Latest / The Virtual Couch / Mental Health Unplugged: From Narcissism to Personal Growth - Mackie Joins Tony for a TikTok Live QA
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to TechHackLive. Have fun interacting with your viewers in real time.
- 0:02Creators must be 18 or older to go live.
- 0:04Have you ever seen a kid do an affair? I feel like I have. Same.
- 0:07So maybe they pretend they're older or whatever.
- 0:10I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist, author, speaker,
- 0:12and podcast host. Ask me questions about relationships, mental health, narcissism, and more.
- 0:16And you, they're notifying viewers. Okay, the first one that shows up gets a welcome.
- 0:23Right there. Hey, the white man. 996. Welcome. Welcome aboard.
- 0:26I almost said I was going to give away stuff, but then that would be a lot of
- 0:29work. to give away things, right?
- 0:31Okay, hey, welcome everybody. I am Tony.
- 0:34I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist. I used to have this whole thing down.
- 0:38A certified mindful habit, coach, writer, speaker, husband, father,
- 0:40four, ultramarathon runner, and creator of the Path Back, an online recovery
- 0:45program that is helping people become their best selves and blah, blah, blah.
- 0:48And then I got to the point where I didn't care anymore about saying all that
- 0:50stuff. And that is where we are today. Welcome. I should have brought more Reese's in here.
- 0:54So Mackie and I are answering your questions tonight. Real live marriage and
- 0:57family therapist, But I am not providing therapy.
- 1:00I am providing a therapeutic... No, I'm just giving you advice.
- 1:04Just your thoughts. Exactly. Mackie and I host a podcast called The Mind,
- 1:07The Mirror, and Me, where we talk about all kinds of stuff. I got the virtual couch.
- 1:13When I'm up here and you're back there, my head looks huge and yours looks tiny.
- 1:16Waking up with narcissism? Wait, we do this thing. Now my head's big.
- 1:18I have a very large head. Like when I try to wear a hat, if I wear a fitted hat, it doesn't fit.
- 1:23Did you know that? No, it's kind of... It's crazy. It really is.
- 1:26Yeah. not not my not my finest trait i gotta
- 1:29be honest all right hey everybody lena what's going on how are
- 1:32you get the number one gifter badge thank you for gifting i
- 1:35never asked for the gifts but i don't know how it works either but are you do
- 1:39you know how somebody can throw a like a heart on your head or my head have
- 1:43you ever done that i've never done it to someone okay and sometimes they'll
- 1:46put like the mustache or a cowboy hat or anything like that so feel free to
- 1:49do that that's fun boo he's married According to my mother. Yeah. This is my daughter.
- 1:54Yeah. Although, if what you're saying is, oh my gosh, that guy looks so...
- 1:57There it is, right there. Lena, thank you. Yeah. But you're probably saying, he looks so young.
- 2:02That's probably what they're saying, right? Yeah. Yeah. But we are here to answer
- 2:06any of your questions about anything relationship-wise. I've got an opening topic tonight.
- 2:10Are you ready? Yeah. What do you know about the shadow self?
- 2:13Like, have you ever heard of that? No, I actually haven't ever in my world. Ever for real? Ever.
- 2:17At all? Shadow self? The shadow self? A famous psychologist back in the day, Carl Jung.
- 2:22Lena loves your lives. Thank you, Lena. We appreciate you being here.
- 2:25We're so excited about this.
- 2:26But the shadow self, Carl Jung, he coined the term.
- 2:29And it's a really fascinating concept because what
- 2:33your shadow self is is it's like you're carrying
- 2:36around a backpack all the time and you've just got all of these parts
- 2:38and pieces but the stuff that's your shadow are the
- 2:41things that you felt like were never acceptable when you were growing up and
- 2:44they're in your back yeah like you're carrying they're part of who you are and
- 2:47we often stuff our shadow selves down they're deep within within us but you
- 2:52still are a sum of all of your parts if you grew up and you weren't allowed
- 2:56to be angry for example then you might shove that down as your shadow.
- 3:00And then the light side of that is you might be overly accommodating or a people
- 3:04pleaser or that sort of thing.
- 3:05So you have this shadow side of you that you just, you show down.
- 3:09Amanda, you've helped me so much. Thank you for everything. Amanda, thanks for being here.
- 3:13And so ask any questions that you have tonight. I'm just doing a little bit
- 3:15of a little tap dance, a little warm up with the shadow self.
- 3:18Tap dance? Can you tap dance? No. You know, it's funny though.
- 3:20When I was a kid, I would watch, I don't even know, I don't even know what I'd
- 3:23be watching where somebody would tap dance.
- 3:24And so that was the one thing because i can't dance we talked about this the other night there
- 3:27are no dancing genes in our family right i never was
- 3:30taught because you don't know but i could do something where i would uh i
- 3:33don't know pretend i was tap dancing and in my mind i thought oh i'd probably be pretty
- 3:36good at this if i had tap shoes if you had tap shoes then you could dance yeah
- 3:40one time i tried rubber banding spoons on the bottom of my shoes i had tap shoes
- 3:43at one point when i was a kid you think you did do tap dance yeah but so the
- 3:48shadow stuff so let me give you an example of this here's what i think is interesting
- 3:50so have you ever met somebody that just really bothers you honestly.
- 3:54How do you integrate your shadow self yeah okay we'll talk about that that's
- 3:58a great question have you ever met somebody that just drives you crazy yes,
- 4:02probably more often than not so what if what they're displaying is something
- 4:07that you have tucked down deep within your it is part of your shadow self so
- 4:12let's say that you're at a meeting at work and there's a co-worker and they're
- 4:16just interrupting and they're making a lot of comments and you're thinking this guy needs to just chill,
- 4:22Something like that. Okay. So what the shadow self can be is that you may feel
- 4:27like, well, I was never told that I can just blurt out my opinion.
- 4:30So I hate people because... It's because it's a little bit of that holding up a mirror to ourselves.
- 4:35So let's say it's showing you the things that you don't know or that you maybe
- 4:39subconsciously wish that you could do, but then you've never been given permission
- 4:43to do that. Like tap dance? No.
- 4:46Yes. If someone at work, even though you're an esthetician,
- 4:50is tap dance, then that could so i wrote down some
- 4:53examples of this that i think will let me tell you so in family relationships so
- 4:56imagine that you have a sibling which you have three of them yeah who
- 4:59just effortlessly ask mom and i for help
- 5:02and they have no problem doing it uh whether it's like child
- 5:05care or money or emotional support and then
- 5:08you may find yourself feeling judgmental about that sibling
- 5:11and i don't know if that one no no probably
- 5:14not but if any of you have ever felt that so if you have a sibling that you
- 5:16feel like is maybe annoying and okay and
- 5:19we'll get to lena here too i can't express my opinions or feelings with my
- 5:22family without conflict so that would be really really
- 5:25hard right hey hannah so that but that would
- 5:28be hard there lena because if you feel like you can't express those feelings without
- 5:31conflict then what the the argument for
- 5:34your shadow might be is now you're going to tuck that away and then if you are
- 5:38in an environment and you feel like you can't express your emotions but other
- 5:41people are then that would be where that is that would be part of your shadow
- 5:44self because it's something that you weren't allowed to do and you're watching
- 5:47other people do it and it might seem like well that's not fair that they can
- 5:50do that. Let's go romantic relationships. Okay.
- 5:53Think about somebody who feels intense irritation if their partner expresses
- 5:56sadness or vulnerability. And you might think, why can't they just handle their stuff?
- 6:00Or you might be the one that's in a relationship and you are expressing vulnerability
- 6:03and the other person might be thinking, why can't you just, why don't you just
- 6:06take care of that yourself and not really worry about that? Does that make sense?
- 6:11It makes sense. I just don't. Well, because that reaction, it often points to
- 6:15like your own inability to express or to just be tough and handle things.
- 6:20Because what you're seeing in that other person is something that you feel like
- 6:24is impossible for you to maybe embrace.
- 6:29Yeah, I get that part. That's what it is. Oh, yeah. Okay.
- 6:33Got it. Okay. Or if somebody, if you're at a party,
- 6:36and I think about this, if somebody's
- 6:38loud or they're being the center of attention and that annoys you,
- 6:40is it because you feel like you you feel insecure
- 6:43or you wish you could be the center of attention so that's
- 6:46what it's talking about can it also just be though that you think someone's annoying
- 6:49yes yes it can and and it
- 6:52has nothing to do with your shadow whatsoever well what if it's like a crappy
- 6:56person doing crappy things that's true i mean because and so here's when who
- 7:00was it was it lena saying how do you integrate your shadow yeah so when you
- 7:04notice that that an emotional reaction seems bigger than the situation warrants
- 7:08that's usually the first clue that you're dealing along with the shadow trigger. Yeah.
- 7:12So, so if it's something that you're just, you just think that person's annoying,
- 7:15then yeah, they can be annoying.
- 7:17But that's a, but if you say, or you have to ask yourself, okay,
- 7:20if I'm being completely honest, is there a part of me that wishes I could be
- 7:23more like that? Yeah. No, I get that. Yeah.
- 7:25And that's the, and that's, I think where you start seeing our own emotional
- 7:28immaturity. So if you watch somebody and they're doing something that you wish
- 7:32that you could do, but you're afraid to admit that, man, I wish I had that talent or that skill. Yeah.
