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Dr. Justin Sings and Plays 8 Original Songs · Millennial Mental Health Channel

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This is Millennial Mental Health Channel. I'm doctor Justin Romano, a Child and
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Adolescent psychiatry fellow, and I'm Eddie Creo, a licensed clinical therapist. Our
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podcast is here because we wanted to start a much needed conversation about mental health.
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Our goal is to teach you as much as we can by sharing our
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own experiences and interviewing experts in the mental health field. We will discuss topics
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like mood disorders, psychotic disorders, substance use, personality disorders, and many
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more. Millennial Mental Health Channel buy Millennials for everyone. We hope you enjoyed
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today's episode. M MHC is a production of Spreaker from iHeartMedia. A Hello
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and welcome back to Millennial Mental Health Channel. Today we have a very special
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episode for you. In the past, I've done concert episodes or music episodes,
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but it's been a while since I've actually done this. I haven't had
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too much time lately, so why am I doing a music episode? As
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some of you know, this has been a big year for me. I've
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had a baby, I graduated from residency and fellowship that just recently moved to
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Colorado, left my home in Omaha, Nebraska, and I'm going to be
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starting my new job in Wyoming as a psychiatrist. I'm always telling my patients
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that they should be using their artistic outlets to process the things that they're going
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through and the emotions we have about them. In my career so far,
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it seems to me that many people don't have the ability to process things they're
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going through. So many people just try and ignore what is happening, or
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bottling their emotions until they forget about them. This typically does not work.
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It's important to understand your emotions and feelings and talking about them. It's a
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great way to do that. For me. Music and writing songs has always
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been my way to process and understand my emotions. My guitars has been my
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therapist since I was fifteen. Her name is Taylor, and we've been through
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a lot together. In the US, too, it feels like men in
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particular are horrible at talking about their emotions and feelings, and it's not necessarily
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their fault. I think it's the message that society gives young men. I've
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met a lot of young people who have told me strength is looking like you
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have it altogether, never letting your emotions out. It's so hard trying to
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convince young people that this mindset is the opposite of strength, that true strength
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is being vulnerable, opening up about how you feel, exploring your thoughts and
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emotions, because if you just bottle everything up and never let it out,
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you tend to start looking for unhealthy coping mechanisms like drinking, drugs, judgment,
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anger, and violence to quiet that noise inside your head. So this
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is me leading by example, opening up, being vulnerable, singing about my
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emotions and feelings. And I would urge you that if you know someone who
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needs to learn how to talk about their emotions, because it is a skill
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that gets better with practice, please send them this episode. I want to
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do an ode to Nebraska. I truly loved my time in Omaha, and
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I wrote a lot of songs while I was there. So for today,
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I'm only going to play songs that I wrote while I was in Nebraska.
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The song I will start with is called stay right Here. My wife and
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I did distance for four years while we were in grad school. There was
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a lot of loneliness during those years. We would talk about the day when
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we would finally be able to be together. Then it happened. My now
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wife moved in and we were finally together. But those four years played tricks
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on my brain, and I had to convince myself that it was actually real.
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So stay right here is me trying to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming,
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that the thing I had been waiting for longing for had actually happened,
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that she wasn't going to leave, and to love and cherish every moment.
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Won't you stay right here? Oh? I've been asking fee, but this
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time it feels we climbed down from my dream, and I promise that I'll
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see to you before you fall asleep. I don't care what we choose to
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do. I'm happy just sitting here with you, and I don't want to
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be entertained. I just want to taste those ones day lives. You got
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me feeling like a man, And when my hands are resting on lives,
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I finally get to see how was your day? The little things that we
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wait a fool so long, so maker packed with me that until the day
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we die, never ever have to see good bye. Because I don't care
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what we choose to do. I'm happy just sitting here with you, and
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I don't want to be entertained. I just want to taste those wine stained
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lips. You got me feeling like a man when my hands are resting all
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lips. So won't you stay right here? Oh? I've been asking for
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years, but this time, this time, it's weird. We finally got
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to be together and that was so sweet. The next logical step was to
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get married. This next song is called I Do for Obvious Reasons. Our
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wedding day was actually the first time my wife heard this song. As a
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child and adolescent psychiatrist, I think one of the most important things I can
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do for my patience is to teach them about healthy relationships and appropriate boundaries.
