 Okay, we're recording sup everybody drew here that anxiety guy dot-com back with ooh back with Billy anxiety The king of anxiety 101 I like your scarf dude. Thanks, man. You're looking for you. It's a snood. It's a snood Is that yeah, is that what we call a scarf in the UK or is that like a brand? No, it's a it's like a loop. It's not a scarf where it's just open-ended. This is like a loop a big loop thing Okay, it's technical mate. It is very technical. It's very fashionable Next up skinny jeans and a man bun. Yes. Do you have man buns over there? Yeah Skinny jeans and the man bun. Oh, yes. Yes, when you come over here, we'll go to we'll hang out in Brooklyn And that's all you're gonna say that skinny jeans hipsters with skinny jeans and man It's a good deal. I've got I've got a pair of skinny jeans. All right, that's it too skinny I have a pair of skinny jeans, but they actually going to a woman. So If you're watching us when you're wearing skinny jeans, you have a man bun, sorry didn't mean to insult you Yeah, apologies for apologies Apologies to the skinny jeans crowd. So We didn't we didn't record last week So we why didn't we why didn't record? We're just fed up with this whole thing. Yeah I'm tired of you people and you're gonna hear about complaining No, we had Billy had a bad back. I woke up. It was what was it a week ago? It's a week today, isn't it? Yeah, it was a week today. Yeah. Yeah last Thursday. I got up Everything was fine came downstairs. Just felt normal no issues I was making a drink filling the kettle and all of a sudden my back just Something happened. I don't know froze. I could not move So I was just stood in the kitchen and I couldn't breathe properly It was making me panic because every time I breathed it was obviously stretching. Yeah, and it was just bad And like for a couple of hours It was bad. I was I was on the brink of panic for probably two three hours Yeah, and I just lay in bed and didn't move and then I came sat downstairs and sat on the sofa for like three four hours So it was like PS4 gamers dream. Yeah That was my excuse anyway. I have to try and find a comfortable position to sit in where it doesn't hurt Yeah, yeah, try not to move or move as little as possible But then by the end of the day it eased a bit and then the next evening it eaves and more even more Yeah, and now now it's just normal, but I couldn't sit in this chair. That was the whole reason Oh, we were talking about that man. Yeah, the podcast I didn't want to sit here and do a podcast and just be constantly thinking about yeah Yeah, yeah, no problem. You just sit there. I'll talk so you don't have to breathe. Yeah You just Anyway, so we're back and we skipped a week. Sorry about that We honestly, I think we're talking about social media today We are let's talk about social media because it's excuse me It's actually a pretty impactful thing for people in our situation I think and if you think about how like if you were dealing with this sort of stuff 25 years ago Yeah, yeah, what did you do, you know, how did you communicate with other people? Yeah, where'd you get your information good or bad, you know So it's social media and the internet and that sort of stuff had a it's had a huge huge huge impact I think on the way that these disorders have been approached I said to you just before we went live the internet has pretty much ruined my life You did says that is a strong statement young man. Why don't you explain that? Well, it's just you can get everything you can get you can order takeaways you can order taxis if you need to go anywhere You can watch movies. You can talk to your friends. You can talk to imaginary friends, but if you want You can watch videos. You can do whatever the hell you want You can all order freaking groceries off Amazon now. They've just introduced that here in the UK pantry. Yeah, so You know, what's the point? I don't need to go out. You know, I'm just go for Christmas I'm getting the PlayStation VR and that is it And that's it. You're just gonna sit back or not And that's it. Oh, yeah, there's no reason not to I can go bowling in my lounge We're dying to the fact I've been bowling what we had a couple years ago at the kids the we we bowling Yeah, bowling. I bought in my living room. Yeah, sure. I haven't done that in a long time, but It's true So I think there's there's a couple of different things that's happened in terms of not just social media But the internet in general like has it made if you're in a situation where you are voiding and I know we're kind of expressly Talking about like things like agoraphobia people have a hard time leaving the house or just being out out in Social situations and that sort of thing Has it been the internet not so necessary social media social media is a way to communicate with people, of course But like you said at this point you can have your food delivered You can have almost anything delivered You don't you know it the reasons to have to leave the house are Getting working from home Telecommuting yeah, you know many more positions where you can work from home because you're you know You could still you could be in the office. Somebody dials the office. You could be extension 17 on a beach You don't have to be sitting in the office anymore. So yeah Yeah, I said to you before we before we started like that like even with the exposure stuff and that I'm fine Then it really hard to find things that I want to go and do Right the only thing that I really want to go and do and that's been that I've not done for I know probably two Three years he's gone and watched my daughter dance Sure And and that's the only thing that I really want to do it makes me feel guilty when I don't I miss it out on You know the progress that she's making in that right, but the only opportunity I'm gonna get to do that Is like probably March next year now So I'm finding it difficult to it's not