- 7:37Then, and when you make fun of that, or then that can be what's coming from
- 7:40your shadow okay let's get to the questions okay okay the goat
- 7:43in jurassic park oh go to from jurassic park
- 7:46has been here before welcome back the goat in jurassic park because that
- 7:48is a very funny name thoughts on noticing patterns of
- 7:51emotional regression around your parents yeah that's and
- 7:54i wonder the goat in jurassic park if you're open to maybe sharing an age range
- 7:59even of where what because this is one that i think is really fascinating so
- 8:03we're supposed to what they are yeah what they are not the parents but yeah
- 8:06great point and i'm i really mean that because you're supposed to become more
- 8:10differentiated from your parent.
- 8:12And if you remember what the concept of differentiation is, is it means that
- 8:15you are starting to, as you grow older, you want to maintain a connection with
- 8:19others while developing your own sense of self or your autonomy.
- 8:23So it seems like a little bit of a paradox that I'm going to grow closer to
- 8:26this person, but also hold on to myself, my own sense of self.
- 8:30And so when you have parents that are not allowing you to become differentiated,
- 8:35where they aren't being curious about your experience, or when you share your
- 8:38experience, they do a lot of judgment or saying, I wouldn't do that if I were
- 8:42you, or that doesn't seem very smart to me.
- 8:44Then they're holding you back from becoming more differentiated.
- 8:48And so a lot of times what your own body keeps the score, that vibe will do
- 8:51is you'll start to play small because over time, it's like, why am I trying
- 8:55to express my hopes and my dreams with this person who is just continuing to
- 9:00tell me I wouldn't do that? That's not a very smart thing.
- 9:03What if they won't talk to you at all when you are your own person?
- 9:06That's a them issue, Josh.
- 9:08That's a great question. And when I say that's a them issue.
- 9:11I'm sounding aggressive. I am a little bit. Because when you are putting yourself
- 9:16out there, talking about how you think, feel.
- 9:19If you're doing your side of it,
- 9:20then it is a them issue if they're not contributing in any positive way.
- 9:25Well, and I think that's a great question, the way you frame that.
- 9:29Because that is what differentiation is. every opportunity when you interact
- 9:33with somebody is ultimately an opportunity for you to grow,
- 9:37you to self-confront and grow, because you might be learning in that situation
- 9:41that these are not people that I can feel safe opening up to because they're
- 9:46not curious about my situation and they're not interested.
- 9:50And maybe they're continuing to look on their phones or they're just immediately making it about them.
- 9:54Then you're learning in that interaction that this is not somebody that I feel safe talking to.
- 9:59Which sucks if it's your parents that are making me feel that way,
- 10:01but it's like they are also people and sometimes and yeah
- 10:04is that okay daniel i need to set better boundaries with my parents
- 10:07that i'm living with and probably that is
- 10:10tricky and remember too daniel boundary versus ultimatum ultimatum is hey look
- 10:14you guys need to hear me you guys need to be more supportive that's an ultimatum
- 10:18and that's where if your parents bless their hearts are a little bit more emotionally
- 10:21immature you've just given them some some buttons to push oh really well you
- 10:26won't tell me or if you're living under this roof you need to listen to us or
- 10:28there's all those kind of things.
- 10:30The boundary is if they are not being curious or if they are not willing to
- 10:35listen or if they, then I, then I will not continue to share with them or then
- 10:39I will spend more time outside or at my friend's house. Yeah.
- 10:44Um, okay. Can we get into Lucy's? Yeah. Lucy. Do you guys have an opinion on
- 10:48the let them theory? Yeah. I do. Do you know that one? Yeah. Yeah.
- 10:51Mel Robbins. I have the book in my audible and I have a funny story about that,
- 10:53but you go first. What do you think about it? I think.
- 11:01I have lots of thoughts. Do you really? I don't know if we've talked about this.
- 11:04No, I think the first time, because the most I've seen is just like clips from TikTok.
- 11:09Like that's where I heard it first. Yeah. Like from the podcast and stuff of that and whatever.
- 11:17But I think overall I like it and I think it's a good thing. Yeah.
- 11:22Because there's power in just not letting what other people are doing affect
- 11:27you or have an effect on you. Yeah.
- 11:30And so I think that they're, I'm trying to think of examples that like, that's, I'm like.
- 11:34We'll get to them because I. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I, but I do think overall
- 11:37it's a great thing because it's not fair to you, to, to anyone to be negatively
- 11:42affected by other people's actions, you know?
- 11:44So it's like, and it's not worth the fight of, that's what I mean,
- 11:48like with an example, like if someone is doing something to you. Yeah.
- 11:51Yes. That's where I go with that too. It's not worth your energy to deal with that. Yeah.
- 11:57Would it be a good thing if you do it to your partner?
- 12:01See though that's where i think i'd say no but maybe i'm well i feel like it
- 12:06depends it depends on what we're talking about because if your partner's being
- 12:10mean to you don't just let them that's not the that's not what it is like that's
- 12:13so it's like i feel like there's a fine line there.
- 12:18But see i can't think of an example but i'm sure there are things within a relationship
- 12:21where it's okay to let them yeah so like be their own person and do their thing
- 12:26and not let it affect you or your relationship, but don't let them be mean to you.
- 12:31And that's where I step in with my opinion. The first, what I think is, maybe it's funny to me,
- 12:36story is as a licensed marriage and family therapist and creating some content
- 12:39and podcasts and that sort of thing, I have found myself being emotionally immature
- 12:42and somewhat jealous of someone like Mel Robbins, who is everywhere.
- 12:47But then I realized, okay, that's my immaturity. And the more that I started
- 12:50to listen to her content, one of the first things I learned from her that I
- 12:53really liked was the countdown, the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, when I'd be scrolling on social media.
- 12:57And I would just, sometimes it's wild to just think, even though I'm an adult,
- 13:01I'm a therapist, I'm 55, I'm whatever.
- 13:04And I just am mindlessly scrolling, scrolling.
- 13:07And I heard her talk about the countdown, five, four, three,
- 13:10two, one. And that works for me every time. So that's brilliant.
- 13:12And then the let them theory, I really like it because it is a form of becoming
- 13:17differentiated, that that's a them issue.
- 13:19And at first I thought, okay, she's found a great way to say that's a them thing.
- 13:24Because I'm really, when I say that's a them thing, it sounds a bit passive aggressive.
- 13:27Yeah there's a woman named tabitha brown i love her content
- 13:30where she says that's their business remember her
- 13:33and that's my business and that's their business so i think
- 13:36that's i think i need to soften up my that's a little bit that's a you thing
- 13:40but there is truth to it that is yeah but then when but you're right though
- 13:44because i i deal so much with couples because i i'm a couples therapist and
- 13:47i might see 20 couples in a week and when there is emotional abuse physical
- 13:53abuse those sort of things.
- 13:54The let them is something that then there are people that are in a pretty,
- 13:59pretty solid one down position in a relationship that then will hear something like that.
- 14:04And they almost then attach to that as if then, okay, I just need to let them do their thing. Right.
- 14:09Even if it's impacting me. And that's not fair. Right. Which that Lucy then
- 14:13said though, so I don't know if she might not like it, but let them blah,
- 14:16blah, blah, but let me react a certain way.
- 14:18There you go. Oh, it does make sense. And I feel like that's getting... Yeah.
- 14:20And that's where, and that's where one of my clients who I just love to death
- 14:23she just devoured that book um right when it
- 14:26came out and then we had a session the next day and she was asking
- 14:29my opinion and i was telling her again i don't know i don't know enough about
- 14:32it yet but she was sharing that with me that it's a great concept and
- 14:35she said they she that mel all that says the the word differentiation because
- 14:39but then remember that one of the best parts about differentiation is i can
- 14:42let them but then i can here comes a boundary then if they are going to if i
- 14:47am letting them and they are going to do something that is not healthy or good for me then I will exit.
- 14:54And I think that toward the end of the book, I think apparently she might say then the let me.
- 14:59So that's the part I don't know. I've never read the book. I've only seen the
- 15:01little clips. But yeah, because it's let them do their things. Oh, it's stars.
- 15:04Let's talk about that, right? Yeah. Because it's not your job to...
- 15:09Change them or make them do things differently but that doesn't
- 15:12mean yeah it's just let them and then deal with the consequences yeah so start
- 15:15what started saying when i react and try to talk to my husband he just yells more
- 15:18and i'm so sorry for that too i work a
- 15:20lot with the the world of the emotionally immature slash narcissistic
- 15:24traits and tendencies people and that's incredible
- 15:27immaturity when somebody continues to get louder and bigger because that's their
- 15:31little kid it's a little kid there inside of them that is saying this is the
- 15:35only way that i will have control that they can't rely on their big boy words
- 15:39or to be able to express their emotions or when somebody is saying something
- 15:43that makes them feel bad, then what do they do?
- 15:46How do they get rid of their discomfort? They turn around and yell or they get
- 15:49angry to then take that one up position.
- 15:51So it starts, I'm so sorry. And that's one where a boundary,
- 15:55a healthy boundary would be when he yells, then I leave.
- 15:59And unfortunately, that doesn't mean that he'll respect the boundary.
- 16:01And that's why boundaries are so important because they're your,
- 16:04it's a you thing. It's for you to take back a little bit of that power,
- 16:08even though it's not that you're letting him know I'm taking back power.
- 16:12I just, that is something that I have to do.
