 Okay, if we are going to try to learn how to slow down as part of our new reaction to anxiety fear and stress We have to learn what speeding up really looks like. So it's Monday, which means this is episode 36 of recovery Monday And we're gonna talk about that today. So let's put the chat overlay up so you guys can see what everybody is saying We'll wait for everybody to sort of file in has everybody doing today. Let me know how where you're coming from Let me know how you're doing Just a quick reminder sort of a housekeeping thing that we are doing lessons out of this book now every Monday 7% slower This is basically a guide to recognizing and changing that automatic speed response that most people have When you find that you are anxious afraid or stressed. So we're going through this book every Monday Release as close to every Monday as we can manage today. We're gonna talk about chapter three, which is called What does your speed response look like? We'll go over it. It's It's pretty short chapter. These are all relatively short chapters This book is much shorter than the anxious truth So it's a nice easy read if in fact you do not have a copy of this book and you would like to find it You can find it on my website the anxious truth comm or it has its own website all seven percent slower comms You can check it out. What is up everybody? We have the UK here. Russia is here California is here Oregon is here like everybody's here the usual suspects all filing in get to see everybody Let's get into it. There's about 30 people here already. So we'll kind of get into the Going through chapter three. So chapter three Every chapter starts with a little lizard guy like this is all about the lizard brain So I use the lizard all the time in this book And I start the chapter by saying rushing is a thing we often do without realizing that we're doing it So you can't really fix a thing unless you can see a thing. So this is all about Learning to recognize your rushing around habits. What are your speeding habits look like? so Before most of the time if you're one of the people who does sort of automatically go into speed demon mode when anxious Which is most people but I do understand not everybody but most people do have this response And that's what I was writing for so if this is your response to anxiety fear panic stress Then you are likely speeding up without even really knowing that you're doing it becomes so automatic from us that we just do it And we don't know that we're doing it and we keep doing it because we we're not even aware of it So we're not even we don't even know that we're supposed to try to like maybe change that habit Which just makes sense as you're not doing anything any wrong. You're not doing anything wrong So if you automatically speed up when you're anxious, it's totally okay. What up epic fox is here. Good to see you again Oh, and I think on twitch. We have another twitch person. Thanks for coming by from twitch. So I appreciate that Um, anyway, so we want to try to discover. What do those habits look like? We all have sort of those telltale signs that that inform us and let us know like oh, I'm I'm feeling really anxious I have a lot of anxiety right now. I'm super stressed and I'm stressed out And I'm I'm starting to speed up here. What tells me that I'm starting to speed up so the first thing that I talked about is Being aware of the thoughts that you start to have so when you are stressed when you're anxious And I gave a couple of little examples So when you start to talk to yourself in these sort of ways These are good indicators that you're probably automatically kicking into speed demon mode. So omg. I hate this. There's a really common statement I hate this now that by itself doesn't necessarily mean that you're speeding up But I need to get out of here. That's another one. I just want to get this over as quick as possible So if you're in the middle of a challenging situation or maybe you're doing an exposure And you are telling yourself that you just need to get it over with as quick as possible There's a really good chance that you're speeding up. Um, I need to get back to my comfort zone really quickly My body has a mind of its own. I feel trapped. I have to get out of here These are all good indicators when you start to talk to yourself this way that you might be speeding up automatically So it's good to become aware of some of those things The other thing that starts to happen is that we change our physical behaviors, right? So there are physical behaviors at our telltale signs of speeding up as well And this was a big one for me. So a couple of the the things that I Uh, examples I'd put in the book was breath holding if you are holding your breath There's a really good chance that you're also speeding up and and like really kind of getting into that high gear mode If you're shortening your stride when you walk Um, if you are increasing the speed that you walk if you're tensing your muscles Are you grimacing? Are you clenching your jaw? Are you darting your eyes back and forth? Are you fumbling? Are you dropping things? Do you find that you are shaking? Are you are you stumbling over words? You're having a hard time finding your words? Are you furiously like doom scrolling through instagram or my facebook group hoping to find something that's going to make you feel better These are really good Indicators that you might be in speed up mode Another one that a lot of people miss that I threw in here and i'm surprised at the feedback that I get Is sort of the self-hug And then look don't don't at me here for picking on the self-hug I'm not picking on the self-hug But the self-hug when you start to adopt not necessarily