Latest / feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell / your thoughts impact your mental health

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your thoughts impact your mental health · feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell

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  When I was younger, I told myself I was going to be a
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  superhero, that I was capable of anything, And while this wasn't
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  particularly true, believing these things led me to feel more
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  confident as I grew and made me feel empowered.
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  However, as I got older, some of these thoughts began to appear
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  more negative. I started to tell myself I
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  wasn't good enough, that I was destined to feel bad forever,
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  and as a result, I believed them.
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  It hurt my mental health progress deeply.
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  Although thoughts may seem relatively harmless, the
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  thoughts that we have can shape the direction that our lives go.
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  My name is Ethan Jewell and welcome back to Feel Your
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  Feelings. Not many people, myself
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  included, believe that thoughts are not all that impactful, that
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  I can just kind of let them wander.
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  However, and there will be no real detriments to my life.
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  After all, actions speak louder than words.
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  However, this is only sometimes true because thoughts become
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  actions, actions become habits, and habits are what you become.
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  This is exactly what a self fulfilling prophecy is, and that
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  is what I want to talk about today.
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  A self fulfilling prophecy is an expectation or belief that can
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  influence your behaviors forming a reality from nothing.
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  For example, you could have a great life, have very, very good
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  mental health, but if you're constantly telling yourself that
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  things are bad, or that you are depressed or upset all the time,
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  there's a good chance that your behaviors will begin to mimic
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  these thoughts. I know I personally have
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  experienced this before. There have been periods of time
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  where my mental health is is good and things are going my
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  way, and overall I'm very, very happy.
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  But I've become so used to feeling sad that these negative
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  thought cycles continue to repeat in my brain and
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  ultimately make me feel bad. Even when things are good in the
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  realm of mental health, self fulfilling prophecies can become
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  insidious companions, particularly in the context of
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  conditions like depression. Imagine an individual grappling
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  with depressive thoughts, convinced that they are
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  incapable of forming meaningful connections or achieving
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  personal goals, or feeling happy.
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  This negative expectation may lead them to withdraw from
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  social interactions and avoid opportunities for growth,
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  inadvertently reinforcing the belief that they are destined
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  for isolation or failure. As a result, the person may find
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  themselves caught in a self fulfilling loop where their
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  actions align with their negative expectations and the
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  bleak narrative that they initially feared becomes their
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  lived reality. From an outside perspective,
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  thoughts do not seem that impactful, but they guide us
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  wherever they go. Our thoughts are incredibly,
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  incredibly powerful for someone with mental health issues.
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  The harm inflicted by self fulfilling prophecies extends
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  beyond the immediate consequences of reinforcing
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  negative patterns. It can erode self esteem and
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  amplify feelings of powerlessness, making it
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  increasingly challenging to envision a future free from the
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  constraints of mental health struggles.
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  The repetitive nature of these cycles can solidify A damaging
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  self-image, creating a barrier to seeking help or pursuing
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  interventions that could break the cycle.
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  In the context of depression, again, for example, self
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  fulfilling prophecies can contribute to a sense of
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  resignation where the individual may feel that their
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  circumstances are unchangeable, further deepening the impact of
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  the condition. If you already have mental
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  health issues such as depression, anxiety, a
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  personality disorder, whatever it may be, there are already
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  thoughts always running through your head.
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  That's one of the defining features of these mental
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  illnesses. Your thoughts can be difficult
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  to control and often they lead you down a negative path.
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  This is literally in the diagnosis for things like
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  depression is negative thought cycles.
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  So imagine if we begin to believe these thoughts and
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  follow them as truth. That is the real harm of self
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  fulfilling prophecies. If I wake up every day and tell
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  myself that I'm no good, that I can't improve, that I'm going to
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  be stuck like this forever, then I won't even try to improve
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  because I've already lost before I even started.
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  This is an incredibly dangerous cycle that can lead someone down
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  a path of mental illness for the rest of their lives, believing
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  that there is absolutely no hope to recover.