- 16:14So I really do. I love the concept around let them. And this is where so much
- 16:18of real mental health work is about something works until it doesn't,
- 16:22or it works in the times that it does, but there are other times where you need
- 16:25other tools. So it's not just an all or nothing.
- 16:28So some people will embrace something like a let them, and then just hang on
- 16:31to that because it's better than not having a tool, but it's a tool to start
- 16:34with and then there will be situations where it won't work and i think that's
- 16:37what i love yeah that's so important to know right but it's not yeah it's not a yeah.
- 16:42One-size-fits-all situation yeah and what i like about i mean i love this being
- 16:47able to interact with even just the community that shows up at these lives because
- 16:50hopefully you'll walk away from this tonight and if you're even curious about
- 16:54what is the let them theory that it is about being differentiated that is a
- 16:57them issue that is their business i can let them be who they are,
- 17:00but that doesn't mean that then I have to then manage their emotions or that I have to play small.
- 17:05And so that's where it's something to interact with to help yourself become
- 17:11better. Okay, what else do we have? Yeah.
- 17:16Mini ryan feel free to break up questions into multiples
- 17:19if you want to okay you're saying i want to
- 17:22be able to type as much as i want right now i'm getting an answer oh i hear you
- 17:25or just sum it up for and we'll try yeah we will
- 17:28do our best there okay john why do i still miss my ex
- 17:30after four months and i dated them for a year i'd say
- 17:34that's pretty normal that's not that doesn't mean anything like
- 17:37when you're committed to a person for that long and they take
- 17:40up that much of your time for that long they don't
- 17:44just disappear out of your mind they don't and and think about this too
- 17:47think of all the especially during the the love bombing
- 17:50or the honeymoon phase of the relationship how you're already
- 17:52planning i think yeah you planned your whole life yeah
- 17:55whether people want to admit it or not i think that we're we're all for
- 17:58the most part your mind it does that we're dreamers and so yeah
- 18:01so then we think about it we think about good situations and
- 18:04if you if it took a year to break up then i'm
- 18:07sure that there were times that were good there were then times that
- 18:10weren't so good and now we're starting to tiptoe into
- 18:12the waters of the trauma bond a little bit of that intermittent reinforcement where
- 18:16the same person that gives you the punishment also provides you
- 18:19with the reward and it can it actually acts in the area of the brain that's
- 18:23similar to where a like a drug addict does so the person and that's why so often
- 18:28when i see people in my office where they're navigating a breakup but the person
- 18:32they want to go commiserate with is the person that they're breaking up with have you ever felt that
- 18:37Yeah, no, I know that feeling I told you about this in one of the last lives
- 18:42The Bachelor people Where the guy was a.
- 18:46Don't shadow ban. Don't get a shadow ban. He sucked. And the girl went on the
- 18:51Call Her Daddy podcast. Oh, yeah. You remember that? Yeah.
- 18:53And she brought up that point where she was like, it's so hard because the one
- 18:56person I want to... She's crying and she's hurting.
- 18:58And it's like the one person she wants to go talk to about it is the one that hurt her.
- 19:02Yeah. You know? Yeah. So it is that weird, like... Absolutely.
- 19:05But I definitely felt that after my somewhat traumatic relationship.
- 19:09Or a very traumatic relationship.
- 19:12Where it was like... That was the person I went to for nearly a year.
- 19:16And so then as I'm going through things after that, it was like,
- 19:19my first thought would be, that's who I want to talk to. And then two minutes
- 19:22later, I'd be like, no, I don't.
- 19:24Yeah. But it does. You're so used to that. They occupied so much of your mental
- 19:28calories, your emotional calories.
- 19:29For a long time. It's going to take some time to grieve. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's
- 19:33Stages of Grief and Loss.
- 19:35It's interesting. If you go look at those up, they're not, it's actually not
- 19:37an evidence-based model.
- 19:38And that's one where, while I might not be a fan of things like the love languages,
- 19:43because people will weaponize those against each other.
- 19:45And those aren't an evidence-based model, but the stages of grief and loss,
- 19:49the acronym is DABDA, which is a hard one to remember, but yeah,
- 19:52denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and then acceptance.
- 19:55I like those because even again, if it's not, it is linear evidence-based model,
- 20:00know that there's going to be a lot of denial that, that this is not happening
- 20:03or, and there's going to be anger. How can they do this to me?
- 20:05And then the bargaining is a really wild stage because I, that's the,
- 20:09one of the most misunderstood.
- 20:10The bargaining is okay. I'll do whatever it takes to make this thing work.
- 20:14And then, yeah. Like, I'll sacrifice things. Yeah, I'll sacrifice things.
- 20:17I'll lose my sense of self because when it's good, it is good. And maybe it is my fault.
- 20:22And I'll tell you, Mac, one of the things I think is so crazy is how many people
- 20:25will then try to make a situation about them.
- 20:29Because if it's about them, they can fix it.
- 20:32But right it's like gaining back control yeah
- 20:35so even if not in a malicious way exactly
- 20:38yeah so the happy fun version of control you hear control and
- 20:41it's automatically negative yeah yeah which segue yeah is control a real thing
- 20:46will we ever have it or is it just paradoxical oh that's a great question yeah
- 20:50so honestly i don't so we want we want there's some things we want we want control
- 20:55we want certainty we want to alleviate our discomfort and what you just said
- 20:59there, is it paradoxical?
- 21:00That is one of my favorite words in mental health because weren't we talking
- 21:03about this where if the things that were easy to do worked, then nobody would have any problems.
- 21:09Oh yeah. So that's the paradoxical nature of mental health in general.
- 21:12So if I could just stop thinking things, then that'd be easy.
- 21:15But when I try to not think of things, don't think about the white elephant.
- 21:19Don't think about the white elephant wearing a green tutu. Don't think about
- 21:21him balancing on a ball. Don't think about him throwing things with his trunk. We all just did it.
- 21:26That is the easiest paradoxical example of mental health.
- 21:30So, what we have to do is we have to acknowledge, I'm thinking it,
- 21:33acknowledge that I'm feeling my feelings.
- 21:35So, if I go back to control a real thing, it's why do I need control?
- 21:40Because I think for the most part, control is an immature response,
- 21:44is a way to have things in our lives and in our relationships.
- 21:47I can have acceptance and I can make room for the things that I want.
- 21:51But if I need to control them, then I think that starts to control me versus
- 21:55that's something that I'm moving toward, that I would like,
- 21:58that I want to embrace, that I would love to notice, to bring it along with
- 22:03me, but control, then all of a sudden it is controlling me.
- 22:08That's tricky stuff. Yeah, the paradoxical stuff though. Yeah,
- 22:11that's deep, especially with the mental health. Yeah, I think about that a lot.
- 22:14Okay, speed run for you. What are your favorite book recommendations for couples?
- 22:19You know, I used to always say Emotionally Focused or Hold Me Tight,
- 22:22which is a Sue Johnson book.
- 22:24It's about emotionally focused therapy. And it is a good book,
- 22:28but I am slowly but surely moving over from the emotionally focused therapy
- 22:32model to more of a model of becoming differentiated.
- 22:35Being a differentiation therapist.
- 22:37And there's a book by David Schnarch called Passionate Marriage.
- 22:40The unfortunate part is it's not available in audio or on Kindle.
- 22:43So you have to buy the actual book and read it. I like actual books. I can't do audio books.
- 22:49But any of this stuff from Sue Johnson, I think Love Sense is her follow-up
- 22:52book from Hold Me Tight. And I really like that as well.
- 22:55Yeah, those are my immediate go-tos. Okay. Going back.
- 22:59There we go, Lucy. Yeah, that's the part. You can't have Let Them without Let
- 23:01Me, which I liked about the book. But I was a skeptic. Yeah.
- 23:04And I appreciate that. And that's what... Oh, I was going to say something else
- 23:06about a book. So I'm working on a book about my emotional baseline,
- 23:09Raising Your Emotional Baseline right now.
- 23:10And I've got a book out about addiction and recovery.
- 23:13And there's a really fascinating thing that happens when you write a book.
- 23:16Trauma Bond Preach, I like who said that.
- 23:18But when you are writing a book, it's wild. Because I always wanted to write
- 23:23a book. And then when I finally got a book deal and I was writing a book,
- 23:25I got so behind on writing it. Because when you actually are starting to write it, it's odd.
- 23:29It's just such a trip to think, these are going to be the words.
- 23:32And it's almost like they're going to be locked in. And I wanted to just go
- 23:36on and on and on explaining all the different variations and variables that would be in a situation.
- 23:41So even I know that someone like a Mel Robbins, there's going to be, yeah, let them, let me.
- 23:46And it's hard to, I often think of when you're writing a book,
- 23:49you just have to make it, there's a template.
- 23:51And you'll never, ever be able to address all the things that you want to.
- 23:55Even in podcasts, I've got 700 podcasts out now.
- 23:58You still have so much more. So much more. And I just want to just keep going and going. Exactly.
- 24:05Okay. Are you ready to speed run? Oh, yeah. We're getting behind. Okay.
- 24:08Okay. I feel stuck in life no matter what I do, how to start making change in my life.
- 24:13Little tiny things is my initial go-to thing. Do you mind speed running like
- 24:18the fact that, what were you like a year ago?
- 24:24Horrible? The worst I've ever been in my own life? No, you were horrible. Mackie.