this exact thing But when you start to do that hunch over thing and you start to kind of bend over and you begin to turn inward on yourself That's another good indicator that you are in a stressed situation and you may actually be speeding up Right, so that's one way those are other ways to look at that That that's a defensive posture and they're good indicators that like hey something is going on here And am I racing around like a crazy person right now? So another way that you can sort of tell if you have gone automatically into speed demon escape mode Now remember that really speed mode is an escape mode. I need to get out of here I need to get away from this threat as quickly as I possibly can So just going back to the first couple of lessons when we speed up that way and we continue to run Run around and we continue to feed more speed rush around rush around. Yes, I have to do it this way We're basically telling our brains. Yes, this is danger and we got to get out of here So you're reinforcing the lizard brain. That's why the lizard on the cover and all through the book You're reinforcing the fact that your lizard brain is wrong and signing for it with false alarms So we want to try to change this habit so that we can send those signals back down the chain To tell your lizard brain that like I know you think that we got a problem here, but I promise we really don't Okay, so another way that you can tell Whether or not you are kind of going into speed demon mode is the way you conduct yourself now things like breath holding and clenching your jar Almost automatic. They're almost involuntary. They're almost reflexive But other things are conscious choices. Are you ending conversations early? You're in a conversation and you start to feel anxious or panicked or you're feeling really stressed out Are you trying to find a way to end that conversation early? Are you leaving tasks unfinished? How many people here watching have literally abandoned a shopping cart full of groceries at the supermarket? I know I did that. I've done that When I was at my worst, I did that So how many people have ended a task early and just dropped everything and ran out back to the safety of your car back to go back home Or whatever it happens to be that's another good indicator Are you postponing tasks if you are feeling really anxious and afraid in a moment in a moment? You have something coming up as your first thought Oh, I need to cancel this or postpone what's coming up because I'm too anxious right now And notice when you're doing these things, these are indicators that like oh, I'm in an anxious and stressed state. Am I speeding up? Now I want to talk for a quick second about the idea of There's some of those others almost reflexive behaviors and things like stumbling over words fumbling with objects, right? You're fumbling with objects You can't find your words. You're stuttering. You're having a hard time making sense Those sort of things A lot of people see those those situations As indicators that there really is a danger. So that oh my god, I can't even speak Is a big thing But when you are trying to speak really quickly and in a pressure situation We all have a hard time finding words. So there's a reason for that I mean if somebody is in a you know super stressed situation You know, you run up to somebody on the street and say i'll give you 10 million dollars If you can name four animals and be given a letter p they would probably say a lot of um, um And you wouldn't think twice about that They would be stumbling over their words because you've given them 10 seconds to earn 10 million dollars The pressure is on and they would stumble over their words because every human being does that Let me think let me think you can't find your words because you're trying to speak really fast You're trying to think really fast So the fact that you have a hard time with your words and you're stumbling on your words Isn't isn't a sign of danger. It's a sign of the anxious response Like i'm under pressure and trying to escape it. So my words are pressured my speech is fast and i'm stumbling over my words That's normal But that's a That's a symptom of the response that isn't confirmation that something is really wrong A lot of people get completely freaked out by that because I lose the ability to to speak I can't find my words and they think that's a confirmation that there really is something wrong Okay The other thing is that physically fumbling with things and the best way I could describe this one It's another thing people feel like if i'm fumbling with my keys in my pen in my phone And they drop my phone and because you're so anxious and you're doing everything really quickly In that stress situation. We tend to lose a little bit of manual dexterity. That's normal So if you're watching a scary movie right now And the monster was after you know the young woman and she's running out of the house because she doesn't Want to get caught by the monster and she runs to her car How many times have we seen this scene in a scary movie where she's fumbling or maybe an older scary movie? Because you really aren't keys anymore, but she's fumbling with her keys. I'll tell you in the 1970s 1980s early 1990s Good thing for keys because they were a great device for those scary scenes in movies The person is trying to get away from the demon from the monster from the serial killer And they're fumbling with their keys to get the right key fumbling to put the key in the in the ignition They can't do it. They can't do it because they're shaking Again, that's an indicator of going really fast because you are afraid That's not an indicator that something is wrong with you. That's