My Brain Hates Me - Jessie Dean Altman

[SpookyGhost]

The writer (Lady Parts, The Onion) and dog walker shares about the lifelong battle she has had with her brain and emotions including: Intrusive thoughts, OCD, treatment-resistant depression, procrastination, self-judgment, and anger. She shares how REBT was a game changer for helping her cope.

Follow Jessie on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NickCageMatch

[Not Ready Yet]

Interesting episode, although I had some mixed reactions to it.

One thing that did pop out at me: when Jessie talks about being easily startled, exhausted by crowds, it sounds like she might be what is known as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), aka sensory processing sensitivity. This is a trait in which people process stimuli more deeply due to having a more sensitive central nervous system. It's been linked having to a variant in the serotonin transporter gene.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_p ... ensitivity
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/co ... ive-person

I think it would be great to have an episode that focuses on this trait.

[Not Ready Yet]

My favorite moment from this episode, at about 1:06:15...

“You know, one of the things that has helped me is to try to break my life into smaller pieces in terms of thinking about them, and the one that really works for me is to just think about today. Because if I begin to think about where my life is headed in the long term, it’s never good. It is never good. It’s the same old fucking tape of 'I waited too long,' 'I’m such-and-such age,' 'Look at all the people who have done more than me,' 'Look where they are now,' and, it... it’s just a bad neighborhood. And so I stay out of that, and I find that the people, the people’s whose lives work are the people who stay in, 'What can I do today? Let’s just keep it to the next 24 hours.' And then their lives have a way of working out, not necessarily in terms of they’re going to be rich and, you know, recognized or anything, but in terms of following, um, following their… their gut, and in a way that isn’t based on fear, but is more based in, um, who they want to be, and what is doable. And those little tiny baby steps then add up into a life that they find they can have peace with.”

George Costanza once said on Seinfeld, "This is no longer just some crazy notion. Jerry, this is my religion." Well, I think need to make what Paul said above MY religion.

[randomletter_uckface]

I had to take a break from this episode because it was like listening to the inside of my own brain at times when hearing her talk.
She seems shut off from the pain of her childhood and I know this numbness all too well, it's eerie hearing it in someone else though; just casually mentioning all the horrible things like it's no big deal.
Then I forgot about it and started to listen to the episode again, I completely blocked it out until all the familiar things Paul said started to seep into my mind and I remembered that I already listened to this episode.