1st step: Recognizing when you are emotionally sober. Being able to perceive the world clearly, being present, not being activated or hyper-vigilant. Love that you brought up that addiction can include limerence and hyper-independence. 2nd step: Knowing and naming your triggers. Mapping out the information from step 1 to be able to predict situations you will not be emotionally sober in. Sit down and write a list of 5 types of situations where you might be likely to be triggered or emotionally intoxicated. 3rd step: Develop an action plan for how you will behave during these responses. What is important to you and what things do you definitely not want to do when you are emotionally sober. Develop rules/boundaries/guidelines. Use basic if/else statements a 4 y.o. can understand. 4th step: Work on being able to tolerate the emotions that lead you to an emotionally intoxicated response. If shame, practice self compassion, think of all the other people who feel this way too. If anger, practice assertive sample scripts so you don't choose between only blowing up or self-abandoning. As an aside, cus this is what I'm also learning as part of my life wisdom thing. "Work on your relationship to uncertainty and vulnerability. If you grow up securely attached a big part of what you learn is that life is in constant motion and that everything is always changing and that to be alive means to feel fairly vulnerable and exposed and to have to grieve things that you've lost on a regular basis." 5th step: Surround yourself with people who are emotionally sober who won't affirm thought distortions when it comes to decision making or conflicts with others in your life. Make peace with your expectations. Shit won't happen overnight. You will not feel suddenly better. You will however feel your true feelings.
Heidi can find obscure concepts in psychology and put a modern, easy to digest spin to it to make it accessible to all of us. So grateful I found this channel ❤️
As anyone with long-term addiction recovery knows, emotional sobriety is crucial to physical sobriety. After all, if it doesn't feel good to be sober, there's no reason to stay that way. I'm glad others find this an accessible concept as well.
"it doesn't feel good to be sober" haha, so true. another one i enjoy: "being asked for what purpose he thought men were born, he laughingly replied: to realize how much better it were not to be born"
That's not what they said, they said "IF It doesn't feel good to be sober". Meaning, if you're miserable being sober internally, you're not going to want to physically stay sober. You will want to escape your mental landscape. @@gordo6908
@@dr5290even if they're getting hooked,this is the right kind because they're learning and educating themselves which is the biggest form of self love
I agree I find it comforting too. Also Heidi please feel free to take breaks from posting if you need it to tend to your mental health ❤ we don’t want you to work yourself so hard to the point of detriment
It's been three days since I watched and I just had to come back and tell you that this concept is immensely useful. It's one thing to recognize I'm dysregulated, but in those moments it's so much more intuitive to tell myself, "I'm emotionally drunk right now, I can't trust anything I'm thinking, I need to do whatever it is to get sober before I make any decisions." Videos to your past self 💯 thank you very much!
I love the concept of emotional sobriety. I realised I'd been aware of the fact I can become 'drunk' with emotion and make decisions that were impulsive at certain times particularly at night. I made a rule for myself that I will not make big or important decisions when I am particularly negatively emotionally activated or at night time because these are times when I tend to make impulsive decisions that I regret later. There is nothing restrictive about putting rules like this in place, you're just acknowledging that there are predictable states where you're less likely to make a balanced decision and times when you are more likely to do so.
I just figured out how to manage to go to bed earlier. 🙏🏻 My emotionally sober self has to decide for my less emotionally sober self to stick to a routine, even if she doesn't feel like it and thinks binge-watching Heidi's videos is more fun than going to bed early! 💜 Goodnight everyone...
To anyone reading this. The quickest way for me to get into a secure state was to allow myself to feel all the feelings from when I was disregulated and become aware that I was purging these feelings out of my body. I’m not a psychiatrist just sharing my experience after struggling for years to “just do the right thing/make the conscious choice ” mentally. Your body needs to be able to do it to.
Heidi- as someone who has, in retrospect, felt anxiety and depression (a sense of alienation and disassociation) from a young age, I started working on mindfulness in my late 20s - and it momentarily blew me away that I could use all my senses to be in the present moment. Since then I have run the gamut of psychological self help and tools though my own research. But, at age 42, your clear, concise, and LUCID! -videos have clicked for me in a way that nothing else has. They’ve made my relationships stronger and more authentic- after realizing what boundaries actually are (not telling someone what to do or where to go) and how to recognize them. You’ve taught me what attachment systems are and which I use in most of my relationships (at first I thought anxious- but now I realize fearful avoidant (the most fun system of all!😜)). I have learned though listening to you that although I can co-regulate with another person when we are mutually in agreement to do so, I don’t have to rely on others to self regulate. I can rely on myself. And just having that knowledge somehow stops me from pining for the other person to so something I “need” them to do. I have become aware of when my responses to situations or people are bringing me to a place of neurological activation. I don’t suppress anger as much. I use it as a tool.. along with shame. Another gem you have given me the moment to consider what feeling I am trying to avoid when I’m going to have an edible or a drink of alcohol. This curiosity has made it so that I am not just saying blindly to myself “you’ve been drinking too much, stop/slow down/you promised yourself…”. I don’t actually feel the desire nearly as often because the reward for getting in touch with my authentic self is far to rich. I have recommended you to numerous people in my life- and the ones who listen seem to resonate deeply with your coherent, accessible, laser focused delivery. I think you are onto something and you should keep going with it. You are an inspiration and have a natural talent that mixed with your education can continue to have far reaching affects on people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Brian
Do people really not live ‘in story’? This is my first time hearing this term (and finding your videos) and I’m realizing that I’m constantly in this state. It’s so hard to fathom being able to just live and not constantly have some interpretation or narrative of what’s happening going on in your head.
