Alrighty folks. Welcome back to SDYT the podcast. I'm Porter I'm your host, and here in the month of March, well not the end of March.

 

We're still sticking to all 3 of our core values of growth, confidence, and compassion But this particular episode, we're gonna talk about balance, the importance in integrating your health, spiritually, mentally, physically, into your own well-being.

 

And we'll dive more into that as the episode goes on.

 

But before we get there, if you're new to the podcast, welcome, and if you're a continuing listener, welcome back, So without further ado, I'm Porter. I'm your host and this is SDYT the podcast.

 

Alrighty, folks. Welcome back to SDYT of Podcast. As I said on Porter, I'm still your host, and we're still covering growth confidence and compassion. But now at the end of March, special guest, special perspective, in my opinion.

 

Not only is this guy an aspiring psychologist soon to graduate, technically speaking, over the next few years, but from humble beginnings, immigrant family from Albania, which will touch on a little bit.

 

Marine Corps veteran active duty at that, so juggling the schedule, the transition, the culture of the society, not just of coming to the US, but of dealing with the active duty marine corps and then transitioning out of it basically towards med school direction.

 

So I'm pretty excited, but to everybody listening, Andy Litty. Ladies and gentlemen, Andy, what's up buddy? How you doing? Hey, man. I'm so happy to be here with you. It's a pleasure and an honor.

 

Yeah. I I appreciate. I'm glad you could make some time, man. This is gonna be pretty neat. We got a lot to talk about those, so I hate to rush into this, but I think the best place to start is just let's figure out who you are.

 

To everybody else aside from me right now, you're a voice on a stereo or in a headphone. So who is Andy Litty, the man, the myth, the immigrant? Who are you, man? What what made you who you are?

 

Alright. Quick I guess quick introduction. Like you said, I immigrated from Albania at the age of 14. So I kinda grew up in my early childhood in a foreign country, pretty homogeneous. Not really open to any other countries out there.

 

So I was kind of ignorant to the rest of the world. It is it used to be a communist regime for the longest, so a democracy came in a little late for us and growing up in a very secluded society.

 

Think of a like a current day in North Korea, just not as bad. But then, eventually, we got lucky enough. My mom won the lottery.

 

The Visa lottery for a lot of you don't know about it. It's the immigration visa. That a lottery kind of a way of coming to the states. The United States offers this to a lot of folks throughout the third world countries.

 

Been doing this for for decades. My mom literally got picked randomly. So here I am 25 years later, being able to actually make it United States and actually have a life.

 

So on the stroke of luck, we were able to come here back in 99. That's crazy. It is. It is pretty pretty interesting when you think about it.

 

But I'm a account myself extremely blessed just for the opportunity to to be able get selected randomly. But again, moving forward, spent most of my 4 years in high school and college you know, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

So a lot of my upbringing was kind of into some bad neighbors in bad schools in Philly, not the best education, which I guess in a lot in a lot of ways kinda shape me in the way I think about the world.

 

In the way I think about growth and potential and success.

 

But then lucky enough to actually make it through college, got a degree in sociology, then afterwards, of course, is a worthless degree. You're not gonna degree sociology. Putting it out there.

 

It was enough for me to kind of think outside the box and led me to the Marie Corps where I spent 9 years as a linguist and cryptologic linguist and operator, later on, actually, did some teaching of before language was which was person farsi.

 

I learned it as a as an early marine and then later on as a staff member. Was actually 1 of the funniest things, the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life.

 

Being able to instruct, help, counsel other service members. And so, like, what this will kinda lead me back to the current field I made, which is psychology, I'm currently in my fifth year of a clinical psychology degree.

 

I've got 1 more year next year for internship. At that point, I'll be able actually graduate, get a degree, and move forward with my life goals and career plans, which still are being solidified at this moment.

 

But I guess, as a whole year, that's me. I'm an immigrant from a very poor country still to this day. That's been lucky enough to actually come to the United States and make something of this life.

 

And I'm still in that process. I said, never end process for me. And so I'm just trying to make the best of it at this point. It sounds like aside from just this chance at the beginning that your manga selected.

 

It sounds like you've been able to put yourself into positions where you almost force yourself out of your comfort zone. How has that adjustment been for you?

 

Bingo. Yes. So the reason why I joined the Marine Court and not the Navy and army or the air force, not to kinda put down the other branches, but I saw the challenge as the biggest growth potential for me at the time.

 

So the marine corps, as they said, in at the time, it's slow now. It is 1 of the hardest branches to to kinda join.

 

For me, that's why kind of a entice me to kinda go into that. Without challenge, there's no growth. So to me, putting myself through write him under stress even though the marine corps does not really kind of do what I needed to do.

 

But at the same time, he he provided me with the challenge that I needed. And so with that, came growth.

 

And that's what I believe the biggest part of life kinda should be centralized in, finding challenging enough endeavors that provide some growth into whatever you're looking forward to or whatever progress you're looking for.

 

Without that challenge, without that stress, a good stress. I'm doing some quotation marks.

 

There's not really any growth per se. And so if we don't evolve, we stand still. We might even kinda reverse trajectory. So to me, challenge is is part of life. Part of what we become, the person we wanna become.

 

So it's gotta be integral to what I think life should be. Sure. And I think there's something to be said for resistance building resilience, but I'm curious, you said without challenge, there's no growth.

 

And obviously, it's not an absolute, but as an expression, without challenge, there's no growth I think there's consistently some sort of a challenge.

 

Right? It might be waking up in the morning when you're tired. It might be staying up late to study.

 

It might be dealing with somebody you don't feel like working with personality or in character, but But I think the recognition of that challenge is what breeds growth, not specifically the fact that there is a challenge.

 

Yeah. That's actually very well. But you're right. Life in general is a struggle, is a challenge for every every living and breathing thing.

 

So, yes, you're absolutely right. And I think what you said is correct. Understanding what it is that the challenge is doing for you, I think The way I think about it is intentional challenge.

 

I'm actually focusing what this next step, this next challenge will do for me for my progress in life. Yeah. Ownership. And like I said, understanding what what it is. What is it doing for you? Is it there for a reason?

 

Is there any product that comes out of that? Or is it just hey, I'm just struggling. Just a struggle. Then in in itself, It could provide growth, like, the resilience piece that you talked about just going through stressors.

 

But in terms of progressing forward, in the way you want it to progress, yet, understanding what that and how to kinda get in the right challenge in situations systems, then they could actually facilitate the proper growth.

 

Yeah. I And maybe this all stems from, you know, West Philadelphia born and raised on the playground type talk, but But I -- Yes.

 

-- I I think people are often a product of their surroundings, whether it's a physical structure and environment or people and character.

 

But but how do you in in your experience, because it sounds like you're figuring it out at least for yourself, if if not slowly. Yeah.

 

And if not at any regular consistency, at least along the way, But how do you build that sort of internal, what is it called, internal locus of control? Right, to take ownership of these challenges and actually do something with it.

 

And how did you find out ways that this might be an effective solution this might not be. And how did you navigate through that support network, or on your own, or what worked for you?

