anything goes with emma chamberlain - good habits

Episode Date: January 27, 2022

seasonal affective disorder has been kicking in pretty hard these past few weeks… it’s cold, the sun is out for like 2 hours a day… so if you’re feeling kinda bummed out believe me you’re not alone. but i’ve picked up a few habits recently that have really helped me feel better and i wanna share with you guys. i know i sound like a mom and maybe not all of these will work for everyone but hopefully you’ll find at least a few of these tips helpful, not only for the winter time but year round.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, I hope you're having an amazing week. I hope that this week has been cute. I hope that this week has been fun. I hope this week has been awesome. And if it wasn't, have no fear. We all have those weeks. Especially right now, because if you're listening to this one this episode comes out and you're listening in a location in the world where it is winter time, there's a good chance that you are dealing with the very common seasonal effect it. What is it fucking called? Great. Now you guys know my secret, which is that I'm actually secretly not that smart. Seasonal effected, seasonal effected disorder.

Okay, I actually got it right. So do you know what, I might not be that stupid. Let's read what seasonal effective disorder is. Seasonal effective disorder is a type of depression that's related to changes is and now I can't read. So this is just like we're not doing good. I feel super vulnerable and stupid today. Like I feel like I'm not giving you guys a great impression of myself. I can read and I do know what seasonal effective disorder is. So everybody shut up. Seasonal effective disorder is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons. It begins and ends at about the same time every year. Your symptoms usually will start in the fall and continue into the winter months.

And these symptoms often resolved during the spring and summer months. Blah, blah, blah. So basically, seasonal effective disorder is just getting depressed in the winter. And I think even if you don't have this, we all experience it in one way or another. There's something about the winter time that is really tough mentally. And I think a big part of it is the lack of daylight. Something about that just sucks the energy out of us. It's very normal to just feel a little bit more bummed out during the winter. So if you are listening to this during the winter and you're experiencing this like I am,

then this is the episode for you. And even if it's not winter and you're not feeling that depressed right now, maybe you're actually slaying right now. This episode could still be useful. So don't click off just yet because it might actually be useful. In today's episode, I'm going to be discussing some of the good habits that I've recently picked up that I've made a big difference in my mental state. Although they are very small habits, they've made a big difference in my overall feelings of sadness.

They've really helped me feel good. Even though it's the winter time and I do get seasonal effective disorder, these habits have helped, even in the midst of that. And their habits that I wanna hold on to, let's waste no more time and let's discuss these habits. Okay, number one,

this is probably the biggest thing that has been a game changer for me, and that is not working in bed. I know for a lot of us, working in bed has become a habit because for the past two years, we've been home, doing school from home, doing work from home, and a lot of us have started working in bed. I work in bed all the time. I don't ever work anywhere but my bed. But there's a huge issue with this, and I didn't realize how bad of a habit this was until

I started to get these waves of guilt every day where I was feeling like I wasn't working. I was like, Emma, you're such a lazy fuck, like you never work, like you need to get shit done. And then I was thinking about it and I was like, I do work all the time, but I'm just working in bed. I mean, for fuck's sake, I'm recording this podcast in my bed. That's not gonna change though.

I like recording my podcast in bed, and that will never change. But going through emails, working on other stuff, that doesn't feel as productive when you're laying in bed doing it. And I don't know why, I don't know what the psychological side of that is, but I started working in my living room or in my kitchen, which sounds weird, but like I just bring my computer

into my kitchen and sit at my kitchen table. And I'll work there or I'll work in my living room on the couch or in a chair. This has been such a game changer for me because number one, suddenly this guilt went away. The guilt that I had feeling like I wasn't working hard enough went away because I was more consciously aware of when I was working because in my subconscious I would remember, okay, I spent like three hours in the living room today or at the kitchen table today working and in my mind for whatever reason that felt productive. Whereas prior to me changing my work location, I would think back at my day of me working in

bed all day, and I'd be like, you just laid in bed all day, you lazy fuck, and I wouldn't be like, oh, you laid in bed all day and worked on your computer. I wouldn't think that for some reason. My subconscious wouldn't remember that I was in bed being productive. It would remember just me laying in bed. So there's something more psychologically rewarding about not working in bed. The other thing that's great about not working in bed

is that you have a little bit more of a balance where you know that your bed is only meant for relaxing and sleeping and any other part of the house or any other location out in the world is meant for working. And that distinction is very powerful in your brain. When you know, okay, my bed is only meant for sleeping and relaxing. That's it. Then when you get into bed, you feel good in bed

because you're like, wow, this is such a rewarding feeling. And your bed has a positive connotation in your brain. Whereas when you spend all day working in bed, when you get into bed, at the end of the day, you're like, well, bitch, I've been in bed all day. Like, this doesn't feel good, I don't feel good getting into bed. You know, I just feel like I've already been in here all day.