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  But there is. So what can we do about these
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  self fulfilling prophecies? As with many issues in the
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  mental health field, the fix is to unravel the habits that we
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  have formed and create new ones. This means going out of our way
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  in order to fight these fulfilling prophecies, in order
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  to fight these thought patterns, in order to find new habits and
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  push through regardless of what our thoughts tell us.
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  And there's several ways to do this.
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  One way that I always encourage one thing that I always
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  encourage people to do is to meditate and become more
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  comfortable with ourselves. If you spend time with yourself
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  every single day, even just 5 minutes of quiet, just sitting
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  with your thoughts, just letting them run, addressing them,
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  addressing emotions that come up, you learn things about
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  yourself. I often do this, I I try to sit
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  with myself as often as possible, and I've learned a
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  lot. And by doing this, it becomes
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  easier to acknowledge when something is truth and when
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  something is a thought powered by mental health issues.
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  For example, there have been days where I've woken up in the
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  morning and I've immediately thought, Oh my God, I need to
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  just lay in bed all day. I feel so, so awful.
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  And then I've taken a second and I've addressed my feelings and
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  I've seen where my emotions are AT and I've realized, actually,
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  I feel fine. That's one of the things that
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  depression can do. It can try to convince you that
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  you feel bad, even if it's a good day.
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  So by being comfortable with our emotions and knowing them and
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  acknowledging them, we are able to identify when we can just
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  dismiss these thoughts. Obviously you never want to
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  dismiss real feelings that you feel, but if there's no truth to
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  the feeling, then it's important to keep moving and meditating,
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  and becoming comfortable with ourselves is a great way to do
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  that. Therapy also can help us work
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  through these negative thought patterns.
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  In fact, CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, is literally
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  designed to help reform thought patterns in order to create new
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  habits and replace old destructive behaviors.
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  However, therapy is not always widely accessible, so I highly
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  recommend looking into options near you and trying to find some
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  form of affordable therapy. Another great thing that we can
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  do is just talk to loved ones. Get a second perspective on
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  whether or not our thought patterns are destructive and
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  whether or not we should follow them.
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  Also allow yourself moments of quiet to properly digest the
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  thoughts that we have. Addressing self fulfilling
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  prophecies in mental health involves not only recognizing
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  these destructive patterns, but actively challenging and
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  reframing negative thoughts. By interrupting the cycle of
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  self fulfilling prophecies, individuals can gradually shift
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  their mindset, fostering resilience and laying the
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  groundwork for positive change in their mental health journey.
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  We are all capable of doing this.
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  We are all capable of reframing the negative thought patterns
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  that we experience. We do not have to believe these
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  thoughts as truth and in fact we shouldn't.
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  We deserve better than that. So I challenge you to take a
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  stand against the thought patterns that you experience.
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  Try to break free from the routine and try something new.
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  Try meditating. Talk to a loved one about
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  something that you normally wouldn't talk about.
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  Challenge these thoughts whenever they come up instead of
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  blindly believing them. Yes, it is so important to
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  acknowledge your feelings and feel them, but also understand
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  the potential harm to negative thought cycles.
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  You are not your feelings. You are not your thoughts.
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  You are not defined by them, so please believe that.
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  Find your own path free from these negative thought cycles
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  and as always, feel your feelings that's going to wrap it
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  up for today's episode. If you need help feeling those
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  feelings, check out my music on all platforms under the name of
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  Ethan Jewell and I almost guarantee it'll make you cry.
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  I actually have new music coming out just in a couple weeks.
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  You can pre save it on my website ethanjewel.com.
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  It's an entirely new genre that I'm trying and I actually taught
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  myself how to sing for it. Also, please shoot me a message
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  on my Instagram at Jewel Boy with an I under score and let me
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  know what you thought about today's episode.
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  Thank you so much for being here.
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  Thank you for understanding that you are not defined by your
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  thoughts. And as always, thank you for
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  feeling your feelings. I'll see you next time.