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My Truly Mortifying Self-Talk

2021-04-13 · story · John, Sarah Urist Green · 3:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Health) · mode: Personal update · tags: civic or action cta, self promotion, guest or collab

While getting his second vaccine shot, John tells how his watch, which keeps thinking he is talking to it, texted his friend Craig a transcript of the positive self-talk John learned in cognitive behavioral therapy, and draws the morals: get vaccinated, use self-talk, keep friends like Craig.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Driving with Sarah to John's second vaccine shot

  • ★★★ John goes to 'manifest' his second vaccine shot; Sarah drives because he is too nervous. — 00:00:00 · vaccine, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ Sarah Urist Green: Asked how she feels about getting vaccinated, Sarah says fantastic: very excited, though the excited parts of her brain are, figuratively at least, very close to the nervous parts. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Sarah Urist Green

00:00:29 — Friend Craig; the shot; John's watch thinks he is talking to it

  • ★★ John's friend Craig, a teacher and big soccer fan, texts with him a lot about his team Watford and about AFC Wimbledon's perpetual proximity to relegation. — 00:00:29 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ Pausing the story for the shot, John reports they are now double vaccinated. — 00:00:29 · vaccine
  • ★★ John has never spoken to his watch, but it often believes he is speaking to it, which is annoying, and he doesn't know how to make it stop. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Cognitive behavioral therapy and John's positive self-talk

  • ★★★ John has been fortunate to have a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy for his mental illness; he uses its positive self-talk technique many times a day to reduce stress and break cycles of self-loathing and despair. — 00:00:58 · mental disorder
  • ★★ In self-talk John calls himself 'you' or 'we': after locking his keys in the car he tells himself to move to a solutions mindset; when afraid he says he can do this, he has done hard things before. — 00:01:31

00:02:00 — Last Tuesday's stress and the watch texting Craig John's self-talk

  • ★★ Positive self-talk is aggressively cheesy and John says it aloud only when thoroughly alone, but it works to treat himself like a team he is rooting for. — 00:02:00

    “treat myself like a team I am rooting for”

  • ★★★ John has been struggling with fairly severe anxiety for the last eight to ten weeks. — 00:02:00

  • ★★ Last Tuesday (6 April 2021), behind on everything and short of time before picking up the kids, John calmed himself with positive self-talk and then shot his vlogbrothers video. — 00:02:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Craig texted that he knew exactly what this was and was proud of John; while uploading, John realized his watch had texted Craig a transcript of his positive self-talk. (playful) — 00:02:29

00:02:59 — The text's ending; morals: get vaccinated, use self-talk, keep friends like Craig, you've got this

  • ★★★ The moral of the story: get vaccinated as soon as you can. — 00:02:59 · vaccine
  • ★★ Don't be afraid to use as much positive self-talk as you need. — 00:02:59
  • ★★ Get friends like Craig who will love and embrace you even when your watch reveals your mortifying self-talk. — 00:02:59
  • ★★ As his 2021 vision board says: you've got this; whatever it is, you can get it done. — 00:02:59

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description, and John's comment, invite viewers to pre-order a signed copy of his new book The Anthropocene Reviewed, his first nonfiction book. — video description · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★ In a comment John reports that a viewer's tip for stopping the watch from listening to him worked. — video description
  • ★ In a comment John says there is no secret livestream today because he has post-vaccination fatigue. — creator comment

Humor (significant)

  • John asks his watch, which keeps thinking he is talking to it, whether he can turn it off. — 00:00:58

    “Sorry, I can't help you with that on Apple Watch.”

  • John gives examples of his positive self-talk. — 00:01:31

    “it tends to be aggressively cheesy, but whatever.”

  • Puzzled by Craig's oddly supportive text, John checks the chain while uploading the video. — 00:02:29

    “my watch had texted Craig a transcript of my positive self-talk.”

  • The transcript the watch sent ends with John rehearsing his greeting for the video. — 00:02:59

    “Good morning, Hank. It's Tuesday. I hate this thing.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Apple Watch · Craig · Self-talk

Also: AFC Wimbledon · anxiety disorder · Cognitive behavioral therapy · mental disorder · Sarah Urist Green · vaccine · vision board · Watford F.C.

Only in the description or credits: The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Also centred on Craig: Fine, I'll take the bait.

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