 This video is a Q&A, with breaks where two of my most favorite people will help me read your comments. I brought them on board because I was nervous to read the comments. The founder of Psych2Go asked if I would make a video going through all of your comments on the last face reveal. I agreed, but I was nervous. So many people. I was sure there would be evil, nasty, ugly comments. But there weren't. I was met with so much love. You're just so beautiful. So hard, sometimes, most of the time, to have faith in humanity. But next time I feel that way, I'm gonna come to the comments section of Psych2Go. It's so weird. I'm just here by myself talking to a camera. But this is gonna go live on a channel that has almost 10 million subscribers. This is a lot of humans. You know, when I'm performing on stage, I can see the audience. Um... It's really weird. This video took me forever to make, and it is long. Please get comfortable, grab a drink, grab some snacks. I brought my mom and one of my best friends to hold my hand as we read the comments, which was entirely unnecessary, but I'm glad they came. And we're all just gonna hang out for a while. Get cozy, cuddle up, and let's do this. How and when did you find out what you wanted to do in life? Also, do you ever get questions you've answered before? If so, what do you think about them? Um, yeah, definitely get repeat questions, but there are new use. There are new people that are seeing this video or seeing me for the first time. So repeating the questions, the answers to your questions is probably a good thing. If it's a great question and they missed the Q&A last time, then look at the answer this time. How and when did I find out what I want to do in life? I, well, have I figured out what I want to do in life? Um, this, what I'm doing now is pretty cool, but I want to do more. Um, from a kid, from a kid, from childhood, um, I always wanted to dance and sing, be a vet, and, um, an act. Um, I always wanted to perform. No, no, not so much perform. I always wanted to create and be a part of art. Um, and then I just loved animals and I still do. Um, but as I got a little bit older, maybe like six, seven, I started to become very interested in, uh, people. People and pain. I started to recognize how many unhappy people there were around me, especially adults, um, unhappy in relationships, unhappy in life, unhappy in work. And I was like, uh, I don't want that. How do I not do that? How do I avoid that? But also, like, how do I make them feel better? How do we all feel better? Like, how do we fix this? Um, and I, you know, I was, I felt things that I didn't love feeling, and I was like, well, how do I deal with that? And if I figure it out, how do I share that? Um, so that was already happening, um, inside from a very young age. So, uh, rambling already. So, everything just kind of came together. When I was, like, a kid, I was in dance and, like, modeling and acting. And then as I got older, I, um, I started singing more and going to, like, home studios and stuff. And then a little while after that, when I got tired of relying on other people to record me and help, like, and make music, I taught myself how to do those things. Um, home studio, et cetera. So learning how to record myself and learning how to, um, how to use my voice with a microphone for music and, um, and, you know, acting classes and acting experience, I think that they all kind of, like, amalgamated. They all kind of aligned and came together and brought me here. Um, but there's... Does that answer your question? The path that I thought that I was going to be on and what I thought that I really wanted to do was be a famous recording artist. Turns out I really don't have any interest in fame. It actually terrifies me. I love my privacy as, um, oxymoronic as that may seem as I'm here sharing it all with the world. But, um, yeah. With Alicia. Zoe Addison. Honestly, I'm not disappointed at all. You're exactly what I imagined a nice and wholesome person with a beautiful voice. Wholesome. That's right, wholesome. I am very wholesome. I'm a wholesome of me. I shouldn't try to make jokes because they do not land. I'm the wholesome of me. Someone gets my jokes. Quick disclaimer, while I have you, I, Amanda Silvera, am just a narrator on this channel. Psych2Go is made up of so many people that are necessary to make this channel what it is. We have YouTube managers, writers, narrators, animators, and they all deserve so much credit. I see a lot of confusion sometimes about this being my channel. It's not. Unless we look at it like it's our channel and then it's mine and it's yours and it's theirs and, you know? So, yeah. I have no idea what I'm going to get until I open the script and read it. I have no idea what the final product is going to look like. I have no say over these things. I am not a licensed therapist or psychologist. And I just, I really need that to be clear. What strategies or tips do you have for overcoming trauma? Not expecting therapist level answers. Just think it would be nice to hear from you. Um. Strategies or tips for overcoming trauma. I'm not sure that trauma is something that you overcome. Wow. Yeah, so, for me, um, and my traumas, when I went through them, I went numb and then I kind of just like denied them for years and that seemed to be kind of just like what I, that seems to be kind of what I do. Something traumatic happens while it's happening. I