somehow you're fumbling with your keys now I just want to point that out because a lot of people see those two things The stumbling over words and the fumbling physically with things manual dexterity with their hands as confirmation that there really is danger But it's not it's actually just confirmation that you are in a threat response mode right now Doesn't confirm the threat. It just confirms that you're trying to escape a threat even if none exists, right? So that's that's really important So in this situation, I really end this chapter and again, it's a short chapter It's sort of your first little kind of hack in a way And again, I always say in here that this is not in any way A thing that's designed to immediately turn off your brain Immediately stop your thoughts immediately stop your panic. Not at all what I basically say is You should maybe spend a little bit of time and I think I want to say that's I think one person is Listening to is in the video right now that had the index cards because I actually in the book gave you a little bit of homework Say we'll go home and spend some time and start to see how many of those habits you can identify Write them down put them on a piece of paper or put them on a you know Index cards are on a note on your phone And then once you have all those down one of the first little hacks that you can do that I put in the book is when you start to recognize those things so you know that's on my list Oh, yeah, that's right. I fumble with my pen I fumble with my phone or my speech gets interrupted or yes, I do I start to walk really fast Once you've identified your habits and you start to think about that when you see one The little hack is just stop just stop for 30 seconds stop everything for 30 seconds Just stop 30 seconds just a little bit of breathing just to just to put the brakes on that one particular habit It's just a way to start to begin start to build your awareness that oh, I'm speeding up again Look, I'm doing one of my rushing habits. I'm literally telling my brain that we're in danger and I got to get the hell out of here So when you start to recognize the habits in real life after you IRL After you've put them on a list that you know, you kind of go over like oh, yeah I got to be careful of walking fast. I have to be careful of trying to talk too fast I have to be careful about ending conversations early And when you find yourself doing those things just put a little pause in there for 30 seconds Just breathe allow the discomfort allow the fear and just put a little space between you and that automatic rushing response That's a really good first little hack that I put in the book to sort of teach you what it would look like To start to disengage from that speeding up thing and instead try to begin to slow down So that was chapter three. What is your rushing response look like? It just takes you through some typical examples That would be indicators that yes, you are speeding up and rushing around And talks about how to become aware of those things Do a little homework start to make a list of what your rushing habits are and start to become aware of them In real life as they happen and begin to slightly just disengage with them 30 seconds at a time So it's sort of the first steps for starting to learn to go a little bit slower So that's chapter three. Let's go through some questions. I will try to take questions Uh, let's see what everybody has here. Florida is roasting. Sorry, Florida. It's actually Crazy cool in New York right now the last few days. It's unseasonably cool. It's like early spring here and it shouldn't be Let's see So let's put some stuff up on the screen here. Carol. What's going on? My my husband keeps telling me to stop pacing and slow down This is a good comment because earlier on in this book I said one of the ways that you can recognize an anxious person in many situations Is that they're the person running around like they're on fire? It's a really good way to pick an anxious person out in the crowd that that is a really good indicator And if people in your life have told you repeatedly slow down like slow down That's a good indicator that like, oh, okay. I'm running around. I'm running around so When the people in our life Point that out to us like why are you rushing around? Why are you running around slow down? People just slow down calm down. That's a good indicator like, oh, okay I'm running around like a like a lunatic right now Okay, so keep that in mind Aurora has to try man here I could probably hold my breath longer than wim Hof himself at this point. Many people are breath holders So that's pretty common and it is one of those things curiously people who are breath holders also tend to be rushers speed demons Which is really weird because physically if you're going to try to run out of the supermarket and also hold your breath at the Same time you will naturally wind up and an An out of breath thing. So it's it's completely like counterproductive I'm going to hold my breath and try to rush through this challenge to get out of it Like you're asking you're putting an extra demand on your body and And holding your breath at the same time is a really bad combination. You will wind up gasping for air But for legitimate reasons for physiological reasons not dangerous It's just your body saying oh, dude, you got to breathe heavy here because why have you been holding your breath for the Last 45 seconds while you're running through the supermarket. It makes no sense to do both of those things at the same time But it's super common super super common Um, let's see again a quick reminder if you're in the facebook group right now. I can't see your name I'm sorry. I've