I’m 32, and my time feeling calm and safe has been so rare, I’m only just now learning to identify when I feel elevated. I have lived in the story all my life, and I’m having periods of sobriety for the first time.
This part surprised me too. I always thought that feeling the pure emotion would mean becoming lost in it and that the only way to process was to form some kind of narrative or story around it. I always had trouble doing this, and thought I was doing something wrong. But it makes sense because stories are only useful in explaining yourself to others and if you are giving yourself the compassion and awareness and acceptance she talks about then explaining yourself to others is secondary to giving yourself the full human experience without distortions. Very interesting.
Living in the story and constantly being on watch for how the story is being perceived and/or accepted is nothing short of exhausting. I find it easier and more energizing to simply live from my own truth and not care what other’s think of it. To me, it’s God’s way of sorting out who does and doesn’t belong in my inner circle. And life is a lot easier for sure!! 🙏❤️
The show 'The Bear' has very good demonstrations of various emotional intoxications referenced in this video and has each person learn to regulate and find respect for themselves and each other. Would recommend it to anyone who wants to see things from the outside a bit
Something I don't think is talked about enogh is the role of community, a sponsor, and group therapy in sobriety. When you can help someone else with the same problem it expands your mind. Also, the regular exposure to other people who are also aware and working on the same issues as you can help you build a truly healthy support system.
Im noticing Ive been having big feelings around grief and loss of limerant connections, and have begun to see my lack of emotional sobriety in so many of my relationships. Ive been feeling extra depressed but I also feel like Im starting to process years of pain. Thank you for another great video Heidi!! Im so grateful for content like this.
Dear Heidi, you just keep knocking it ouf the park, one helpful video to my healing journey after the other. And each time, I'm elated to find comments from so many others whose lives you help improving. Thank you, wholeheartedly
Love you too Heidi. Another sobering video. I actually came up with my own definition of sober many years ago while I was on my journey of self-reflection. " Sobriety is understanding the difference between need and want and being able to live absolutely content with only what you need. Only then will you find true joy in your life". Not to say you can't have the things you want. But it's learning to be grateful even in the moments when you don't have the things that you want. And another saying that I've always used when talking to people is... "Want what you need. Don't need what you want". Only because it goes hand in hand with my previous statement. 💁
WOW my mind was just blown. This fills in SO many blanks as to what went wrong in past relationships...lack of emotional sobriety! Thank you so much for this.
So good! Thanks for posting. To me this explains the polarization in politics, people have been manipulated to be triggered all the time, so they are now addicted to being drunk on emotions, whether it’s anger or the self righteous virtue warrior, it’s all addiction.
WOW🤔. Emotional sobriety… that’s a helpful way to look at it. I’ll need to watch this video several times. It triggers a fear/deflection response right now but it resonates deep down. I will keep working at understanding it. I’ve been through DBT classes several times and “Wise mind” was always the hardest for me to understand… or maybe “claim” would be a better way to put it. Am I overly self indulgent of the traumatized inner child so avoid the need to strengthen my “wise mind”? Too much into supporting her deeply emotional response? IDK. My violent trauma came at 2 months old. Creating a sense of love and security for such a young “me” is a challenge but I’m getting better at identifying when she needs my love and support. To convince her that we no longer live in those nightmare three days. Thank you so much for your straightforward and supportive style when explaining these options for healing. Your videos pop up just when I seem to need to think about such things. 👍🏼👏🏼
I just watched Jonathan van Ness talking to dick schwarz the IFS guy and there was a great bit in it where JVN said that using the 'parent' Like voice - wise mind? - to parent himself wouldn't work, he has to make it a cheeky friend and get alongside the part or it'll just rebel. I don't know if this is what you're getting at but I liked the idea
@@laurah2831. My definition of wise mind… hmmm well in EMDR I chose Captain Jean Luke Picard from Star Trek Next Gen. to be my wise mind support personality. It has more to do with a perspective of calm balance. Not the dictator “Dad” voice that had to be replaced.
Emotional sobriety is something that’s new to me. This video, thank you so much for Elegantly distinguishing what it is and how to practice it. I have a feeling I’ll be watching this video over and over and over again and using this method for the rest of my life. Many blessings to you thank you. 🙏🏽💕
My goodness it's the missing concept or key that I've been overlooking repeatedly. I must re-study this lecture of yours Heidi. You've used the whack-a-mole analogy for our feelings and emotions. I've been trying to understand the root cause of my distortions these past few months and this feels totally relevant. I've made more progress on this path than ever before after finally gathering the courage to choose myself over others (fearful avoidant). I feel like Aladdin singing A Whole New World with the feelings and emotions that seem so overwhelmingly powerful. Even though they've been overwhelming, and every fibre of my being has been trying to get me to run away from my efforts, it's beginning to become much easier to simply be with the energies.