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In this song, I try and model and lead by example in terms of
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what I am trying to convey about healthy, loving relationships. With these words,
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I want the listener to understand that my love for my wife is deeper
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than appearances and physical attraction. We are deeply compatible and want the same things
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in life, which is really important. She pushes me to be a better
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person and I am really lucky to have her. She is a treasure to
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be cherished, honored, and respected, and when I look in her eyes,
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I see our family. In fact, we just had our son four
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months ago, and it feels like he's always been a part of our family.
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We just hadn't met him yet. And I think it's because I could
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always see him and our future in my wife's deep, beautiful green eyes.
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Here is I do a love way you look at me, the touch of
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mischief behind those eyes. I got the only man love love you only one
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to day your word heart, you help me go. I'm supposed to be
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chase down all my crazy dreams. You always stand next to me, You
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only one to take my word God. With this ring, I will make
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you my queen, Promise to be your faithful, loving king everything in his
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life. I just want to do you through the frame of your eyes fairly
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comes in view and say it again, I do the first time in my
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whole life, I get to call you my wife. I always knew it
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would feel right the very first time I held your hand in mind, and
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be a fool to give you up even with my crazy love, A thousand
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years of searching and never find so will help. As beautiful as you and
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I hold my bad jokes will never fail to make you laugh. All love
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will be burning, and long after we have been with this ring, I
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will make you my queen. I promise to be your faithful, loveing king.
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Everything in his life I just want to do with you. Through the
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frame of your eyes fairly comes into view and I'll say it again. Yeah,
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I'll say it all again. I'll say it my whole life. I
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do. I do. My wife and I got married during the pandemic,
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which was a weird time to get married, and the pandemic was a traumatic
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and strange time for nearly everyone on earth, but for my wife and I
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we had each other, and even though this world was shut down, we
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opened up to each other and used it as an opportunity to grow our young
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marriage. And luckily we were both healthy throughout, and we understand that not
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everyone was that fortunate. This next song is called When the World Let Go,
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because we felt like for a brief period in our lives, right at
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the beginning of our marriage, we dropped all of our obligations and plans.
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There was none of that extra stuff that life fills your time with. It
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felt like the world just let go and we got to be our true selves
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with only each other. The second half of the song is about how the
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world was coming back to life again, the neon signs outside of the shops
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were starting to turn back on, and even though the world was coming back
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to life, we were craving just a little more time. When it felt
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like we were the only two people alive. Here is when the world let
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go. They said, go home and lock your doors. Nothing's ever happened
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like this before. And things got scary when the grocery stores were empty,
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pictures of deserted city streets. But we fell in love again Sundays in our
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ben the songs from last night's records ringing in our hands. Supposed to be
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locked down, but we were set free when the world let go of you
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and me. So let me remind you that my love is true. I
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only want to be here with you, and on your toughest days, I
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will take it. I'll lead you in the darkness. I'll be your man.
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I'll lead you in the darkness. Will be or may head me and
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signs are lighting up again. I don't know if I'm ready to leave again.
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Sometimes a lonely ones surround themselves. The people then sit between two and
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she. We fell in love again, trapped inside these walls, when I
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had oh your love, just to myself didn't have to pretend together. We
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could just be when the world let go of you and me, so let
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me remind you that my love is true. I only want to be here
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with you, and on your toughest days, I will take it hand.
