with some suggestions and some tips because I used to be a huge people pleaser. I still kind of am, but there's a way to turn that into a benefit. But we're also going to be talking about in this video the beautiful topic of avoidance and anxiety and all that stuff. So for those of you who don't know, I'm a drug addict and alcoholic and recovery. I have about six and a half years clean and alcohol and drugs, you know, completely, you know, took over my life, ruined my relationships, you know, with friends, with family members, jobs, career, money, all that stuff, right? So the first time I got clean, I was able to stay clean for about three months. I went through the 12 step program. I thought it was some crazy religious cult. So I didn't pay attention. I was like, y'all ain't brainwashing me, right? And I relapsed a few months later and things got progressively worse. So after that last relapse, you know, for the next, I don't even remember how long it was for six months to a year. Things got worse. I lost a job. My kid's mother and I and my son, we had to move back to Las Vegas. I got a new job. She ended up leaving me because of my addiction. My addiction got worse. And I was living with a roommate and my life was just spiraling out of control. And I remember I had a job for maybe a week or two and I got fired, right? Because I drank a ton the night before. I showed up hours late for work. They fired me. And I remember calling my mom on the way home just like solving, just crying, right? I'm just like, mom, I can't live like this anymore. I need help, right? And my mom, you know, she was sober as well. And she had been sober for years at this point. And she dropped everything that she was doing, came down to Las Vegas just to drive me across town to a detox center. Because not only was I abusing alcohol, but I was also abusing pills. So when it comes to improving our mental health, whether it's addiction or mental health or anything like that, a lot of us lack accountability, right? And I had the self-awareness to know that I lacked accountability. So what I decided to do was, before I went into that detox center, like a lot of people knew I liked to drink and party and stuff like that. But a lot of people didn't know how bad it was. So what I did was I went on Facebook and I posted it. I publicly posted it. I said, hey, everybody, I have a problem with drugs and alcohol. I'm going into a detox center, right? So what I did was I was outing myself publicly as a way to keep myself accountable because I thought that if I let the whole world know what I was struggling with and what my goals were and my intentions were, maybe that would help keep me on the right path after I got out of that detox center. So I can relate to Garrett Watts and his very public, vulnerable videos about his hoarder lifestyle and the reasons why he wasn't making videos and trying to get things back on track. Part of that was for accountability. You know what I mean? So everybody knew what his intentions were, right? So I went into that detox center. I think it was like a four or five day detox. And that's a whole other story about what I experienced in there. That's one of the reasons why I try to teach you guys not to think you're so unique and stuff because that's actually what led to my relapse. But anyways, I stayed sober for a few months again. So there was something up with me where I could I can get three months clean and then I would relapse, three months, relapse, three months, relapse, right? But during that three months, life started getting better, right? I started killing it at my job. I got a raise. I got a promotion, you know? Things were starting to get better between my son's mom and I, even though we were split up at this point. Things started getting better with my son. If you had an expensive drug habit like me, like that's a instant pay raise. I had a lot more money in the bank. Things were going so, so, so well, right? And what ended up happening was I injured my shoulder and I went to the emergency room and my drug of choice was prescription pain killers, right? And I went to the hospital because I was working out and stuff and I hurt my shoulder. It's actually something I still deal with. I actually went to the doctor last week, but I don't let him give me pain meds anymore. But anyways, it prescribed me a bottle of Vicodin. And I remember going home and the pain was already gone. But I remember going home with that bottle of pills and staring at it at what seemed like an eternity, right? And I had, you know, those old cartoons where you have like the devil and the angel, right? You're like little angel dudes like saying like Chris, these pills, you have a problem with them. You have a major problem with these pills. Don't take them. You're not even in pain. Just throw them away. Just get rid of them, right? I'm like, yeah, you know, you're right. But then my addiction, my disease in my head, and for you that might be your depression, might be your anxiety, might be your trauma, whatever it is. The other one was like Chris, it's just one pain pill. It's only five milligrams. What's that gonna do to you, right? And this voice, my addiction voice is a hell of a lot louder than the good voice, right? So I ended up taking that one pain pill and I'm not even kidding you within seconds before a pill even has its chance to dissolve and do whatever it needs to within you. Like I immediately thought this pill isn't gonna do anything for you. And I ended up taking three or four more, right? Next thing you knew, the next morning that entire bottle was gone. And I was calling my drug dealer again. And that was my last relapse, which lasted about a year and a half. But because I made this thing so public, I felt so much guilt, I felt so much shame, I felt stupid. I felt like I let everybody down. I let my son's mom down. I let my son down. I let my friends, my family down. I let myself down. How could I do this again after I made it so public? So what happened was, was I just started being more secretive about it, right? I didn't want to tell anybody, I didn't want anybody to know because I was so embarrassed, all right? So when I look at Garrett Watt's situation and I see how he hasn't been active on social media, my concern is, is that he made this very public announcement that he was gonna start making videos again and be more active. And I know he's made appearances in like Jeffree Star videos, Shane Dawson videos, he was just in a Ryland Adams video and all of that. But he hasn't really been on Twitter or Instagram as much because when he does, he gets a bunch of comments saying, hey, when's the next video and all that. So I would imagine, like obviously I'm not inside of Garrett's head, but I would imagine there's some guilt, some shame, some embarrassment, the same type that I feel. And here's the thing, like real quick, side note, I'm always trying to teach you guys to look for the similarities rather than differences. Like Garrett, his thing is like making YouTube videos, my thing was addiction, but I can still