been practicing doing things slower whenever I am highly anxious. That is the whole premise behind the book That's why I wrote seven percent slower. It's a good thing to practice It just sends that that signal back down the chain that says I know you think this is a huge emergency right now Because you had a scary thought or you had a scary sensation, but it's not and let me show you what's not by going slow Your thoughts sensations those things are red lights danger danger slowing down is a green signal. Everything's cool. It's all good So that's what we want to do There's a reasonable question. What about white knuckling? White knuckling probably is a blanket Like a blanket description for speeding up and going really fast, right? So when we say for those of you don't know what white knuckling is It's when it comes from that whole like if you grip the wheel so hard or you grip something so hard that your Hands change color get white or red. We call that white knuckle Just because it means you're hanging on for dear life Which is a bracing thing like oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. You hang on for dear life That's white knuckling and yeah, if you're engaging in white knuckling through an exposure or a challenge There's a really good chance that you're probably speeding up Oh, I forgot to turn up my screen blanking again. Let me turn that off because I don't need my screen to blank Um, let's see what comes next. Oh, this is good Impatience is an early sign for me. Yes. If you start to get really impatient. I need things to get done now Here's a couple of places where this really shows Lines or for our british friends cues like if you see that there is a line or a cue forming Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I when is this this has to go faster this has to go faster This needs to go faster It's sometimes impatience really shows in situate red lights when you're when you're driving like oh, no, no, no Like it's a red light now. I have to wait and I can't wait. I'm impatient. I got to keep going So when you notice yourself getting really impatient, that's another another another good sign Uh, so very good. Let's see here. Um This is really good too. Let's pop this in here I drive faster too So this kind of ties into the whole driving anxiety thing where people are genuinely Afraid that when they get anxious, they lose control of the vehicle Like I won't it's not it's not safe to operate a vehicle this way But there's very same people when I say, well, how did you get home? Well, I drove home. Well, how did you pull over? Well, I pulled over So it's super interesting that gbg says that he notices that he drives faster Many many people probably in this room at 60 people right now I bet at least 17 or 18 of you will say, oh, yeah, I do that when I'm driving to get anxious I start to drive faster to get to where I'm going or to get to safety back to home Wherever you think you're going to be safer So Crazies it sounds everybody seems to think that they are more dangerous driving when they drive But yet you get really good at maneuvering the vehicle at higher rates of speed Amazing how that works, isn't it? So so thanks for putting that out there. I appreciate it Um Let's see here. This is really funny. Let me pop it up here Yes, but couldn't leave I could leave my shopping cart. I was in turbo mode and hurried I did self checkout would have won if I was on the shopping show minute to win it Believe me, I have spent more than enough of my time back in those days in supermarkets like Going through the checkout line in record times or how about that thing where it's not self checkout And oh, no The thing doesn't scan in the poor person running the cash register in a house to see how much that is And I don't care what it is in that in your cart at that time If the person can't find the price and you got to get out of there really quick Because you think you're going to panic or you're in a panic mode I don't care if it's the insulin that keeps you alive because you're diabetic You'd be like, it's okay. Put it back. I don't need it and you run out of there. I get that I really do But that's the thing that we can catch right and work on Uh, let's see here. Oh, this is really good. Marina. I appreciate this This is an interesting comment. A speed response for me is a fear that I might get stuck Like if I slow down, I might get stuck or freeze And so if you go fast, somehow or other you will keep that from happening That's interesting. I'm not sure that I've ever heard that before but I could completely understand why that might be a thing So you're speeding up as a way not just to escape but to To not get trapped or stuck, which is one of those thoughts that your brain is throwing at you're going to get stuck You're gonna you're gonna be frozen. You got to keep moving fast. So you don't freeze Okay, I'll pop this up here real quick. Um, how can I slow the head down? The racing is imbearable You can't do that. This is the bad news on this People want to know this all the time. How do I slow my brain down? How do I stop my brain? You can't we don't get to just tell our brains to turn off What we have to do is keep sending these signals back again and again and again while your brain is racing You can still function that is possible. Now, you may be at a point in recovery where you say, no, that's impossible Okay, well, you're gonna have to reach the point where where you see that you actually are functioning even with those racing thoughts So there is no magic switch that says and I know everybody wants this like what's the switch that turns off my racing brain? The switch that turns off your thoughts is behavior So we