And that's like not positive, that does not make you feel good. It makes you feel poopy and bad. So the moral of the story is, no more working in bed, I'm sorry. If you wanna go work on emails for a second, get out of bed and sit on the fucking living room couch to do it.

Don't work in bed. And some people don't struggle with this, but I really did. So for the few of you out there who have been working in bed and simultaneously are kind of feeling a little bit shitty, that tip was for you. You'd be surprised how powerful it is to move your work

out of your bedroom unless you have a desk in your bedroom. That's fine. You just can't work sitting in bed. That's just what you can't do. So there's that. So my next habit sounds kind of extreme and stupid, but just hear me out. My next tip is to remove toxic phone apps from your home screen. Now I'm not saying delete the app. I'm saying remove it from your home screen.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, basically on your phone, there is an option to delete the app and to remove the app from your home screen. Now, here's why this is great because you can remove an app from your home screen without deleting it, which means, because you know, like deleting an app, like let's say Instagram, for example,

or YouTube, for example, deleting an app like that is complicated because if you delete that app, when you decide to re-download it, you have to re-log into your accounts and it's this whole thing, and you're less likely to do that, even if you have a toxic relationship with the app,

you're just less likely to do it. But if you have a toxic relationship with the app, you're just less likely to do it. But if you remove it from your home screen, you're not deleting it. So it's still on your phone. But the thing that's so powerful about it is that with it not being on your home screen, you're less likely to go and click on it in any random moment. Your subconscious mind sees an app on your phone and is like, ooh, I want to click that because it gives me dopamine or whatever.

Dopamine is like a chemical in your brain that makes you want to do something, I believe. And I'm not going to fucking Google it because I'm sick of Googling stuff. I just want to be a living in cyclopedia. I don't even want to have to look anything up. I like to believe that I know everything. I'm kidding.

Relax. I'm kidding, but I don't find, I will Google it, actually. Basically, every time we do something enjoyable, a little bit of dopamine is released into our brain. And every time we click on Instagram, we get a little bit of dopamine. Every time we click on YouTube, we get a little bit of dopamine.

Every time we click on TikTok, we get a lot of dopamine, which is not good, which is why I think you should delete it, but that's beside the point. No, I would never tell you what to do. You can do whatever you want. You are your own person and I do not judge. But also, if you deleted TikTok,

it wouldn't be a bad thing. But anyway, yeah, so when you see an app on your home screen that's addicting and enjoyable, it triggers chemicals in your brain that convince you that you need to click on that app. But the thing about removing an app from your home screen is that when you don't see it, your subconscious is less likely to have a desire to want to click on it. So let's say you have a really big issue with TikTok and you spend like 10 hours a day on TikTok,

you can't stop, it's a problem, you know it's a problem, it's making you depressed, but you don't know how to stop. The first step is to remove it from your home screen. Actually, with TikTok, I would say just fucking delete it, but I'm trying to be, I'm sorry, I'm very passionate about TikTok. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt. But removing TikTok from your home screen is a great first step because you're going to be so much less likely to click on it. And over time, it'll ease its way out of your hourly routine. And every time that you want wanna go on that app,

you have to have a conscious conversation with yourself saying, oh, I need to search this app up in my app library to find it. Like I have to put effort in right now. It's not just right there in front of me, easy to access. I have to go seek it out if I wanna click on this. And when the fact that you have to have that conversation with yourself makes you think. And you're more likely to be like, you know what?

I actually don't want to go on the app right now. I don't want to get sucked in and waste, you know, two hours of my time. I'm not going to do it. Because you have more time in between you thinking, I want to use this app and you actually clicking on the app and opening it, there's more time for your brain to change its mind, which is a very good thing. Now this all seems very, very extreme and it seems like I'm really paying attention to details in a way that seems psychotic and unnecessary.