- 24:27No, but I had just gotten a diagnosis for an autoimmune disease,
- 24:30and I had spent years not feeling
- 24:33like myself and feeling awful and was at the peak of it and everything was
- 24:35terrible and my mental health was the worst it had ever been and genuinely
- 24:39what has got me to a point where i'm okay is the
- 24:42little tiny things and we joked about this on our on
- 24:45podcast and stuff too but like i got into legos and
- 24:48like made lego flowers yeah watercolor reading books
- 24:52puzzles playing my piano like it's all the little things that don't feel important
- 24:57are actually you were go on walks up in the canyon yeah i would go on walks
- 25:00i and it's like even the dumb like taking a shower and brushing your teeth twice
- 25:05a day and like thank you for me like i would just i would.
- 25:11It sounds dumb but i would set a goal to do my makeup every day
- 25:14even if i didn't feel like it just because it was like self-care in a
- 25:17sense and made me feel better but it's genuinely the tiny
- 25:20little not even 10 shifts it's even
- 25:23smaller than that and it's petting your dog that's
- 25:26the one you always say no but it's doing anything besides just
- 25:30sitting and ruminating that that right
- 25:33there and i want to come back to you in a second here because i want i would
- 25:35love for you people to hear for those that are
- 25:38new here don't know mackie's story go find the mind
- 25:41the mirror and me podcast or on the virtual couch we talked about at
- 25:43one point but you've lost how much weight in the
- 25:46last year 65 pounds you you
- 25:49and you did an amazing job and i think even on the podcast i
- 25:52was saying of course i knew you would do it no i was like worried
- 25:55that that would be hard too hard to do you meal prepped your
- 25:57own food you cook things you you were just so disciplined and then we ran a
- 26:01half marathon a few months ago and you pr'd and and that was all within a year
- 26:06and a little over a year ago just for anybody that we moved out to arizona you
- 26:11were in utah i was in california but we called you one afternoon or you called
- 26:14us and you weren't doing very well and i jumped on the worst day.
- 26:18I jumped on an airplane i said mackie do you want me to come get you and you
- 26:21said i don't know Yeah, no, and I don't know.
- 26:24You got on an airplane? I did. I got on an airplane a couple hours later,
- 26:27made it out there. You picked me up at the airport. I didn't even know if you would.
- 26:30I mean, I was planning on just coming back the next day if I had to. Yeah.
- 26:33And we drove through the night. We wanted the air conditioning on traveling
- 26:36through the night. It was so cold. I couldn't breathe. I was anxious.
- 26:40It was so cold. And we sang songs and I took my ADHD medication.
- 26:43Thank goodness. So I was like,
- 26:45I stayed up for a couple of days. Remember you dropped me off at my work and
- 26:50I started to see like 12 clients the next day. And I'm like,
- 26:53Hey guys, I'm fine. How are you?
- 26:55What a great day. And it's like, genuinely though, it's so weird to even think
- 26:57that that's what position I was in now because I am okay right now. It's incredible.
- 27:01And so it's like, it is that it does get better and it gets a little worse sometimes,
- 27:05but it always gets better. And it is because of the little tiny things. Yeah.
- 27:10So don't just, don't think you're not doing anything. If all you did was shower.
- 27:13You know, like that's all I'm getting at work.
- 27:15That's what i want to say a year later matter your life has changed
- 27:18so much and that you did not see that coming and danielle
- 27:21it just takes a little bit of courage a little bit of time a little bit of perseverance
- 27:24yeah lots of little bits of things and then i do i
- 27:27call it the my emotional baseline theory that when you
- 27:30are when you're on top of the world your baseline of emotions is high and
- 27:33everything seems pretty easy and you're making all the decisions that come at you
- 27:36when you start to feel pretty bad your baseline of emotions drops but
- 27:39all the same decisions were there you had a salon studio
- 27:42you had you're trying to make money you were trying to and all
- 27:44those decisions were there and the lower your emotional baseline got the
- 27:47harder it was to reach up and grab the tools that
- 27:50you needed yeah and so then i was backtracking so hard
- 27:53and i didn't know how to fix anything and everything was overwhelming yeah and
- 27:57so what mackey's saying and what and what we're talking about is what it means
- 28:01to raise your emotional baseline is self-care self-care is not selfish and self-care
- 28:05can be everything from listening to something thinking something dreaming something
- 28:09believing something then starting to take action do a little coloring do a little
- 28:13colors go on a walk set a timer for an hour and every
- 28:15time that timer goes off get up and turn it off and get back
- 28:18down whatever you have to do anything that's because you're
- 28:21bumping your baseline up a little bit yeah and this is the part two where i'm
- 28:24not a psychiatrist i'm a marriage and family therapist so i don't prescribe
- 28:27medication yeah but medication is it can help raise your emotional baseline
- 28:33a little bit yeah so it might bump you up enough to then be able to access the
- 28:37tools you might need of meditation mindfulness going on walks reaching out to people.
- 28:41And that's a really difficult thing because a lot of times people,
- 28:43their emotional baseline is so low and they're the ones that are trying to say.
- 28:47Should i do this but then and that's that's what was
- 28:50hard about when i was saying should i come get you because i was too low
- 28:53your baseline's low so that's really hard i was like
- 28:55no i'm fine but i wasn't fine yeah so that's yeah
- 28:58so just do anything to raise that emotional baseline lucy
- 29:01said have y'all heard of the finch app it's cute and starts
- 29:04out with small goals i haven't but that does sound cute okay can.
- 29:07I be honest but so i'm sitting back here and i need
- 29:10new glasses i really do i thought i said small goats i'm
- 29:13dead serious because i'm watching severance and they're into the section where
- 29:15the cooper ferguson was on there says to invite him live we
- 29:19should invite cooper live and kelly said hi kelly hey kelly kelly
- 29:22what's going on thanks for coming kelly's one of the ogs which
- 29:25i think is so cool like riddle nerd i've seen uh real nerd
- 29:28here kelly there's people that have just been here for a long time it's really.
- 29:31Cool it is okay i'm near
- 29:34i i have never meal prepped and lost 60 pounds to ash way
- 29:37to go for us be nice i have
- 29:40never meal prepped and i have not lost any pounds so i
- 29:44guess you put us all together we got it all figured out but
- 29:47i'm happy for you oh what's the condition somebody said are you
- 29:49open to that oh um hashimoto's hypothyroidism yeah
- 29:52okay mini ryan again
- 29:56how do you fight depression and anxiety being
- 29:59bipolar do i get medicated honestly and again this is
- 30:01where i'm just gonna throw out first thing everything don't
- 30:05that's you know eat no et is that
- 30:08too i never saw it as a kid but i do know it was very
- 30:11scary to me they use Reese's Pieces for ET and
- 30:14I've never liked Reese's Pieces and M&Ms were anyway
- 30:17anyway okay um everything we
- 30:20just said about all the little things that would be my same answer initially
- 30:23to fighting depression and anxiety because
- 30:26also when I was like 14 I
- 30:30was diagnosed with depression and it was a legit very serious thing for me from
- 30:36that high school time and it was all those same little things like it was that's
- 30:42when i taught myself guitar piano and like it was those same it's also that
- 30:46same and the baseline theory also is very crucial i think to.
- 30:51Managing depression and anxiety so take all that into account but then you the
- 30:55bipolar and the bipolar is one that uh i've been asked before about that one
- 30:59and that's one i'm not as familiar with and but i know that it that bipolar
- 31:02is one that that does most likely needs some medication.
- 31:07And and i know that there are people that if they are
- 31:09bipolar but they take an antidepressant that that isn't really
- 31:12going to address it or if they have depression and they take did
- 31:15i just say that same thing but or vice versa so you really
- 31:18don't jump into something just then maybe you know yeah talk
- 31:21about it and think about it definitely go to a doctor medication is
- 31:24not a bad thing it doesn't make you weak and it's just a helpful
- 31:27tool yep absolutely okay i like uh sophia's how to oh here's how to deal with
- 31:33test anxiety oh test anxiety is a good one test anxiety is one i'll just super
- 31:37quick speed run on that one yeah is it really is is embracing or accepting the
- 31:41fact that i am anxious about this test because it goes back to that so many
- 31:45people that have things like test anxiety,
- 31:47then just they're so worried about the test anxiety that then the test anxiety
- 31:51is the thing that is controlling them.
- 31:53Back to that. But if I accept the fact that, oh, I'm going to have test anxiety,
- 31:56now I can also study and I can acknowledge and there's that test anxiety again.
- 32:01It's that concept of where when I talk about acceptance doesn't mean apathy.
- 32:04If you look at anxiety in general, if you are so anxious that you want to avoid
- 32:09all things that will cause anxiety, then the anxiety is the thing that is in control.
- 32:13But if I accept the fact that I'm going to be anxious then i can also
- 32:16go and interact with people and i can i can pet my dog
- 32:18i can go out and on a run oh and i can also be anxious so
- 32:21you're making space or room to have all of those
- 32:24feelings and emotions so you have to accept that i will be
- 32:27anxious i say this one every time i can't stand being scared at movies but we
- 32:33go to scary movies because my throw your popcorn and you cover your eyes because
- 32:37my adult kids actually want to go out with me as an adult dad and that blows
- 32:43my of mine, but they like scary movies.