about the courage. It's not about it's just like I I Don't want to go bowling I don't want to walk up and down the high street at the moment I've been out a couple of times this week and this morning And we'll talk about that in a bit and my experience yesterday going for breakfast and that but it's It's just like I'm finding it difficult. I'm happy at the moment. I'm happy working. I'm working hard at home Yeah, I'm going out when I need to I take my son to college three times a week now You know, it's a 15 minute maybe 20 minute journey there 10 mile You know, and I'm not feeling any anxiety about any of the stuff. I'm getting the normal levels Like I don't mean normal as in high right. That's abnormal I'm just getting like that underlying the thoughts and that and that's all I'm Experienced at the moment regardless of what I'm doing. Although. I haven't pushed myself to walk around warm up, but I Don't want to at the moment. I don't know whether that's no. Well, if you don't have a reason to yeah, that's it When I can order it offline and it's more convenient I feel like you know, it's a real difficult balance to find You've got to find the time to do it You've got to need the motivation to do it plus You know that you're gonna feel freaky when you go and do it when you can just go on the fricking internet Press a few buttons and it shows up. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I think Convenience matters in a lot of ways, right? So there are many things that I buy online that I could you know I'm out on the road. I could stop You know and sometimes for me sometimes it's that thing Well, I'd like to support a local shop if I could like the mom and pop shop But it's just so easy to just click a couple of power on my phone I was gonna I need to just click a couple of things on the phone and boom a day or two later It's not just shows up. So yeah, you know But you get you so many things fricking drive-thru now as well like we got drive-thru Starbucks, you know Yeah, I did not drive through to get this by the way Well only because that Starbucks does not have a drive-thru, but otherwise I probably would have I was gonna say would you have driven through I have driven through a Starbucks. I'm not I don't really do Starbucks that much, but if yeah, sure I'm a you know what? I'm impatient. I'm a convenience guy Every bit it's a high fast-paced world now, and I would totally anything anything. That's faster. I'll take in a way Yeah, yeah, so I get that so in some ways for folks like us the internet has been a boon, but the same Way it's been a little bit of an abler So we're talking about practical things like getting groceries delivered online and buying things and shopping online and working I mean the job that you do, you know being in the web design business I Anxiety or not many many many people I would venture a guess and say that at least 50% of the people who are in that business work from home I would say so why you there's no reason not to exactly so you don't need an office You don't need you don't need the overheads. No, no, you're looking at it. There's the office. You're sitting in it right now So I think in a way That job you could be doing that business anywhere and at home is just as likely as any other place So you can't even look at it as well And you know we get asked this all the time like well, what kind of job or what business can I be in where I'm not You know, I have to leave the house well a lot of them now and a lot of people do it Not because they don't want to leave the house. They just I was gonna I mean I thought Yeah, yeah me and my wife have spoke about it like I should get an office. It helped me I'd be getting out. Yeah, but then I'd be worrying that I'm spending like three four hundred freaking pound a month sure on an office That is just pointless It depends on what it is. I think sometimes, you know, we can talk about that for a second Like I could work for a long time. We were virtualized So we didn't have an actual office for a while we the data center, but that's not people-friendly So we wouldn't really be there unless you had to and like, you know when we had to get together We would get together at a Starbucks or a Panera bread or you know, whatever and then that worked okay for a little while But then it was yeah, you know We need a place to all be together. So But there are times Admittedly where like no one's around I got a guy away or you know, whatever. I know there's nothing happening in the office It's really easy to just kind of like hang out in my office at home. Just cuz it's And I can't tell you the number of people that interact with on social media that have nothing to do with anxiety Just their business is their writers. They're everybody's a coach these days. It appears Yeah, everybody's a mentor and a coach, but they're their coaches and writers and consultants and social media gurus And everybody's working from home and I see the post every day like yeah I managed to like take off my pajamas by two o'clock in the afternoon and everyone's like making fun of themselves You know, it's become a thing. It's good. It's a progress. It's a thing And my sister tells me all the time like she you know make sure you stop talking about how you're working so hard You're working in your PJs. She she tells me that all the time So anyway, I think they're practical is you can't always look at it as like well, I'm avoiding Whether you want to go out or not if you you know your business could just you could be working at home Anyway, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So they're good things and they're bad things Let's talk about like interacting with other people. I was gonna bring this up. Yeah. Yeah I've been a bit quiet in the group like the Facebook group. What's the link again? Just in case by the way Yes, the Facebook group look at the link in the description. I don't