I still have anxiety.

I'm shooting the thumbnail for the video right now. So that's what I'm doing. I kind of like it. I think this is cool. You know, it's a different look for me should a clean the floor before I shot this. All right.

Hey guys. So this video is going to be a little bit different than normal. It's going to be much more stripped back. Not nearly as polished. But I do want to talk about something important which is anxiety and mental health and specifically my own anxiety and some of the things that I've been going through over the past couple of years, but also really the point is to hopefully get you guys to start a conversation in your own lives. And so if any of what I say in this video resonates with you if it's something you're going.

If you struggle with anxiety depression or mental health, hopefully this can be the nudge that you need to start having those conversations in your life. I'm also going to talk about some of the things that I've learned in terms of how we've been able to manage and cope my own anxiety because I have certainly face some low lows, but I've really learned a lot about myself over the past few years that have helped me to get through it. So hopefully I can share some of that advice with you in this video. So if you're new to the channel over the.

past couple of years if you haven't seen some of my early videos that I've done on anxiety and some of the things that I personally gone through there was a point in 2019, which is really a low point for me when it came to my mental health specifically during the summer 2019 Nat and I taken a trip overseas through Europe, which was great, but I didn't realize at the time I was experiencing. I think a lot of burn out a lot of overwhelmed from work..

And mostly the overwhelmed the try to do everything. So to try to have this life where we traveled and got to really focus on our personal lives while also working crazy hours and trying to build this YouTube channel and the pressure that inherently comes with speaking to an audience of hundreds of thousands. And so it's something that's a weird and I know that not a lot of people can relate to that but I think everybody can relate to the feeling of trying to do everything and try and having a lot of.

of pressure feeling like they have to do everything. I was having a difficult time trying to maintain everything we came back from this trip and then we moved and then when we moved into this apartment, I just felt so unsettled and so far removed from my routine and my ambitions and everything that I wanted to do that everything kind of came crumbling down. And at first I thought I was allergic to my apartment. Seriously. I thought that there was maybe it was like the paint on the fresh paint on the walls. Maybe I was there was carbon monoxide..

I didn't know what it was. But I knew that I was experiencing a lot of really physical symptoms. I felt lightheaded lethargic tired. I wake up with headaches overwhelmed dizzy all these things that were so physical that I was like this can't be anxiety. I've had anxiety before this is not that I work through it over the span of a couple weeks. It really didn't get much better through that time. I think the one thing that really started to help me the most at that time was having a conversation with Natalie and just letting her know how I felt..

And then I went to a doctor I explained everything that I was going through based on what I said and also based on the fact that in this doctor's office. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety and she could tell I was just sweating like fusee like you touch my legs and just did a basic examine. She's like, oh, yeah, you definitely have generalized anxiety disorder short-form Gad if you're not familiar with it. It's much different than the typical anxiety that most people experience..

Usually everybody experiences it and it's usually in the form of worry, but when it becomes more than that, when it kind of gets in the way of your life and becomes it becomes difficult to do everyday tasks and often times. It happens without there being anything that you need to worry about. That's when it kind of falls under this bucket of generalized anxiety. And so at that point I just started to work on myself to try to work through this and overtime..

It did get better. It wasn't a straight line. It wasn't easy there were tough days. And then there were days that were a little bit better and then over time they became more and more better days and over the past two years. I haven't reached that low that I had at that point. And I think it's thanks to the fact that one I had a really strong support system and to I didn't kind of fall into the same mistakes that I did in the past that and kind of feel like I had to do everything I started to.

Let things go and the one thing that you'll even notice this year is that I've started upload much less YouTube videos and that's because you know, I've started this course platform. There's a lot of other things that I'm interested in doing and so making a video every single week all year long. I realized was just too much and if I tried to do it, then those old feelings with start to creep back and I'm sure and I even I feel it now on a day-to-day basis where that overwhelm that anxiety the perfectionism all starts to..

A swirl together and that's when I know any to kind of take a break pause and slow down. And so there are a few things that I do some of the things that I've mentioned already, but that have helped me over this time. I think the first thing that I've really started to develop is a strong self awareness and so becoming aware of how I'm feeling and when these things start to creep up it lets me tell myself when I need.

