🧠 #104: Distress tolerance homework
This week’s update shares about my therapist and me being symptomatic together, giving my wife a gift of flexibility, and a realization about feeling like I’m always being tested.
🧠 Always being tested
I had a realization last week that made me laugh.
🎧🎙️ You should be listening
This is such a great answer from Jocko. It doesn’t even matter what the question is—if it includes the phrase “we were arguing” then this applies.
This seemed to be specifically for me.
You seem to be the kind of dude that may not want to deviate from the plan at all…
Yep. Spot on.
🎧🎙️ Avoid “You’re right”
One lesson from negotiation is a helpful indicator of when things are not going well. You may think when someone responds with, “You’re right,” that all is good. But that’s not the case, as Jocko pointed out.
🧠 #101: Tapering off everything
This update shares the effects of changing medication (not good!), an uplifting chance for sketchnotes, and continuing a couple helpful practices.
🎧🎙️ Kids books first
Jocko cracks me up. On a recent podcast episode, he was talking about why you should get the kids books he’s written first.
If you’re cognizant enough to order something from Amazon, order the kids books first. ‘Cause you, look, your life is half over at this point… You’ve got one foot in the grave. But your kids, they’ve got their whole life ahead of them. Might as well get them on the path.
🎧🎙️ Mind mechanics
This is such a great analogy. Jocko talks about how he started to understand mental health as he first talked with Jordan Peterson.
The mind is like a car, and psychologists or therapists are like mind mechanics who can help when the mind breaks down.
🧠 #99: Can’t get in
This update shares a vacation win, a vacation struggle, and a new sharing practice.
🎧🎙️ Start walking
Right after I posted some clips from a Jocko Underground podcast, a new episode came out. I loved the analogy Jocko gave of being stuck in a forest and needing to start walking to figure out where you are and where to go.
He summed it up so well: “You’re not going to be able to do anything until you do something.”
🎧🎙️ In your body
In the most recent Jocko Underground podcast, Jocko answered a question of someone who was heartbroken. His answer was so perfect to me as the course to deal with my OCD, or with any strong and debilitating emotions.
The first step is to think of the emotions as waves. This perfectly matches the dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skill of “Ride the wave.”