- 32:46Literally every time if i if i was saying okay i don't want
- 32:49to be scared which is fair then i would
- 32:51miss out on going out with my kids and their significant
- 32:55others and holding my wife's hand and eating popcorn and building
- 32:58a connection yeah so sharing that experience literally every time that i'm at
- 33:01a scary movie and the lights go down and i do have the popcorn and hopefully
- 33:04my riddle is kicked in at that point but then every single time i'm like oh
- 33:08i'm not i always say to wendy i'm not ready for this i'm not but but i love
- 33:13being when you actually threw the popcorn and And you lifted,
- 33:16like you jumped out of your seat and threw your, I was next to you and threw your popcorn.
- 33:21How about, how about, um, last time you went to a movie? Is it this side on my face or this side?
- 33:25This side. Oh, but it's healing. Nice. Yeah. The scar. I ran into a wall.
- 33:29We were at a movie and he ran straight into a wall. That one is,
- 33:32that one's pretty rough. And was like. I got my bell rung.
- 33:36Like maybe would need stitches. Yeah. And you guys watched and you laughed. We were dying.
- 33:42It was so funny. Was it though? It was. I find it hard to progress in a negative environment.
- 33:47Oh, Lena, absolutely. And this is where I would love to know more about that
- 33:50because there's so much.
- 33:52Now, if we go into my favorite therapy modality of ACT, acceptance and commitment
- 33:55therapy, that if you're doing things that you really just don't want to do or
- 33:59you're in a place where you don't want to be, then we fit that into this concept
- 34:03of your... Let me just give the socially compliant goal.
- 34:06When I'm doing something that I think I'm supposed to do or else,
- 34:10or else somebody will be disappointed in me.
- 34:12So if I'm in a place that is negative and I feel like, but I have to be here
- 34:16because, I don't know, it's my friends or that sort of thing,
- 34:19then I fit that into this bucket of a socially compliant goal.
- 34:22And if you're existing in the socially compliant goals, your motivation to be
- 34:27there is pretty weak and ineffective because it goes against who you want to be.
- 34:30And so that is a sign for you to try to get out of that.
- 34:33But I know it can be hard. I feel like there's almost a tie to emotional baseline
- 34:38in a sense, but in a shifted way. But if you're in the negative environment,
- 34:42I feel like it wouldn't be your emotional baseline, but something is lower overall.
- 34:46And so it's harder to progress because...
- 34:49It is all negative. What's hard is, Lena, and maybe I can talk about this too.
- 34:53I work with enough people that feel like they are stuck, whatever it is,
- 34:56wherever they are, stuck in their job, stuck in their relationship, stuck in their family.
- 35:00And in those situations, the fact that you're aware of it is the first step.
- 35:03Okay, I'm acknowledging that this is not the place that I want to be.
- 35:06But then often what we do is even we'll respond immaturely to that.
- 35:10We'll make sure that everybody knows that I'm upset or frustrated or I don't want to be here.
- 35:14The problem is if those are the people that are, they're being immature,
- 35:18they're not being supportive, they're not being curious about your experience
- 35:22or then your shutting down is not going to cause them to go,
- 35:25oh my gosh, hey, tell me what's going on there, champ.
- 35:28So your opportunity for growth there is at first recognizing this isn't somewhere I want to be.
- 35:33These aren't the people I want to be around. This isn't the environment that
- 35:36I want to be in. And so, just acknowledge that, accept that,
- 35:39because then what you can do is you maybe can be able to have a tiny bit of
- 35:43control in that environment.
- 35:45Whether, man, Viktor Frankl, the book Man's Search for Meaning,
- 35:48that, if anybody has not read that, it's a quick read, but he was in a concentration camp.
- 35:53Talk about being somewhere that you have no control. And he would say that the
- 35:56place that he could live was within his mind, that he just had an opportunity
- 36:01to just create narratives, create stories, create spaces in his mind.
- 36:05That's deep. It is, and I often think that... I feel like it would normally
- 36:08go the opposite way. It typically does go the opposite way, but then your mind is not your safe space.
- 36:13Okay, Viktor Frankl... This is a book? Yeah, yeah, Man's Search for Meaning.
- 36:17It's really good, Mac. I think it might be in our Kindle library.
- 36:19I don't do Kindle. His famous quote is... Well, there's a few.
- 36:24He said, The one thing you can't
- 36:25take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.
- 36:27And he says, Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is,
- 36:30but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked.
- 36:34But, okay, let me find the one... Smart gun. There's a bunch. There's a...
- 36:39Okay. Oh, in every situation, there is a moment to pause and decide how we'll react.
- 36:43He just was really about building space between stimulus and response was one
- 36:48of his most famous concepts because I've actually taken that and built it into
- 36:52my addiction recovery program.
- 36:53So when somebody has, in the world of like addiction, if somebody has a thought,
- 36:58usually it goes, there's a trigger, a thought and an action.
- 37:01And so you're trying to build space. If you can address your triggers, that's ideal.
- 37:05So let's say that somebody gets really down or depressed or they act out with
- 37:09impulsive or compulsive behaviors whenever they're by themselves or they're
- 37:13hungry, angry, lonely, tired.
- 37:15They can start to recognize that those are the triggers. So can I make sure
- 37:18that I'm with friends? Can I make sure that I'm fed?
- 37:21But if I can address that trigger, but then I'm going to have a thought and
- 37:24then I'm going to do an action.
- 37:25And like that Viktor Frankl concept is, can I build space between thought and
- 37:29the action, whether it's by doing something, going for a walk,
- 37:32calling a friend, doing pushups, or whether I can now just make room for that
- 37:36and notice my thoughts and my emotions, my feelings.
- 37:39One of the best places that you can start to raise that baseline or start to
- 37:42do self-care is in the way that you respond in a situation.
- 37:45And it doesn't mean you have to get mad at somebody or tell them what they're
- 37:49doing is wrong. Your response is in your mind.
- 37:52That's deep to think of that as self-care, though. It is. Yeah.
- 37:55So you can be in an environment where your parents are being kind of jerks or
- 37:59your spouse is what I was saying earlier. Yeah.
- 38:02And you can then in that moment respond inside even your mind of this is not
- 38:07something that I want to be a part of. This is something I want to start to see.
- 38:11And you're showing yourself love by doing that. Yeah. That I can start to try to move away from.
- 38:14Yeah. That's deep. That is. I need a speed run, my guy. Okay.
- 38:17Wait. You keep saying speed run. Because we need to speed run. we're
- 38:20getting behind any tips to conquering
- 38:23inner critic yeah that your inner critic it's a
- 38:26great great question your inner critic is that just constant
- 38:29inner monologue inner dialogue and this is why i talk so much about acceptance
- 38:33and commitment therapy because i believe that most of our inner critic comes
- 38:37from the way that we talk to ourselves the way we beat ourselves up when we
- 38:41say man i'm so dumb or i shouldn't have thought that or what's wrong with me
- 38:45and this is my big soapbox I like to talk about.
- 38:48And this is where the typical way that we talk about a lot of therapists or
- 38:53influencers or motivational speakers start from that.
- 38:57Your thoughts, you have your stinking thinking, your automatic negative thoughts,
- 39:00and then you just have to change it and then you'll be happier.
- 39:03Now that can work when somebody has no idea where to start from.
- 39:06Just think of it differently.
- 39:08But acceptance and commitment therapy is the most beautiful thing because it starts with,
- 39:12again, you're the only version of you that's ever walked the face of the earth
- 39:14mac you with your nature nurture birth order dna abandonment rejection hopes
- 39:17fears dreams and everything that makes you you so you actually think and feel
- 39:21the way you do because you do and you're not broken you're human thank you yeah
- 39:24thank you and so in that so if your inner critic is saying man you are so dumb
- 39:29you shouldn't have handled that way it's okay uh noted noted.
- 39:34Onto the next thing yeah so uh because it's when you are just when you're giving
- 39:38so much energy or power or focus to that inner critic, that inner critic is,
- 39:43you can become differentiated from yourself, from your inner critic.
- 39:46So when your inner critic is telling you, you should have known better,
- 39:49then it's okay. That's a thought. That is.
- 39:52Thank you. Thanks, I guess. And it takes time to do that because you have so
- 39:56many thoughts and so many emotions and so many feelings that are happening.
- 39:59And try not to say what's wrong with me. Nothing's wrong with you.
- 40:03You're going through life literally the very first time.
- 40:05Very first time is you. So that is how you're thinking. That is how you're feeling.
- 40:09So check that out. That is all that you need to say to that.
- 40:13That really is. Your inner critic is trying to say something to you and think it.
- 40:17I appreciate you, voice inside my head.
- 40:20The very founder of acceptance and commitment therapy, Dr. Stephen Hayes,
- 40:23when he started talking about this, I loved it because I swear,
- 40:26maybe I'm missing, maybe I'm mixing up stories, but I swear he called his inner
- 40:29voice, George. So he'd say, thanks, George.
- 40:32And in mine, it's just, okay, thanks brain. I appreciate you saying that because
- 40:36I'm going to do a quick check-in.
- 40:37Actually, I don't agree that I should have known or what's wrong with me. Nothing.
- 40:42And you do that over time. And here's the part that I don't know if this sounds
- 40:45good or bad, but over time,
- 40:47what it feels like to be you your implicit memory which
- 40:50is built on the very slow residue of your lived experience the things
- 40:54you think and do and interact and say to yourself that if
- 40:56you can start to notice and and make those small changes
- 41:00like we talked about earlier then what it can feel like to be you even
- 41:03on the inside can start to really really change and i will be
- 41:06honest with you i did not know that that was even a thing until
- 41:09it becomes a thing and then i don't have
- 41:12that inner voice that's the what's wrong with me and i still
- 41:14do plenty of dumb things every day but uh
- 41:18yeah but even today i looked for
- 41:21a remote control that would move a teleprompter
- 41:2430 minutes in my office i have teleprompter software yeah and i have this little
- 41:30remote control stump found it but the whole time i was noticing that i was could
- 41:34have been frustrated i was and i was taking great delight and finding other
- 41:37things in the bottom of my backpack and then at 30 minutes later i just okay,
- 41:42I am not going to find that to that remote. That is happening.