go numb so that I can like get through it and then, um, and then I do this thing where I'm like, well, it's over. So, it shouldn't matter anymore. But I, I understand more now. Um, and it just doesn't work that way. There are things that happen that, that need to be addressed and processed. And as you do that, I think that the process of healing from a traumatic experience, this experience, um, I feel like it creates this new stronger version of yourself, this, this more complex being through those traumas and those experiences and then what happened to your body and mind during that and then figuring out how to go into those places that have changed and nurture them and communicate with them and, um, and find a way to process in a new way that works for you after all of that. Um, it turns you into, I feel like it's like, it's a level up. It turns you into a, a new and improved version of yourself. But the trauma is there. Part of, part of the process is accepting that the trauma is there. And it's so uncomfortable and it's so painful sometimes. And a lot of people don't want to do it because of that. And a lot of people don't do it because of that. Um, counseling is great. Therapy is great. Um, community is great. Talking to, um, other people who may have gone through a similar experience. Um, maybe like on Reddit or here on YouTube or just finding communities online. But yeah, the word overcoming feels just a little bit off for me. I think just being as self-aware as possible and as gentle with yourself as possible is really important. And not rushing yourself because it's a long process. I did an attempt to try to heal for, um, I don't know, 10 years. So yeah. I wish you I wish you the best of luck and I'm sending love. Have you thought about doing audio books because I could listen to you all day? Uh, yeah, I have. I don't know if I should tell you this. Um, so on my channel there is an attempt. There's a free audio book. It's called Nancy of Paradise Cottage. And so when I started reading it, I didn't know how many characters were going to be involved. I didn't know what I was getting into because, um, it started off with just women so I was doing, like, a younger sister, the main character, the mom. But then more characters came in. So I was doing, like, an elderly woman's voice and, like, men. It got tough. I stopped. I had to stop. But, um, it's if anything, it's entertaining. I added sound effects. I added the sound of horse hooves and singing and chatter at the ball and music and... Yeah. Yeah, so that exists. As far as audiobooks go, there are a lot of work and if I'm not paid, what I need to be paid in order to make it worthwhile, then I probably won't do it. Unless I'm thinking, you know, I find a book that I really just want to read and share. I can't believe I told you this. Like, I kind of wanted to just make it private, but... whatever. What is your perspective or thought process when you feel anxious or emotionally overwhelmed? How do you cope with that? And are there any self-affirmations or beliefs that you use to help work through them? I, so when I'm anxious, like, right now, it's good to stop. There's, um, a certain breathing technique called the physiological sigh. So you take a deep breath and then when you get the full breath, you sip. Like, you suck up just a little bit more and then you let it out and that automatically calms your nervous system. Look it up, because I'm not going to try to explain it and give you the wrong information. Breathing is key. What else was in the question? I've just, like, gone into Zen state, like that. See how powerful it is? When you feel anxious or emotionally overwhelmed, how do you cope with that? And are there any self-affirmations or beliefs? Yeah, um, yeah, it's not that easy. Sometimes I can't. Sometimes I'm very, very bad at that. If I am emotionally overwhelmed and I'm noticing that I'm spiraling, ruminating, going into negative thinking and just kind of not... If I catch myself there, I check on myself. Am I hungry? Am I tired? Do I need water? Is it my environment? Those things are relatively easy fixes and a lot of the time they are huge contributors. And then there was another tool that my therapist suggested I try. I'm giving a shot at right now. And it's creating almost like an alter ego. Like a character that you can step into when you're not feeling so secure in yourself. Kind of like just the best version of yourself. The version that you would love to be. So, what I've done is I wrote down all of her traits. What people feel like when they're with her, what she feels like when she enters a room, how she walks, how she talks. How she got there. Writing qualities about myself that I possess that I would like to bring out more. And then I gave her a name. I'm not going to tell you that's just for me, but you create this I don't know if you've heard Beyoncé talk about Sasha Fiers and who that is for her and what that is for her, but I make one of those. I've made one of those and I've been stepping into her a lot this week. Not as much as I would like to, but it's a matter of like recognizing when I, sorry recognizing when I need her instead of just like letting the overwhelm and the stress and the nasty thoughts take over. So yeah, I hope that helps. With my mother. She does have a lovely voice. She really does have a lovely voice. Well you know what, she gets that from her gene pool. Her