Take a break and when I need to pause and when I need to close the computer and say that's it. That's enough work for today. I've realized that sometimes there is a direct cause of my anxiety. It's because I'm on the news too much. I'm sure that many people experience the same thing in 2020. Just checking the news way too much. It doesn't help and it often leads to that overwhelming that anxiety going on social media too much working too much. Those are things that have a direct cause.

But then there are times when there really is no direct cause for anxiety and experiencing and just being aware being real with myself and saying hey Matt, it's okay. You've got a little bit of anxiety right now. And that's okay. I think the acknowledging it is important because if you don't then you push through it you ignore it. This is what most people do and then that will only make the problem worse after that. Usually what I try to do is slow down. Like I said if I feel an exotic coming on.

Decide okay. I'm done with work for the day overall. I'll just slow down with the amount of stuff that I'm doing that week or that month and not push myself too hard. It's difficult for somebody who is ambitious. And if you are ambitious, you have to find that line between getting what you want to get done and also knowing that you can push back and change your deadlines and your goals if you have to and so, you know, I'm working on a YouTube course I've talked..

About a few times so far on this channel. I've pushed that deadline back three times now because I just didn't feel as if myself and my team will be able to make this in a way that wouldn't burn us out and create more anxiety in our lives. And so I said it's better to just push it back to not overwhelm and do too much at the end of the day if you launch something if you create something that you're really proud of and that you love it's going to damper the whole experience if you're burnt out through.

Process I think the other thing that I've done is to let go let go of control this idea that I can control how I'm feeling in any given moment that I can somehow control this anxiety if I just focus on it and try to you know, push it down just accepting that it's okay that I feel this way. Sometimes that I am not perfect that I'm not going to have complete equilibrium and peace in my life and in my day.

Days, and that is okay. And so letting go sometimes takes the form of me just lying down and just accepting that. This is the way I'm feeling when I was really going through that rough stint in 2019. That was definitely one of the most helpful things that I did which it sounds so simple but literally just lying down on the floor and then just letting those feelings wash over me not trying to hide them and that really was it has been a key part in me overcoming this because instead of just ignoring.

Pushing it down. I'm just letting it go. It's not the perfect tool but it's the only tool that has really helped me the most besides the final one, which I will say is opening up and it's the conversations that I've had with Natalie when I feel that anxiety coming on particularly when it's bad when I when I know that I'm just feeling really overwhelmed and I really feel like what the conversation we're having or the day. I'm having I just need to let Natalie know I have found that that really helps me because it.

takes the pressure off myself of being perfect. And when the people around you that care about you know that you're going through something that's difficult. They're going to be there to listen to help give advice but really mostly just to acknowledge that what you're feeling is real. And so I think if I was going to leave you with anything, I think that's the one next step that I would encourage you to take to if you're experiencing anxiety, and I know I've talked to so many subscribers over the years who have said that they.

On through very similar things have that conversation just open up. If you are feeling that if you really feel like you need to get something off your chest don't be afraid to say it's not easy to have these conversations. I actually went back and looked at the first video I made on this which is just a video called I have anxiety I could just tell how uncomfortable I was in that video one because I was going through a really tough time but too because it's really difficult to open up about your.

Our abilities it's always easy to talk about things that you've gone through in the past and you've triumphed over them. And then now you're this perfect person, but then when you're really talking about the struggles and the things that you're going through right now right in this moment, that's when real vulnerability comes through but to be able to just express yourself just to be honest and have these kind of conversations that could potentially help yourself and help those around you I think are incredibly important and so do those things thank you guys so much, you know..

Obviously, I really appreciate the fact and my friends Josh and Tommy who were just in my last video even commented on this the fact that in the comments you guys are just the kindest and most encouraging people in the world. And that makes me really proud, you know, it's not something I've actively tried to go out and do to try to have you guys be nice in the comments, but we're doing something right and and I'm just really proud of the fact that you guys are down..

They're providing advice encouragement, and I know about you guys, but whenever I'm watching YouTube videos, I always pop down in the comments just to see what the conversation is, like, see if somebody said something funny see if something offered up advice or maybe a Counterpoint to something that was mentioned in the video. And so I think that's one of the great things about YouTube and this little community that we've built here. So thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you soon..

That's the end of the video. I feel like I was just like rambling at the end, but I think there's that's probably everything I wanted to say. Yeah, okay..