 

So it's it's a very complex question and answer, I would say, like you say, you talked about the environment that we grow grow up in the support system that we have in our mental faculties, the way we think about the world.

 

But just going off of what I said initially the way I grew up.

 

I grew up in a in a country that was kinda tumultuous through my childhood, seeing hardship, experiencing hardship, But at the same time having a a good enough support system to not let it leads to, let's say, a traumatic experience that you cannot get past.

 

Right? Sure. It was a small building blocks while still experiencing hardships combined together with a nice support system it led me to to the idea of well, I am capable.

 

I am I have the resilience that I may need to kinda make through stressful times based on my past experience, but I also understand that, hey, some things will be difficult kinda understanding the world, the struggle is as in general, that in itself is is a protective factor.

 

But it goes into the idea of responsibility, like self efficacy, understanding that, hey, what I think may happen, I may actually get to or what I think I need to to accomplish with myself.

 

I've had I have enough past experience, past knowledge that this might actually occur in the future.

 

Going through Philadelphia, for example. To me, I coulda had a better life elsewhere. Was not the most rewarding neighborhood or school system or, I guess, social network.

 

He taught me a lot of good things. What not to do, how to behave around certain environments, what to expect. I've seen the worst of the worst, but I've seen also the best of the best in folks.

 

And so I think it's a combination of 1, understanding life is not fair, struggle, Israel for everyone that lives in this world, and accepting it as a part of life.

 

Not really wanting to have it at all times, but understanding it is part of life.

 

That's the first step. The second step is building self efficacy slowly by doing things and accomplishing things. And you can get a lot of support with this.

 

Family members, those that teach you especially teachers in in certain settings, they teach folks to believe in their own ability. And if you have that, which I'm I've I've been lucky enough to have people that actually believe in me.

 

So from the early age, you parents tell you, hey, you could do this, I believe in you, that goes a long way. The opposite also could be true if they tell you that you you you will fail at something you might actually end leaving it.

 

So the combination of having the belief system own you as a person, as you grow into these hardships, having a support system to be there for you when you need them, but also the realization that the world is such.

 

It is a struggle. It is a challenge. And what can you do to get to the next point? Now with that in mind, it took me years to kind of develop an idea of who who who I am.

 

It's still I'm still in the process. Right? And it's never ending, but at least have a an inkling of what my life can't like, based on my values. So you talk about values. I love I love the way you say values still hold value.

 

Is that is that the way you use? Yep. Right? And people don't think about that at all and I'm lucky enough to actually been to go through my psychology training because it brought me back to my values.

 

He made me think about what matters to me. And once you actually put your focus in what truly inspires you, what makes you evolve change at in daily living.

 

I think that's the best way to kinda find more fuel to kinda to to push you to the point you wanna you wanna, I guess, progress through or become.

 

So it's a combination of factors. Like, it always is It's not very really 1 aspect of life or another.

 

But again, having the the support system, the mental 42, and truly think about the values that matter to you as a person, as an individual, for that matter, and they're kinda living up to those values as you kinda progress forward.

 

Sure. I don't know. I might not answer the question, but I think this I don't know if that's what you were asking. Yeah. No. That's fine.

 

I was just trying to see either generically or specifically, how do you recommend or how do you actually adjust and and recognize what options or opportunities you have to be able to go any direction in your life and and navigate.

 

And I think what you said about basically stemming from accepting what the reality is which to a degree has to be subjective.

 

But once you're able to accept that, then you start building what you said was self efficacy, but I think you start building a reliance on yourself and identifying who you are as a person whether it's in terms of character or physical capability, but but that sort of embodiment of yourself, which I guess sounds kinda strange.

 

But once you identify, like you just said, once you identify and recognize these are the values that I was brought up -- Mhmm.

 

-- or that were around me as I grew, whether I understood and recognized or not, but this is what was present in the area.

 

That can be the reality. Right? Here's here's the thing I think is interesting For example, have you ever read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the book? I've not read the book. I've seen some parts the book in terms of quotes -- Sure.

 

-- he said on video. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. So for example, this is not going towards finance, although I'm sure we could do a degree. But The point in the book that I think is interesting here is that there's this dichotomy.

 

Now he Robert Kiyosaki talks about 2 dads, 1 being rich, 1 being poor, but in terms of a mindset, not necessarily wealth. Like a like a fiat currency, but in terms of a mindset.

 

And so when we're talking about perspective, I think what's interesting is in parallel, his poor dad leaned more towards you have to work hard, you have to study and get good grades, you have to get a good job so you can make money so you can provide for your family.

 

So you can identify what is happening in a particular environment.

 

And then so by focusing on your environment, external factors in your environment, what I don't know, led your village to be bombed, like we're hearing about now, for example, the war, the chaos.

 

Why did this happen to me? How could this happen to us? Why the government doing anything, sentiments can dictate your reality.

 

Or you can also choose to focus on based on a support network or yourself, understanding the construct, but you could also choose to focus on despite these other things hard work is important.

 

Communication is important. Kindness is important. Being willing and confident and able and competent to take care of people who can't take care of themselves.

 

Those are also realities of the exact same situation, like, for example, in Ukraine now -- Yeah. -- where you can sort of choose which 1 of those realities to accept.

 

And I think that's the parallel where if you accept the issues and the chaos as and the victimization as the reality of the world, That's more of like this poor dad type mentality where this rich dad type mentality in the book got it as financially driven, but as a mindset, you could focus on values and strength of character and opportunity and potential as more of a growth mindset and accept that as your reality.

 

And and I think that's the hard part.

 

Knowing when you see the fork in the road, which way to go and then committing to that. How did you do that? So in terms of and I think it kinda goes back to what I said initially. It is a kind of a a long term process Uh-huh.

 

Combination of, like I said, my experience as a as a young boy in Albania, a young teenager in Philadelphia, beyond adults in the marine corps. You know, they kinda all build up upon 1 another.

 

Right? Of course, we have certain characteristics, personality based, genetics, genetic previous positions. There's things that, again, naturally make me more likely to do certain things or feel a certain way compared to another person.

 

I think the external factors they kinda touched on or even the the internal mindset. I think for me, based on my upbringing, I think I knew that I had to kinda hold their responsibility for my own success.

 

Mhmm. That was kind of talked to me. Right? And we thought really disregarding other things that are constantly keeping me down, for example. Keeping other than folks down.

 

I still acknowledge the system failures, the atrocities that are being done, were possibly holding me back. So systemic failures, for example, that are not allowing me to kind of progress the way I want to.

 

Those are still there. They're there our real ability. But for me, it's always been what can I do to kinda improve my current status Am I where I wanna be?

 

Life? Okay. If the answer is no, what do I have to do next? So there comes a planning stage where I could take a couple of options into into account, and then kind of a developer plan.

 

Think about the the possible outcomes. And for me, that's always been the case where I know I haven't I I have a vision what I think my next spot 10 years would be.

 

I have many different forks. It's not just 1 or 2. Right? I know you talked about in terms of, like, the way you think well, you know, the example you gave with the forks -- Sure.

 

-- on the road. And I'll kinda wanna go back to that because it kinda makes me think about the dichotomy of and we always kinda tend to focus on the black and whiteness of things.

 

I wanna kinda go back to that in in a bit. Mhmm. But for me, it's it was kind of hey. This is my world. I'll I'll make the best of it, and I'll try whenever I can to get to where I need to be.

 

And it's always been on my my mindset again, be from a genetic perspective, be from the support that I had as a kid, or the hardships that I endured both in Albania and in in the states.

 

So I think it's a combination of all those things combined together.

 

They made me the person I am today. But it also studied kinda reading your material, thinking about how people think I've always been intrigued by the questions of why we do the things we do that's why I got into psychology.

 

I always asked the hard question, but why am I doing what I'm doing at the moment? What is it that's driving me? Or why am I choosing this choice versus this other choice.

 

What's what's going on internally. Mhmm. So I kinda started doing this at an early age. Which with that comes a lot of insight. And I got to learn exactly why I was acting the way I did.

 

And that's what we do a lot in in my work with clients. We try to develop more insight and hopefully get people to actually engage in behaviors that are more tied into their values, they kinda commit to that.

 

Right? And that's what I kinda started doing it at an early age. It made it more clear at least my intentions into what I'm going to do. And once I did had a a clear idea, I was able to kind of move forward.

 

Sure. Not technically where I could possibly end up but small steps as we usually say using small small goals, kinda get to the larger goal in it. Yeah. Yeah. Is that would you say in in your work with clients?

 

As a therapeutic construct, I guess, identifying these things and helping outline what somebody's psychological reality is? Is that sort of the first step to making any progress? Have you seen? So, obviously, I'm still in training.

 

I'm not a fully licensed psychologist. I've got another year of internship before I'm able to call myself that, but I've worked for the last 4 years with clients in different settings, private clinics, I work at the VA at the moment.

 

I'm actually at the BCVA Medical Center. Oh, nice. So I work with a lot of veterans. Yeah. I was at the Maryland VA last year. So I've seen a lot of people MRar kind of a line of work.

 

Yeah. But work with a bunch of different kind of various pop populations of ages, different backgrounds. And what I've always found beneficial is to kind of find out what truly matters for a person.

 

So even though they come in, they stressed. They could be depressed. They could be psychotic for that for that matter. They could be anxious. They could be going through a lot of, let's say, substance abuse history.

 

Or medical health concerns. A lot of times what I try to do with my a lot of my clients is kinda figure out, first of all, what it is want out of therapy and what is it that's missing?

 

A lot of times something's missing, something's wrong, something's just not right, and it brings up with all these emotions, all this distress at the end of the day.

 

So I kinda talked to you about act together just a few hours ago -- Yeah.

 

-- acceptance of commitment therapy. What I love about their model of of therapy with clients is that they focus on value based commitments. So you whatever behaviors are gonna choose to kinda engage in are based on your values.

 

Literally tied to that. And then you gotta develop new plans, new goals, you wanna kinda always go back to what what is the purpose of this new plan that I just made. As he fulfill my values in life.

 

If not, then there's a final way to kinda get you back on track to whatever matters to you. And I've I mean, I've seen these values as you probably all know, did for quite a bit among folks based on their culture, background traditions.

 

Sure. And so the beauty of kind of finding out what that is they meant. A lot of people don't know. They don't ask, maybe they do. But for what I've seen that they're not quite clear on what matters the most to them.

 

When I say to them in that sense is because a lot of our values are thrown at a society, by your parents, by your teachers, by your your friends, then you kinda continue on living your life based on those values and you think they might yours.

 

But I've seen countless times that they're living the life that is not is not based on their values. It's based on an outside construct or societal expectations. And so, of course, you'll feel distressed. You won't feel happy.

 

You won't find meaning because it is it is not the real you. Does it make sense? Sure. Yeah. I think that's kind of a mark of maturity too. It's what? A mark of maturity too. Where I think you may yeah. You may be right.

 

But I was just gonna say, where as as you're younger, you're more attuned to what's happening around you based on what's pushed your direction I think as you start to get older, you're more attuned to what's going on around you based on what you pull towards you.

 

Generally speaking. And and I I think that helps to sort of delineate understanding what your values are as a person vice what you think they have been or still are or whatever.

 

Before we get into more of that though, let's let's take a break for a couple minutes. We'll come back. We'll we'll jump back into some of this stuff. And then for everybody listening, we'll come back.

 

We'll talk more about all sorts of topics, growth, confidence, compassion, but also working with clients, understanding your values, relational frame theory, which I'm actually kind of sort of nerdly excited to get to.

 

And and we'll talk about that more with annually in just a couple minutes. Everybody else, sit tight, and we'll back in a second, bud.

 

Hey, everyone. It's Stack's here. I just wanted to take a moment and give a shout out to my wife, Julie. She is artists of sorts, but she has a Facebook page called the bee and the Bear creations.

 

And what that page is for is basically if you wanted to do specialized item like a tumbler or a hat or a vinyl or a decal or a shirt, you can go there you can ask some questions, look through the wares, but then give a DM and try to sort it out.

 

And then work at adjust pricing. But if you're interested something like that, go ahead like her page is the b and the bear creations on Facebook.

 

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Alrighty folks. Welcome back to SD YT the podcast to get on Porter. I'm your host, this particular episode, hanging out with Andy Liddy.

 

We're talking about all of our March core values, but in addition to some pretty interesting psychological principles as well, and we're gonna tie all that together as we dive more into this segment.

 

So first of all, listeners. Welcome back, but most importantly in the moment, Andy.

 

Welcome back, man. Happy to be here again, man. Yeah. Yeah. No worries. So what we talked about in the last segment to bring everybody back here to present was accepting your reality and what that means and that entails.

 

But specifically, what as you're younger at whatever age, your respective society pushes and promotes as ideals and values for the respective culture to promulgate and continue.

 

And as you get older, you start to identify what you actually want to embody and how you actually want to embody those values or designing your own character, but I think it takes a certain level of confidence.

 

And so Andy, I'm curious, since that's where we left off, I'd like to start there. What worked for you, man? What are your thoughts on building confidence to start designing custom designing your own character?

 

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, that's a very important question. How do you build self confidence, efficacy, kind of believing in your abilities to to kind of accomplish things?

 

I think small steps throughout childhood, of course, parents teaching the the children how to kinda do small tasks and accomplish them and it kind of reward their their experience.

 

I think the reward piece might be missing for a lot of folks.

 

-- just kinda tends to make them believe that, hey, I'm not I'm not competent into whatever I need to do. Be my job, be my social interactions, it just doesn't materialize the way they envision.

 

So a lot of times what we do with clients I mean, from you for myself was essentially just kinda going step by step, seeing that I can be successful. I could get good grades. If I study, I could play well in a sport.

 

I I love soccer growing up basketball. So doing the small things slowly, it built up my confidence levels. And then, hey, if I put enough effort in something and I have enough support to back me up, I could probably do it.

 

Would it be the best thing ever? Probably not. Maybe not. But, you know, at the end of the day, I could accomplish things if I set my mind to it. And it's just going back to what I've done in the past.

 

So looking into your successes, and that's what I did. Kind of relied back on what I've done in the past kid growing up and slowly, everything I did if I decided to kinda put in enough work, I would able to accomplish it.

 

Of course, there are different variant degrees of that that happen for a lot of folks. Some just can't do certain things.

 

But at the end of the day, when it comes to like, I can bring in what I do with clients. I could build I could build somebody's self efficacy by first realizing because not everybody is completely useless.

 

Everybody has something to offer, and they probably accomplish something in their life. For some folks, it becomes too much of detriment because they don't see their their wins, their successes at all because they're kinda overshadowed.

 

They they're kind of taken over by all the failures. Or their belief about themselves or low self esteem, for example, they they cannot see.

 

It's not in their purview. They cannot actually identify any success in their lifetime. And so it makes it very difficult to have any confidence moving forward.

 

So a lot of times what we do is kinda go back in their past, see what they have done correctly, and kind of let them know, hey, this is something that you can do, you haven't done before.

 

And then once they realize, slowly, the fact that, hey, I can be successful. Even though I haven't done everything I wanted to, I've done small things.

 

And moving forward, you can apply slowly. I know you probably heard of smart goals -- Sure. -- kind of identify small, achievable, measurable goals, so you kinda accomplish, and then feel good about yourself.

 

You don't have to do everything in 1 day. As you say, wrong was not built in 1 day, small steps that build self efficacy.

 

We do this in kind of our work, career path, we could do it on social relationships, doing the small things that might lead you to believe that, hey, I can do this.

 

And once you highlight their victories, it hopefully builds up self esteem, and then there's some confidence in kinda doing something else on top of what they did in the past.

 

So I guess in terms of working with others, I just try to build rebuild their self confidence because I know it's it's been there in some in some way, shape, or form.

 

Everybody's done something successful in their life. So I I like those things as we progress into whatever else their goals might need to to have accomplished. Well, so let me let me ask you this then.

 

If and this isn't necessarily based on any of your clients and obviously not any specifics about them if it is, but Based on your upbringing I think more applicably than anywhere else, I've never been to Albania.

 

But I've been to places where kids don't have a lot of money. I've never been in a communist country, but I've been to places where the majority of what people have got taken from them.

 

Yes. I've never been obviously in your position as you've gone through immigrating into the US. But I've been around people who were green card holders and now are citizens and and heard their stories.

 

Right? So take this here with a grain of salt, but what I'm curious about is in identifying little successes and little victories, I haven't done anything. I was in a war torn country.

 

I didn't have anything that was even mine. I didn't have any shoes, and we barely had enough food, let alone electricity. And now I'm here in the States, barely speaking English, trying to make my way, I don't have any victories.

 

I don't have any little wins. Right? What do you rely on then? Like, what is there? Because I'm sure there's people in the world where this still applies and more specifically, that may even listen to this podcast.

 

So curious, in your opinion, personally, it doesn't have to be professional advice here, but I'm sure you'll charge for that later. But but personally, Where do you go then?

 

You know, if if I don't see anything I've done as a victory, what is there to rely on? How do you build the framework? So maybe you don't need confidence at that point. Right? You talked about growth as 1 of the values of this month.

 

Right? Yeah. So in a lot of the philosophical thought or circles growth is a central tendency of humans. So think about somebody that came from a they had nothing. Right? You know, awards on country, poverty, they literally had nothing.

 

So what makes them kind of get up the next day and kinda move forward? Mhmm. It's the idea of, hey, I need to to move somewhere else other than where I'm at at the moment.

 

So be it out of poverty, in a better situation, in a better environment, people tend to kinda want that, whatever that is. Obviously, it's changed quite a bit in our current day and age.

 

We have a lot more that we probably need Again, what we want and what we need is such a stark difference at this point. Sure. But when you give the example of the person that had nothing Right?

 

Well, they just wanna get better, improve their livelihood. Right? They don't have to necessarily have any confidence that they would do it A lot of times is, hey, you have the belief.

 

So they might tie in confidence. I don't know if the example you gave would mean that that person has no confidence. It might not see any wins, but they are actually progressing in some way.

 

Maybe not. Maybe they're still sitting still. Right? Is possible. Sure. What is being what is being told to them, let's say, the kid or their teenager by their parents?

 

Are they being told you can't move forward? Are they being told? Are you -- Sure. Yeah. There's 1 -- familiar. Are you so that that part of it -- Yeah. -- play a role.

 

Yeah. That's Play a big role into what they do next. Right? Are they because I've seen kids in Philadelphia. They grew up in horrible even worse situations than I grew up in Albania, Horindus in modern day America. Horrible situation.

 

If you go drive down Kensington Avenue right now in Philly. You will be you'll be first I'm actually embarrassed that you see that happen in our home country. So I I never saw that happen in a country like my own helping.

 

You got people sleeping on the streets, doing drugs, midday, let, no help, no assistance, completely dying in the streets. So that Think about the environments. I wanna kinda I wanna bring up better the environment.

 

Are these people being supportive enough to kinda move forward into their growth potential, whatever that means for them. Right? Even if you don't have confidence, a lot of times, people wanna grow whatever that means for that person.

 

Okay. But what if we talked about acceptance earlier. So what if that level of acceptance turns into complacency. And you say, well, this is what it is.

 

And so why chance it does. It absolutely does. Absolutely does. So it's, I guess, a battle between a responsibility and limitations. When you think about what is what are you responsible for for your own life? Right?

 

You have certain faculties, certain things They are your choice to a certain extent, but you also have limitations they are put upon by your own genetics, by environments, by the society you live in, by the culture you're brought up in, you have all these things constantly stopping you from fully actualizing as a person.

 

Right? Growing where you need to be. Sure. And there's different varying degrees of that. Some people could think that. And at the end of the day, is that a problem?

 

If they believe a, this is it for me. Maybe that's how they wanna live life. I I've truly found I don't think everybody should be at a certain level of confidence or confidence or or self esteem. It varies quite a bit.

 

And that person believes that, hey, I'm content. With what I have right now, the world sucks, so I don't wanna progress in a different way. They will challenge myself more. Well, then that might just be the case for you.

 

It's just the way you were to live life. Yeah. Could it could it be different? Yes. Every time. Anytime that you can include new stimuli, new ideas, new thought, of course, it could change.

 

But at the end of the day, if we're thinking about individual growth, then it depends. What is it that they're looking for? Are they stuck? And again, in model work, of course, I can to do the work of exploring what that is.

 

But every individual's case, like, you give the example of somebody kinda coming up and not having any wins. It depends on your environment. Did they could they still have a chance of making it?

 

If you constantly get shut down constantly get shut down at 1 point, you might actually resort to that line of thinking. Saying, you know what? It's just not worth it anymore. That happens quite often.

 

Mhmm. Well, I think it matters the perspective of that individual specifically. I think it matters more how or what maybe they associate with their upbringing as being positive or negative in connotation. Right?

