832,000 People Are Going To This Party

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Welcome to my weekly panic Attack.
I'm your host, Remy Brooks. I've

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been a licensed psychotherapist for over twenty
years and run a thriving private practice.

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I'm also diagnosed SPI polar an OCD. Often the two do not mix well,

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which tends to throw my life into
complete chaos. So as I do

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some spiraling, my best friend Liz
Win will do her best to ground me

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a bit. During this podcast,
we'll be talking about the horror and the

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humor of the anxieties of daily life, the things we do that are embarrassing,

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funny, but yet very human.
Let's get started. Here's a well

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adjusted moment from Lizze's life. So
I'm currently visiting Texas and as I opened

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the door this morning, front door, there's a six foot rat snake blocking

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my way. Oh my god,
did you call nine one one? No,

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Remy, I took pictures of videos
like everyone else would have, and

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this has been a well adated moment
from Lizze's life. You are most definitely

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a glass half full kind of girl, which, okay, is perfect because

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that leads me into what what the
hell am I stressed out about today?

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Liz? And what is stressing you
out today. Okay, what is stressing

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me out right now is a feeling, Liz. It is feeling that I

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don't completely understand because I've never experienced
it before. And this is very interesting,

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Liz. This is it as if
we rehearse this, which anybody who's

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listening, we did not. We
do not talk about the podcast at all

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until we are actually doing this.
I was in my kitchen making a cup

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of coffee. I turned around,
I leaned against my stove, and I

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was staring at a piece of art
hanging on my wall, which says,

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always see your glass as half full. Now did you not just say that?

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Did? We just did not?
I didn't. I've been in your

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kitchen. I do not remember that
ball hanging with a saying, but yeah,

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it's been there for years. Now. Here's the thing. The only

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reason that I have that piece of
art is because the colors match my kitchen

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and the frame is the right size
and shape for the like space. I

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would never otherwise own such a thing
because that mindset is polar opposite of me.

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I would never own such it.
This would be like a gift I

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would give to you it Franks,
to your mindset, it does not speak

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to mine, but it fit perfectly, so I got it. Now,

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if I were creating such art,
it would say life sucks and then you

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die. I'm not so how many
people would buy that one, but okay,

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I would buy it like I would
make it dollars mate, and then

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like I would produce it for others
because I am positive others would feel the

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same way to not people like you. I would never target people like you,

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but you know whatever, Okay.
So usually as I read this,

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I read it and I giggle.
Only this time this week, I am

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leaning against stove and I'm drinking my
cup of coffee and I read it and

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I don't giggle. And I noticed
instantaneously that I don't giggle. Why am

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I not giggling? I asked on
myself, and going would you say?

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I said, why were you not
giggling? Exactly? Why why was I

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not giggling? And I did not
have an answer. However, this then

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becomes my obsessive thought of the week, and I couldn't stop thinking about it,

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and I didn't have an answer,
And where my fucked up mind went

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took me to places that I never
expected to go. So you want to

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go on this fucked up trip with
me. Sure, so you were you

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were spacing into the fact that you
hadn't laughed at that sign or what the

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signment or was it all together?
I know what the sign means, like

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I know exactly what it means,
but I usually laugh at it because I

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think it's ridiculous. See the glass
half full, be optimistic, be grateful,

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see things as like like good in
the world. Please. It's such

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bullshit. So I laugh at it, and I think of people like you.

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You know, something horrible happens and
you can actually make light of it,

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like, oh, your hotel room
has overflowed. That's okay, I'll

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put down some tails and no problem. Don't worry about me, worry about

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the other forty people. I'm fine. Oh my car, all the tires

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have been taken off my car.
It's an inconvenience, but I'll get four

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new tires. Yeah, come on, it's ridiculous. Be pissed off that

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your car has no tires, Like, what is this glass half fullshit?

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It's shit? