 Today is a very exciting day for multiple reasons and you're going to find out very soon and I'm going to introduce you to a very special guest. 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 try to find different ways to help you improve your mental and emotional well-being and one of that is with reading. So if you're into that make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So before I introduce you to my very special guest, Teresa, real quick announcement. Those of you who have been waiting for my book, Rewire Your Anger, it is out and available now. It will be linked down in the description and to the pinned comments and all of that good stuff. So go check it out. It's only five bucks over on Amazon and it's going to help you rewire your anger. But yeah, anyways, so Teresa is a what they call a booktuber, all right? So her channel is all about books, books, reviews, book hauls. She'll explain that more when she hops over. But I just wanted to say like, like, when I found out that Teresa watched my channel, I'm like, girl, you need to come do a collab. I cannot tell you guys. I cannot tell you guys how bad I just want you to read books. I cannot tell you and trust me, I get it. I'm somebody who just got into reading within the last couple of years and I'm 33 years old. I never liked reading, you know, in high school, I read a lot when I was a kid and then like high school and stuff just didn't read, didn't read forever. And then finally, I just really got into books. And a lot of what I read is nonfiction and mental health books. But like you guys, a lot of what I'm teaching you here on this channel is just from reading books from some of the smartest people in the world when it comes to mental health. But anyways, I asked Teresa come over to do a quick video about how reading helps with her mental health. So without further ado, here is Teresa. Hi, everyone. My name is Teresa, also known as Ivy Muse here on BookTube and I'm so excited to be doing this collab today with Chris. I've been loving his channel for a really long time and I'm just excited to get this opportunity to talk to you today about reading because that's kind of what I do here on YouTube. I mainly make videos about the books I read in the choir. I do book reviews, book hauls, wrap up videos at the end of every month and stuff like that. I also sometimes talk about learning languages because it's something I really enjoy doing. English is not my mother tongue. So I like to just pass on information that I have acquired kind of on my own journey, I guess. But today I'm here to talk to you about why reading can be really beneficial to your mental health. Just to put it out there, I'm not a mental health professional. I don't have any specific training. This is just really my own personal experience with how reading has influenced me in my day to day life. It's been something I've loved doing ever since I was a little kid. Like as soon as I could read, I was reading all the time. And I really hope to pass on some of that passion to you guys. I personally don't really read a lot of mental health books. I mainly read fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, that type of thing. And some nonfiction on the areas that I'm interested in. But I've actually never read a mental health book and I'm hoping to change that soon, hopefully with some recommendations from Chris. But I think that reading of any kind, even if it's not a mental health book, can be beneficial to you. So one of the positive impacts that reading can have on your life, in my opinion, is that it can give you some perspective. Speaking from my own experience, when I'm in a bad place for whatever reason, I tend to focus really heavily on myself and my own struggles and kind of like enter into this feedback loop of like negative thoughts, fueling more negative thoughts and actions. And it can get really, really difficult to break out of that again. Like it's something that I tend to internalize a lot. And I tend to look inward a lot. And I think sometimes that can be really difficult to break out of. In those type of situations, it often really helps me to pick up a book that I know I will enjoy. Some of the reason for that is just because it's a nice distraction from myself. But also because it can give me some perspective on like other people's lives. Oftentimes that isn't like an actually lived life, right? If you read fiction, you read about a fictionalized story, obviously. But to me, it can really still help to hear somebody else's story. It doesn't matter if that person really lived. But to me, reading about somebody else's story really puts my own life in perspective and makes me feel more grateful for the things I have, especially if I'm reading about a fantasy war where people are getting killed left and right. And I'm just sitting here. Well, I didn't get the grade I wanted on an essay. So do I really have anything to complain about? Now, obviously, in serious situations, it doesn't really matter if somebody else is suffering more than you because your own suffering is still valid, I think. But I'm just talking about these day to day things that tend to bother us, even though they logically or objectively really aren't that bad. And I think it can really help if you are somebody who tends to focus on those things and like uses them to make yourself feel bad, I guess, to find something to sort of offset that. And I think books can be a really good resource for that. The next point is a little bit of a double edged sword, because I think if you overdo it, it can do more harm than good. And that is escapism. I think it's something we're all very familiar with. We do this all the time, just escaping from our own lives and our own worries into some other fictional life. And I think books are a really great source for that if you do it in moderation. Obviously, it's not healthy to be exclusively focusing on made up worlds and like living your life vicariously through those characters. But I think sometimes, again, as with the first point, it helps to kind of step back, take a step back from your own problems and your own life and just dive into another universe where those problems don't exist. I think books are actually almost a better source for that than, for example, movies or video games because so much of it is left to your own imagination. All that you have to go on in a book are words on a page. So a lot of your own work, I guess, and creative energy is required to bring those worlds to life based on what you're reading. And I think that that can make it a lot more immersive a lot of the times and you can tailor it almost more to your own needs. I use books for escapism a lot, mainly fantasy because I obviously wish I was a warrior princess riding on dragons around somewhere instead of studying for exams. So, you know, you can also use it for procrastination very well. But again, do it in moderation. I still think from time to time, getting away from your problems from everyday issues that you face can be really beneficial. And then when you come back to the real world, you have like a clear mind and you can deal with those issues, in my opinion, a lot more effectively. And finally, almost my favorite thing about reading is that I can always learn something new from it, no matter if it's a nonfiction, like informational book or not. The learning doesn't always have to be facts. It can sometimes be concepts or ideas or just learning