 

So if you associate some semblance of let's say relative success, but the only people you saw who were that same successful when you were growing up were the people who were corrupt, you're probably gonna deviate away from that image of what you think correlated to that success.

 

Right? So how do you And I I think this is actually sort of a maybe a a relational frame theory inject spot here.

 

But but how do you start to build that pattern recognition in a way that can be more effective or productive and less associative with negative things, I guess.

 

But III also I always go back to what is success for that individual. I every person I speak with, I mean, the conversation that we may have together the 2 of us probably understand what success is for 1 another.

 

That person, the success might look completely different. Mhmm. The outcome of success, productivity. What does that mean? Does that mean the same as it means to me? Probably not. What do they envision life being like?

 

What do they want our life? So that's why I think the values piece that you bring into the conversation is such an important aspect of anybody's decision making process, but also where they wanna end up in life.

 

But you broke up the relation of Frank Theory. That's I I'm not an expert in this theory. It is something that acceptance and commitment therapies based upon.

 

Steven Hayes, if you wanna look it up, definitely do some digging. It's a pretty cool theory that kinda can be attached to many different learning processes like in schools.

 

But it's bay it's essentially based on language, the way we form language symbols. And how we actually relate to that language. So even right now, as we speak, we're talking about things, concepts.

 

They're so convoluted. And then we simplify it to 1 word and expect it to mean 1 thing or another. Yeah. To me, every time I speak to a person, especially in-depth processing of what they mean.

 

It's always questioning well, first of all, let's figure out what is the basis of this understanding word, they say success. Let's take that for example. Would you come up with the idea of what success means?

 

And by when you learn the word success, to how you develop that meaning even further as you grew up as you went to school, as you progressed in your career, as you're learning right now, as you're teaching other folks at the moment.

 

Right? That the meaning of success may have changed quite a bit. Mhmm. Yeah. Sure. So symbol symbols. Right? Language, that's what they are. They're symbols. A way we relate to those symbols matters.

 

And so I always I know it's kind of a long, a lengthy process for me. And some people might get annoyed at the fact I keep asking, well, what do you actually mean by this word? What do you mean by that word?

 

Because it matters. If we believe that a specific word has a meaning based on the way it relates to the word itself, the way that word relates to the word, the next word that comes up, how does a success relate to failure?

 

Are they just the opposites? Are they do they is it somewhere in between? Again, this is where I kinda go into with a lot of people, even for myself.

 

When I think about what is success, what do I need to build confidence? And I'm getting to the weeds now. But the relational piece in terms of how we think of language and how we think of the words that we think about that matters.

 

Mhmm. It matters to the extent that Do we believe it? Do we think about how they came up how how they came up to begin with?

 

Again, we are pretty convoluted beings, the fact that we have the faculties to think the way we do. It is a very positive thing because we've improved. We can be very detrimental, and we've seen this. We kinda stay in our head.

 

We think about all the past I guess, distress, anxieties, the the depression of money going through, the tough times we've gone through, and that still affects us. It's not something that any other animal does.

 

We do. So this is just an example how we gonna connect or relate to our thoughts, the words that we use, and what those symbols represent. And I always go back, I will always ask first, what do you mean by that?

 

Then we're kinda going to breaking it down into what it actually means for you. So, yeah, I guess I took it a little bit more metaphorical and not so literal as it applied to, I guess, linguistics.

 

But but it makes sense. Right? Like the words that I say, I'm attributing to a certain thing as you are attributing to a certain thing, but those certain things may not be reflexive.

 

Uh-huh. And I I talked about this actually. I think it was a couple weeks ago now. There was a student that I was talking to, and it was similar parallel, oddly enough.

 

But he was trying to describe to me a problem that he was having and couldn't quite convey his thoughts to where he felt I was giving him a good enough response to or a solution.

 

I said, alright, think about it this way. If I had no idea what the color orange looked like, describe it to me. Alright. And he said, well, it's a fruit. It's round. And I said, right. That's the fruit, but describe the color.

 

He's why don't I have to do that? And I said, well, okay. Well, if you say it's a fruit but it's not an apple and it's shaped this way, I'm gonna picture whatever I attribute that those descriptors to be.

 

Okay. As opposed to whatever you may be intending to get across. And often, that may not be the same thing. There's another example where have you heard of Jay Shetty?

 

I think so. Is he, like Govertalk? Yeah. Sort sort of self help. But I think I'll I'll see him. Yeah. He's got a podcast as well. Jay, if you ever hear this, I can't remember the name.

 

Sorry bro. But anyway, it's it talks about relationship building, and I think that's a big problem when it comes to relationships of any kind, personal, professional, sexual, inner, personal, whatever.

 

But even as kids, But but relationships where people argue because they I'm assuming here, solely assuming. People tend to argue more frequently when they think their point is what the other person is hearing.

 

Yep. Absolutely. But but not when they pay attention to what the other person is actually saying, or in your case strive to identify what the other person's saying despite whatever friction that may cause.

 

So, yeah, I I think it is interesting, and I think it is relevant. But 1 thing that I think we can tie back to is a relationship doesn't just have to be with somebody else.

 

Right? If a relationship is the ability to recognize patterns and interpret those patterns into an action or a thought from somebody else or specifically from some sort of stimulus, then you can have a relationship with yourself too.

 

So depending on the words you say, you're going to feel a certain way.

 

You're going to a certain way, you're going to embody certain attributes a certain way. Right? Like I can't do this. I can't jump that high. I can't run that fast. You're not gonna run that fast or jump that high then.

 

Bingo. Yeah. And and I think that visualization when it comes down to individuality plays a huge role too. I you know, as you were talking about this, I I thought of something I did last week.

 

I I got told you, I'm at the VA right now, I work in the HIV clinic -- Mhmm. -- as a part of the Health Psychology team. We did we actually worked with an oncology support group.

 

And this past week, we did a I did autogenic training exercise. Have you ever heard of that? I have no idea what those words mean together. Yeah. Autogenic training is kind of It's it means comes from within.

 

We kinda connects to what you just said. Your mind kinda tells you what you can or cannot do. Okay. Think it this way, you'll kind of become that person if you have a failure.

 

I'm not good at this. You probably won't be good at this. Auto training training, you kinda tells your body to feel a certain way. Like, arms are heavy and warm. My body feels calm, relaxed, and it kind of induces a sense of relaxation.

 

Oh, it's not do yeah. So it's based on just gonna telling your body how to feel, like, while I'm thinking it. And a lot of chronic pain, folks, a lot of a a lot of attention, a lot of stress on on the body.

 

This actually helps quite a bit. And once people see that, Like, well, hold up. I could tell my body how to feel. Well, I told them the opposite is also true if you constantly tell your body that you are tense.

 

This this sucks. This is kinda tough. Of course, you'll feel the same way because, again, you read again, outside the the actual image still to your body, for example, you can make it worse based on what you think with your words.

 

The idea is that you put to your mind. You can definitely either make it worse or improve it. And so you're kind of tied into that like how you think about yourself how you relate to yourself.