But a lot of our phone usage and addiction is subconscious and kind of slips under our noses and we don't notice it. But it's also responsible for a lot of our unhappiness as human beings. When social media and things like that are used in an unhealthy way and they're used in excess. When they're not used in excess, they're great. But when they're overused, naturally our brains become overstimulated, which makes us unhappy. And we might not even know why. So, removing toxic apps,

or shall I say, removing potentially toxic apps from your home screen is very, very helpful. Next, I know that I'm starting to sound like a mom, and I don't want that, because I am not ready to have children, and I'm 20, so just listen, I'm not trying to sound like your mommy here,

and I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all either. I just know that this stuff helps, and I'm passionate about it because I'm like, my God, if this is helping me and my fragile brain, it could help someone else. So that's why I'm speaking so passionately. But also, take pieces of this advice that works for you and leave the stuff that doesn't. You know what I mean? If something doesn't make sense for you or you think it's stupid, that's fine.

It is totally okay. I'm just trying to have fun. Okay. Anyway, I don't know why I just did a whole disclaimer or so unnecessary. Oh, I know why because my next piece of advice is really annoying and it's that you should make a reading goal. And I know, I know, it's like, Emma, stop.

Stop telling me to read a book. I know, but it's so good. If you can find a book that works for you and that entices you, you're golden. And don't get discouraged if you know the first few books you try to read don't work for you because there's a reason for that. And that's just because the book isn't relevant to your life right now. You have to find a book that excites you. And that could look a lot of different ways. You know what I mean? There's so many different types of books out there,

but try to find a book that interests you and make a reading goal. Maybe that reading goal is, I'm gonna read for 10 minutes a day. Maybe that reading goal is, I'm gonna try to read one book a month. Maybe that reading goal is, I'm going to try to read one book a month. Maybe that reading goal is, I'm going to read one day a week. It doesn't matter, but reading is so good for you because number one, it shows you other perspectives in other

ways of looking at the world. And that can be a very powerful thing. Number two, it makes your brain stronger. It really does, and it's like a workout for your brain, and that's a really good thing. Number three, it makes you feel accomplished. When I read a chapter of a book, I'm like, yes, bitch, you are so awesome. Like I feel, it makes you feel good about yourself.

It boosts your confidence because reading is not easy. It's difficult at times and it takes brain power and it takes effort. But anything that takes effort and is a little bit challenging is something that will boost your confidence. I don't know why that is. Exactly, but even if it's something small, if it's challenging, in any way, it'll make you feel good afterwards about yourself. I just read a really fun book and it was so random, but it was so fun.

And I really, I'm gonna recommend it to you if you're getting into reading and you don't know where to start, but you just want to read something. I would recommend the book, Poison for Breakfast. I think it's by Lemony Snicket. Lemony Snicket used to write these really fun, spooky children's books, but he wrote this kind of one-off random book called Poison for Breakfast and it's so good.

It's written in such a cool way. It's so entertaining, it's so engaging, it's so easy to read. And it's just like a fun book to read. And I read this book over Christmas time, like during the holidays. Because I wasn't really in the mood to read, but I was like, Emma, you need to have a book in your hands. You know what I mean? Like, you're happier when you're reading a book. So you need to have a book.

And I found this book and it was so easy to read. It wasn't challenging and it was so rewarding. I love that book. I really would recommend it to anybody. And then now I'm reading a book called Crime and Punishment, which my dad told me to read. And it's like a classic book and it's fucking really hard to read. And my brain is hurting,

and I'm missing poison for breakfast, but I am enjoying crime and punishment, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, because I'm not having that much fun reading it, but I don't know, I don't actually, I really don't know why I'm reading it. It's a really difficult book to read. But it is very, actually, do you know what?

It is really interesting. It's actually very interesting. The only thing that's hard about reading the book, Crime and Punishment, is that there are a lot of unfamiliar words, which is annoying because I have to constantly be looking up what words means. But also, there's a lot of really complicated names. Like, there's a lot of really complicated names. Like there's a lot of characters in the book

and all of them have really, really weird names. Not weird, but like really long names. And that's just kinda hard to follow, but it's a really good book otherwise. So I'm now recommending crime and punishment and poison for breakfast. But make a reading goal. That's really good for you.