- 41:45Check that out check that out really it was
- 41:48okay yeah you didn't hit anything no i didn't i ate a chocolate chip
- 41:51muffin top though oh yeah because i did find that in
- 41:54your backpack and you ate it no i found it on the stool
- 41:57beside me okay from when i bought it um why
- 42:00do the people in my life who need therapy the most don't go it's
- 42:03frustrating it's super frustrating what do you think they have
- 42:06the most work to do and it's too oh it's
- 42:09too scary or upsetting for them
- 42:12to have to acknowledge that they need the help
- 42:15it is interesting they're so far into it that
- 42:18it's it's just like we
- 42:21need i don't know i feel like like with the narcissist if
- 42:24they've confabulated things so far then they don't even think
- 42:27that they need help that's a great i see what you're saying you know yeah yeah that's actually
- 42:30what yeah what mackey's saying the confabulation thing is an amazing thing what
- 42:33we do with our own memory the stories we tell ourselves here i'm talking about the
- 42:35good version i'm okay i'm not broken i'm human but if
- 42:38it's the i'm never wrong i don't need therapy you need
- 42:41therapy now i'm projecting shadow self yeah
- 42:45that's the thing yeah because if they would because if
- 42:47i would need therapy so many people do the all or nothing
- 42:50black or white stuff so much where they're thinking okay if i need therapy then
- 42:53that means that i have to admit that there are things that i might have done
- 42:55or that i do that that people aren't happy about and then all of a sudden everyone
- 43:00is gonna think that i've done that i'm bad or there's so many so much too overwhelming
- 43:05to even be a thing so then they just don't it really is huh okay where do we go Oh.
- 43:11It's a lot. Okay. Ooh, oh.
- 43:15Wait, does this one fit you at all? Any ideas how to deal with an older sibling
- 43:18who is controlling? Have you met my older sibling?
- 43:21She's the nicest person. Okay. I'm not saying it in a bad way.
- 43:25She is so nice. Like, have you seen her? No. Yeah, yeah. I have the nicest older sibling, so I, that.
- 43:30I don't know. Yeah, okay. Did you ever relate to that? Yeah, well, no.
- 43:36Okay. And I was like, my older sibling and I just, we didn't really talk much.
- 43:41So I think if I were just, if I'm just giving generic advice,
- 43:45generic advice, throwaway advice, whatever, but not really trying to say that.
- 43:49But it goes back to that concept that maybe tonight's theme of becoming differentiated,
- 43:54of trying to maintain a connection while holding on to your sense of self,
- 43:57which is going to mean boundaries.
- 43:58So if the older sibling is controlling, then you will most likely need to find
- 44:03a way to start to do things on your own.
- 44:07And the unfortunate part is a controlling person is typically controlling because
- 44:11it gives them this false sense of self.
- 44:14They feel like if they are controlling someone, that then they will...
- 44:18Oh, there's a therapist there too.
- 44:21She's an AMFT? Yeah, Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. In North? NorCal.
- 44:29Tessa. Northern California. Okay. And you buy some building clientele.
- 44:33Send me an email, first of all. Tony at TonyOverBay.com.
- 44:37And where are you at? In NorCal. And I like trying to help other therapists.
- 44:40But advice on building clientele.
- 44:42Here's, okay. I would love to know your thoughts on this for real.
- 44:45Because this is something that when I was a brand new... Roseville!
- 44:48Oh, that's where my... I'm at Roseville.
- 44:50Okay. Tessa, are you near me at all? I have an office in Rockland that I go
- 44:53to every other Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Let's see. Okay.
- 44:58Okay reach out to me that's crazy i know that's cool so i have an
- 45:01office in rockland i've got an office in arizona but i go back to rockland every other
- 45:04week lead hill do you know where that is yes where i am
- 45:06what no no i'm lone tree
- 45:09i know where lead hill is i used to be near lead hill yeah okay now i guess
- 45:14it's not scary to say i grew up in lincoln yeah is that a lot because we don't
- 45:18live there oh yeah yeah but but here's the here's the thing i want to throw
- 45:21out there and i think this is one i did i wrote for a newspaper for 10 years for free uh humor column,
- 45:28in lincoln in lincoln for for 10 years and
- 45:31i would speak places and i just felt like i would
- 45:33i spoke a lot huh yeah yeah and and
- 45:37i felt like it was just getting your reps in yeah and you just you
- 45:39basically just put yourself out there so when people did need
- 45:42yeah therapy it's like they knew of you yeah
- 45:45you know so then i feel like people like i feel like people just knew
- 45:48your name well enough at some point where if they ever
- 45:51had anyone say anything they could be like oh well tony does
- 45:54something like that and then i started this podcast i started the
- 45:57virtual couch 10 years ago now and there's uh
- 46:00oh yeah podcast that's almost 500 episodes and i
- 46:02think what is challenging there too tessa is that the
- 46:06first 100 episodes i felt kind of silly
- 46:08i really did and when people was your podcast oh good okay and so when people
- 46:12would say things like oh you're still doing that little podcast thing oh you
- 46:16said tick me off on the inside and then and then but i would go speak i would
- 46:20speak everywhere and i powered through that of people making you feel and there
- 46:24were a couple people that would would say they told me that i was giving away my.
- 46:28Whatever i forget and but that were those were people that weren't
- 46:31doing it they were people that weren't doing that and now um email
- 46:34tony at tony overbay.com tessa reach out you're gonna
- 46:37have to come on a podcast that'll be fun um but
- 46:40at that point though then you were just put getting in the reps and
- 46:43consistency and now because what is it for is it like word of mouth is that
- 46:47your most are like referrals or what i mean now it's i feel like for what i
- 46:51do it's social media but i feel like therapy is not as much therapy i mean still
- 46:55though i don't know i don't know so i've got a wait list i get i get a whole
- 46:58bunch of referrals it's really yeah anyway actually i probably could.
- 47:06I hope he calls. Yeah, I hope he calls her. Okay. Oh, and Tessa said she loves
- 47:09the naming it thing that you're talking about. Oh, good. What's DBT?
- 47:15I don't know enough about DBT, Sophie.
- 47:18That's one thing that really, it's dialectical behavioral therapy,
- 47:20DBT. And it's used a lot with things like borderline personality disorder.
- 47:24But DBT, there's a couple of things that I just wish I knew more about, and I really don't.
- 47:30As a matter of fact, if there's a therapist that listens to this.
- 47:33Oh, how's your little therapy thing? if there's a if somebody
- 47:37knows of a good dbt therapist please have them reach
- 47:39out to me i've never interviewed one on my podcast and i would really like
- 47:42to do that yeah okay wait what's a lucy i've thought about being a therapist
- 47:47but i'm worried about getting to attach the clients that's a great that's a
- 47:49great thought i remember in grad school there was a keep up those boundaries
- 47:54yeah how to keep up the balance um it i've never thought about that there was there was a i had a.
- 48:01One of my professors was absent and there was a substitute
- 48:04that came in one night and she literally talked about she had
- 48:06adopted a couple of kids that she had worked with as a therapist like that's
- 48:10got to be a bound that's got to be ethical is that allowed i don't think so i
- 48:13mean that's what i remember we all thought like what yeah yeah but it
- 48:16really is making sure that you i used to be in a there
- 48:19like a therapist like a bunch of us would talk about things and now
- 48:22i have a couple of associates and so you do group supervision and
- 48:26so a therapist is typically gonna maybe have their own therapy group
- 48:29or they're gonna do their own therapy or they're going
- 48:31to be able to talk about things and that's one of the best
- 48:34things that you can do is to have somebody that you can that can kind of check
- 48:38you because you can care a lot about other people as well i was like just like
- 48:44reading i'm reading over your thing so then i was like you can care about stuff
- 48:48okay let's do a couple more but yeah you gotta we're almost gonna we'll go an hour. 10 more minutes.
- 48:54Okay, wait, do you want to do this? At the virtual couch.
- 48:58Oh, there's so many good ones.
- 49:01Okay, there's one that, what does it mean when it has a little thing?
- 49:03If it senses anything that might be, like, not okay, it does that,
- 49:07and then we get to approve it.
- 49:08Yeah, so there's somebody that says, what about dealing with corn?
- 49:13This guy wrote a book about it. In your marriage. And that's one where,
- 49:17another one where, email me at tony at tonyoverbay.com, because I'm working
- 49:22on an episode right now about that.
- 49:24I have a lot of thoughts. And you have a book. I do have a book called He's a Corn Addict. Now what?
- 49:32An expert and a former addict answer your questions. I play the role of the expert.
- 49:35And Joshua Shea, who has a big following on TikTok as well, is that he's the
- 49:40addict. And it's a really good book.
- 49:41And it's available on all the things. But email him. Yeah, do. Yeah.
- 49:45Okay. Oh, okay. Emma Kate, I've come to the conclusion that my husband has a
- 49:49set idea of who he believes I am.
- 49:51That's such a great way to put that. But it's him assuming the worst.