remember the yeah Yeah, I'm not gonna put it on the screen this time. It took me about three hours to render Just because Geez yeah, so I've been a bit quiet on there But I go through these phases and I've spoke to drew about it before where I just feel like my whole entire Existence is consumed by anxiety. So I'm in the groups. I'm looking at other people talking about it and watching Their videos and I know that we talked about That being a good thing last week But sometimes I just get to the point where it's just too much and I have to sort of step back and I'm not even Thinking about it like I'm not making my own videos and we didn't do the podcast last week And it's just it's being kind of refreshing to almost just do normal things Like me and my daughter made pancakes at the weekend like that kind of stuff doesn't happen in this house Yeah, I don't I don't do stuff like that normally like I've been sitting I've been having on the PlayStation whenever I've had a few new jobs come in at work and stuff And that's like I haven't had new jobs come in for months But it feels like the more attention that I've put into that Like I'm weeping the benefits. I don't know whether it's one. No the law of Yeah, yeah You know, but sometimes I have to step back and I think that can possibly be detrimental with the social media stuff when you just get so Consumed with it all maybe I don't know I don't know whether you've ever felt like that where you've actually felt good And then you've gone into it a bit too much and it's just made you start feeling maybe some of the feelings and stuff I know that My approach to social media might be a little bit different lately I've been a little bit more active in places like Facebook, but for business reasons more than anything else and I think what I hear people else here's how I'll answer this what I hear people say a lot and I don't it's not Restricted to people who are dealing with anxiety issues, but what I hear people talk about a whole lot is I Have to step away from Facebook or Instagram or Twitter because it makes me feel bad and just just regular normal people who don't have anxiety issues say this kind of thing all the time it makes me feel bad and I think it makes people feel bad a lot of times because you know in many ways like social media is like a highlight reel For people's lives obviously Yeah So one of the one of the creators of Facebook was talking about this sort of stuff the other day saying that that's what they They prey on the fact that people want to yes Reach the levels of all these other people that are showing this fantastic perfect life Yeah, and that's what Facebook's about and I think a lot of social media Instagram and everything if you really look Yeah, and I've heard people say this. I've never I've never experienced this myself And I think it just depends on the type of person you are But social media sometimes makes people bad because you see all this amazing life that other people Yeah, you're living and it makes people feel bad and I think people in our situation are not immune to that also I think if you if you were to watch somebody walk down a high street like with the group Maybe yeah, and you see that and you see them doing well sometimes there can be bitterness towards them because you can't do that Yeah, you know that can have an effect. I'm not like that's not something I've ever I've always thought it was brilliant to see Somebody do that, but if there's people that really, you know, they're struggling to open the front door And they see somebody walking down the street, you know, it can have a negative effect I guess exactly so I don't know what we created it's it's such a strange thing because you know On one side we can get a bunch of people who are dealing with this, you know together in one place and get in the group It's awesome. I'll say it again. Yeah, yeah You know and it's awesome because you get to root each other on and share stories and successes and give people give each Other tips and pointers and and all the good things, but the there are bad things I guess I can come along with that too And I think so it could make you feel kind of bad when you see other people and so all right We're talking about our little maybe Facebook group, which is fine But you know then when you're out of that group and you're on the rest of Facebook You're on Instagram you would ever like how many how many like heavily photoshopped and filtered selfies? Can you look at yeah? Yeah, you know, how come everybody looks like they just walked out of a freaking magazine? And you know, I look like this with this horrible light on my face and the clouds and like, you know Like this is real life and yeah, if you're if you're so inclined that could make you feel really bad in a lot of ways, but The good thing is you can communicate But that's also that's a good thing But it's also a bad thing. So if you're having a hard time you have social anxiety or you have a hard time getting out and being around Well, you can maintain Relationships and I think maybe seven eight years ago. It said, you know sort of relationships But you know what I've come to the realization that these could be real relationships Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean you and I have never met but I genuinely consider that you are a friend of mine You know, I mean we was not set in the room together, but we do this and yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah These are real relationships you people that I know and you know, whatever you guys are my friends Actual friends. I will say that now Yeah, but in the same vein, it's a negative because well, maybe I don't have to go out or I don't have to confront my I could just be friends online So what do you know what do you do with that? How do you deal with that? I think the problem is is that more and more people are doing that aren't they