I wanted to thank you, not only for your incredible content, but also for referring us scapegoats to Rebecca Mandeville. The two of you have been better than all of my therapists put together.
I've been watching so many of your videos these past few months and I just want to say: Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. Thank you for putting these videos out into the world so they can find people like me, on the brink of truly, once and for all, giving up on happiness, or even life itself, out of pure ignorance of my own inner world. Thank you so much. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you have saved my life. For the first time in my adult life, at the age of 34, I feel a true sense of hope about my future that is based purely on myself and my self growth, not on someone else coming along and "saving" me from myself. Thank you so much for everything you do.
this was very eye opening for me i personally have experienced a sort of tunnel vision in moments of distress and emergencies, while it had saved me a couple of times, it had also caused me to act recklessly and I had suffered extreme consequences from being too reliant on that emotional response thank you for making the content that you do!
I feel emotionally intoxicated with anxiety and anticipatory grief every time I see my mom. I love her so much and she was my first and primary attachment figure and I don't want her to die. She has almost died twice in the past 4 years, has permanent lung damage and other chronic health issues. She is not well and the last time I saw her several days ago she gave me 6 pages of stuff to do after she dies since I will be in charge of funeral planning and her estate. I've already lost 4 relatives and 3 pets within the past 8 years and don't want to go through any more grief and loss. I know I just need to suck it up and deal with it because no one lives forever though. I am trying to be emotionally sober and take good care of myself but this is hard. Thanks for the tips.
Heidi, I’ve been watching all your videos about dismissive avoidant attachment style and seeing a lot of myself in them. Recently I talked with my therapist about the things I’ve learned and am trying to internalize and she said I’m “kicking ass” at personal growth. Thank you for helping me to understand myself.
Being given "silent treatment" is my biggest trigger, but is also my go-to unconscious response whenever I'm feeling uncomfortable, unable to communicate my emotions or needs, or shame-bound around others.
With your example of the four drinks I will forever see the four of cups tarot card as emotional sobriety:) thank you for your content it’s been extremely supportive!!
my version of notes: Step 1: emotional sobriety vs. not, how to tell difference. Emotionally intoxicated: regret is a sign of (story telling? long convoluted story about who this and that comparing greatly to one another intense emotions or dethatched emotions emotional sober: rational and respecting one another including self even if you dislike yourself or someone. it doesn't have to be more than that. step 2: Notice both and try to choose sobriety as much as possible notice and name triggers triggers: family, some types of girls, trading crypto, poker step 3:action plan to deal with emotional intoxication make them incredibly simple(if this, then that) ex: if in the presence of person x: only use i language rules: step 4: work and sit with difficult emotions(not doing this builds neuroticism) integrate shame, step 5 relationships seek comradery not savory from pain (were all in this together) lastly(stay realistic) the people you surround yourself with helps you stay or not emotionally sober
I am playing this for my SUD clients for group therapy thank you so much for providing this information. I even learned a lot about my healing journey. Thank you for all you do!
Such wonderful content. My fawning days are long gone (for the most part, lol). Now it's getting triggered and then instantly filled with anger. Another RUclipsr put it: "You react as if they burnt you alive". That's how it feels, inside. I love your advice to keep "The Rules" very simple, as to what you are allowed "to do, to manifest" when this happens. Even if all alone, when triggered, I'd like to refrain from "exploding". A personal challenge, but if there is no witness, boy it's hard to just contain that energy.
This is such valuable advice ❤ I would reference feeling "sober" when single in my stream of consciousness journal entries, and after watching your vid I've gained so much insight into why i felt that way. Thanks Heidi!
Amazing video, thank you so much. now I realized I am emotionally sober and have been so for the last 7 or 8 months and have experienced so much pain Which I had been burying deep inside of me. I agree; facing the emotions and pain, letting it slowly fade away is the remedy. Thank you so much..
Thank you for this video. I recently began attending ACA meetings and have heard the term emotional sobriety but didn't really understand it. I have not been practicing it and now I can begin to. Your message is very clear and understandable. This video is very helpful to me :)
I just love your videos! My journey of healing led me to a 12 step program and it completely transformed my relationship to myself and others. I've been learning to apply this to all areas of struggle in my life and it helps a lot. I love this term of emotional sobriety.
So important to be able to share a situation with a friend and have them see everyone's good, not just side with me. I value that. And I love the part about making rules for when we are feeling "off". Simple rules that a 4 year old can follow. :)
This video came at the perfect time. I just started this healing journey three months ago… its been intense. Your insights are clear and you explain it so well. Thank you so much ❤
I do that rule making for myself too! I’m currently working through having broken a rule I’d made for myself in 2009- I broke my rule and after a 6-week I’m pulling myself back down to Earth. Thanks for this video. Excited to learn more.