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Lead you in the darkness, be man, lead you in the darkness,
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ILL be me here. I truly enjoy my work and feel so fortunate to
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have found psychiatry. There could be nothing more important to me than helping young
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people heal from the traumas in their lives and teaching them about mental health,
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which is one of the reasons why I enjoy this podcast so much. But
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this can be an emotionally taxing job. I want all of my healthcare professionals
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out there listening to know that it's okay to feel for your patience. Just
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make sure you take time to heal and recover yourself and away that works for
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you, which might take a little bit of trial and error to find what
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works. That's exactly what I am doing right now. Music is how I
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process and cope with how hard emotionally this job can be. I wrote this
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next song at the beginning of my fellowship and child psych while working at a
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children's hospital, I met a lot of young people who had been the victims
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of abuse, a sad truth about our world. There were lots of patterns
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starting to emerge from me. So many of the young people that I met
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had no idea how to process their trauma. They did not have the language
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or the resources to even know where to begin. In some cases, despite
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our team's best efforts, the kids had to eventually return to their abusive homes,
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and this really tore me apart. Many of the kids could not escape,
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so they turned to cutting themselves and drugs to numb the pain of their
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abusive homes. So this next song is called Alone in Your Room. I
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named it this because even though I knew I couldn't fix the lives of these
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children, they were safe in their hospital beds, but it was only a
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temporary solution. And as a warning, there are depictions of self harm and
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suicide. So if you're someone who was triggered by these themes, please be
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aware. I ask you some questions you won't be easy to answer. You
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tell me you harbor no secret, So why are you running away? I
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had you look so afraid you're safe to tell me everything? I already know.
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Have you ever talked up about your trump? Daddy laid hands me on
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your mamma, pay past present in future? Why he way away? You
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must have been so afraid it's safe to tell me everything. Don't stop now
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he slides keep racing through your head. You can't get better them. Instead,
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run something and come to your arm. You can't attempt to yourself on
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runs in person and in bleach runs with just to touch a sweet dumbs.
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The pain inside your head only come when you see in red the one that
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stay young forever, all the ones taking too soon, one can hurt you
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anymore when you are lone in you your good questions. This time I don't
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have an answer, can't alway. It's cut out cancer. Your voice cracks
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me crying at heil, and I promise I'm not burn it with Hey Hay,
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be beyond the one who's afraid. You're still safe to tell me because
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I didn't know. You should know that you're always worth You don't have to
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be so damn perfect to have someone love your imperfection, someone who can take
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you with Hey Hay, make your warn and save someone you can take,
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leave everything, and they still won't leave these starts keep racing through your head.
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You can't get rid of them. Instead, find something that cut you
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on. You can't attempt to yourself on Crimson personain and bleach runs with just
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a touch of sweet dumbs. The pain inside your head only come when you
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see him read I want to stay forever? Are the ones to get too
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soon? You can have a chew anymore when you're alone in you and You.
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I have a Vietnamese friend who recently told me that in Vietnam, most
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of the pop music is really sad. That the Vietnamese like to get out
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their sadness through song so that they can live their day to day happily.
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I'm starting to wonder if I might be Vietnamese, because I felt really understood
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when she explained this to me. It's the same thing I like to do.
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A lot of my songs are sad because I get out my sadness through
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music. I've always been the type of person who also needs some time alone
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from time to time. A lot of my patients tell me that they're the
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same way too, that they crave that time alone. It is fascinating to
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me that we are such social creatures, but that being alone can be incredibly
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reflective and healthy. Sometimes when my job gets overwhelming, I just need to
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be by myself to process it. I don't really want anyone around to distract
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me. I want to be mindful of the pain, feel it, embrace
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it, and then let it go. This next song is called time Alone,
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and it's about pushing myself too hard and getting to the point where I
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need to advocate for myself and just be alone for a little while. My
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hope is that you can feel the tension in this song build and then the
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tension release when I'm finally able to ask for that time alone and get it.
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If you're the type of person who needs time alone, I hope you
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feel safe and comfortable to ask for it. Tell your loved ones that it's
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something that you might need so they understand when it does happen, because it's
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normal, natural and healthy to just need some time and space for yourself.