behave differently and our brain will follow along People tend to get confused with that like they think they should change the way they think I should somehow learn to not think those things or not have those scary thoughts Or I should somehow be able to flip a switch and not be afraid But in all those cases we know more and more and more that we lead with behavior And that's some of the differences between sort of old school CBT and the newer stuff Whereas the old school stuff was very focused on trying to change the content of your thoughts Worksheets and exercises and cognitive reframing really we're knowing more and more and more these days that like no No, no, we lead with different behavior and then thoughts follow So when you allow your brain to race and stop treating it like a racing brain is an emergency Then you can start to slowly your brain will begin to get the message and won't feel the urgency to race anymore I wish I had a faster answer for you. Sorry faster pardon the pun, but that's the way that works um Oh, this is good too. Uh, this is really good. Thanks for pointing this out Uh, when I'm in speed mode, I tend to forget what I've done So if you find yourself asking these kind of questions wait, did I check in or where did I put my lunch as my locker door closed? That's another good indicator that you're just rushing rushing rushing. So that's really good comment Thank you so much. Appreciate that There we go somebody actually answered the racing thoughts thing somebody I thought said, um When I get anxious, let me screw up a little bit I thought I saw somebody say that when they get anxious they start to get very uh impatient or Maybe a little bit snippy with a partner. Did I see that or no? Uh, here we go. Boom. This is it also rushing slash racing demanding instant response to questions demanding instantly to solve a problem both Your you demand that of yourself. I need to solve this this fear problem right now I don't want to I need to stop this fear right now And demanding it of others This is a great comment right here because it's something we don't talk about a lot But I will tell you that occupying the role that that I occupy and I know that in right now watching bethany's here I think inville inville is here. There are admins in the face group that attested this also That is one of the things that causes a bit of a conflict like in the facebook community where We won't allow certain behaviors like safety seeking reassurance seeking asking about you know Am I okay to talk me through a panic attack? When you get really Short tempered like no no no no no you have to let me talk about this and I have to talk about it right now That's another good indicator that like I need I need to go I'm speeding up and I'm rushing because I'm trying to find immediate safety So excellent very good. Thanks for the irl tips always up for irl. You know that Ah, okay, let's see here. Um I'll I'll put it up So my friend mohammed This is the thing that I know you come in every week and you ask every week And the answer is always the same. I I can't I can't say what this is Right. I can't say what this is. What is the best therapy for it clearly? Being bullied and and maybe being you know, I don't not sure exactly what the situation is But clearly this has been impactful on you my friend. So in certain instances A cognitive behavioral approach is really good in other instances. It's not necessarily So I can't really tell you this because I don't know you and I don't know your specific situation But I will tell you that it would help to really talk to somebody in real life Like at least reach out to the help that you might have available available to you and see if you can get somebody In real life in person help who can start to guide you through that Clearly that was impactful for you and I'm very sorry that you live that experience Nobody should have to deal with that But I can't tell you what the right therapy would be and it's not always this Right. I am the first person to say that this sort of stuff that I write about that I speak about cognitive behavioral therapies, metacognitive therapy, acceptance commitment therapy I'm we're targeting specific things anxiety disorders. We're not we're not necessarily Talking about everything these this therapy is a solution for everything. I can't tell you that I would highly urge you to talk to people in person and help Have somebody in person who can actually know what your story is Start to understand where you might be best served and I hope you do find the help to you deserve it So what does Laura have to say? After you got the first step down, which is recognize it then you just continue to practice practice practice That is it. That is it. This is a really boring game Like this is a game that nobody wants to play because it is a whole lot of just repetition and repetition and screwing up and failing and not getting it right and stumbling and And making mistakes and going back and repeating again and we get a little better and a little better and a little better So yeah, it's practice practice practice and I let me just I always want to always at least once we have to Acknowledge that what I'm saying here is really hard Like when your brain is screaming at you to rush around speed up get answers Everybody needs to help me right this minute and you are going against that. It's not easy to do It's not easy. You will feel more uncomfortable more afraid more vulnerable. It'll feel wrong. It'll feel reckless But there's nothing we can do about that. This is the way it works Um, okay, let's see here I get up. Okay, let's see here Donna says I get up and start cleaning Till I start panicking So