- 49:54Yeah. And that's one where there's so much there.
- 49:57So we, when we get in, remember, we talked to Emma last time. Oh, yeah, I know Emma.
- 50:03Yeah. Okay. I do know. Yeah. Okay. With Emma.
- 50:07So we, when we're in relationships, basically we are putting out a version of
- 50:11ourselves and we're saying to the other person, you think this is who I am. Right.
- 50:16And then when that person is reacting maybe differently to us,
- 50:20then that's that whole concept of the, okay, I'm going to, self-confront and
- 50:23say, okay, is this who I am?
- 50:25But that doesn't mean that just because that person sees you a certain way,
- 50:29that that is who you are. Does that make sense?
- 50:32If they see you that way, that doesn't automatically mean that.
- 50:36Yeah. Like if I walk around.
- 50:37You're still yourself. Yeah. Regardless of what they've decided you are in their mind.
- 50:42And so what that becomes, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your relationship,
- 50:47that is your opportunity to decide, is there truth in how this person perceives you?
- 50:53Or do you know who you are? And I ultimately say, you do.
- 50:57And lately I'm throwing some numbers on it. So, I want you to look at yourself
- 51:01as with a 90% solid, maybe 10% flexible sense of self.
- 51:05So, you ultimately know who you are.
- 51:08And so, when somebody says, well, I think you're somebody else. Oh, do you now?
- 51:12That's the 10%. You hold on to that 90%. Exactly. And say, okay,
- 51:15I'm willing to hear you, but there's a 90% chance that I know myself better. Yeah. Yeah.
- 51:22Because I think so often when somebody feels insecure in the relationship,
- 51:27they maybe are coming at it with a 30% solid, 70% flexible sense of self.
- 51:32And then they're asking everybody, who do you think I am? How do you think I should do this?
- 51:36Right? Yeah. And we make jokes about that. Like, remember at the restaurant
- 51:40last night when you said, where are you guys?
- 51:43In our seats. because i was like
- 51:45oh you'll walk into the restaurant and you will see us funny i
- 51:49have well i don't have sometimes i get anxious and
- 51:51i like to know things prior okay yeah emailed my social psychology press professor
- 51:57all your information because i was telling her how much i love you all and oh
- 52:00my gosh you are the best thank you okay that's cute and nice i know that really
- 52:04is okay let's do some more we got seven minutes mackie because i know you have
- 52:09things that you want to go do,
- 52:12You have a life, apparently. Not really. I have one friend. Okay.
- 52:18Oh, that... How about that one? Can you speak to that? Okay, Carl 400.
- 52:22Dating somebody with past trauma, meaning being cheated on and having trust issues.
- 52:27This is a great question. Because we bring our past relationships and our past
- 52:34worries and fears into the current relationship.
- 52:37Because it's what you know. It's what you know. So it is, you got to give people
- 52:41grace with that because it is just what you know and it's hard to just throw that away.
- 52:47But I think you need to be able to communicate about it. So let's say this is
- 52:50where there's another, so I do a lot in the world of narcissism and emotional immaturity.
- 52:54Go check out the Waking Up to Narcissism podcast, which is actually bigger than
- 52:57the Virtual Couch podcast.
- 52:59But there's another narcissism expert named Dr.
- 53:03Ramani. And she talked one time, and I like this.
- 53:06I've got my own version of this. where she talked about she called it
- 53:09there's a narcissist and then there's a lesser narcissist so i
- 53:12like to say there's somebody that's incredibly emotionally immature and they're most
- 53:15likely in a relationship with somebody that is is also immature
- 53:18that's why we find each other and so when you let's
- 53:21say you get out of the relationship with the really narcissistic person
- 53:24or the really emotionally immature and now you
- 53:27get into a relationship with somebody that's we'll call them more normal and
- 53:30now you're the one yeah because of what happened to you in
- 53:33this relationship so now when this person says hey i'm
- 53:36gonna go hang out with my friends all of a sudden you're like what does
- 53:39that mean because when this person said i'm gonna go hang out with my friends
- 53:42it did not mean they were hanging out with their friends yeah i fear this is
- 53:44me it is most people i'm learning this right
- 53:47now right so now when they're like hey i'm gonna i'm gonna
- 53:50take a nap i'll get back to you later and you're texting and
- 53:53texting and texting and all of a sudden they're like i said
- 53:56i would like talk to you later right and so that's
- 53:59the one where the reason i'm bringing that up is i think so for carl yeah oh
- 54:02oh lena great advice there lots of honesty patience and
- 54:04reassurance and i appreciate lena you saying the reassurance because
- 54:08i think a lot of times people will jump right to the well i shouldn't have to
- 54:11calm their anxiety or i shouldn't have to be that's a them issue no if you're
- 54:16in a relationship yeah yeah it is part of committing to that relationship is
- 54:21accepting that the other person has i don't want to say baggage but has had.
- 54:26Experiences and feels different than you do because they're a different person
- 54:30than you. So hopefully they can say okay, check this out.
- 54:33And then you can both be curious and come together and heal.
- 54:36There it is. There's the puzzle.
- 54:38You can help each other heal and then grow stronger in your relationship.
- 54:42Absolutely. So if you can have the courage that takes courage. So the reassurance is.
- 54:49Should be just a thing. It shouldn't be something that you're fighting or not willing to give. Yeah.
- 54:55Yeah. And Danielle brings up a good point that we can integrate in here.
- 54:58I feel like knowing yourself is hard because isn't that ever changing?
- 55:01Absolutely. Because it's the first time that you are in these situations.
- 55:04And you should be changing.
- 55:04That's good. That's growing. It is. So when you're in the relationship and all
- 55:07of a sudden now, when that person says, I'm going to hang out with my friends,
- 55:10do you have the courage to say, Hey, check this out.
- 55:12Oh, and Lena, a good partner can be very healing. So check this out.
- 55:15When you say that, here's where I go.
- 55:17Because if that partner says well geez i guess i'll never go
- 55:20out with my friends again right run is that
- 55:22too extreme but if you're but if they're
- 55:25like oh man tell me about that what's that what's that like yeah carl
- 55:28been with her five years and there's still some times where she has the fear of cheating the
- 55:32sometimes is the question i'd have carl because that's fair
- 55:34um i think a lot of times when people have been hurt they're especially
- 55:38to as somebody that has been cheated on it does some
- 55:41damage like because you
- 55:44can be with the like you can be with a partner that you
- 55:47completely trust wholeheartedly and that
- 55:50still or that pain pops up
- 55:54sometimes and it's very or personally for me
- 55:57like having feeling that being with a good partner that I do trust it's very
- 56:01frustrating like all I'm saying is give her some grace because it's very frustrating
- 56:06when those feelings come up and you can logically say i know that my partner
- 56:11would not do these things yeah but there's still this.
- 56:16Thanks okay trauma there's or like this or it's
- 56:18a thought and it does pop in your head and then it's hard to let that thought
- 56:22go i would say though you've done a nice job though bringing you had the courage
- 56:25to be known yeah right because it is it's just about communicating and so i
- 56:29feel like if anything that is like a you're allowed to open up that conversation with her yeah and.
- 56:39Do you believe that fear will ever go away or she'll still live with it
- 56:41it's a great question i really think there's a old proverb or
- 56:44that i like where it was uh it's where
- 56:48okay so this person comes and they go to the
- 56:50it's like a i want to say a chinese proverb or buddhist proverb where the person
- 56:55goes to their master and they say okay they pour salt in a glass of water and
- 56:59they have them drink of it with a straw the water is really salty then they
- 57:03go to a lake which this is a part that i think is kind of gross because they're
- 57:06going to drink out of the lake but that's maybe my ADHD talking,
- 57:08but then they go back and they pour the same amount of salt in the lake.
- 57:11And then he says, okay, drink from a straw in there. And then you can't taste any of the salt.
- 57:14So it's like the salt's still in there, but you're starting,
- 57:16you make that much room for it.
- 57:18So the more trust you have in the relationship over time and the more that you're
- 57:21able to, and I was going to say earlier too, I use this phrase a lot in my couple's
- 57:25therapy of testing for safety.
- 57:26And I think it's okay to, for the guy in this situation, Carl,
- 57:29you to know that on occasion she may still just throw out a test for safety.
- 57:34And when it's not that she's saying she doesn't trust you or saying she really
- 57:39thinks you're going to do something like that.
- 57:41But it is like a, yeah, it's that fear of abandonment and fear of getting hurt and all of that.
- 57:46So if you are showing up in a human who feels things, right.
- 57:49And if you're, and if you're solid, this is where I like, if you're solid with
- 57:52yourself, then if, if she is testing for safety, then I'm going to say,
- 57:56man, I appreciate you sharing that. That would be hard if you still find yourself.
- 58:00And you can have that conversation.
- 58:03Now, honestly, and I don't know your situation.
- 58:06I did an episode on attachment. Go find it on the virtual couch a couple of weeks ago.
- 58:11And I talked about your attachment orientation. So we still talked about anxious
- 58:14attachment, avoidant attachment, disorganized attachment.
- 58:17But the reason I did it was because there's some new research that came out
- 58:21that's talking about, let's call it your attachment orientation.
- 58:23And it's the way that you bring your attachment issues into the relationship,
- 58:28but you can change them with that awareness.
- 58:30But the reason I did the whole podcast was based on one line that talked about
- 58:33remembering that the things you're bringing into the relationship ultimately
- 58:37are things that you are carrying from your childhood.