like my son on PlayStation He's got friends in America. Yeah, and he's desperate to go to come over to your yeah Side of the pond, you know and meet up with his friends and that but I'm sitting here thinking it's never gonna happen Like I'd rather he made real friends and you know, it might happen. I'd love it to happen for him Yeah, it's just like let's be realistic. He hasn't got a job He can't be asked to frickin brush his teeth after the time. He ain't gonna be asked to get on Find accommodation get a job or whatever he needs to do it pay for the ticket, you know And I what I think that's so funny though because for him and my kids too, you know, I have great kids But you know, so I was my girls are 17 and 15 as of this video and they have grown up in a different situation So you and I grew up where we we had you know real friends But that seems like a derogatory term like I don't I don't mean to diminish the relationships people Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, but we didn't have those I had actual friends I think I went out and played as a kid and we we hung out on the street and shot hoops and You know played football and did all the things that you did and and now you don't have to do that So my kids they socialize in school and they socialize, you know They run track and so they're friends with the kids on the track team and my other daughter is musical So she's has her friends in the orchestra and that sort of stuff But most of their interaction happens, you know here on these devices And you've got to wonder what the future of like social anxiety Because the numbers are increasing already. Yes, like what's the next generation gonna be like, you know, especially if the VR stuff takes off I know it's crazy, right? It's pretty scary when you think about it like that I have a friend of mine who has spent a fair amount of time doing the VR thing like what's the name of the thing second life What was we talking about? Okay, we had to stop the recording things get bad on the Skype call So we're back. We were actually talking about Second life like what is what is the internet going to do for people who have social anxiety anyway my friend is was heavily involved in this thing called second life and I Mean it's literally like it's like people play Warcraft or the role-playing games where you're living in this actual world of this universe But it's not really that you're just kind of interacting with other people who are inhabiting that world It's it's fascinating to me, but I think that what is this going to do for people? It's a double-edged sword. So yeah, if you have social anxiety and you have a problem making relation or making connections with people In person it makes you anxious Well, the internet and social media is good because maybe you get to do that without having to confront your anxiety Which we can argue was a good or bad thing, but you may be able to expand your social circles, but on the flip side It's even more isolating in a way. I think you know, I agree Yeah, and even for people who don't have social anxiety I would bet that this will increase if I had to roll the dice. I would say for people like my kid's generation your son's generation Social anxiety may be on the rise because if all you ever do is is interact with your thumbs You know or through a phone screen or a computer or whatever the hell it is when you get into real social situations There's that awkwardness, you know, I think so you don't actually learn Yeah, my son my son's already like that like he won't go in places But we wanted a McDonald's the other night We'd already eaten and he was late home and he wanted a McDonald's So I took him but I said if like the queues crazy at the drive-thru then you'll have to go in and he was flapping about it And like he doesn't have anxiety. It wasn't an anxiety issue. It doesn't matter It was just like it was more of a social issue. Yeah, I didn't want to see somebody you knew. Well, why? Surely you'd want to you know, if you see someone, you know, you want to say hello I mean that's how I was before my own issues, right? I would rather go in there I would want to run it to one of my friends or yeah, yeah, yeah exactly and I think I don't know what that is. There's I Think when you communicate electronically, you're off the hook for a lot of things Yeah, you know the possible conflicts face-to-face could be uncomfortable and Feelings get taken out of the equation, but but then so on the other side then when you're face-to-face you're confronted with all those things and I know that For my kids, we had a couple instances when the kids were younger, especially where I had to Like I followed them on Instagram and all that stuff and especially when they were younger at first getting into it And they would they would have conflicts with their friends, which is bound to happen Yeah, and they would play them out online and I had to stop like you can't this is not where you do Yeah, my door is that yes, right? If you have a problem with this person, then you do not take it out on Instagram or Twitter or when everybody else gets involved You speak to them when you see them in school tomorrow And you work it out face-to-face and it might be uncomfortable for a couple of minutes But that is how you do this and really had to like drag them into that like you don't yeah Yeah, you don't do this you think it's perhaps like you can hide your emotion behind Instagram behind face Yes, if you're talking to people on headsets and stuff. Yeah, they can't they can't see your reactions Exactly, and so that's what it's about is and then when you go and face them in the real world and they see Yeah, and you can see them and the way they're reacting and it's just completely different perhaps to what you expected Maybe you know what that's why I don't we say all the time. I find the comments section is my favorite part