that's a good indicator for you then like if you know that you are like, oh, I got to get up and start cleaning things And if cleaning is a way I get up and start cleaning when I okay. I'm sorry, but I had you wrong I see your new one. I get up and start cleaning when I start panicking So that's a thing that maybe you want to work on like instead of thinking that I have to start jumping up and cleaning my house Because I'm panicking and this will stop it or distract me or calm me down You'll have to start working on not doing that like And one of the basic premises that we always operate on here is if you do nothing Literally nothing but sit there and let the panic happen It will peak and then it will fall off That is just the way a panic attack works If you don't fuel it So when it hits if you immediately jump up and start cleaning furiously because you have to get away from that panic You're actually fueling it to tell you the truth. So that's a tough one um Let's see Walking and breathing slower at the frozen pizza section. Okay, let's see here. Um, Okay, this is good. I'm glad we talked about this and patients and then getting grumpy but working on it Okay, that that's a really good indicator too and it's kind of normal I think for that to happen when we think that we are in danger And we just demand that we get out of that danger and we get rid of the nobody wants to be afraid Nobody wants to be uncomfortable. I can't tolerate this. I need to stop it right now You start to get impatient with yourself. You get grumpy with yourself And when you demand that other people calm you down soothe you save you Accommodate you and they don't then you get start to get angry and grumpy with them. That's normal That doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. You're not a bad person. You're not selfish. You're just afraid So it's okay to get grumpy like just understand that if I'm feeling really grumpy and snippy with people and I feel like everybody's abandoning me Um, then it can't you know, I then something's wrong with me. No, that's not true You're just afraid. So allow that emotion. It's okay. We have to move through that Let's see here Mary Ann, how are you? Good to see you. Um, how can we slow our thoughts when we were in high stress situations? I think that's the same answer that I had before you can't just automatically slow your thoughts But one of the tools that I love using I love breathing practice. I love meditation practice I love focus practice because everybody's brain races from time to time, you know When I have a lot of stuff going on I have 70 000 things and I'm tracking in my brain at one time And there are many times when it's like, oh, what am I doing? You know, I could just take a minute or two and just bring my focus back to my breath for a minute or two and Doing that isn't a switch But it does slow things down a little bit put space between me and my thoughts So you can learn to do that but notice that that was behavior. There was no words. I didn't tell myself to calm down I didn't flip a switch. I literally, you know Behaved a different way and worked on that and practice it and practice and then I get better at it So that's how that works Let's see here Well, a lot of people are saying and I will put them all up here But a lot of people are saying that, you know, well, I just can't slow down. I just can't do it But you can the that thing that says I can't slow down basically I'll rephrase it for you. I can't slow down really says It's really uncomfortable. Slow down or it's really hard to slow down And later on in the book we'll talk about it in a future A live stream but later on in the book I talk about reasons why you might not want to slow down One of them is if I slow down, I will feel all the things So a lot of people will say it's impossible. I can't slow down Because if I slow down, I will feel the full force and effect of the panic the anxiety the fear the thoughts They'll be loud Yeah, yeah, unfortunately the answer to that is yeah, but that's what we're learning how to do We're learning how to move through those things. All right, so it's really important Kathleen had mentioned that going slower is a good way to practice being mindful, which is true Last week I actually said that seven percent slower is a very sneaky book because it's actually it's a book about mindfulness But don't tell anybody because they won't want to read it, but it's actually a mindfulness manual. Believe it or not So that's true Let's see here of a long scary dental procedure Um Okay, so going slower It's always it's interesting to me how and look I did this too. So I'm not picking anybody but um Everybody says, you know, everybody has things that their Situation is somehow special like I already want to run away. How do I implement seven percent slower during this? Well, I mean you can't make the dentist go slower I mean in this situation not everything is super literal like oh and be careful That you're trying to use going seven percent slower as a way to stop all the bad feelings That's not what it's for that is definitely not what it's for So be careful of trying to look at this as some sort of technique that stops you from feeling anxious or stops you from feeling anxiety Or stops you from feeling panic or stops you from feeling fear. That's not true It's actually again, and this is the thing that comes up again and again This is a navigation tool not an eradication tool So keep that in mind But the other thing is you can do everything slower Like when you are full of anticipatory anxiety about your dental procedure odds are you're slow You're speeding up all over the place So just notice where you're where you're speeding