Latest / feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell / if you're struggling, try THIS.

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if you're struggling, try THIS. · feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell

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  Sometimes the little things become big.
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  There have been moments where I've convinced myself that it's
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  the end, that I am stuck this way, that I feel horrible, that
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  my mental illness is really getting me this time.
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  And then I halt. I take a pause and I check just
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  a few things within my body and within my brain, and I solve
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  those things. And suddenly it's a brand new
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  day. Suddenly I'm starting over
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  again. Suddenly I feel so much better.
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  Sometimes all it takes is 1 moment to reset your entire day.
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  My name is Ethan Jewell and welcome back to Feel Your
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  Feelings. Thank you so much for being
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  here. I want to remind you that I am
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  not a doctor, I am not a psychiatrist, I'm not a
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  professional in the mental health industry whatsoever.
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  I am a normal guy who has felt some big feelings, is very
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  passionate about mental health awareness and wants to start the
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  conversation from a very casual standpoint.
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  O welcome to my room and let's feel some feelings.
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  What I want to talk about today is something that seems
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  excruciatingly simple, but often can completely change how we are
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  feeling. It's this method that I've seen
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  online and it's very very commonly used and it is a way to
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  essentially hit a pause button and and reset our mental health
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  whenever we're feeling bad. Now before I talk about this, I
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  want to put out a disclaimer that this is not a guaranteed
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  solution. Once again, I'm not a doctor,
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  and also I know from personal experience that sometimes our
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  mental health and the mental illness that we're facing it is
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  simply too much for this. And in my own experience,
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  sometimes this simply doesn't work.
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  However, there have been countless times where I've
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  thought that my mental health was doing incredibly badly for a
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  day, and then I did this little check in with myself and
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  suddenly my entire day turned around.
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  So I'm not here promising you some miracle cure because quite
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  simply, that doesn't exist. But this is something that I've
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  found that helps me immensely. And let me just go ahead and get
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  to the point. It is an acronym, and the
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  acronym is HALT. And that acronym is for Hungry,
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  Angry, Lonely and Tired. Now let's break this down step
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  by step and see why exactly on some days, this can literally be
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  a miracle and completely turn our day around by doing these
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  micro check insurance with ourselves throughout the day.
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  Whenever we have a bad feeling come up, whenever we suddenly
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  feel like everything is too much, whenever we feel
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  overwhelmed, whenever we start to suffer from a symptom of our
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  mental illness. By doing a little check in and
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  going through these four things one by one, we can determine if
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  we can just take a moment to reset and continue on our day or
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  if we need to pay more attention to that mental health issue that
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  we're facing. And it gives us a good
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  perspective on how handle it. And that's how I think this tool
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  can be used best O first hungry. I know it sounds unbelievably
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  childlike and unbelievably simple, but we all know deep at
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  our core, when we are hungry, we are not at our best.
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  I mean, it is psychology, it is human nature.
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  When we're hungry, we become more irritable, we become more
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  anxious, we become sometimes more depressed, less energetic.
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  Our brain doesn't work as well. So even though it sounds simple,
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  sometimes mental health solutions are in the simple
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  things. So the first thing, check in
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  with your body, see if you're feeling hungry, maybe try to
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  have a snack, try to have a glass of water.
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  It sounds incredibly juvenile, but this is a real thing that
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  can make your mental health worse.
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  If you are hungry throughout the day, it is going to deplete your
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  energy levels. It is going to make your brain
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  function worse. This is just the reality of
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  being a person. So we can check off step one.
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  Maybe we just ate lunch a little bit ago, so we know it's not
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  that. Then we move on to the next next
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  stage. Angry.
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  And this one requires some self-awareness.
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  So we're going to stop, take a deep breath and we are going to
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  check in with ourselves and see if we are upset about anything.
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  See if there is something physical or material in our day
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  that has made us angry. Maybe somebody has disrespected
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  us, maybe we got caught off in traffic earlier.
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  Maybe something just isn't going our way.
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  Maybe plans got cancelled and we are just finding ourselves
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  filled with anger. Pausing and taking a deep breath
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  does amazing things. There is so much research about
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  how a simple deep breath can stabilize your mood, can lower
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  your heart rate and improve your brain function, and bring you
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  back down to a steady baseline. And this is crucial when
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  figuring out if this mental health issue needs more
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  attention than a simple check in.