Next, I'm about to get even more annoying. So like if you thought I was annoying when I told you that you should make a reading goal, you're gonna turn off this podcast and block me right now. When I tell you that meditating for 10 minutes a day has made the biggest difference in my life ever. Listen, I used to meditate and I've gone through phases where I've meditated, but they've never lasted

longer than a week. But this time I'm like sticking to it and I've been meditating almost every day for probably two weeks. So I feel like I'm in a spot now where like it's a part of my routine and I don't know what it is I don't know what it's why I'm only meditating for 10 minutes a day, but if I meditate in the morning I feel so relaxed for the rest of the day. And I don't like meditating more than 10 minutes

because I feel like I just start to get restless. I'm not really ready to go above 10 minutes, but even just 10 minutes makes so much of a difference in my mental state throughout the day. I've noticed that I just think more clearly and my brain doesn't feel as cluttered. And I'm starting to get better at meditating to a point where now I feel like I can sit back

and kind of disappear and do it. Whereas in the beginning, it was difficult and I couldn't really fully check out. But now, only after two weeks, I feel like I'm really able to settle into it and have zero thoughts for 10 minutes. And it's a really hard thing to start. And the reason for that, it's the same thing with reading. Reading and meditating are two things that are very difficult to start because they take

a lot of discipline and they're challenging. Their forms of self-care that are not easy. Like for me, putting on a face mask and shaving my legs, those things are relatively easy. The only thing that's difficult about them is that I have to like physically move my body to do them, but besides that, they're very easy and they're considered self-care. But something like reading a book or meditating

which is also considered self-care, in my opinion, they take mental strength. They don't in my opinion, they take mental strength. You know, they don't take physical strength, they take mental strength, and it's hard to get yourself to want to do it. I mean, I got to a point where I was desperate, right? I was like, I feel so shitty. It's winter, I'm sad, I don't know what to do with my time, you know, like after 5 p.m. when

it's pitch black outside, I don't know what to do with myself. It's cold, blah, blah, so I started reading to fill the time and I started meditating so that during the day My brain wasn't firing off as many just Evil thoughts. I don't know like whatever It got to a point where the winter was affecting me so badly that I had to Implement these things it felt like the last resort but It's been so worth it and I think that the key to getting into reading and getting into meditating is just

getting that first week over with, getting that first week of reading, getting that first week of meditating out of the way, that is a game changer. Cause after the first week, you're like, wow, this is actually really great. But for the first week, you're like, wow, this is actually really great. But for the first week, you're like, this is so annoying and tedious. I don't want to do this.

You almost have to force yourself to get into it, especially because we are very overstimulated in general because of the internet, stuff like that. You know, it's very easy for us to be entertained and overstimulated. My cats are looking at my front door, and I'm very frightened about what they're looking at. I'm gonna go lock all my doors. I will be back. I'm very scared all of a sudden.

And I do not like this. Hold on. Okay, I'm back. I don't know what happened. I don't know what they were looking at. And honestly, if anybody's gonna see ghosts, if any organism is gonna be able to see ghosts, I believe that it's cats.

So the fact that they're both staring at something, they're basically staring into thin air. Like, I don't know how else to prove that cats see ghosts because like, what are they looking at? And how are they both looking at the same thing? You know what I'm saying? I guess they're looking at the source of the sound, but the source of the sound was not specific enough and they were looking at the source of the sound, but the source of the sound was not specific enough,

and they were looking at the exact same spot. So anyway, I don't know, I'm scared and whatever. Where was I? Basically, getting over the initial hump of meditating and reading is all you gotta to do and then after that it's amazing You can do this I believe in you Okay, this next one is huge as well and it seems obvious but It makes a big difference and that's

Properly getting ready for the day now Now during the summertime, this is easy. Like, I wake up, it's 9 a.m. I get all my shorts and my tank top and my fucking Berkens stocks and I go out for the day and I don't even feel the need to do my hair or makeup because I'm tan and my hair is like beachy and I just feel good and it's just easy to feel cute and go out for the day. During the winter, that is not the case for me. I feel so like a vampire.