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I don't want to speak to Day. My voice is tired, Fay,
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the words from my mouth aren't mine anyway. I just don't alone speak to
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Day. I don't want to go away to day feed. I tired.
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My legs are in pain. Everywhere I go, I seem to stay in
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the same place. I just don't want to go nowhere today. I will
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lift you with my friend, and I won't let you stow be in.
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Every little piece I give takes away in my will to give myself when I
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get lost. Never thought to ask the cars getting down your skin am blew.
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And I just need some time a lu hoole luhoo. I just sneed
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some time alone. I'm not like this all the time. A bottle it
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up and I let it out right, and sometimes it just leaks out,
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steals from my eyes. But I promised something. I like this all the
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time. And I know I'm just a man, and I got these play
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make the world a loving place. I know that I can, but I
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also know that I am just a man. I will lift you up,
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my friend, and I won't let you stover in. Every little piece I
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get takes away my will to get myself when I get lost. Never thought
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to ask the cars getting down to skin and bow. I just need some
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time lohle lohoe. I just snee some time alone I can and explain.
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Just stow away, spend away, and I got to get away, get
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away, and I will lift you up, my friend, and I won't
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let story end. But every little piece I give takes away my will to
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forgive myself when I get lost, never phone to ask the cause, getting
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down to skin ambone. I just need some time lo I just need Oh
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why hoed? Oh why? Just need some time alone? Time alone is
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a great healthy coping strategy. But not all of my coping strategies are healthy.
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It's so funny. People think I have it all together because I'm the
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doctor and the podcast host, but I'm still human and figuring all this stuff
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out. I come from Wyoming, which is a state that really likes to
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drink. Throughout my life, I found that I sometimes deal with stress through
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drinking, especially in my college and med school days, but even during COVID
27:15
when there was a lot of uncertainty. Luckily, alcohol has never gotten in
27:21
the way of my life, my career, or my relationships. But there
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have been times in my life when I felt like I was relying too heavily
27:27
on drinking to cope with the stress. So this next song is aptly titled
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coping Strategies. It's about relying too much on alcohol and feeling a desire to
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get back to other healthier coping mechanisms. At the end of the song,
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there's a line guess it's been a while since I let my mind roam free
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between two thin blue lines, which is about journaling, something I used to
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do quite a bit, and how I got away from it. And of
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course my best coping mechanism is mentioned in this song, and that I needed
28:00
some six string therapy, which, if you don't know, guitar has six
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strings. So here's coping strategies. I don't want to single on me in
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double and I don't want to see the bottom of this glass to me a
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favor to leave a bottle if a drink away my problems, maybe someone else
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to solve them. I'm loving what I do, just feeling tired. If
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trauma takes a lot of sound to rewire and my resolve maybe slipping. Maybe
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it's time for a change. I'm getting used to feeling kind of strange,
28:48
and maybe I'm afraid to see an unfiltered formally forgive who I am? Do
29:00
you recognize this man was also fun? We we up trying to tight and
29:07
comfortably up. My eyes are open, I'm awake. I can't afford not
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to change, change to chase. Maybe it's time, and I take my
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own advice, find a therapist to get my head right, in my mind
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as clear as ever. My coping strateges just start keeping up with me.
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This has been a while since I left my mind roam free between two thin
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blue lights, my fingers soft deserve. Maybe what's best for me it's some
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extreme fear of me. Maybe I'm afraid to see and I'm filtered former me
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forget you who I am? Do you recognize? This band was also fun.
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We were trying to attain comfortably number. My eyes are open. I'm
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away. I can't afford to change, to change, to change any occasional
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do write happy songs, and it seems like they mostly come out as love
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songs or songs about my family. This next one is called Warm in the
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Cold dark Night. It's about the many changes that are happening in my life
31:14
right now. And I did just write this pretty recently. But no matter
31:18
what the changes are, I always have my foundation, my loving and beautiful
31:23
wife who's always there for me. She is my warm in the cold dark
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night. The whole new chapter writing of very old love story, the Baby
31:52
on the Way, I can honestly see that I love you more than ever.