up all over every day and and slow that down But it doesn't necessarily directly address dental fear like this isn't a specific fear tool Hopefully that helps Uh, let's see here Okay, let's put this up here Get this one really quick here Often the racing thoughts accompany intrusive thoughts and it happens so fast They think they're one of the same, but I think you are saying that racing and fighting it can lead to intrusives No, I'm not necessarily saying that I'm saying that when you are trying to like, oh my god My brain is racing. I have to slow down. I have to slow down. I have to fight these thoughts You're adding fuel to the fire. There's no doubt about that whether or not that specifically causes them to be intrusive I can't really say so i'm definitely not saying that Is that a possible outcome? Sure, it could be the thoughts get stickier could be but it's not automatic But the fighting the thought because you don't like the thought and trying to race around to get away from it Usually is going to speed that thought up and make it make it even stronger and louder So will it look like an intrusive thought when that happens? Sure, operationally probably look like an intrusive thought in that moment But I can't really say whether it would become intrusive and repetitive for you down the road Good question, Jen Let's see here Thinking and knowing that you are while you are thinking health and thinking and knowing that you are thinking. Oh, yes This is good. Let me pop this up on the screen Thinking and knowing that you are thinking while you are thinking so and my morning newsletter the anxious morning That's at the anxious morning.com. We should check that out. I did that I did a whole series on that and one of the great statements that I love framing statements that informs action likes slowing down Is the realization? I am thinking the statement. I am thinking to me is a hugely powerful statement I am thinking I am feeling those are two statements of fact that just okay I'm thinking now and it helps you to put a little bit of space between that the fact that you are thinking The content and the thoughts of the thoughts and treating the thoughts as an emergency. Oh, I'm oh, I'm thinking again Oh, I'm thinking again. Thank you for putting that up there It's really important and it can help as part of this slowing down thing when you realize Oh, I'm thinking and you could just remind yourself that what's happening right now. I'm thinking What's happening right now? I'm feeling okay. I'm allowed to think and I'm allowed to feel So let's see here. Uh, so boring says laura. I'm gonna kind of scroll down to the end here I cannot Asking a question privately. I get thousands literally thousands of direct messages I don't see them to be completely honest with you guys If you send a message to me on facebook or you send a message to me on instagram I am Probably not going to see that message There are just too many of them and it would be completely unethical for me to try to give you some sort of one-on-one advice It would not that wouldn't be cool at all. You don't want me to do that So unfortunately, I cannot answer the question in private. I'm sorry um For various reasons Scroll to the bottom here When adult Okay, well, this is good. I mean honestly some people this is another example of when you can maybe use this when my adult kids are firing orders I'm gonna slow down. That's a good time to slow down. Totally for sure, right? What's Jen saying there? It's like fight club. I'm in Druze and engines. Let up emotions carving into that space Yeah, uh, just recognizing but the when your adult kids are firing orders at you and you start to slow down A lot of people find that this becomes a tool for the rest of their lives also, which is fine It's gets a stress management tool also. I I use slowing down all the time I don't have an anxiety disorder anymore, but I still use it all the time. So learning this skill I think is really helpful because It stays with you for the rest of your life and you need to use in a lot of different places, which is great All right guys, I think we're good to go. Uh, Jen I appreciate the fight club reference that kind of made me laugh a little bit But there's some truth in that And that is it that is this recovery monday. This will stay in my On my facebook page my youtube channel Subscribe to the channel I think and just look for the playlist because that's the best way to go back and find them They'll stay in the facebook group. I think they disappear forever on twitch and twitter I have no idea But the best way to come back and see these would probably be on my youtube channel because I put them in a playlist Next week there is no live stream because I am actually out of town next week. I'm traveling I'll be in new hampshire. I'll actually be on campus all week in my first clinical residency. So that's super exciting First of all, I get to actually meet my classmates and my professors are just gonna be great And I'm looking forward to all those exercises. It's a little brutal because it's like nine and ten hours a day But I'll let you guys know how it goes. Um, I'll try and give you a little bit of behind the scenes if I can So no live stream next week, but we'll pick it up the week after that And uh, yeah, that's it. Keep asking questions Whatever subscribe to the newsletter in the morning If you need to find this book you can find it on my website, which is the anxious truth.com. Everything is there Uh, and thanks for coming by. Thanks for such great comments. I appreciate you guys really make these fun Especially with this book. It's really cool. So anyway, thanks. I'll see you guys in two weeks. Have a good one