Latest / feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell / how your phone is ruining your mental health

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how your phone is ruining your mental health · feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell

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  I've been in a place where 15 or even 17 hours of screen time, a
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  day feels normal and I didn't even realize how badly it was.
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  Affecting my mental health. I didn't realize that it was
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  ruining my ability to be present.
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  Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of feel your
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  feelings with me, Ethan Jewel. This is a podcast.
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  I started all about mental health, and mental health
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  awareness. Now, I'm not a doctor or a
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  psychologist or Professional in the mental health industry
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  whatsoever. I'm just a normal guy who is
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  super passionate about mental health and wants to start the
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  conversation. So thank you so much for tuning
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  in. And as always, let's feel some
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  feelings. A couple of years ago.
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  My life was totally consumed by screens and it was for pretty
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  good reason. I was struggling a lot with my
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  mental health and frankly, I just wanted to disappear, I just
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  wanted to retract into my own little world and be on my phone,
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  be on my computer and just kind of, numb out what I was feeling
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  because I was hurting, and this is a very typical response and
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  don't get me wrong. It felt great.
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  It felt so much better than being present and being in the
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  moment, but it was killing my personality.
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  Personal health. I mean, my screen time was
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  consistently 11, 13, 15 plus hours a day.
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  There are some days. Where every waking hour I was on
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  some kind of screen and it was destroying me.
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  It was destroying my mental health.
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  I was doing it to feel better. I was doing it to numb out
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  feelings of depression and to try to feel better.
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  But in reality, it was making me feel way worse.
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  It was making the problem infinitely worse.
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  I Was in the lowest place that I've ever been in social media,
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  definitely contributed to it. So how I mean I was watching
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  highlight reels, that's what social media is.
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  Its highlight reels. We are watching other people's
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  highlights and comparing our day-to-day lives with that.
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  This is incredibly harmful. I'm sure you've experienced
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  this. Even if you aren't aware of it,
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  you see other people's lives on social media and you compare it
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  to yours. And if you're struggling with
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  mental health, and unable to get out of bed and unable to Stay
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  focused and stay motivated. It is incredibly discouraging to
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  see other people's highlight reels compared to your own life.
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  It had me thinking, what is wrong with me?
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  What am I doing wrong? Why am I so ill?
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  Why am I so broken? But this wasn't even the biggest
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  problem with social media in screens in my life.
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  The biggest problem is that I was never present.
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  I was never existing in the present moment.
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  I was never Her living for now because I was so consumed by my
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  screens, I was either reliving memories through my screen.
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  I was reliving other people's memories or I was worried about
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  the future. I was seeing news and I was
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  thinking about what's next. I was never simply present
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  without a screen. My days blurred by, and I never
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  felt anything, I didn't feel my feelings, I simply felt
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  attachment to my social medias. I felt attached.
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  Two other people's lives more than I should because I was so
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  heavily involved in screens and social media in, this is a
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  widespread issue. I can almost guarantee you have
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  or are experiencing this, whether you realize it or not.
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  Social media is designed to take us out of the present moment to
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  take us away from our feelings and our lives and consume us.
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  And I don't mean to sound like a social media hater.
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  Trust me. I'm not at all.
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  Oh, I love social media. It has given me a career, the
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  ability to reach, others has given me the opportunity to
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  start this podcast and to make music and go on tours.
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  But when social media use becomes excessive, it destroys
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  our mental health it. Disintegrates our ability to be
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  present and live a healthy life and feel our feelings.
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  I saw a great interview with Bo Burnham, somebody that I really
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  look up to. And in this interview, he talked
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  about social media. And he talked about the fact
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  that these companies are literally designed to come for
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  every second of your lives. And it's not because they're
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  inherently evil. It's not because they're bad.
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  It's because they're based on growth.
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  And in order to grow they need to take more of your time away
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  from you. They need to take you out of the
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  present moment. This is damaging the human
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  psyche in order to improve our mental health, in order to feel
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  our feelings, we have to be present.
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  We have to be living in these moments.
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  We have to be living for now, we have to be aware.
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  Social media does not allow room for that, especially when it
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  gets to a point where it's consuming your day.
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  We need to take back our presence and we need to be able
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  to focus that into ourselves and into our mental health and not
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  take our presence and focus and put it into other people's
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  highlight reels and put it into short form video.
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  Yes, once again I am no hater of social media.
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  I think if used correctly, it can be a beautiful way to
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  connect with people but I think it's a really easy for it to get
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  out of hand. And I think for many of us, it
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  has I know for me. It did, I'm no professional, I
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  haven't studied social media and its effects on psychology, but I
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  know what I've experienced. I know what I felt, and what I
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  felt is in incredible disconnect from real life days.
