How To Transform Your Emotions Into Unconditional Courage & Empowerment [BONUS EPISODE Presented By BetterHelp]

This episode was sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. Big thanks to Jesu Joe, licensed therapist and head of clinical operations at BetterHelp. Jesu Joe is not my actual therapist and we are not in a therapist client relationship. Also, just because you might hear something on the show that sounds similar to what you're experiencing, beware of self diagnosis. You'll want to find a qualified professional to assess and explore diagnosis if that's important to you. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur, and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. I've got one more question for you. This is again from one of our listeners who said, I feel like there's.

Almost two too much information available on self care and it's almost overwhelming. Could you simplify things and just give us some basics that we could do each day that would help with our self care?

What would you say as a, as a licensed therapist and professional in this field that works really well? Some basics?

I'll just say this question is becoming a language in this day and age. It is very overwhelming. There's thousands of ads that we get everywhere for this wellness product and that, and that's not to say that all that stuff shouldn't be here. There's a lot of helpful stuff that have come onto the market that's really great. But when we want to simplify and get to the basics of what self care is, you want to remember that sometimes self care is not indulgent stuff that makes us feel good all the time right in that moment. A really good example of this is exercise and regular movement. A lot of people don't really want to get up and work out all the time, let alone a few times a week or, you know, the recommended 7,000, 10,000 steps a day, 30 minutes of cardio three times a week, like whatever it is, sometimes people just don't want to do that. But this is a great example of self care looking like going out of your way to prioritize your wellness. So, you know, if you think about somebody that you care very, very, very deeply, if they called you at 3am saying they're stranded somewhere, you would probably get up out of bed and go get them. But when's the last time you would go to that level of kind of like trouble for yourself? You know, a lot of times we choose to relax over these things that we don't want to do. I'll just say movement, regular movement on a regular basis is super important. Of course, if you have injuries, if you have certain specific things going on with your body, you want to check in with your own, do make sure everything is cleared to go. But we are not meant to sit around and be sedentary all the time. We are evolved to be moving and on our feet for a lot of the day. But our modern lifestyles are very different. Our modern lifestyles have brought us to the desk, have brought us to a chair, have brought us into a car, have brought us into this position that we're really not meant to be in. You know, anybody that you ask, they'll say if they sit for over X amount of hours or are lying down for X amount of hours, your back starts to hurt. It's your body telling you to get up, you need to move around and get limber. And two other really simple things that are basic to self care is sleep. Sleep hygiene is what's going to help you with regular good sleep. Insomnia is a plague to all of us as modern people. And when we are deprived of sleep, we lose cognitive ability. Um, we're more prone to being emotionally distressed, we can't focus. You know, there's a lot of sleep studies out there and research showing that people deprived of sleep for X amount of hours will experience psychosis. Depriving people of sleep is used as a torture method. So when you think of it that way, sleep, go to sleep people, and a lot of folks have challenges in getting themselves to sleep at a reasonable hour because of another thing that we're all talking about now called revenge, procrastination. People tend to stay up really late at night because they feel like they didn't have a lot of control over the events of the day. And now nighttime is my me time. So if that's happening to you, you might want to reevaluate how you're prioritizing time or how time is being allotted throughout the week so that you can have me time during normal waking hours and then also focusing and prioritizing the me time in terms of sleeping. This is when your body recharges, rests, processes, memory. Actually, I think scientists don't exactly know exactly why we sleep still, but they know that there's a lot of benefits that come from it and a lot of harm that comes when you don't. And finally, what you're consuming. I'm very much talking about what you eat, but really I see it as what you're consuming everywhere. Anything that you're putting as input into your body. Garbage in, garbage out. So get in some good, nutritious, whole things that are nourishing to your body's needs. Of course, if you have individual considerations, you might want to connect with a professional in that, in that way. But if you're consuming good stuff, then good stuff will come out. Right. If you're consuming bad stuff, that's what you're going to I think, bring into the universe too.

Yeah. And what you, what you look at, what you hear, those things are how you consume as well, what you're watching.

Yeah. Media content out there, there's so much of it, a lot of good stuff and a lot of stuff that like sometimes is questionable to allow yourself to continue taking in. You know, some of these things can be really, really interesting, but it might be harmful to you. So you want to just keep in check like how you're feeling in terms of your emotional reaction to the stuff that you're consuming. Social media is a really interesting example. People love this stuff. They're addicted to doom scrolling. The fact that we call it doom scrolling I think is really telling to what it is that we're doing. So if you're, if you're finding yourself using social media to numb out other stuff, then it's probably no longer a benefit to your life.

That's it. This has been powerful. I'm so glad that you have shared so much with us today. Again, I'm grateful for you, for your years of expertise and the answers that you shared with everyone here asking these questions. And I think this is a constant reminder that I just am a big fan that having ongoing support is helpful in our lives. Even when things are good, when you're struggling with something at either time. I go to therapy now and life is good. It's not like I have some big problem. I go because I want it to continue to be good and continue to evolve beyond where I'm at. So it's one of the reasons why I go. But I also went when I was in massive breakdown and going through a breakup and struggling and trying to figure out like, why is this happening and what do I need to look at within myself that's causing this pain and how do I mend and heal the memories of the past and create new meaning. So again, if you're looking for clearer direction in your life, if you're looking for some healing, if you're looking for just more joy and freedom and peace of mind, then I encourage you to go to betterhelp.com Lewis Again, you get 10% off the first month when you do that. So you can try it for a month and explore it, check it out and you can also switch. You know you can, you can find a therapist and you can switch, I believe at any time. So if you're feeling like, ah, maybe this isn't working for me, let me try someone different. You can do that as well. Over at Better Help, they've got again online support. So if you have any questions, you can ask them questions right on the website again, betterhelp.com/louis, is there any final thoughts that you have before you wrap up?

Just, you know, you owe it to yourself, regardless of what your life circumstances are, to invest in yourself. And investment can be through financial means, but also time, energy. You are all guilty of giving time and energy away to all kinds of people in your life. I hope that you allow yourself to invest that time and energy into you so that you can continue showing up in the best way possible.

Absolutely. Well, Sue, I appreciate you very much for your experience for your time today and I'm so excited that we got to have this chat and I know it's going to help a lot of people. So thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want more inspiration from our world class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over@greatness.com com newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.