grandmother. Well no, I don't think my voice is particularly beautiful, but my mother was a radio producer and director of educational television in Jamaica and she had an incredible voice. Now she did think I had a good voice too. Because I guess a lot of people like my voice. They find it soothing, but Amanda has a lovely soothing voice and you know when she was a little girl people constantly said to her you are so cute, you're so beautiful and I used to constantly myself say to her you know darling, it's really important, I hope you will know that it is far more important to be beautiful inside. Well, not more important, but it's equally as important to be beautiful on the inside, not just on the outside. It's like a rose with no scent, you know? It's like a beautiful woman with no brains, to me. And you know, they've bred these roses now that there are very few that have a scent anymore. Amanda's nickname for me is the long and winding road. It is yours. Whose was it? You are the one that called me a long and winding road. I do tend to expand a lot, so I apologize ahead of time. Okay, so let me see the next one that touches my heart. Maybe you should comment on the comments. Her voice is like therapy and she's absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for everything Amanda. Your videos have helped me so much I didn't do that one, right? Oops I've lost the comments they're all gone. Oh dear I don't know where I am anymore. You're going to have to find it for me. Can you do that for me please? You know, technology boy. There's truthful, real emotion behind your voice that gets me. That was to preface my question. What do you think about the most when you sing to get that emotion to come through? Thanks for listening and replying to weirdos like me. I'm a weirdo too. But it's my pleasure to reply and ramble. I love that you love I love that you love my voice. Especially my singing voice because music is so important to me and it's not in my world as much as I would like it to be right now. So that kind of like motivates me. What do I do to get there? What do I think about the most? A lot of the time when I make music I try not to think at all and just let whatever wants to come out come to me. It's a chance for me to kind of sit with myself and see what's going on like in the back and let that come out. So what gets me there is just what's already there what's already inside and has been waiting to bubble up and come out. A lot of my songs, especially songs that sound like love songs are actually to myself. There's a song on the the EP. I have an EP called the Yocely EP. Yocely stands for You Are Something Like You or You Are Someone Like You and there's a song on it called Need You Now and that is a song to me. It was about coming back to myself like I had been escaping and avoiding existing for quite some time and it was about calling myself back to me and a lot of my songs are like that Songs where I write about wanting love or needing love it's about wanting me to love me and needing to figure out how to see me the way others say they see me I get so much so much love here and I struggle I don't want to say it and have it sound like I don't appreciate it but I struggle to feel it sometimes and that's just that's due to my own stuff and my own history so a lot of the work that I have to do is it's just in loving me seeing me clearly and that work just like the trauma work cause it is trauma work it's very uncomfortable and it's very painful and that's what's coming out in the music Are you interested in doing other voice stunts such as voice acting or audiobooks yeah I mean I love all voice things with Psych2go I get to do like character voices sometimes and with Psych2go and also like my personal projects I get to I'm playing around playing around with a lot of things I love it all and I'm also working on other projects that I would love to tell you about and I will eventually um yet but I'm doing some pretty cool voice stuff and I'm open to all of it next how do you stop worrying about something that isn't even worth man if I knew if I knew um hold on one sec this is like my biggest problem I I don't know how do you stop worrying about something that isn't even worth worrying about yet it still affects you in a way that makes you nervous inside and mentally unstable when you're going through day to day I know why logically we know that we shouldn't be thinking about these things we know and we go brain hello I'm the boss here you are my brain I tell you what to do no it's not how it works is it I feel like it could be with enough healing but uh what have I learned how have I because I've been um I deal with that all the time I was gonna say I was dealing with it this week or last week but like there's always a little bit of it happening in my head at all times I think I think one thing that um I try to do that might help you is to sit with it whatever the thought is instead of kind of trying to push it away and push it away it's like I feel like the more you push the more that it takes the more hold it has on you and the more space it takes up in your mind um if you just kind of accept that it's there and maybe um maybe journal maybe write down what this scary thing is write down the worst case scenario um no because we know it's not even a big deal but still yeah it's almost like having a nightmare you know when you tell someone about it or you write