of the internet And hang on So The comment section is my favorite part of the internet because people are I mean sometimes it is my favorite part This discussion could be good But you know people who don't have to see reactions who can be on phones and keyboards and behind screens Like you get people are your keyboard warriors You get really brave and I think that silliness that we see in like we people that we might call trolls and laugh about That's it does influence how you behave online like people will say stuff online that they would never say face-to-face I know you never say that to me, but you'll type it to me. So have you been trolled? Have I been trolled? I have to say I don't engage enough to probably be trolled I will admit I have in the past you've been trolled. Yeah, and it really pisses me off Probably shouldn't admit that because people probably do it, but yeah I have this thing it just really You know when I I've said to you like I've got two dislikes on a video Yeah, feel free to hit the dislike button if you want, but it's like that really gets my go to dislike. He's just cool Yeah, we had you don't like it. Just fuck off. Don't watch it. That's my opinion. Sorry You know, that's okay. I'm with you on that I think for me, let me think about this. How do I approach that the trolling thing? We're getting you know I'm getting trolled this week completely We're gonna be the place to be rife with trolls now. I Think I don't care enough. I maybe that's I hate to say that but it's true Yeah, you know with somebody that's gonna express an opinion you can express a different opinion to me That's fine And I might try to have a reason discussion with you and I've gotten into a few of those here and there on different topics But in terms of trolling, I don't think I maybe I just don't notice it because I don't care enough to notice or something But it was funny Remember when I have my old channel because I had Billy with that was my YouTube channel Yes, that's I deleted I deleted that because of a troll But it was it was actually a really positive thing Because he was trolling saying like stop making the videos just get out there and do this and I a Guess that I took his advice in the end Yeah, I stopped I stopped making videos and just got out there in the end And that was when I had my real growth sperm and that was when I was out doing stuff Yeah, so it's kind of it did help So it helps. Yeah, you helped you out. It's not a bad thing. We had I did one with a Video with Holly over the weekend and one person we got a bunch of nice comments Which we always do and one person commented that either me or how I guess it was Holly I'm not sure like it was very distracting because we kept using the word like and For that split second I want to say like this is this is what you bring to the discussion Like it disturbed you that she said the word like too much So but and what's so funny about that is that's a discussion along the topics of what we're talking about here Yeah, I didn't get I approve the comment fine. Let the comments sit there. Somebody can jump on them if they want I'm not gonna I don't care, but I'm not gonna disapprove the comment It could it could be there. It doesn't bother me But that's a discussion that would probably never happen in real life that person You never walk up to Holly and say, you know, you say like too much. It's very disturbing to me It's very distracting would never say that, you know, could you imagine what a ridiculous exchange that would be so I think there's so many different there's so many everything that we do online with social media and the internet for people like us Especially it's a pause and a minus it could be Enabling and it could make things worse for us or yeah, and it used correctly or correctly. There's no correctly But use judiciously it could be a real benefit So so how does it like you said that if you get too deep it just starts to become all-consuming? Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it gets hard for you to disengage or are you getting trolled right now? Nip him and pick his bag up so he's asking if we're doing a podcast because he doesn't want to knock the door Oh, that's right. I might have to pause you in a minute. That's fine. No worries. That's so funny So when you say it gets all-consuming like you it just it eats up too much of your time This is so ridiculous. This is just this is real life. Like I said is a reality TV right here This is it. I'm not being ignorant. I'm looking down. I'm just not it's all right You got to take care what you got to take care of my phone's ringing. You get your son coming home It is what it is People get to look in on all this So what becomes all-consuming about it? Why do you have to step away? Yeah, I feel like I'm thinking about it too much whether I'm thinking about what I can do to try and better myself or Maybe thinking of what advice I could give or you know, yeah, it just feels like I'm constantly thinking about Trying to resolve a situation perhaps You know, it's like with the exposure stuff I'm trying to think of what it is that I could do yeah, but I don't particularly want to do it So it almost becomes forced it be I force myself to think about Right a situation that I really don't want to think about that makes sense. That actually makes sense. I think All-consuming the only time I think that it ever really became all-consuming for me when I was going through the Situation where I had stopped taking the anti-depressants 10 years. Yeah 12 years ago And I got involved in a forum of people who were in the similar situation that became almost all-consuming and it became But it became a safe place. So I understand Like for me it became like a refuge I could go there and interact with other people who understood and and see who was doing what and listen to their successes or Just bitch and moan if I had to I guess yeah