 

And that, it kinda goes into what we initially discussed, the integrated health, mind body connection, It is not 1 or the other. It's not a medical model.

 

It's not a deficit model with the way I think about about things. You wanna integrate everything you can I know you people use the holistic method -- Mhmm? -- to explain it, describe it. But essentially, it comes down to what you said.

 

You can't absolutely convince yourself that you are not good enough and you will not be good enough. This this proven over and over again. But the opposite is also true. Like you could tell yourself you're good enough you can improve.

 

You can get to the point that you think are impossible as long as the mindset changes with it. Again, there's different ways to get there, but that's a it's nice example you said, that's a reality for a lot of people.

 

Yeah. And I think there's something to be said for a solid power stance on a Tuesday morning, but But, yeah, there's there's there's a lot of aspects I think we could break this into.

 

And you know what? As a matter of fact, let's take a break for a couple minutes. We'll come back. We'll jump back into that mind body connection integrated health.

 

And I I'd like to get your perspective on a couple fringe or, I guess, more fringe sciences in comparison, meditation, yoga, whatever -- Sure. -- in refining some of that as well.

 

For everybody listening though, Relax. Hang out. We're back in a couple minutes. Here on SD YT to podcast. If you're looking for high quality locally sourced groceries, the Keystone farmer's market is the place to be.

 

Alongside our signature homemade boiled peanuts, we strive to offer only the best locally sourced pasta, baked goods, jams, and jellies, farm eggs and dairy products, meats, and even seafood, as well as a great selection of fresh produce.

 

That's the Keystone Farmers Market, and 12615, tarpon springs Road in Odessa, Florida. The place with the boiled peanuts. Alrighty, folks.

 

Welcome back to SDYT, the podcast. Again, I'm Porter. I'm your host, and I'm here with Andy Litty talking about all sorts of cool psychological stuff here on this last episode, rounding out the month of March for the podcast.

 

Where we left off, in our last segment, we were talking about mind body connection and Andy what you called Integrated Health, which is just a new phrase to me.

 

But I assume it means same thing. Right? Yes. Yes. It's kind of the idea of we're not just dualistic beings.

 

It's not just your health -- I see. -- physical health and your mental health, they are intertwined, and there are so many other parts of it that kind of combine these 2 aspects of our of our body.

 

Yeah. So it's a it's a holistic sort of self actualization construct? So, yes, in a sense, they're interrelated in some way.

 

Like, your mind, your brain, your mind can actually affect where your body reacts. Gotcha. Same ways your body could if you heard about the gut microbiome axis, like your gut your mental health?

 

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Read something. But so there's another aspect that's kind of being built into this model of a holistic idea the body. It's not just, hey, my body does his own thing, my mind does his own thing.

 

There's quite connected between the 2. I see. I see. So They Yeah. So stage fright, calming yourself down when you're nervous or anxious or, you know, take a deep breath, And, you know, Peter Pan, think happy thoughts.

 

Right? And then you fly kind of thing. There's there's a thing, and and I don't wanna derail the reality of the conversation here or or even the the seriousness of it. But there's a movie called Avatar.

 

Have you seen this movie? I'm not seeing but I've heard I know enough about what they do. Okay. Yeah. So the gist is that there's people who through intense focus and essentially what's just martial arts can control elements.

 

Right? But in the movie, not the cartoon, but with the real people, in the movie, there's a scene where 1 of the guys who can manipulate fire, gets frozen or something to that effect.

 

And he gets told that if, you know, you need to be careful, but if you need to warm up, remember you can focus and your chi will warm you.

 

And eventually, he melts the ice and falls out and whatever. But sci fi aside, I think what's cool about it is it's really not that far off of a concept.

 

Like, we see it with powerlifters, athletes, actors in movies, when you're able to visualize what you want to accomplish, you remove the, I guess, potential and you remove the probability, and it becomes a possibility that you can actually accomplish.

 

And I I think that's pretty neat. So I'm curious as we dive into this topic, your thoughts on, I guess, this mind body connection, how does that even apply from a a psychological perspective in your line of work or for you as a person.

 

What does any of that mean to you? Yeah. No. That's that's I'm I'm glad you brought up the the have imagery or, like, visualization with actors, sports, athletes.

 

We know quite well that olympic lifters, for example, visualize the lift prior to doing the exercise, and, of course, they accomplish the same exercise.

 

If you have ever worked out, once you're good at working out, you might be able to you might do this for yourself as well in the gym.

 

Right? You think about the the action before you do it. There's a lot of research being done on imagery.

 

The fact that you kind of you could do this you could play out what is to come in your own head before he actually becomes accomplished, it takes away those obstacles that you think might be there.

 

And he makes it I like what you said. He makes into a possibility. Mhmm. Right?

 

This is something that could happen. It probably will happen. So there's a lot of strength and that's a perfect example in into the way we think about, hey, my mind is tied to my body and vice versa, and they they affect each other.

 

So what can we do? Well, for 1, I talked to we briefly touched on balance kind of a 1 thing that it actually matters to me as my individual, I guess, value.

 

I wanna find balance in everything I do, beat my career, my relationships, my physical health, my mental health.

 

I kinda find it the nice sweet point with stress. Like, I how can I how can I challenge myself just quite right to the point that I could progress the way I want to, but not too much that I make is detrimental to much to my well-being?

 

Mhmm. So with that in mind, how do the 2 connect to 1 another?

 

Well, imagery is 1 example. We talked about earlier the fact that we tell it ourselves I'm a failure. Well, most likely you will, in a belief it and actually your behaviors will follow suit. On top of that, your health will suffer.

 

We know quite well that let's say it depressed my or an anxious mind, at least a lot of physiological changes -- Sure. -- think about your hormone levels. They fluctuate quite a bit when you're anxious.

 

You're stressed out chronically, you will change your health, your physical health on the long term. And so just the fact that you constantly think about anxious thoughts they will change your well-being physically.

 

And that's an example of how to tie directly. Vice versa. Your physical health being in a in a bad state, for example, your deficiency or vitamin d.

 

Guess what? You're gonna be depressed. Go too low. Right? Just something that's simple and vitamin deficiency will lead to you being depressed. You don't know why. It just happens. Well, so here's an example to that.

 

I was this was just it was just 20 22. So this was just almost a year and a half ago. I was actually deployed. I had about 5 months, maybe 4 and a half months, about 4 hours north of the Arctic circle.

 

And this was that middle of winter, end of the calendar year, basically. Yeah. And there was At that point, we were about as close to Polar Knight as we could have gotten on the calendar by the time we landed and got there.

 

And then stayed there through it, where we had depending on the day, 45 minutes to 2 hours of direct sunlight a day.

 

That's crazy. That was it. I've never seen I've never experienced it. That's crazy. I had neither until then, but I'll tell you it was the worst I've ever felt.

 

It was See, you saw the difference. Right? You saw the difference. Yeah. Definitively. And it wasn't just 1 day. Like, 123 days it was just pretty to look at and it was a cool phenomenon.

 

But over the course of 6, 9 weeks, it was a noticeable difference for me at least, and then in how other people were willing to converse and interact with each other, not not the locals, because they lived there.