it down it's less likely that it'll come back maybe with those types of thoughts if we write it down or share it with someone or kind of just really break it down and look at it it'll be easier for us and our brains to be like okay this isn't this isn't worth it there are so many other things to think about maybe um I wish that I had an answer for you man I wish I did next hey Amanda hope all is well do you believe in soul ties I've moved on tremendously from the person I used to be as well as from the friends I had 20 years ago however one in particular has been on my mind consistently I'm wondering why it feels like a soul connection I don't know if I believe in soul ties because the more I learn I don't know if it's learn the more I live the more I feel like these connection or not connections these emotions and these feelings and these like repetitive thoughts they're all about us what is it about this person that you keep thinking about what were they to you at that time who were you at that time is there a reason or is there work that you still have to do um that is connected to something there it could be an unfinished business situation with yourself that is actually the reason why you're going there but who am I I don't know it could very well be a soul tie um Alyssa hey Alyssa how has taking a break from social media been do you often think about it when you're off it yeah I'm still fully addicted to social media I'm back on kind of but I'm not I'm not really looking at the DMs and messages because that's where the real like anxiety comes from I feel much better without it the longer I go without it the more connected to me I feel the more focused I feel the more productive I feel the more balanced I feel so yeah it's definitely a good thing but I'm definitely addicted to it and I'm sure the majority of us are and don't even know it but maybe we do know it but when I was committed to being off of it it got really good it sucked at first it was very uncomfortable but then it got pretty good and I don't know when I started like creeping back in but but I did and I'm back and I think I'm ready to be gone again so thank you for that have you ever this is okay have you ever dealt with trauma induced addiction such as a behavior based addiction things that might be not as good for you when doing them frequently but feel so good at the moment just to regret it afterwards yeah I'm sure a lot of us can relate to that food alcohol I think those are the two food weed alcohol I think those three are like the most common but there are many many more yeah from a young age I've I look at those as avoidant avoidant behaviors or tools and they all made it so much worse and so much harder to heal but it was all I knew and it was all I had the strength for at the time so if it's something that you are trying to overcome try not to beat yourself up too much there's a lot of guilt that comes with the escape methods you feel gross after beat yourself up depending on what it is that you choose you can hurt other people too it's really tough it's really really tough and it's like what if that's all you have though at the time like what if that's all you know what if you don't have the resources or you're just so broken that you don't have the energy to find the resources even if they are available and then it becomes a cycle and you keep doing it and everything just keeps getting worse I know all about it and I also know that I could not begin my healing journey until I gave it up gave them up the things that I turned to and it's hard because they become my friend it's the only thing that gives you some sort of relief from the pain and from your mind but it's so short-lived and with with the the good tools and the good methods and the good behaviors you get you get much longer stretches of peace but it does take work and it takes discomfort when I decided that I was I was just gonna not run away from my feelings the first couple of months were excruciating I couldn't I couldn't sleep I could not make my mind just shut up so many thoughts so many feelings that I had avoided just all came at once I would cry myself to sleep every night and it was so much that I didn't even know where to begin if I were to tell someone or talk to someone there were two it was just too much so I was just alone in my feels and it sucked and after the first month or two things started to feel a little different I started to see things differently like literally like literally see things differently and I was so proud because when you look back at all of that pain and suffering that you've just been through like you can't help but be proud of yourself and you should be really feel for anyone that's going through that okay next if you've done 16 personality tests I don't know if I have I probably have but I don't remember it's weird though some of you know my some of you know my what's it called the Briggs Myers Briggs I'm seeing people talking about my my sign it's not my sign my Myers Briggs personality type and like I don't even remember it most of the time and I'm seeing you guys answering questions like someone asks what it is and then someone else answers and tells them what I am and I'm like oh yeah that's what I am it's wild you guys it's so crazy to me to see but cool with mom what the oh well that's what they're saying WTF can I say WTF hi where are you going you gonna sit on my shoulder are you