I feel like a vampire and I don't feel any motivation to get dressed, to do my makeup, to do my hair. I don't feel any motivation to get dressed, to do my makeup, to do my hair. I don't feel any motivation to do any of that. Even on the weekends, I struggle to get ready and feel confident and good, but it makes a huge difference. And even if you're just going to run errands, getting dressed up in an outfit that you're excited about, and maybe even putting on a little makeup or picking out a cute bag to wear, like something small like

that, picking out a cute pair of sunglasses, whatever it is, getting ready for the day is really powerful, because number one, you subconsciously feel more confident while you're out. You feel cute, you're like, hmm, you know, like I'm cute today, like whatever, like it makes you feel good, you feel more confident while you're out and about. But also, it makes you feel more rewarded

when you do even simple tasks. Like I'll give you an example. If you go out to the store in your PJs, afterwards you're not going to feel like you really accomplished anything. I just pulled myself out of bed and went to the store and then came back. I don't know. I didn't even do anything just now, like whatever.

Whereas if you get all dressed up and you go to the grocery store and you come back, you're like, I just ran an errand, babe. I just ran a fucking errand. There's just something about it. You just feel better. And you know, on a good day, you might get all dressed up and go out to run an errand and then suddenly be like, you know what?

I'm actually gonna go run a few more errands because I look fucking cute right now. So I'm actually now, I'm actually gonna go go run a few more errands because I look fucking cute right now. So I'm actually now I'm actually going to go run more errands. It makes you more motivated to go do stuff. It makes you feel more productive. Getting dressed up for the day can be a fun thing. You just have to shift your mindset about it. Instead of looking at it like a chore, instead of looking at it like a chore, you know, instead of looking at getting dressed up

for the days of chore, look at it as a fun experience and something that's gonna make your day feel more rewarding overall. Now I understand that like sometimes this is not in the cards and sometimes none of this shit's in the cards. You know, sometimes you wanna just lay in bed all day in your sweatpants and just go

on your phone and like not think about anything. And guess what? That's just as important as all of the stuff I'm mentioning. You need to give yourself those days. All of this stuff that I'm mentioning is for when you have just an ounce of strength to do it. And if you don't, don't beat yourself up, don't feel bad about yourself, don't feel guilty, just wait until you have the energy to do it.

You know what I'm saying? It's okay if you don't have the energy in the moment. If you're listening to this right now and you're like, I don't have it in me, I can't do this shit. That is totally fine. It's not like, oh fuck, I need to start reading and meditating right now and I need to stop working in my bed right now.

It's like, no, these are just, I'm just planting the seeds. And so, when you get the opportunity to do these things and you have the energy, you think of it and you do them, you know what I mean? Because on a day-to-day basis, overall, these things help. But only if you have the energy to do them. Because sometimes you just don't have the fucking energy and there's nothing wrong with that. Okay, the next thing is to plan one little fun thing every weekend. This is also huge for me because if I don't plan something for the weekend,

even if it's just going to dinner, even if it's just going to get a massage, it doesn't matter. Getting my nails done doesn't matter. I have to have something to look forward to at the end of the week. And I think that as humans, we need things to look forward to. So if you can find something every weekend to put on your calendar that will make you excited. You are in a good spot because there's nothing worse than your work week or your school week being over

and you just feel empty because you're like, I have nothing to be excited about. Like, yeah, it's the weekend, but like, what am I gonna do? You know, I have nothing to look forward to. Even if, you know, you're planning on watching your favorite show during the weekend, whatever it is, find something at the beginning of every week that you can look forward to at the end of the week because there's something about having something to work towards that makes you feel good. Next, go through your closet, go through your sock drawer, go through your bathroom cabinets,

go through all your shit and get rid of stuff that you don't use anymore. I can't tell you how good this feels. I did this all day today. All day today for six hours, I went through all the stuff I own and just started making bags of stuff that I'm going to donate. And I don't do this enough. Like I, and whenever I do it, I never do it thoroughly. Like, I'll just skim through my closet and I'm like, eh. Okay, like, you know, one thing here, one thing there. Do a deep dive, like get in there and really make a project out of it. It's really actually so rewarding

and clutter leads to anxiety. Clutter in your life will make you anxious, it'll make you uncomfortable. It's not positive, it's not good. If you can go through all the stuff that you own and narrow everything down to just the best stuff that you have, your favorite pieces in your closet, your favorite skincare products, your favorite makeup products, your favorite spices in your spice drawer, whatever it is, just narrowing it down and removing the clutter is such a great feeling.