And I can remember many times like sitting at my computer whether it was in my office or at my house or wherever I was thinking what am I doing here? Like I would just keep going back over and over to the forum keep going back. So You know, and then you'd run out of new posts So like all right, there's been nothing new in the last eight minutes. So I guess I'm gonna have to figure out some other way to Occupy my mind So I guess it could be an escape for some way But but then if it becomes like if it's driving too much or it makes you think about your anxiety all the time Yeah, yeah, that's what that's where I find myself. Yeah Like when I first started my anxiety night it's tough I was actually you know I was in a really good place and the reason the reason I set the whole thing up was because I wanted to Like you give something back Sure Because of all the help that we'd given each other I wanted to try and offer that to someone else Yeah, yeah But all it really did was just brought it all back to my attention And then I started noticing when I was feeling weird again Yeah And obviously because I'm talking about anxiety all the time That's what I'm putting everything down to and then it just escalated and escalated So that was a bad thing for me. Yeah, it puts your focus right on it. Yeah. Yeah So I think the best advice we could probably offer people in this situation is like we keep telling people join the facebook group and get involved in discussion But don't spend too much time Yeah, you can't and I think that's true If you're going to move forward with this sort of stuff You cannot let it become the only thing that you're thinking about all the time Because it's part of the problem when you're constantly focused inward You know things go badly. That's the point. Isn't it? Yeah So in a way you got to focus outward and focusing outward on what other people are doing could be therapeutic and helping other people But you're still focused on the topic Yeah, yeah, so Even if you're you know Join the group and get in the discussion and share your exposure videos and do a lot of stuff and then Do something else join another group join another right if you can't get out exactly or something cooking or yes Yes, could stamp collecting. Wow. I haven't heard that in a long time. I used to I used to stamp collection when I was a kid Wow, yeah I used to smoke weed It's how different we are I mean when I was I tell you I was I was a kid I was like I was like sixth grade which you may have been smoking weed in sixth grade I can't say I don't know. It's a bit late. We don't judge here to judgment free zone. That's okay So I don't know I I think Try to keep us from just being this is turning quickly turning into like a like a shock jock radio show Um So I think the takeaway in the discussion here and I guess we're not going to go for an hour today, which is fine is Use the internet use social media for all the good that it can do for you But I think you got to be aware of of the potential negatives Which is enabling the disorder enabling avoidance Enabling socials, you know avoiding social situations. Don't let it be that so let it be support. Let it be information Oh, let's talk about information for a second because this is a huge pet peeve of mine I'm gonna wave my coffee stir at the camera. This is how strongly I feel about this my I don't even know what this is a snowman. I don't know. Anyway, um Yes, so let's talk about information. So it's not just interacting with people or ordering dinner and having it delivered There's also a huge it's anybody who can fog up a mirror. You got a pulse. You can publish something on the internet There's no test. There's no competency test, right? So you can't drive a car unless you like prove to some municipal employee here that you know how to drive a car But on the internet you could say anything you want. There's no license required, right? So When you're doing your your research and I'm going to put that in air quotes because it's it's a dubious Distinction sometimes when you are searching for information, especially especially when you're in symptom mode Like let me let me google racing heart You know, okay. I think we can agree that there's some probably some fairly reputable sources that we can all agree are decent So the mayo clinic or web md. Although I've seen some crackpot shit on web md. I ain't gonna lie Um, you have to consider I think one of the the most important things that you could do for anybody whether you're dealing with anxiety issues or Not is learn to become a critical consumer of information So let's be realistic here and because I have seen I have seen the gamut in in the 10 12 years That I've been dealing with the stuff online But people who go looking for things that will help them or make them feel better And some of the stuff that you come up with is completely and utterly insane With no basis in reality Look, I will tell you right off the top that I am Firmly rooted in science. I believe that the scientific method got us out of the dark ages And this is how we stand on the shoulders of the people who have come before us And so yes, I am biased. I believe in the scientific method. It's slow. It's painful It doesn't give us immediate results, but it works So when you find some website from some dude who I don't know he's got a you know an honorary degree from from Reiki University, you know, like which is also some guy's basement Like you have to dig a little bit and find out what's going on. Well, we got a certificate for that I got a certificate for that right and I think you have to understand Here's what kills me to the lot you understand the rules of logic and try and apply them So I know what a straw man argument is know what logical fallacies are Know what all these things because they matter when you're making decisions about your health and your recovery based on things that