- 58:39So I have seen situations where
- 58:41somebody can show up and this is why differentiation is so beautiful.
- 58:44I can show up and be the very best version of myself. I can choose myself.
- 58:47I can stay grounded. I can not play small.
- 58:49I can own my own stuff. I can make changes.
- 58:52And that person may still not choose me.
- 58:56And that's and ultimately that is a them issue. and
- 58:59that's hard because I've worked with a couple of people in particular lately
- 59:02that have shown up the very best version of their self
- 59:05and the other person is I think wounded from
- 59:09childhood that then they still cannot be
- 59:13in the relationship and a lot of times when we
- 59:16get into relationships we're so codependent we're so enmeshed because
- 59:19we're everybody's immature going into relationships because
- 59:22we don't know we don't know and then you go through things and you get the tools and
- 59:26you start to communicate more effectively but then your partner may
- 59:29still not trust or they may still have really
- 59:31difficult situations that they still project
- 59:35onto you or do you see i'm going there yeah yeah
- 59:39it's complicated it is but i
- 59:42mean with that is the relationship ever easy or is it always a fixer-upper that's
- 59:46like i like the fixer-upper part because at some points yeah it's two
- 59:49imperfect people coming together and trying to build a
- 59:52life with each other and there is always going to be i don't
- 59:55think it doesn't mean there has to be screaming and yelling and fighting and
- 1:00:00anything like that but it doesn't mean that things are just going to be perfect
- 1:00:04and easy well chris i'll catch you before we go real quick i've seen you've
- 1:00:07said that before yeah but it's not gonna be perfect and easy 24 7 and there
- 1:00:10are gonna be like it's gonna ebb and flow of.
- 1:00:14All the things yeah and that's that can
- 1:00:17still be normal and healthy yeah but that doesn't mean just assume if
- 1:00:20there is screaming and yelling and constant fighting that that's not
- 1:00:23normal no exactly healthy and so imagine this
- 1:00:26and i'm not even trying to be funny but this is where what it
- 1:00:30is so normal in a relationship to get to the point where all you talk about
- 1:00:33are the things that are easy because the things that are difficult to talk about
- 1:00:36are so hard and it's because we didn't learn how to we're so afraid of contention
- 1:00:41that we avoid tension in the relationship altogether and so learning that growth
- 1:00:44comes from the discomfort learning how to self-soothe and to show up and know that.
- 1:00:50It's easier to run away from my anxiety and my fear than to confront it.
- 1:00:54But when you start to get, I always say you get your reps and repetitions,
- 1:00:58your practice in becoming differentiated, that you over time,
- 1:01:02again, things take a lot longer than we think.
- 1:01:04But over time, when you notice that you are wanting to have a difficult conversation
- 1:01:08rather than kicking that can down the road and saying, you know what, I'll do it later.
- 1:01:12Then you know that, okay, we're going to learn more about each other through this conversation.
- 1:01:18And that's where really go find me on
- 1:01:20the virtual couch look up my four pillars of a connected conversation because
- 1:01:24there i have an amazing framework where i'm assuming
- 1:01:27good intentions that person is not trying to hurt me
- 1:01:30with the way they're showing up it is making me uncomfortable i
- 1:01:32can't tell them they're wrong or i don't believe them even if i think they're wrong or
- 1:01:35i don't believe them because if i start going down that path we're going to go out in the weeds
- 1:01:38and we're just going to start and tip for tat and then i'm
- 1:01:41going to go into questions before comments i'm going to be curious i'm
- 1:01:44going to say tell me more about that what is that like for you but i got to
- 1:01:46step out of my own ego it's going to be really awkward and then i'm going to stay present i'm
- 1:01:49not going to go into a victim mindset and anyway there's a lot
- 1:01:52there and i've got a marriage course update coming out soon and
- 1:01:55leave it there yeah that one right okay chris thanks
- 1:01:58for sticking with us because i i have a severe adhd um i have temporary paralysis
- 1:02:03from severe adhd and anxiety advice so one of the best things i think you can
- 1:02:07do if you've been diagnosed with adhd please read the book ADHD 2.0 by Hallowell
- 1:02:12and Rattay. I make jokes often and I say it's my Bible.
- 1:02:16It's an amazing book because there are so many things about ADHD that I think
- 1:02:21we're learning more about now.
- 1:02:22It has some of the best concepts where ADHD, it's like we have a Ferrari engine
- 1:02:28and we have bicycle brakes.
- 1:02:29It's that we have to find the right kind of difficult. It's understanding that
- 1:02:33what executive functioning challenges really look like.
- 1:02:36There's this teeter-totter of thinking and doing thinking and
- 1:02:39doing and apparently people can think about things and
- 1:02:42not want to do something else or do things and not think about something
- 1:02:45else but the adhd brain our teeter-totter kind
- 1:02:48of broke so when i'm thinking about something all of a sudden i think i want
- 1:02:51to do something else look at that and when i'm doing something all of a sudden
- 1:02:54that makes me want to think about something else and so it's accepting and learning
- 1:02:57how to deal with those wonderful challenges when you find the right kind of
- 1:03:01difficult then you really can thrive and it's interesting because
- 1:03:05there's some thought where people want to call it VAST,
- 1:03:09variable attention stimulus trait, rather than attention deficit disorder.
- 1:03:13It's not in a deficit of attention when you find the right kind of difficult.
- 1:03:17And then when you can do something until all of a sudden you don't want to do it.
- 1:03:20And that's been one of the greatest things for me personally is I spent 10 years
- 1:03:24in a career I hated, the computer industry.
- 1:03:26And when I found therapy, all of a sudden I get to see a client and then another
- 1:03:31one is completely different and then another one.
- 1:03:33And then I can write and I can go speak and I can do a podcast.
- 1:03:36And you're finding that right kind of difficult. And then there's so many things in that book as well.
- 1:03:41The concepts around rejection sensitivity that those
- 1:03:44of us with adhd we were told no some believe 10
- 1:03:47to 20 000 times more by the time we were 12 or 13 or
- 1:03:50whatever it is even just not just like no but not now
- 1:03:53buddy or you know you seem like a whole lot and so we have anticipatory rejection
- 1:03:57so we're sometimes going into things anticipating rejection which can cause
- 1:04:01anxiety which can cause a temporary paralysis and and then they have a beautiful
- 1:04:06section on connection vitamin c that we really do need connection with others,
- 1:04:11but it can be difficult again because of that rejection sensitivity.
- 1:04:14And ADHD, if you really have it, is one of the most efficacious.
- 1:04:19It's one of the most successfully things treated through medication.
- 1:04:22And that section alone talks about how people with.
- 1:04:26Undiagnosed or untreated ADHD, it's a
- 1:04:29significant portion that turned to unhealthy coping
- 1:04:32mechanisms because we do we just we
- 1:04:35we are impulsive there sometimes it's
- 1:04:38the fun kind of impulsive other times it's the not so fun kind
- 1:04:41so there's a lot there that can be done and and is
- 1:04:44your contact yeah yeah yeah and as
- 1:04:47a again as a card carrying member of the adhd club
- 1:04:50which i didn't get my diagnosis till nine ten years ago
- 1:04:53in my mid-40s it's i i do i that's one of the biggest things where when i say
- 1:04:58i have to accept the fact that i can i wish i would have gotten my diagnosis
- 1:05:02sooner so do everything you can to find out more about adhd and know that it
- 1:05:07can be once you if you have it and you embrace it it's it can be a fun time i'm a pretty fun hang,
- 1:05:13Oh, yeah. I don't think you're paying
- 1:05:15attention. And I feel rejection very sensitively. You're fine. Thank you.
- 1:05:19Okay. Everybody, what a wonderful time. Mackie, thank you for showing up tonight. I appreciate it.
- 1:05:25And we're trying to do these every Sunday night. So if we didn't get to your question, come back.
- 1:05:31Oh, and if Sydney was here, she would say that she's going to put this up on YouTube in a few days.
- 1:05:35And then I put in the thing that you were on here tonight. Go follow you at Mackie.
- 1:05:41Mackie Overbank. And follow her at Mackieoverbay on iwasnay.com,
- 1:05:45but not really. It's on the ticking talk.
- 1:05:47Right? Follow me. Follow you.
- 1:05:52Thanks, Mack. I'm hungry. I'm too. I think that's why I tapped out a little bit. You did good.
- 1:05:58Thanks. Yeah. All right. Here's the part where I awkwardly...
- 1:06:0120 minutes to find the ending it button. Yeah. Okay.
- 1:06:05Thanks, everybody. Have a wonderful time. I was going to say,
- 1:06:08we'll see you next time on the virtual couch. This is not the podcast.
- 1:06:10Wake up to narcissism. Virtual couch. Wait, I've answered, if you're interested
- 1:06:13in talking it, just email contact at tonyoverbay.com. You, yeah.
- 1:06:18And I'm, uh, I'll, yeah, I'll do more Q&A podcast episodes throughout the week as well.
- 1:06:23Have you even thought about, every now and again, I'll get a cancellation and
- 1:06:26somebody will say, oh, I'm so sorry I can't make it, but of course I know I
- 1:06:28have to pay you, which is like the greatest client in the world.
- 1:06:31And in those situations, I've thought, I should just go live and answer questions.
- 1:06:34Yeah, you should. I'd be all by myself.
- 1:06:37What's up?
- 1:06:38Music.