And we'll just make you feel so much more relaxed in your home. And there's nothing better than going into your closet after you've cleaned it out, indonated stuff, and just being like, wow, everything in here is stuff that I like, and that I want to wear. You know, there's nothing better than going into your bathroom cabinet and being like every single serum, every single moisturizer, every single product I have in here is something that I like.

That is such a good feeling. Next, buy small things that make your routine more enjoyable. buy small things that make your routine more enjoyable. For example, today I was going to pick up some makeup products that I ran out of and I saw this hand sanitizer by a brand that makes lotion that smells so good. And I saw this hand sanitizer and I was like, you know, I could use a hand sanitizer in my car

because I ran out probably four months ago and I need a new one in my car. And I saw this one in Sephora and I was like, you know what, I'm going to pick this up. And when I tell you that the joy I got from spraying this new yummy smelling hand sanitizer on my hands gave me. It is actually kind of embarrassing, but it really got me thinking about how having small little things that make your routine more enjoyable

make a huge difference. I mean, getting a fun little hand sanitizer, and it's not like these things need, I'm not talking about like expensive stuff. I'm not saying like, getting a little, getting a little Apple watch, we'll make your, we'll make your, like something little, like a little Apple watch or a little AirPods,

we'll make your routine so much better. I'm not talking about stuff like that. I'm talking about mundane shit. Like finding a cute mask online, you know, maybe you find a cute mask that's in a cute color online because like we have to wear masks every day, you know, or like getting a cute new cut for your morning coffee or buying like a cute little notebook or buying a cute little candle like cute little shit like

that that make you that just like makes you feel good. Let yourself like treat yourself to those things that are inexpensive but but make your daily routine better. You know, there's something really fulfilling about those little moments, like when you go to put on a cute mask before you go into the store, or when you spray a yummy smelling hand sanitizer on your hands after being in public or waking up in the morning to your favorite cup. You know, like there's something really fulfilling about those little moments

and I think that we forget about those little moments and we don't nurture those enough. And it sounds fucking, I'm gonna say this about this whole episode, like nonstop, just being like, it sounds annoying to hear

Because all this stuff sounds so Stupid when you think about How painful you know sadness can be or Dole moments in life can be or even depression can be or a seasonal effective disorder can be or dull moments in life can be or even depression can be or a seasonal effective disorder can be, you know, these little things sound so stupid and sound like they won't help with something as strong and uncomfortable and painful as those things that I just mentioned. But coming from somebody who's experienced those things, I know that these little things make a bigger difference

than you think. And trust me, nobody's more stubborn than I am. When I'm not feeling so hot, and I'm in a bad spot, and I call my dad or something, and he's like, you need to start reading again, or you need to start meditating again. I'm like, bitch, shut up, shut up. Because it's almost insulting, right?

It's almost insulting when you're hurting really bad and you're not in your depressed and you're in a rut and you feel like shit. And someone's like, read a book. Like I totally understand how infuriating that can be because you're like, hello, it's so much deeper than that. Like meditating is not gonna help.

I get it, but it really does. And I know how annoying it is to hear, but I rejected, you know, paying attention to the small details of daily life that could make my life better and help with, you know, my sadness and things like that for so long. And I was so like, I would reject those things because I felt like they weren't helpful enough. But I feel like now more than ever, I'm really trying to have an open mind.

With that, we continue. Okay, next. This is something that I'm just now starting to do, like within the past week. And that is to actually make the effort to make plans with people and stop waiting for them to ask me because for literally the past two years, two and a half years maybe even, I have not reached out to anybody at all. The only communications I've had with people

have been initiated by the other person. That was what I needed for a period of time. That's what I needed for a period of time, because I just needed solitude for a while. But now I'm at a point where I'm like, I don't really need solitude anymore. I actually need community again. I need to reintegrate community into my life. And then I found myself just waiting for people to reach out to me, because I was like,