relate to him, okay? Like so many of us are going through the same things, but we think like, oh, my situation's different, I can't relate to you. So I'm trying to train all of you to learn how to find the similarities, even if somebody's problem seems completely different. So what's the solution? What's the solution that I found, all right? So anyways, you know, that year and a half long relapse that almost killed me, six and a half years ago I had a 10% chance of living. I had congestive heart failure. Good news, just went to the doctor to go over my echocardiogram results. She said, she's like surprised. She's like, wow, your heart is doing amazing. It's not perfect. So she gave me some medications. I just started going back to the gym again. I've been vegetarian for over a year. So don't you worry about me, baby girl. I'm doing good. But anyways, after that relapse and I got sober this time, I knew something had to change. So for me, for me in the realm of addiction recovery, there was a couple of things that I did. One of them was that I got a service commitment, right? I got a commitment at a meeting where I had to show up every single week and open up a meeting. I had keys to a place, which is crazy. Like you're gonna give a drug addict an alcoholic keys to this place. Like I might be crazy, right? But I also like had to bring all the stuff to the meeting and all this. And I didn't even have a car. So every week I was taking like a 30 minute bus ride with this crate full of stuff with like coffee and literature and all that, but I had to do it. I think what helped me out with that accountability was knowing that other people relied on me, right? Like people couldn't attend that meeting if I didn't show up. So that helped me even more with accountability, knowing that other people were relying on me. So in the context of like Garrett Watts and YouTube or even you watching this, like with work, right? Like think about the days you wake up for work and you just don't wanna go, right? And you're like, oh, I'm gonna call and I'm so sick. I can't make it in. Don't think about the employer in that situation. Think about your coworkers. Think about the other people who would have to take over your task and do those things. Like do it for them, all right? Like this is something that helped train me and quit thinking about myself so much. Those of you who have been subscribed for a while, you know how I talk about the default mode network, the posterior singulate cortex. Our default is to be selfish and self-centered. So what helps me with more accountability is to think about other people. Like why do I make so many videos? Why do I make so many videos? Cause it's not about me. When I put out content, it's for you. So that was one of the things. The other thing is I knew I was a people pleaser and I hated letting people down. So I turned that into a strength. So I started working with a sponsor and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's kind of like a recovery mentor, all right? I suggest that you find a mentor, whether you're dealing with, you know, any form of mental illness, whether it's borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, whatever it is, find somebody who's been working on themselves for years now and have them be a mentor for you. Talk to them about your struggles, your pitfalls. Like the best thing we can ever do is find somebody who's overcome the obstacle that we're working on right now and learn from them and walk in their footsteps, right? But anyways, this guy gave me homework and things like writing assignments and you know, I had to meet up with him and I had to call him once a day and all these other things. And on all the days when I didn't wanna do that, like since I'm a people pleaser, I didn't wanna let this guy down. I didn't wanna let him down. I let so many people down in my life. I was like, I just don't wanna let this one dude down. And in reality, like my sponsor was dope and like, you didn't care, he was a good sponsor. But in my brain, I didn't wanna let this guy down, right? And that helped push me forward, right? So again, I was getting out of myself and thinking about other people. So, you know, in Garrett's situation, a lot of it, like Garrett brings smiles and joy to so many people. If you're watching this video, you're probably a Garrett Watts fan. Like, I love that dude. And like, I wish that Garrett Watts knew like, if he just like started vlogging like once a week and just recorded his silly life and just talked to the camera, people would absolutely love it. Absolutely love it. I know Garrett, you know, loves to edit and do all sorts of stuff with his videos and his production value is great. But if Garrett was my friend, I'd be talking to him like, dude, baby steps, just start with this. I know you like the high production value and all this, but just talk to the camera. So if I were Garrett's friend, or if I was, you know, talking to him, what I would say is like, think about the joy you bring to other people just by posting, right? And what it does, again, is it helps us get out of here and it helps other people. So how does this relate to you? So for example, I sent an email out on my email list last week, I think, and it was like, just listen, right? If you're in the Facebook group or the Discord server, or if you're afraid to go in there, just sit back and listen. But what I want you to think about is to understand that sharing your experience and sharing your story can help other people, right? Like look at Illimation. Like look at what Illimation did with her series. Her sharing that story has helped so, so many young women and young men out there, right? So we have to stop thinking about ourselves so much and what we don't want to do, right? We, in order to get out of that, we need to think about how it benefits others, okay? But anyways, I hope, you know, I hope Garrett Watts is doing all right. I hope he starts making content again and all of that. And I hope me sharing a little bit of my experience can help you understand what you might be going through when it comes to avoidance, when it comes to procrastinating, when it comes to accountability and all that stuff. If you need some accountability, make sure you join the Rewired Soul Facebook group and or the Discord server, they're always linked down in the description below, all right? But let me know down in the comments. Can you relate to this? Can you relate to, you know, making a public announcement and then, you know, the feeling of letting people down and then you start avoiding it all together? Let's have a conversation down in the comments below, all right? Anyways, that's all I got with this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody for supporting this channel over on Patreon. You are all amazing. And if you would like to become a patron and get some exclusive content, join our group calls or have one-on-ones with me and all that stuff, click or tap on the Patreon icon right there, all right? Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.