Hi! Listening to you for the first time this morning, sounds like good stuff and applicable today! As I was listening I thought, you Heidi, sound like God might be reaching out to you 💜
Thanks for sharing this important message. We could have used this 30 years ago but I’m glad we’re becoming so much more aware because of media. Because of you.
Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I get stuck on the action plan. I guess - keep trying, eh? Also, sometimes the universe steps in to help me, which is always such a gift (call gets cut off, person has to go, I get distracted by something else). And I like the sobriety model because it's truly the best way to describe me around my family - intoxicated. Sigh. Very, very helpful - thank you, Heidi!!
Heidi, your vids are spot on. Thank you. I watched one last night and today, a change was made. A breakthrough of sorts. Baby steps... But the direction has changed, for the better. Thank you!
Oh I'm DEFINITELY addicted to a freeze response now, and in the past i was highly addicted to a fawn response. I used to feel genuine highs from saying and doing exactly what other people needed or wanted, and receiving praise as a result. Led to some very insane time periods cuz I lacked my own internal compass to tell me what was right and relied solely on others' reactions to me. Even now, I still feel like I'm missing something to fill the gap that used to be other people's desires. I know I need to learn how to self direct, how to live in line with my own internal desires, but it's something I still struggle with. These days, instead of fawning, I tend to freeze, which while isolating has led to much better results since the fawning tended to bring lots of toxic and maladapted people into my life. The freezing lets me asses my options more and control who I let in. It's still not ideal because I'm not fully regulated or operating at full capacity enacting my dreams and desires, but I guess this period is like a transient phase between the fully unregulated, codependent person I was and the more regulated, emotionally intelligent, interdependent person I would like like to be. Thank you for making such thought provoking videos! I don't know if it's your own personal experiences or your delivery, but something about your psychology videos really connects with me compared to other youtubers, and I'm glad I found your channel!
Thanks you for your content, it really helps me to process my feelings post-therapy. It is good to know that there are tools to open new perspectives into my psychoanalysis and further healing to take full responsibility of life choices in intimate relationships.
A lot of people have this misconception that wise decisions are made with the mind! Mental decisions are based on a very limited set of information which often results in very short sighted and disempowering outcomes. The wise self can only be accessed through the body.
1st step: Recognizing when you are emotionally sober. Being able to perceive the world clearly, being present, not being activated or hyper-vigilant. Love that you brought up that addiction can include limerence and hyper-independence.
2nd step: Knowing and naming your triggers. Mapping out the information from step 1 to be able to predict situations you will not be emotionally sober in. Sit down and write a list of 5 types of situations where you might be likely to be triggered or emotionally intoxicated.
3rd step: Develop an action plan for how you will behave during these responses. What is important to you and what things do you definitely not want to do when you are emotionally sober. Develop rules/boundaries/guidelines. Use basic if/else statements a 4 y.o. can understand.
4th step: Work on being able to tolerate the emotions that lead you to an emotionally intoxicated response. If shame, practice self compassion, think of all the other people who feel this way too. If anger, practice assertive sample scripts so you don't choose between only blowing up or self-abandoning.
As an aside, cus this is what I'm also learning as part of my life wisdom thing. "Work on your relationship to uncertainty and vulnerability. If you grow up securely attached a big part of what you learn is that life is in constant motion and that everything is always changing and that to be alive means to feel fairly vulnerable and exposed and to have to grieve things that you've lost on a regular basis."
5th step: Surround yourself with people who are emotionally sober who won't affirm thought distortions when it comes to decision making or conflicts with others in your life. Make peace with your expectations. Shit won't happen overnight. You will not feel suddenly better. You will however feel your true feelings.
Thank you 🙏🏽
Thanks!
Thanks
Heidi can find obscure concepts in psychology and put a modern, easy to digest spin to it to make it accessible to all of us. So grateful I found this channel ❤️
I totally agree: her framework for how to think about these concepts and about oneself is just really clarifying.
Hard same. Thanks Heidi
As anyone with long-term addiction recovery knows, emotional sobriety is crucial to physical sobriety. After all, if it doesn't feel good to be sober, there's no reason to stay that way. I'm glad others find this an accessible concept as well.
"it doesn't feel good to be sober"
haha, so true. another one i enjoy:
"being asked for what purpose he thought men were born, he laughingly replied: to realize how much better it were not to be born"
I’m convinced that nobody can sincerely heal their wounds until fully sober from any and all drugs and alcohol.
That's not what they said, they said "IF It doesn't feel good to be sober". Meaning, if you're miserable being sober internally, you're not going to want to physically stay sober. You will want to escape your mental landscape.
@@gordo6908
I have been reworking my sobriety now for 2 years and 7 months. I totally agree with your comment.