about how other people in other countries live, like other cultures, other traditions. And I just find that so fascinating. And it makes me feel productive even when I'm not actually being productive in other areas in my life. I feel like through reading alone, I'm adding so much new information and valuable information to my life that will be beneficial to me at some point or another. And it'll just broaden my horizon so much without me having to sit down and study textbooks or anything like that. I think it's a very natural, organic way of learning and of broadening your horizons that doesn't feel like a chore. And it can just make you feel really, really good. Like I am currently at university, so I actually am learning new things constantly. But I know that for the one year of my life in recent years, where I was working and not actively learning anything, I started feeling really stagnated almost. It felt to me like my brain was craving new information to acquire. And even though obviously I could sit down and just learn about a random thing if I wanted, I also need a little bit of motivation and didn't have the motivation. So the only thing that really was teaching me anything was books. And I really valued it for that. Because I think our brains actually want to learn and we want to feel progress within ourselves. And reading can give you that without actually much effort, I think. And just kind of as on the side of fun, free time activity that still feels like you're doing something productive and good. That's not just sitting on your phone and wasting time. But like you're actually furthering your own, you know, growth, I guess. And I just love that a simple thing. So just just picking up a book can do that. I know that books can be expensive and reading can be time intensive. So it's not something that really everybody can or wants to incorporate in their lives. But just thinking about the benefits that you can get from it, I would highly recommend that you at least make an effort to. If you don't want to spend it on the money, you can always check out books from the library. If you have no space to keep them, you can read them as ebooks on your Kindle or on your phone. If you don't have time to physically read them, you can listen to them on audiobooks. There's so many different ways nowadays that you can consume books and enjoy books that there's really no more excuses not to. And I really hope that this video inspired you to go pick up some books, be that, you know, whatever genre you're interested in, or even mental health books who specifically tackle an issue that you might be facing in your life. I think both of these types of reading can be massively beneficial to your life and I think you won't regret it. If you are looking for some recommendations on just some fun books to read, head on over to my channel. I talk a lot about books as I've said. So I'm sure there's gonna be something for you there as well. And yeah, I hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you so much to Chris for giving me the opportunity to talk to you guys about this. I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope to see you over on my channel very soon. How amazing is Teresa? How awesome was that? So there will be links to her channel up in the info card as well as at the end of this video. But a couple of things that I just wanted to touch on real quick that I love that she pointed out. So one of them is perception, okay? So even though I don't read nonfiction books, like perceptions always something that I'm trying to I'm trying to look for, right? When I'm feeling upset, when I'm feeling down, when I'm in my pity party, I'm always trying to look at other people's situations. And like Teresa said, like when she's like reading these books about like these terrible tragedies, like it helps her kind of like snap back to reality and be like, oh, okay, maybe things aren't that bad. But like that's how you read fiction. That's how you read fiction with purpose. Everything you guys do, I want you to do it with a purpose. I don't want you to just use it to zone out, right? So what I do on my channel is I try to teach you about mental health from drawing from different things going on in the YouTube community. But what Teresa is talking about is when you're reading a book, even if it's fiction, ask yourself, can I identify with these characters? What's the solution? What would I do in that situation? Those of you who have kids, that is the best way to read to your kids. Pause during the story. Ask them questions about the book. Say, what do you think they're feeling right now? What do you think they should do? Ask those things. It really starts to help with emotional maturity for children. Teresa also talked about what I'm constantly talking about whenever YouTubers take breaks. Mental health breaks are great as long as you do something with it, okay? So what Teresa is talking about is reading, all right? So if you need a break, if your day is hectic, do something with purpose. Do something that's going to grow you as a person. Sit down and take a break for an hour and read. Like any of you creatives out there, whether you draw or you write or you make videos or whatever you do, or even if at your job, if you need to be creative, if you get blocked, one of the best things you could do is read and books are a great way to do that. Like sometimes when I'm stuck trying to think of video ideas or how to tie in mental health topics with a YouTube video, I glance back at one of my mental health books. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. I can tie this in. Like for example, the video I did about the YouTube rewind, that was actually a study I learned about from a book I read called the happiness advantage. All right? So make sure when you're taking these mental health breaks, do it with purpose. Lastly, I keep trying to teach you guys about the neuroscience of depression, okay? Accomplishing small specific goals helps create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, all sorts of great things. All right? Just accomplishing small goals. So like I know I talk about going from doing meditation, maybe you like to work out, maybe you like to clean the house, whatever it is, one of your goals can be to read. If you challenge yourself to read for an hour every single day, you will start to feel better because you are accomplishing a goal. All right? So do something and let's do this. Let's do this down in the comments below. Let me know your favorite books, fiction or nonfiction. I don't care what it is. I need book suggestions. I really like Teresa inspires me to get more into fiction and I need to do that. So if you have any good fiction books, let me know down in the comments below, okay? All right? But again, real quick reminder, rewire your anger is now available over in the Amazon Kindle store. You can get on your phone, your tablet, your PC, your Mac, whatever you need and the audio version will be coming out hopefully by the end of this week if I can figure that out. All right? So anyways, that's all I got for you with this video. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. But like I said, right there, right there, that is Teresa's channel. It's called Ivy Muse. Go subscribe right now, have her help motivate you and get you into reading and tell you about some amazing books that she's read. All right? Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.