okay, I'm ready to hang out with people again and, you know, be social again. I've done the work on myself, I'm ready to go back out into the world and be social, whatever. But I just found myself waiting around for people to reach out to me. And it wasn't really happening. And the reason for that was because I literally didn't respond to anyone or hang out with anyone for like two years. That's not everybody, but I'm talking about people that are not maybe my closest, closest friends, but people that are still friends, you know, that I would love to hang out with,

but that I just maybe put on the back burner a little bit for a few years while I was working on figuring myself out. I found myself waiting for those people to reach out to me, and of course it didn't happen, because I put them on the back burner for a while, and then I found myself feeling really lonely, because I was like, where is everyone? But then I had another realization where I was like,

well, I need to go and seek them out because that's my job. It's not just everybody else's job to ask me to hang out. I need to return the favor. I need to reach out to people. I need to check in on people. I have the mental strength to do it now, so I need to go and do it. on people. I have the mental strength to do it now, so I need to go and do it.

Not even that I have the mental strength to do it now, but I have the desire to do it now. I want to hang out with people. And so, I've started inviting people out to lunch and texting people a little bit more, and it's been feeling really good. And I think that you forget that, you know, a lot of your social interaction

is in your own hands. If you're feeling lonely, or you're feeling like nobody wants to hang out with you, putting a little bit more effort and see what happens. And if the results are not favorable and you don't like the results, then that just means that the people around you and the people that you're reaching out to

are just not right for you right now. And that gives you the initiative to start looking elsewhere, start looking outward. But either way, in life, you got to put the effort in and it's sometimes annoying and it's sometimes uncomfortable, but it ends up being really rewarding. If you're ready to go out and be social in whatever way that looks for you, don't feel afraid and don't feel too good to do that because I think I almost felt in retrospect,

I think I almost felt too good, not like too good, that's not the right word. I felt like if people wanted to reach out to me, they would. If people wanted to hang out with me, they would, right? That's kind of how I felt. But that's not the case. There were people that wanted to hang out with me that just felt like I didn't want to hang out with them. I needed to put the effort in in order for that hang out to happen because they were under

the impression that I didn't want to hang out with them. And it's all just a misunderstanding. How was I expecting other people to know that like after two years of not talking to anyone that like all of a sudden I wanted to talk to people again. How was anyone to know that? But that's just specific to my situation. In general, how are you to expect other people to know when you wanna hang out?

They might not know that you're interested in hanging out. They might be waiting for you to text them. Like you just don't know. So the moral of the story is, is that if you're feeling bored, if you're like, I really want to be more social, I want to go hang out with somebody, but I don't really want to ask, ask, because the results will be very, very good. The last thing that I've been really working on is attempting to just eradicate any feeling of guilt in life. My mom has told me many times, she's like the most pointless feeling you can feel is guilt. And that's, I don't know if that's necessarily true. I think that sometimes guilt is necessary

because I think sometimes guilt forces you to reflect on things so that you don't make the same mistake again. You know, I think that if you for longer than necessary is that's where we start. That's when it becomes pointless, right? If you've learned your lesson about something that you did that you don't your presence self doesn't agree with. If you've learned your lesson, you no longer need to feel guilty. The whole point of guilt is to teach you a lesson. So take that lesson and find peace within it. And that's something I've been working on a lot because I struggle with feeling guilty

about things, you know, like things I'm embarrassed about, times that maybe I haven't treated people as well as I wanted to or as I meant to. Times when I maybe went against my own moral code in some way, I tend to like hold on to guilt for a long time. But recently I've been really trying to let that go. And every time I start to feel guilty about something, I remind myself consciously of the lesson that I learned from that event that I feel guilty about. And then I focus my consciousness, oh my god, you guys, I'm scared. Why am I talking like this? Why am I talking like that? I focus my consciousness on to feeling grateful for the mistake that I made and for what it has taught me and for how it has made me a better person. Why am I talking like that? Why do I sound like a fucking yoga instructor? You know, giving a motivational speech after a class.

I'm a little bit embarrassed about how I possibly have sounded throughout this episode, but I just, at the risk of sounding like a fucking corn ball, these things have just been so powerful for me over the past few weeks to few months. You know, slowly but surely integrating these habits into my life have made such a big difference. And as mundane as they sound, as stupid as they sound, some of them anyway, it's the small things that make a big difference. And so I encourage you guys to take this episode

and do with it what will make you the happiest. Like pick up some of these things, try to integrate them into your life. If they will not suit you, even better. You know what I mean? Like, just in life, when people give you advice and when people give you pointers, like, hey, you know, this is something I think you should try out.