 

They had adjusted. But They got Yeah.

 

Yeah. But but for us, like other land dwellers, we just we didn't have our sea legs so to speak. So by the time we got there and experienced this over the of a couple months, we were all comparably lethargic depressed.

 

Energy levels were lower. To the point where when I got back here to the states, I got blood work done because I thought something was wrong, and they're like, just go outside for a few hours a day.

 

And -- That's such a -- it's it. Changing socks, drink some water type fixes, and and I felt great after that.

 

So, yeah, strictly to your point, it was a drastic noticeable difference. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up here because I I mean, there's like seasonal affective disorder.

 

Think about during the winter months. A lot of folks get depressed during the winter months for that specific reason. Yeah. And thankfully, the sun is coming out, staying out a little later.

 

We've got the daylight savings coming up again, so we come get it out of the funk so to speak again with this with this time. But I wanted to kinda touch on also mindfulness.

 

Right? Sure. So I think a lot of folks when I think about about mindfulness, they may use it the wrong way. They may think hey, I need to be more mindful so I can relax and feel better and get less anxious.

 

That is not the purpose of mindfulness. Really? It's not the idea of mindfulness is to to make it more present. Now, what is being present mean?

 

It doesn't mean that you have to feel better. Like, you you're not doing this exercise to feel better. Right? You may be -- Okay. -- secondary outcome that may result from being mindful, but it's not the point of being mindful.

 

Let me explain it a bit further. Yeah. Please do. When you present, what happens when you present? What do you because you probably have tried this. I'm guessing, right, some time in your life. Sure. Yeah. Who be present in the moment?

 

What a chance to happen for you? Well, I tend to focus better for 1. Okay. So focusing you're intentionally placed in 1 area and 1 area only. Right? Well, that but physically, I'll change what I'm doing. For example, I'll lean forward.

 

I'll pick my chin up. Right? So if I'm leaning back and I'm just more comfortable back here, Well, then I'll lean in and I'll pick my chin up so I'm a little bit more alert or trying to convince myself that I need to be.

 

Okay. Yeah. I like that. So you're noticing a state of aware you have a a state of awareness in the moment of what is happening in your body. Yeah. So you gave it a perfect example.

 

I'm leaning back. Well, now that I'm actually paying attention to where my body is? What is my what my arm's doing? What are my shoulders doing right now? Well, it's not where I want it to be, so let me just move.

 

You you change something in the moment, because you're aware of what is happening in that moment. Sure. Now push that or add to that, your internal feelings, your thoughts. What am I aware of right now?

 

What am I feeling at the moment? Am I anxious? Am I tired? Am I happy? Am I depressed and my content, what's going on within me and just understanding what is happening in the moment. And thirdly, What do you do with it?

 

How do you react to that thing that's happening to you? It's the first step is being aware. The second step is what can I do with Well, I feel anxious if I'm sitting here talking to Joshua on a podcast?

 

Well, alright, so let me be more present in my body and see where where I'm feeling it. Mhmm. Are my shoulders a little tense?

 

Yeah. Maybe because I'm a little anxious. Are my legs sore? Maybe because I worked out. What am I feeling? In the moment. Right? Sure. Which is a practice of knowing more what is happening with you, your body externally, and internally.

 

Now the next step is important. What do you do with that? Yeah. What do you do with that? Is it just knowledge? But we'll now, at this point, you know how you react to certain people, certain situations.

 

And then at that point, you could decide do I need to change this, or do I kinda continue doing what I'm doing? So you could employ relaxation techniques.

 

You could do breathing exercises because you know what, I'm aware now, I'm a little anxious. Well, I don't like feeling this way. So what do I do? Wrong. Let me do a breathing exercise. Let me talk to someone I like. Let me do a hobby.

 

Let's play some video games, change what feeling in the moment. So the intent, the the initial intent is to be more aware of what you do or how your body reacts or feels in certain places, environments, situations, or the interactions.

 

That's what it is. All right. So then -- Yes. -- so I'm clear, not the DRAGE a thought here, but so I'm clear then this isn't just like, oh, I feel hungry.

 

Let me make a sandwich. This is a little deeper of a concept. Right? It can't well, it can't be deeper. You could think about, well, why am I hungry right now?

 

What's going on? You could, like, you could take that hunger. Is it is just hunger? Like, you actually have an 18, 16 hours and you need to eat another meal? Or is it, hey, maybe I've just got some cravings for what reason.

 

They must be tied to, well, I need some I got a sweet tooth. I'm seeing something that's sweet or that I need to eat, and maybe this was thinking this 1. So we use this in some programs that we do at the VA.

 

With diet changes or nutritional habits. It's another example. Why you why you're hungry? Is it because you truly are hungry or actually you got a craving for another reason? Is it stress related?

 

Am I stressed out? Is that why I'm hungry? Because I tend to go to the ice cream when I when I get stressed out. Oh, I see. So a deeper understanding of why you do what you do, and how you react to your own internal stressors.

 

A lot of times, you might work with clients, I bring we bring this up. Well, let's pay attention there. What is happening in the moment? What do you feel the way you do? What's What's your mind telling you at the moment?

 

Is it is it realistic? Is it truth? Is it a little distorted? So again, it goes into it could be more deep. Or it could be very surface level. I just wanna make sure I'm relaxed. If I'm not relaxed, find out why.

 

Mhmm. Maybe I'm sitting the wrong way. Right? Maybe I don't like the way they they talk to me. So it's it's a way to find the explore what it is that your body is going through, and then you could take action.

 

Accordingly at that point as you as you realize what is happening. But a lot of folks like, hey, I'm gonna do some mindfulness. I'll stop thinking about bad things, so I'll just do this in a moment.

 

Yeah. Yeah. And it's not it's not feasible for a lot of folks. They get turned turned off by the idea of, well, I don't feel any better. I'm trying to sit here and meditate and Again, meditation is a whole another concept.

 

My fluency is part of meditation. It is not meditation. Uh-huh. Right? Meditation could be explained many different ways from eastern thought and even some things that we've kinda applied here in the in the western world.

 

But the first initial part of mindfulness is just being more aware. We don't know what our body is doing most of the times. You spend a bit of time with with yourself and what you're going through, you'll realize a few things.

 

Yeah. It's funny you bring that up. It's not funny, actually. But It's a serious topic, but it's sort of ironic. You bring that up. In the last couple weeks, I hit my 12 month mark with no tobacco products.

 

Oh, wow. That's nice to me. Yeah. Yeah. But I'll tell you what worked is pretty similar to what you're describing just in different words. I quit cold turkey. Right? Woke up 1 morning and I was like, this is it, doing it now.

 

And so I gave my roommate everything I had. Right? And he he didn't dip or smoke or do anything, but So I I gave him everything. I said, don't give this back to me. He said, I'll make you a deal. I don't wanna be responsible for that.

 

He said, but if you're willing to talk to me about any of the instances that cause you to have a craving, in the moment when you have a craving, I'll listen, but I'm not holding all this stuff for you.