you read online The biggest problem that I see and feel free to chime in at any time here because now we're just ranting is Just if you have you have two you got two guys in an argument just because Guy a is wrong. Does it mean that guy b is right? They can both be wrong Yeah, they can both be wrong and it's the single biggest pitfall. I see everybody go into Well, I tried this medication my doctor gave me made me feel horrible. So therefore all natural things are good It must be good because it grows on a tree. You know like well That's wrong The tree could be just as wrong as the pill that comes out of a lab And who's the source not just western medicine has things to sell So to supplement companies herb companies food companies everybody has something to sell Books coaching services whatever it is So you got to really be a critical consumer of information when you're doing your research to try to find things that will help you I mentioned Sort of something along the same lines Is what we're talking about here in the video that I've just done today So like you'll have seen it already. Hopefully sure when this goes out But like the stuff that I've done in the past like tried exercising for a bit and Healthy in for a bit and getting more sleep and vitamin b here and there and doing a bit of yoga and stuff But what I find with that kind of stuff is that it works for a time But it there seems to be a point where I'll have a setback and then like I'm back to square one And then it's like what was the point in taking 50 million magnesium supplements for the last 300 years You know the only thing that seems to have And this could all change tomorrow if I have a bad day, but like the drop in the caffeine thing I'm a real advocate for that because it's actually made a change in me. It's made me feel different And since then like I have felt different. I'm not taking anything. I've just taken something away that was perhaps Adding to the way that I was feeling. Yeah And I think there's nothing wrong with that if you find something that that makes you healthier or makes your life better That's great. There's there's nothing wrong with that If you've got a food intolerance or something and you stop Eating that food, you're gonna feel better. You're gonna feel better. Right. And then those are real things Those are absolutely real things. I'm not saying. Yeah, I just Know what we're talking about taking or rubbing something on your skin or sniffing a lavender flower Right or or or anything and and and some of those things and I'm gonna say they're harmful It doesn't hurt to try them I guess but sometimes I feel like it does hurt to try things when When you are in a desperate mode and you keep trying different things based on what you read on the internet And you're not you're not critically consuming that information. What's the source? Where did it come from? What's that person's agenda? What are they trying to sell? What apps do they have to grind? You know and so if you're gonna keep jumping from remedy to remedy to remedy to remedy you will That level of disheartening mint will start to rise and you start to feel like you're in this endless pit that you can Never get out of nothing works. I've heard people say I've tried everything. Yeah, nothing works And so you just have to be careful because just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true I think you said you said a wall back like say if it's cbd or cbd oil or something like that and like You're relying on it and when you haven't got it or you can't get hold of it And then it becomes an issue that that has then become a safety behavior, isn't it's become a crutch It has and that's not the idea or you can be masking your symptoms. So just the same way that Anti-depressants well, we'll we'll talk about this one day or I'll do a video on this But you know I spent nine years taking anti-depressant and have panic attacks But it didn't fix anything So it had a lot of side effects and there's always side effects with anything you put in your body Whether it's natural or otherwise natural doesn't guarantee safe or or awesome Yeah, and it didn't do anything. It just masked my symptoms So you can mask your symptoms all day long with cbd oil or magnesium or whatever, you know it can happen But in the end lasting improvement doesn't come from just masking your symptoms It comes from learning to not care about them and I will I will believe that whole heartedly That's why I'm here on video. Otherwise, I wouldn't be talking But I think more than anything else I just have a problem with and I hate to see people get suckered into bad information spend money on things they don't need to spend money on things and Just just be discouraged more and more and more because I tried this it didn't work I tried this it doesn't work. I tried this it didn't work. Well, you know, just see what's the source of this thing that you're trying Yeah, yeah, and the other thing that I'll throw out before I stop my little mini rant here on being a critical consumer of information is Common sense and actually there's a really good TED talk on this. I'll see if I can link it And I think the title of the talk was common sense isn't always common Or does it common sense doesn't always make sense what we think is common sense is often wrong Like our common sense is not a good argument for like what is valid. Well, that's common sense Common sense isn't always right because we common sense oversimplifies in many ways There's tremendous amount of bias experience bias that goes into common sense And the other thing that we wind up doing is we take overly simplistic approaches to things like anthropomorphizing bodily functions My adrenal glands are tired like glands don't get tired. They don't understand what tired is Or the toxins are retreating deeper into my cells. Well, toxins don't know how to retreat. They're not afraid