You post so consistently, it's so comforting ❤
@@dr5290even if they're getting hooked,this is the right kind because they're learning and educating themselves which is the biggest form of self love
Lmao this comment tracks 😂
I agree I find it comforting too. Also Heidi please feel free to take breaks from posting if you need it to tend to your mental health ❤ we don’t want you to work yourself so hard to the point of detriment
Even if you weren't posting consistently it would be good to me, so much information, and to process all we need time...
@@yasmine4501 Posting this stuff is helping Heidi also …quite a bit. If you want to really learn something, you don’t go to a teacher, YOU teach it.
It's been three days since I watched and I just had to come back and tell you that this concept is immensely useful. It's one thing to recognize I'm dysregulated, but in those moments it's so much more intuitive to tell myself, "I'm emotionally drunk right now, I can't trust anything I'm thinking, I need to do whatever it is to get sober before I make any decisions." Videos to your past self 💯 thank you very much!
I love the concept of emotional sobriety. I realised I'd been aware of the fact I can become 'drunk' with emotion and make decisions that were impulsive at certain times particularly at night. I made a rule for myself that I will not make big or important decisions when I am particularly negatively emotionally activated or at night time because these are times when I tend to make impulsive decisions that I regret later. There is nothing restrictive about putting rules like this in place, you're just acknowledging that there are predictable states where you're less likely to make a balanced decision and times when you are more likely to do so.
Love the way you articulated that, particularly your last sentence! 💪💯
I just figured out how to manage to go to bed earlier. 🙏🏻 My emotionally sober self has to decide for my less emotionally sober self to stick to a routine, even if she doesn't feel like it and thinks binge-watching Heidi's videos is more fun than going to bed early! 💜 Goodnight everyone...
lol true
To anyone reading this. The quickest way for me to get into a secure state was to allow myself to feel all the feelings from when I was disregulated and become aware that I was purging these feelings out of my body. I’m not a psychiatrist just sharing my experience after struggling for years to “just do the right thing/make the conscious choice ” mentally. Your body needs to be able to do it to.
That actually makes sense ♥️ much appreciated
Heidi- as someone who has, in retrospect, felt anxiety and depression (a sense of alienation and disassociation) from a young age, I started working on mindfulness in my late 20s - and it momentarily blew me away that I could use all my senses to be in the present moment.
Since then I have run the gamut of psychological self help and tools though my own research. But, at age 42, your clear, concise, and LUCID! -videos have clicked for me in a way that nothing else has.
They’ve made my relationships stronger and more authentic- after realizing what boundaries actually are (not telling someone what to do or where to go) and how to recognize them. You’ve taught me what attachment systems are and which I use in most of my relationships (at first I thought anxious- but now I realize fearful avoidant (the most fun system of all!😜)). I have learned though listening to you that although I can co-regulate with another person when we are mutually in agreement to do so, I don’t have to rely on others to self regulate. I can rely on myself. And just having that knowledge somehow stops me from pining for the other person to so something I “need” them to do. I have become aware of when my responses to situations or people are bringing me to a place of neurological activation. I don’t suppress anger as much. I use it as a tool.. along with shame.
Another gem you have given me the moment to consider what feeling I am trying to avoid when I’m going to have an edible or a drink of alcohol. This curiosity has made it so that I am not just saying blindly to myself “you’ve been drinking too much, stop/slow down/you promised yourself…”. I don’t actually feel the desire nearly as often because the reward for getting in touch with my authentic self is far to rich.
I have recommended you to numerous people in my life- and the ones who listen seem to resonate deeply with your coherent, accessible, laser focused delivery.
I think you are onto something and you should keep going with it. You are an inspiration and have a natural talent that mixed with your education can continue to have far reaching affects on people.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Brian
Thank you for sharing! Well said👌
You are a good student! Nice work! Hope I will learn something too! 😀
It's a very beautiful and inspiring comment. I'm going to keep at her videos and hope till I get to your point of introspection and growth. Thank you
Do people really not live ‘in story’? This is my first time hearing this term (and finding your videos) and I’m realizing that I’m constantly in this state. It’s so hard to fathom being able to just live and not constantly have some interpretation or narrative of what’s happening going on in your head.
I feel the same way
I’m 32, and my time feeling calm and safe has been so rare, I’m only just now learning to identify when I feel elevated. I have lived in the story all my life, and I’m having periods of sobriety for the first time.
This part surprised me too. I always thought that feeling the pure emotion would mean becoming lost in it and that the only way to process was to form some kind of narrative or story around it. I always had trouble doing this, and thought I was doing something wrong. But it makes sense because stories are only useful in explaining yourself to others and if you are giving yourself the compassion and awareness and acceptance she talks about then explaining yourself to others is secondary to giving yourself the full human experience without distortions.
Very interesting.
Living in the story and constantly being on watch for how the story is being perceived and/or accepted is nothing short of exhausting. I find it easier and more energizing to simply live from my own truth and not care what other’s think of it. To me, it’s God’s way of sorting out who does and doesn’t belong in my inner circle. And life is a lot easier for sure!! 🙏❤️
The show 'The Bear' has very good demonstrations of various emotional intoxications referenced in this video and has each person learn to regulate and find respect for themselves and each other. Would recommend it to anyone who wants to see things from the outside a bit
We don't have HULu in Europe, as far as I know...