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  So we can take a moment, identify if the feeling or the
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  problem we're having is coming from something deeper or maybe
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  just a situation that angered us.
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  And then we can practice the self-awareness that we learn
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  from feeling our feelings. And we can take a deep breath,
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  we can take a pause, we can maybe get outside, take a deep
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  breath in fresh air. There is a multitude of ways
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  that we can kind of reset our mental health whenever we're
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  dealing with a feeling versus a mental illness symptom.
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  And sometimes those are the same thing.
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  Sometimes it's not that simple, but by taking that deep breath,
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  by pausing and by trying to identify if we're maybe just
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  dealing with an unpleasant feeling that can help us reset
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  and determine whether or not we should keep moving or delve
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  deeper and figure out what we're really dealing with.
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  Next up is lonely. Now, I've talked about this in
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  other podcast episodes, but humans are social creatures.
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  And when we are dealing with mental health issues, we tend to
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  retract. We tend to isolate.
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  And when we isolate, it only makes those mental health issues
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  worse. I hate to say it because I love
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  a good lonely day. I love spending the entire day
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  by myself. It is very, very comforting at
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  times and sometimes we need that, but other times it can
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  affect those feelings that we're having and it can put an entire
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  damper on our day. So this is another great check
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  in you can do. You can pause and think, have I
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  talked to somebody today? Have I have I texted a friend?
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  Have I talked to somebody who loves me?
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  Have I gone out in public and maybe smiled at a stranger?
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  You know, made eye contact with someone.
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  It doesn't have to be a big gesture.
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  It doesn't have to be a full conversation.
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  It doesn't have to be an hour long hang out with somebody.
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  It can be simply checking in with somebody.
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  It can be getting out of the house, making yourself a little
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  bit less lonely. Even just existing in the
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  outside world can help our mental health immensely, and it
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  can help determine if this this is a deeper mental health issue
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  that we're having or just a feeling.
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  That is the entire point of this episode, to help us be a little
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  bit more in tune with ourselves and determine how we should
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  approach the issues that we are having.
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  And finally, the last letter T tired.
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  Are we tired? Sleep is crucial.
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  It is crucial to physical health.
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  It is crucial to mental health. And when we are not sleeping, it
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  can make a huge impact on how we're feeling day-to-day.
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  A bad night sleep could lead to an entire bad mood throughout
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  the entire day. And this one is tricky because
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  mental health issues often make it more difficult to sleep.
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  Whenever I'm feeling depressed, I struggle with my sleep and
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  because of that I feel more depressed.
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  It is a painful and cruel cycle. And this is just something to
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  try to be aware of, making sleep a priority and knowing that when
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  we sleep poorly, it may lead to worse feelings and being able to
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  identify that and rest if possible, or just be a little
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  bit more patient with yourself. This one is really, really
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  difficult to deal with, but it is something that is good for
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  awareness. And that is the biggest point of
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  this entire acronym, this HALT acronym.
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  It is not a magical cure. It is not something that will
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  immediately fix all mental health issues.
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  It is not a cure all to immediately be able to identify
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  exactly what you're feeling. But what it is, is something
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  that lets us practice awareness. It helps us determine if a
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  passing feeling is just a passing feeling or if we need to
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  sit down and feel it deeper and deal with it and then let it go.
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  If you're struggling today, I want to remind you that you
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  matter. And I'm not saying that
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  casually. I'm not saying it as a catch
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  phrase. I know how it feels to be
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  incredibly depressed or to be dealing with mental health
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  issues. I know how difficult it can be.
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  So I want to remind you that you truly matter.
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  You have a place in this world and you are capable of healing
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  and you're capable of feeling your feelings.
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  That's going to wrap it up for today's episode.
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  I hope you enjoyed this acronym of HALT and I hope that you use
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  it in your day-to-day life to help identify those feelings.
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  A little bit more exciting news, I just recently released merch.
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  Here is an Ethan Jewell shirt with all sorts of little
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  drawings. There's a flower, a balloon,
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  they're all signature of my music.
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  You can find a link in the description or go to
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  ethanjewell.com under the merch tab.
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  Speaking of my music, if you need help feeling your feelings,
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  you should check out my music on all platforms under the name of
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  Ethan Jewell. And I almost guarantee it'll
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  make you cry. So thank you so much for being
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  here. Thank you for understanding that
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  sometimes feelings are just feelings that need to be felt.
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  And as always, thank you for feeling your feelings.
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  I'll see you next time.