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  Is literally blurring together because I was never present,
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  it's hard. It's really difficult.
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  Humans aren't designed to consume information in content.
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  In this way, we aren't designed to have content pushed in our
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  face. Every single moment of every
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  single day you might find it hard to even just sit and listen
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  to these podcasts because we're so used to constant stimulation.
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  We're used to every moment of Our Lives.
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  Being something stimulating us. When in reality, we need to be
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  able to just be present in sit with our thoughts and sit with
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  our mental health, and sit with our feelings and exist in the
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  moment that is crucial to live a healthy life and be aware of our
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  mental health. So how do we escape from these
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  screens that have been designed to take up every second of our
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  day? Now, I'm not telling you that
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  you should delete every single social media app.
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  I'm not telling you that you should smash your phone and
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  never touch it. Again, I'm not at all.
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  Technology is a beautiful thing and if used correctly it can
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  allow us to connect to other people in amazing ways.
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  Social media can be beautiful but we need to take control.
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  So what I personally have done over the past year trying to
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  improve my mental health and trying to improve my presence in
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  my ability to actually face and feel my feelings.
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  In the moment, I've just simply been aware of the damage that
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  Social media has done in my life.
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  I turned on screen time in my settings and I kind of tried to
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  track it instead of just mindlessly.
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  Reaching for my phone, I attempt to become aware of what I'm
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  doing throughout the day, I choose to go on walks or talk
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  with people. If I need to pick up my phone,
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  maybe I'll call a friend or text somebody instead of just
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  mindlessly scrolling through social media, the most important
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  thing is for you to develop a relationship with your mental
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  health in your feelings. Often we pick up our phones and
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  we go on social media, or apps to distract ourselves from what
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  we're feeling. I know, that's what I did for
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  years. I never faced my feelings, or my
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  mental health because I was scared.
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  I wanted to just distract myself, I hadn't established a
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  healthy relationship with my feelings and now, I feel as
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  though I have, I don't feel a need to distract myself anymore.
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  Now, don't get me wrong. My screen time is still pretty
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  high. I'm still probably averaging.
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  Six hours a day, five hours a day, but God even just that
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  difference feels so much better than that. 15 hours a day.
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  It doesn't have to be drastic start small attempt to become
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  aware of how screen time could be affecting your life in your
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  mental health, but mostly become aware of your presence.
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  Life is a beautiful thing, the UPS, the Downs, the happiness,
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  the pain, and the ability to be present and feel all of it is a
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  beautiful thing. That is something that we are so
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  lucky to experience and anything that takes away from that has no
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  place in our lives. So I challenge you to try to
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  establish a healthy relationship with your feelings.
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  Find out what works for you. Meditate, sit with your
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  thoughts, become comfortable in silence, become comfortable,
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  being doesn't become comfortable in the moment, you deserve to
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  feel fulfilled, you deserve to not feel the need to distract
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  yourself. You deserve to be present, I
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  believe in you, and I know that together we can do this.
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  That's going to wrap it up for today's episode.
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  Thank you so much for tuning in. I have some really exciting news
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  to share with you. I am touring the entire west
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  coast of North America. I'm going to be playing my music
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  and doing talks, just like this at 10, different cities all
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  across the West Coast. So please go to Ethan Jewel.com
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  and see if I'm playing any shows near you.
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  I would love to see you in person at these shows and be
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  able to talk with you and have a beautiful night, feeling our
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  feelings. He's also shoot me.
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  A DM on my Instagram at Jewel, boy underscore, and let me know
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  what you thought about today's episode.
• 10:10
  If you need any help, feeling your feelings.
• 10:12
  Check out my music, Ethan, Jewel, on all platforms and I
• 10:15
  almost guarantee it'll make you cry.
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  So thank you so much for being here.
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  Thank you for allowing yourself to be present with me.
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  And as always, thank you for feeling your feelings.
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  I'll see you next time. He's also shoot me.
• 10:05
  A DM on my Instagram at Jewel, boy underscore, and let me know
• 10:08
  what you thought about today's episode.
• 10:10
  If you need any help, feeling your feelings.
• 10:12
  Check out my music, Ethan, Jewel, on all platforms and I
• 10:15
  almost guarantee it'll make you cry.
• 10:18
  So thank you so much for being here.
• 10:20
  Thank you for allowing yourself to be present with me.
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  And as always, thank you for feeling your feelings.
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  I'll see you next time.