Your channel is THE place to find the right answers to mental health issues most of us experience. Thank you, Heidi!!! You are SO helpful!!!
Something I don't think is talked about enogh is the role of community, a sponsor, and group therapy in sobriety. When you can help someone else with the same problem it expands your mind. Also, the regular exposure to other people who are also aware and working on the same issues as you can help you build a truly healthy support system.
Excellent point, one caution would be not to assume the people in that therapy group are anyone you want to be any deeper into your life.
Im noticing Ive been having big feelings around grief and loss of limerant connections, and have begun to see my lack of emotional sobriety in so many of my relationships. Ive been feeling extra depressed but I also feel like Im starting to process years of pain. Thank you for another great video Heidi!! Im so grateful for content like this.
Dear Heidi, you just keep knocking it ouf the park, one helpful video to my healing journey after the other. And each time, I'm elated to find comments from so many others whose lives you help improving. Thank you, wholeheartedly
Love you too Heidi. Another sobering video.
I actually came up with my own definition of sober many years ago while I was on my journey of self-reflection.
" Sobriety is understanding the difference between need and want and being able to live absolutely content with only what you need. Only then will you find true joy in your life".
Not to say you can't have the things you want. But it's learning to be grateful even in the moments when you don't have the things that you want.
And another saying that I've always used when talking to people is...
"Want what you need. Don't need what you want".
Only because it goes hand in hand with my previous statement. 💁
WOW my mind was just blown. This fills in SO many blanks as to what went wrong in past relationships...lack of emotional sobriety! Thank you so much for this.
So good! Thanks for posting. To me this explains the polarization in politics, people have been manipulated to be triggered all the time, so they are now addicted to being drunk on emotions, whether it’s anger or the self righteous virtue warrior, it’s all addiction.
Or the mighty judge of others
I’ve heard this term lately from a few RUclipsrs and have no idea what it is! Excited to learn!
Heidi, Your content is viscerally helpful. It is actionable, which is so rare. Thank you, so much.
They're like a hug for my soul.
This concept is AMAZING and tonight is the first time I’ve ever heard of it. Thank you for sharing!
You’re incredibly good at this. Keep it coming.
WOW🤔. Emotional sobriety… that’s a helpful way to look at it. I’ll need to watch this video several times. It triggers a fear/deflection response right now but it resonates deep down. I will keep working at understanding it.
I’ve been through DBT classes several times and “Wise mind” was always the hardest for me to understand… or maybe “claim” would be a better way to put it.
Am I overly self indulgent of the traumatized inner child so avoid the need to strengthen my “wise mind”? Too much into supporting her deeply emotional response? IDK. My violent trauma came at 2 months old. Creating a sense of love and security for such a young “me” is a challenge but I’m getting better at identifying when she needs my love and support. To convince her that we no longer live in those nightmare three days.
Thank you so much for your straightforward and supportive style when explaining these options for healing. Your videos pop up just when I seem to need to think about such things. 👍🏼👏🏼
I just watched Jonathan van Ness talking to dick schwarz the IFS guy and there was a great bit in it where JVN said that using the 'parent' Like voice - wise mind? - to parent himself wouldn't work, he has to make it a cheeky friend and get alongside the part or it'll just rebel. I don't know if this is what you're getting at but I liked the idea
@@laurah2831. My definition of wise mind… hmmm well in EMDR I chose Captain Jean Luke Picard from Star Trek Next Gen. to be my wise mind support personality. It has more to do with a perspective of calm balance. Not the dictator “Dad” voice that had to be replaced.
Emotional sobriety is something that’s new to me. This video, thank you so much for
Elegantly distinguishing what it is and how to practice it. I have a feeling I’ll be watching this video over and over and over again and using this method for the rest of my life. Many blessings to you thank you. 🙏🏽💕
My goodness it's the missing concept or key that I've been overlooking repeatedly.
I must re-study this lecture of yours Heidi. You've used the whack-a-mole analogy for our feelings and emotions.
I've been trying to understand the root cause of my distortions these past few months and this feels totally relevant.
I've made more progress on this path than ever before after finally gathering the courage to choose myself over others (fearful avoidant). I feel like Aladdin singing A Whole New World with the feelings and emotions that seem so overwhelmingly powerful.
Even though they've been overwhelming, and every fibre of my being has been trying to get me to run away from my efforts, it's beginning to become much easier to simply be with the energies.
I'm in AA and have heard this term and thought it could be useful to others. Good eye
Your videos are so helpful to me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us
I wanted to thank you, not only for your incredible content, but also for referring us scapegoats to Rebecca Mandeville. The two of you have been better than all of my therapists put together.
Heidi, your videos are always so eye opening and loaded with compassionate understanding. What a healing force you are, thank you.