kidding you think you're a cat good gracious me well one of the reasons I suggested to Amanda that maybe I could help her with this was because she had told me that so many people are confused about her origins whether she's black white or whatever so I said well maybe if they met me it might help but it also strikes me it might be more confusing I married a white Jamaican man and his heritage is from Portugal his mother was an adopted white child from Washington DC I believe and she was brought up by a black woman in the countryside of Jamaica that's a whole story in itself after Amanda's father and I gave birth to our two children Amanda came out as fair as Amanda is and her brother came out a little darker but my father typical Jamaican man had dark brown eyes and both my brothers and I dark brown eyes so it was it was interesting to have two children with beautiful colored eyes you know it's a wonderful thing to be unique in our world on the one hand we want to be unique but then on the other hand we all want to fit in so it's like you're in a constant fight ridiculous, ridiculous anyway I think that's sufficient don't you? more than yeah okay I like this one you are beautiful your voice is calming me whenever I'm not feeling okay you never disappoint us we love you as you are and for who you are keep fighting and thank you yeah it must be very hard to control your ego with all these comments no I just automatically go into imposter syndrome what is imposter syndrome oh you know when someone gives you a compliment and you don't feel like you deserve it yeah that's called imposter syndrome it's more complicated than that but says dude I'm just in awe I never knew there was a face reveal prior to this one and you were the person I least expected to do a face reveal you have a beautiful voice but damn you have a beautiful face too this is from Dean Gulston I cannot stress how much this channel has helped me and how this channel has become my comfort place so thank you so much yeah it means you're like a nice soft pillow for people to put their heads on when they're feeling heavy and burdened isn't that a nice concept you know like it's nice to think of yourself as a big pillow next what goals and aspirations do you wish to accomplish in this lifetime and also what motivates you to accomplish that goals okay so first I'll go to the what motivates you to accomplish that goals um pain discomfort I what motivates me is all of the things I've felt and then thinking about all of the things that other people feel and how complicated and wild this world is and just the want to know more and to want to like make sense of it or make the pain have a purpose but then also wow I don't know I don't know it started it started I think and this has always just been a thing like from when I was a kid if I hurt or if I feel something unpleasant I know that someone else has and probably in a much worse way and I want to make them feel better it's just a thing that's in me um I want to figure out how to make them feel better or how to turn it into a positive how to take that and um and just get stronger and grow so um that has led me to want to know more about neuroscience and psychology and biology and physics and science and the world just you know everything about existing here um drives me and then what goals and aspirations do I want to accomplish I just want to make a positive difference um and I know that you I know that I have but it just doesn't feel like enough and I don't think it ever will so yeah I just want to do more but I also want to do more creative stuff you know I want to I want to book a role where I get to go to the studio on a regular basis and be a really cool character that I love that I get to step inside and become for a while I want to be able to do that for a while because I love it so much I've only had samples I would love to have some more um and I would love to travel and meet more people and see more of this planet where am I from I love your voice a lot so peaceful and sweet I am first generation Canadian my mom and dad are both from Jamaica and I am from Vancouver British Columbia and thank you for the compliment whoa you're still here I'm impressed I have so much more footage with Alicia and my mom and answering your questions but I think I should wrap it up here if you'd like to see the extended version hop over to my channel it'll be there in a while I still have to edit it ha ha ha ha ha ha ha making that turn it away ha ha ha ha I'm going to turn down the sensitivity hold it hold the microphone please you have it last time mom was on youtube with me was a decade ago um and it's private it's not available it's not online anymore but it's going to be because it's going to be in this video light to bright I look awful you should mom that's not bother I can work with it no I look awful I look better in the mirror over there what happened um even have that same docks tell me when you like it I don't like it is it a bad angle cause I'm taking a video right now what are you taking a video for you're not going to go put this on what's it called are you don't you dare put this on what's it called what's it called tube thing what's it called don't you dare don't you dare put this on on facebook or on itunes or whatever what's it called I won't put it on itunes itunes is that what no it's called tube something you know okay one quick picture never put it on itunes