They're either in your cell or not in your cell and is there even a toxin? And so I'll throw this out there while i'm ranting if it if it's if the word detox If the word detox is in the solution you're after then run the other way save your money You know, so if you want to spend three weeks doing nothing but drinking juice Just that's fine. Just don't go far from a bathroom because that will be the effect But you're not detoxing anything like our bodies have been built over about over millions of years of evolution to take care of their own crap Detox there it goes So uh now better already now i'm just ranting. I just hate to see people go down No, it's interesting what you said though like you to learn to drive you have to Prove yourself to a qualified instructor. I can bang anybody can yeah I can write 2,000 words we get done. I'm gonna write 2,000 words in about 18 minutes because i'm a really fast writer And we'll sell it to 69 99 Ridiculous thing ever I I am going to come up with something And it'll sound good. I'll make it sound like it's really good too And you know what? I'm not the only one that can do that people do it all the time Sometimes they do it because they're trying to swindle you when sometimes they do it Just because they truly believe it, you know, um, if you if you say it enough times, it's not a lie So how to how to effectively destroy trolls that can be the Yes, or you know, I'll write something anxiety related And I'm gonna I'm gonna attribute anxiety to you know what the problem is scissors dude scissors cutting paper It's the motion and the sound it triggers It messes with your GABA access and your brain it does i'm telling you toxins the toxins just build up build up when you cut paper Everybody knows this All right, anyway now i'm just getting stupid. So so there you go. So have we exhausted This is so off the cuff. This is the most off the cuff one we've ever yeah Yeah, we've been random here easily we had to stop in the middle. It's it's all good I'm happy i'm enjoying it. Yeah, and I needed this I needed this in my life. It's just a little a little chat That's all that's what we're doing and we're recording it. It was about the internet, weren't it? It was about if you asked me what did you podcast on today? I'm not sure I'd be able to tell somebody The internet ruined my life, but you can watch this video on the internet Oh The irony All right, well, we'll we'll have a better one next I'm sure we'll come up with a better topic next week than just watching us Well, I've done my first like vlog in ages this week. So I'll watch it. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know whether I'll start doing it again I don't know I said before we started that I'm just trying to Enjoy my life at the minute and trying not to make it all about recovery I'm trying to not make it all about anxiety. It's It's I'm trying to do things that I'm enjoying that make me smile and that's Hopefully gonna have a crossover effect. It seemed like it is because I've Done more things like last time we did a podcast. I was doing the hospital run with my dad Yeah, I remember because we haven't spoke since then have we And that went absolutely fine There was nothing there was loads of traffic at the hospital and I parked in a different car park Like I parked on a retail park But I was only there like 20 minutes and I started filming and I was sitting there talking and then like my dad rang and it was like It's over already. There ain't no point in filming this. Nothing has happened. Nothing has happened. Yeah. Yeah That's good. We want nothing to happen. It is. It's good. It didn't make good viewing But I'd rather not have to make videos right if I'm honest. I'd rather just get on with it You know, that's probably fair I think in the end, you know, it's all great to go out and film your exposure and sharing everything But the ultimate goal is to not ever have to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah And I will say as somebody who'd spent a lot of time doing that back in the day when we first met I'm kind of happy that I don't have to do that anymore. Yeah. Yeah So All right, that's the deal more praise to you then for actually taking the time to You know, you don't have to do this shit now. Oh, I like that you choose. Yeah, I know, but it's good Yeah, because there's not not many people out there that they, you know, many people don't go back on forums when they're recovered That's true. That's true. We share that say that all the time when they entered a press inform We used to say that all the time nobody come only people only come on when they're in trouble. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Because the people that have passed it are now Past it the internet has no longer ruined their life. That's true. So I think yeah for me I don't know. It's just there's a lot of crappy stuff because when I'm better You won't see me. You're out I will be gone of nothing but dust left behind Tumbleweeds will be me talking to your to an empty chair Turn the camera a bit. I'll be outside drizzling though Vape in just yes, I'll be Skyping with your empty chair and you'll be standing outside my window vaping very nice All right guys, thanks for tuning in as always Next week with hopefully something a little bit more cogent and coherent But once in a while, we're going to do one of these where we just chat for a while. So yeah, yes It's breath a breath of fresh air and and after all the the griping about the internet that we did I'll remind you to join the facebook group because it's a good group But we'll put the link in the video descriptions and I guess we're supposed to say like the video subscribe share Well, you can dislike it if you want I'm not going to let it bother me. Let's do a test. Nice. Let's go for 20 dislikes All right guys, we'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in. Ta-da. See you