I've been watching so many of your videos these past few months and I just want to say: Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. Thank you for putting these videos out into the world so they can find people like me, on the brink of truly, once and for all, giving up on happiness, or even life itself, out of pure ignorance of my own inner world. Thank you so much. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you have saved my life. For the first time in my adult life, at the age of 34, I feel a true sense of hope about my future that is based purely on myself and my self growth, not on someone else coming along and "saving" me from myself. Thank you so much for everything you do.
this was very eye opening for me
i personally have experienced a sort of tunnel vision in moments of distress and emergencies, while it had saved me a couple of times, it had also caused me to act recklessly and I had suffered extreme consequences from being too reliant on that emotional response
thank you for making the content that you do!
that was the most relatable story about wanting to call everyone to come to the bar
I feel emotionally intoxicated with anxiety and anticipatory grief every time I see my mom. I love her so much and she was my first and primary attachment figure and I don't want her to die. She has almost died twice in the past 4 years, has permanent lung damage and other chronic health issues. She is not well and the last time I saw her several days ago she gave me 6 pages of stuff to do after she dies since I will be in charge of funeral planning and her estate. I've already lost 4 relatives and 3 pets within the past 8 years and don't want to go through any more grief and loss. I know I just need to suck it up and deal with it because no one lives forever though. I am trying to be emotionally sober and take good care of myself but this is hard. Thanks for the tips.
Heidi, I’ve been watching all your videos about dismissive avoidant attachment style and seeing a lot of myself in them. Recently I talked with my therapist about the things I’ve learned and am trying to internalize and she said I’m “kicking ass” at personal growth. Thank you for helping me to understand myself.
So true, Heidi’s videos and some of the other RUclips channels really turbocharge the process!
Being given "silent treatment" is my biggest trigger, but is also my go-to unconscious response whenever I'm feeling uncomfortable, unable to communicate my emotions or needs, or shame-bound around others.
I faced this too and this is so painful
With your example of the four drinks I will forever see the four of cups tarot card as emotional sobriety:) thank you for your content it’s been extremely supportive!!
my version of notes:
Step 1:
emotional sobriety vs. not, how to tell difference.
Emotionally intoxicated:
regret is a sign of
(story telling? long convoluted story about who this and that
comparing greatly to one another
intense emotions or dethatched emotions
emotional sober:
rational and respecting one another including self
even if you dislike yourself or someone. it doesn't have to be more than that.
step 2:
Notice both and try to choose sobriety as much as possible
notice and name triggers
triggers: family, some types of girls, trading crypto, poker
step 3:action plan to deal with emotional intoxication
make them incredibly simple(if this, then that) ex: if in the presence of person x: only use i language
rules:
step 4: work and sit with difficult emotions(not doing this builds neuroticism)
integrate shame,
step 5 relationships
seek comradery not savory from pain
(were all in this together)
lastly(stay realistic)
the people you surround yourself with helps you stay or not emotionally sober
I am playing this for my SUD clients for group therapy thank you so much for providing this information. I even learned a lot about my healing journey. Thank you for all you do!
Thank you so much for being here and the information you share. I love your videos and how you present the information. You're a life saver.
Not only are her videos incredibly insightful, but she is looking more beautiful each video she makes and this one is stunning.
Such wonderful content. My fawning days are long gone (for the most part, lol). Now it's getting triggered and then instantly filled with anger. Another RUclipsr put it: "You react as if they burnt you alive". That's how it feels, inside. I love your advice to keep "The Rules" very simple, as to what you are allowed "to do, to manifest" when this happens. Even if all alone, when triggered, I'd like to refrain from "exploding". A personal challenge, but if there is no witness, boy it's hard to just contain that energy.
Always so grateful to see a new video from you bc I know it's going to be goooood! Thanks for all the work you put into your videos.
Omg min 19:50 talking about uncertainty and vulnerability... perfectly explains my religious trauma. So well worded. Gonna quote you in my journal!
This is such valuable advice ❤ I would reference feeling "sober" when single in my stream of consciousness journal entries, and after watching your vid I've gained so much insight into why i felt that way. Thanks Heidi!
Amazing video, thank you so much. now I realized I am emotionally sober and have been so for the last 7 or 8 months and have experienced so much pain Which I had been burying deep inside of me. I agree; facing the emotions and pain, letting it slowly fade away is the remedy. Thank you so much..
Thank you for this video. I recently began attending ACA meetings and have heard the term emotional sobriety but didn't really understand it. I have not been practicing it and now I can begin to. Your message is very clear and understandable. This video is very helpful to me :)
Thank you for this video helping me on my journey
This video is real as fuck
Really wish I hadn't started this video right before bed because it resonated so much harder than I expected, and now down the rabbit hole I go, lol
Your videos are a huge help for me on my self awareness/self love journey. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and wisdom 💞
Super! Especially the hidden aspects of not being emotional sober and having friends with similar emotional challenges.
You are mentioning a lot of fascinating concepts, that really do make sense to me. Thank you.
I love this!! I will have to listen many more times!! Thank you! 🙏🏻
I feel like your videos are you practicing ted talks in your room. They are always so full of concise and extremely useful information.