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From the moment awake up, he starts swimming around in my head.
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You keep splashing until I'm next to you, and eight from the moment I
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met you, you've been dancing around in my heart, setting the rim from
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a very start, My sunrise, my sun says, my daylight, my
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warm in the cold dark night. So many changes, babies, jobs,
33:05
home, We're going home every changes, reminded how much we've grown, how
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I'll never have to be alone. From the moment awake up, he starts
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swimming round in my head, and you keep splashing until I'm next to you.
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And Babe, from the moment I met you, you've been dancing around
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my heart, setting rhythm from the very start, My sunrise, My Son's
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say, my daylight, my warm and the cold n My warm and the
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cold night. And finally, the last song I will play for you is
34:32
called Goodbye. It was really hard to leave our home in Omaha. We
34:38
built a really beautiful life there in the five years that we had. This
34:44
song's about how goodbye is never really goodbye, because when you invest your time
34:50
and love into your home and friendships, those things follow you throughout your life.
34:55
We made two really amazing friends in Omaha, and it really hurts to
35:00
leave them. So I want to dedicate this one to Robin Cole. We
35:06
love you, thanks for being our guides to the Midwest, our best friends
35:10
in my inspiration for writing. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, Goodbye to my
35:30
home, my friends, and your best five years, my life, goodbye,
35:38
never goodbye. When you need a piece of you behind. You've bought
35:51
our first home, spend a year alone, the cattle dog and me in
36:00
the yard. We planted a beach tree. Now that trees twelve feet taller
36:08
for the flowers come to lie, the fruit will fall, will be ours.
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We just want to leave this place better than before. Love is kind,
36:27
love is work, but it's never choice. Home. Give me the
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family I've always long before, and now our love will gove forevermore. Good
36:58
Bye, good bye, Goodbye to my home, my friends and best,
37:07
my years, my mind. Goodbyes, never good bye. When you leave
37:20
you piece of you behind, Give me two best friends you haven't to share
37:32
our deep best fears and shed a few tears. People walk in your life
37:44
just the right time, make you feel hole again. Life perfect rise When
37:53
I fall, the always there to pick me up off the floor with tender
38:01
hearts, brilliant minds and heavy points. The company I keep by, truly
38:10
admire and a door. And now our love will go forever more. Goodbye
38:35
bye, goodbye to my home, my friends, in the best five years
38:43
of my mind. Goodbye never goodbye. Will leave the piece of you behind,
39:00
you leave a little piece of you, leave a little piece of you
39:12
behind. Well, guys, you made it to the end. The definition
39:23
of music is sound that evokes emotion. I hope I was able to evoke
39:30
some emotion in you today. Thank you so much for listening. In fact,
39:35
I know we say it a lot to you, guys, the listeners.
39:38
You're the reason why we do this. We have surpassed over one hundred
39:44
and twenty thousand downloads for our show. I like to think that each one
39:47
of those downloads was a little opportunity to put some love and understanding into this
39:52
world. One of my life rules is that if I feel love, for
39:58
someone to say it, and I can honestly say that I love you.
40:01
Guys, Thank you so much for trying to better understand yourselves, mental health,
40:07
and this crazy world. Please share our show with friends and family if
40:12
you feel like it is appropriate if you made it to the end, I'm
40:15
assuming you're a die hard fan. If you'd like to leave us a review,
40:20
it would greatly help us. Subscribing to this show is also a huge
40:24
help for us. We don't ask that you give us any money or anything
40:28
like that, but if you find this show valuable, return the favor by
40:32
helping us spread our message. Music is my outlet, and I encourage you
40:38
to find an outlet that works for you. Now. I usually let Eddie
40:44
take care of this part, but it feels oh so sweet to say it.
40:47
As always take care of all mentals.