It's okay if it doesn't work for you. And that's something I wanna make clear because I do give a lot of advice on my podcast. But my perspective on advice is that it should never be taken as Bible. Like it should never be taken as fact. Sometimes something that works for one person won't work for the next. And that's what makes us all different. That's a beautiful thing.

There's nothing wrong with that. So I give advice in hopes that at least one thing that I say, you know, will help someone out there. The shoe will fit someone, right? But, you know, it might not all work for you or it might all work for you. No matter where you fall, I'm just very grateful that you listen and I enjoy sharing and I enjoy working through my own pain for our discussion. It's a very special exchange that we have and I wouldn't trade it for the world. On that note, I'm done with today's episode. I'm trying to think of how many life update.

This is actually kind of an interesting life update. So, this is so stupid. I don't even know why I'm bringing this up. Like this actually is the dumbest thing I'm ever gonna talk about on this podcast. So yeah, you can feel free to log off right now, like what I'm about to talk about has absolutely no value. Anyway, I have a very love hate relationship with eggs.

As a vegetarian, eggs are a very important source of protein for me, and so I eat them frequently because they have a lot of protein in them, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They have a lot of protein in them. Blah blah blah blah blah. But every few months, I'll have an experience with eggs that makes me unable to eat them for a few months. And today I had one of those experiences. And let me tell you, I'm heartbroken

because I just started getting into making scrambled eggs with pesto and Parmesan cheese. And it's been like my favorite thing to eat recently. Like it's just so fucking good. I don't know why I had such a random thing to eat, but it's so good. And it's so easy. But today, I had an egg experience that is not going to, like physically, I'm not going gonna be able to consume eggs for the next. Probably two months, like this one was pretty bad.

So, I'm making scrambled eggs, and I mean making scrambled eggs is pretty self-explanatory. You just basically flick the egg all around the pan for like three minutes until the egg is fully cooked. Like, it's very self-explanatory. There's not a lot of math that goes into it. There's not a lot of technique. And so as I'm scrambling the eggs, I'm like flicking them around the pan, right? And then two separate pieces of scrambled egg get flicked away from each other across

the pan. But something stretchy holds them together. And I was like, oh, that's probably just a piece of egg. You know what I mean? Like it's probably just like a piece of egg that just is connecting the two separate pieces of scrambled egg together. But due to the fact that I loved a self-sabotage,

I decided to pick these two pieces out and examine what was holding the two pieces of scrambled eggs together. So, I tried to like cut the stretchy thing that was holding them together in half with my fingernail. This is disgusting. Why am I even talking about this? Anyway, and it like wouldn't cut in half.

Like it wasn't like a piece of egg. It was like a piece of something else from the egg. Something chewy and stretchy and tough. Long story short, I started like stretching that thing around, I don't know what part of the egg it was from, but it was not a part of the egg that you want to be eating. It was like stretchy, honestly, it might have been like the umbilical cord or something,

and usually I try to pick those out, but I was hungry and just wanted to eat my eggs so I didn't pick it out this time. I don't know what it was, but long story short, that ended up in my eggs today. And like, that could be a part of my overall general tone today of urgency. I feel like I was very passionate today in the way that I was talking. Do I accredited it to my egg experience earlier and the pent up anger and emotion I have in

my body from that experience? I would say they are definitely related. That experience was genuinely so upsetting for me. And it's also heartbreaking knowing that one of my favorite foods right now is now makes me want to gag. It's just like, it sucks. But I know that in a few months,

I will forget all about this and I'll be like, wait, why was I eating? Why was I grossed out by eggs? And then I'll just go back to eating eggs like nothing ever happened. So, you know, this is just a blip, this is just a moment and we will get through it and everything will be okay.

Anyway, that is actually all I got for today. I'm done now. I hope that you enjoyed. I'm so grateful that you guys come back and listen. And I appreciate you all very, very much. And I can't wait to speak to you next week. You can stream anything goes on any platform that you stream podcasts. You can follow anything goes on the Twitter at AG Podcast to participate in episodes

You can leave a review on Apple podcasts if you would like and that's all I got Talk to you soon. Bye