I know I need to work on these points, great video
I just love your videos! My journey of healing led me to a 12 step program and it completely transformed my relationship to myself and others. I've been learning to apply this to all areas of struggle in my life and it helps a lot. I love this term of emotional sobriety.
So important to be able to share a situation with a friend and have them see everyone's good, not just side with me. I value that. And I love the part about making rules for when we are feeling "off". Simple rules that a 4 year old can follow. :)
This video came at the perfect time. I just started this healing journey three months ago… its been intense. Your insights are clear and you explain it so well. Thank you so much ❤
I do that rule making for myself too! I’m currently working through having broken a rule I’d made for myself in 2009- I broke my rule and after a 6-week I’m pulling myself back down to Earth. Thanks for this video. Excited to learn more.
Hi! Listening to you for the first time this morning, sounds like good stuff and applicable today! As I was listening I thought, you Heidi, sound like God might be reaching out to you 💜
Brilliant video! Thank you so much, Heidi!
this could not have been at a better time, thank u and every single person needs to watch this twice
Thanks for sharing this important message. We could have used this 30 years ago but I’m glad we’re becoming so much more aware because of media. Because of you.
Thank you so much for this enlightening Video - you are a angel to this world with this RUclips Channel 🙏🏻
I'm so grateful for your videos, I didn't know how much I needed this insight.
Watching this again 😮
THANK YOU! Absolutely what I needed to hear (and begin learning). Your explanations are excellent- thank u.
Wonderful informative and insightful message. Thank you.
Heidi, thank you for being you and for doing what you do! ❤
Your videos are incredibly insightful and illuminating! My favorite channel ! 🙏
Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I get stuck on the action plan. I guess - keep trying, eh? Also, sometimes the universe steps in to help me, which is always such a gift (call gets cut off, person has to go, I get distracted by something else). And I like the sobriety model because it's truly the best way to describe me around my family - intoxicated. Sigh. Very, very helpful - thank you, Heidi!!
Wow….those self protection rules are SUCH necessities, I wish I had known 20 years ago.
Great job. Thank you so much. Lots of practice this daily
Such a wonderful video~ thank you Heidi. New to your channel, and loving it❤
Thank you! I needed this video ❤
Immensely grateful for these videos, you’re helping me heal so much.❤
Heidi, your vids are spot on. Thank you. I watched one last night and today, a change was made. A breakthrough of sorts. Baby steps... But the direction has changed, for the better. Thank you!
Your content is so freakin helpful. Thank you so much!!
Very helpful video! Thanks for posting!! ❤
The methodical steps are very helpful , thank you .
Preach Heidi, preach!! You are so good at this ❤ Your content helps me MASSIVELY every time, without fail. Thank you for your work 🙏
Such a wonderful concept. I've been drunk of emotions by chronically emotionally alcoholic parents and community.
I am learning what shame and guilt feels like. Thank you for the video.
Great video! Thank you ❤🙏
That was so well articulated. Thank you for this video. I absolutely needed to hear this. Love your channel.
Thank you so much Heidi, so greatful for you and the knowledge you share with us!🙏❤️
Oh I'm DEFINITELY addicted to a freeze response now, and in the past i was highly addicted to a fawn response. I used to feel genuine highs from saying and doing exactly what other people needed or wanted, and receiving praise as a result. Led to some very insane time periods cuz I lacked my own internal compass to tell me what was right and relied solely on others' reactions to me. Even now, I still feel like I'm missing something to fill the gap that used to be other people's desires. I know I need to learn how to self direct, how to live in line with my own internal desires, but it's something I still struggle with. These days, instead of fawning, I tend to freeze, which while isolating has led to much better results since the fawning tended to bring lots of toxic and maladapted people into my life. The freezing lets me asses my options more and control who I let in. It's still not ideal because I'm not fully regulated or operating at full capacity enacting my dreams and desires, but I guess this period is like a transient phase between the fully unregulated, codependent person I was and the more regulated, emotionally intelligent, interdependent person I would like like to be.
Thank you for making such thought provoking videos! I don't know if it's your own personal experiences or your delivery, but something about your psychology videos really connects with me compared to other youtubers, and I'm glad I found your channel!
Heidi your videos are a true blessing in this world 🙏🏽
Thank you for providing the tools, confidence and encouragement to stop playing “emotional whack-a-mole”.
16:55 handling myself with the person that evokes fight - so helpful
Thanks Heidi for another great video. Keep up the good work!
I just started watching and your stuff really resonates with me. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks you for your content, it really helps me to process my feelings post-therapy. It is good to know that there are tools to open new perspectives into my psychoanalysis and further healing to take full responsibility of life choices in intimate relationships.
All I can say, before ever watching this video, is emotional sobriety is the way to go! ❤🎉
Thank you SO much for sharing. It’s helped me with communication in my relationships a ton ❤
Very useful and eye opening information. Thank you!
This is awesome! Thank you ❤
A lot of people have this misconception that wise decisions are made with the mind!
Mental decisions are based on a very limited set of information which often results in very short sighted and disempowering outcomes.
The wise self can only be accessed through the body.
Thank you for this amazing content ❤️