 

I'm gonna throw it out as soon as you walk out of my room. Alright. And I said, alright. Fine.

 

We'll do it. And what you did? And that's exactly what we did. Yeah. I gave him everything I had. And then for the next couple days, We had regular conversations multiple times a day of, you know, when I woke up after I had a meal.

 

After I got done at the gym before I had another whatever it was. I love it. Yeah. And and we would talk about it. And he'd say, okay. So why are you feeling this way? What does it matter? Like, you don't need the tobacco.

 

What's causing you to feel like you need it. And eventually, that's what got me to where I'm at now. Where I don't really count the days. It just so happened to be a year, so it was an easy number. But Yeah.

 

But what were I started to move towards was They all went deeper at that point, which you did. Yeah. And it just happened to work out. And at the time, he was the only person in the world I think I would qualify and define as hating.

 

Hating somebody? Yeah. It was yeah. But but now now we're great, you know. Now now we're good. And I don't know how he thought of that or why he thought of that.

 

But he did, and I'm grateful he did. And I couldn't have done it without a support network like him in that moment. Because I I tried quitting before. It just never stuck. Gotta be the right time too, especially with tobacco.

 

Yeah. Yeah. You know, maybe so, but it wasn't a financial consideration. It wasn't I guess, age related thing, you know, it had been I I don't know exactly close to 15 years at that point, so it wasn't like it was a fresh thing to stop.

 

But once I started to realize why I was doing what I was doing, I started to think about why I started in the first place, and I was like, why just did it because everybody else did it.

 

So why not? You know, and then it was easier to to rationalize through.

 

But yeah. So mindfulness, anyways, it's it's interesting to bring that up. Yeah. The the awareness of why you're doing what you're doing and critical thought behind it. It's such a cool topic, man.

 

I'm I'm glad we have opportunity to discuss it, actually. And it's support networks and and everything else. Before we get towards the tail end of this and close this out, I wanna make sure I give you an opportunity as well.

 

To talk about where you're working. The VA opportunities, how do people reach out to you, or services in general, if not in the the Maryland area, what what is this direction? The floor is yours, man.

 

Yeah. So as I said earlier, currently, I'm a practicum student, and I I'm I'm practicing my my skills so to speak. We do this to our training. I've done this my fourth 1 as part of my training, I guess, the requirements.

 

I'm at the DC VA Medical Center, and I'm part of the Health Psychology Clinic, which will work specifically with any patients at the moment. But I also do some other work with the nutritionist. I actually lead co lead the move group.

 

If you know anything about the VA programs, This is 1 program that they help anybody that's got problems with obesity, diabetes, or any health related conditions we kinda provide some assistance with that.

 

But for the moment, I'm just doing therapy, helping out folks in the clinic, behavioral changes, strategies, strategies, these coping techniques as we talked about some of them.

 

The next step is internship. I start in August. I got accepted at the private center, private clinic, here in Suitland, which I'll be working with the local folks, which I'm really excited for as part of my community.

 

It's a group practice, outpatient practice, and I'll just be doing therapy and doing some psychological testing, but mostly just doing 1 on 1 work with individuals of any age probably mostly adults, maybe some teenagers, maybe some elderly clients, and I'm closing out my my last academic year, I'll be doing my dissertation here soon, which guess what?

 

It's based on I forgot to tell you my topic. It's based on a, like, health behavior changes like sleep, diet, physical activity, alcohol use, and how they're connected to pre and post COVID.

 

But also looking into resiliency, self efficacy, and personality characteristics. Oh, perfect. Some of the things you talk about, man.

 

Yeah. Thing that you kinda discuss, I'm trying to see this connect a connection between what we've gone through for the past 2 years. And hopefully, I have some findings here the next 6, 7 months -- Yeah.

 

That makes sense. -- invite to see if they want to. Yeah. We'll have to stay in touch and see how it all pans out for you, man. Absolutely. And I send you a copy of my notation.

 

I'll read through it and give you some advice, but I can't guarantee it'll help you pass. Yeah. Next tip is the internship, and then hopefully, I know my fiance and I, Lauren, we've talked about opening up our own practice eventually.

 

So doing all on a private practice -- Nice. -- and helping folks, wherever we are, be it a community center, private clinic, trying to integrate as many things as we've talked about, you know, mind body connection, Yeah.

 

And so our final way to to do all that will find a way to incorporate that into our practice eventually.

 

Good for you, man. So what about resources then? If if anybody listening wants to seek out therapeutic guidance or aid, what what resources are about or even through the VA, but but what resources are there?

 

So typically, VA, unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of time to to see someone. I would say go through your primary care physician if you went to VA.

 

They have some short term brief therapy for a lot of folks, especially if it's not too complicated, reach out to them, and if they can't handle it, they could kinda refer you elsewhere.

 

But I'll when I said Integrated Health is something that actually did last year in the private care clinics within the VA.

 

They have psychologists, social workers embedded into the private care clinics, which is a, I think, a wonderful way to to to treat patients that kinda have multiple comp likes situations.

 

And so if you are at the VA, we actually have this in effect and you can actually ask your prime your primary care doc. To see a psychologist right there in the clinic. They will get you started in the right, I guess, direction.

 

Obviously, outpatient clinics, they might be more expensive. They're usually a a sliding scale, they accept other medical insurance, so you could actually get a good deal out of it too.

 

Therapy a lot in a lot of cases, just us talking. Right? Sure. The connection you have with another person. So don't think of it as a as a thing that you you need to get something out of it.

 

Right? There's no fixing happening is just more exploration in getting you some help that you might need in a moment. So that's what I tell folks there shouldn't be any stigma around you even though I know there is.

 

Yeah. But it's a a different way to to get your your your thoughts out there and hopefully some some nice feedback with the person sitting in front of you.

 

And so if there's anybody that can, that'll go through with it. If not, talk to your buddy, your family, your loved ones, stranger, it doesn't matter.

 

Don't talk to anybody that in itself could be therapeutic in so many ways. That's it, man. Survival takes communication, which sort of the inception for this whole show. So Absolutely. I love what you're doing here, man.

 

I gotta say that. I appreciate you kinda coming up with these ideas because truly resonates to the way I think people think about the world and the way they experience the world. Yeah. Of course. I I appreciate you saying that.

 

And for the sake of time, That'll round out this episode speaking of. So first of all, I appreciate you, like I said in the beginning, taking some time out so we can sit and talk for a little bit. I wish you and Lauren the best of luck.

 

I hope everything works out in this practice or at least the potential for 1 in the future. And I I can't wait to hear how it turns out. At the very earliest, sounds like maybe August, if not sooner, we'll get back in touch anyway.

 

So So first of all, thank you for coming out. Yeah, man. I appreciate your time, and thank you for inviting me here. And it was a pleasure to kinda just talking with you and discussing these topics. Yeah, man.

 

Not a problem at all. I'm glad it worked out. I appreciate your insight and for everybody yeah. Thank you. And for everybody listening, that rounds out this episode. So I'm Porter. I'm your host, and that was SDYT, the podcast.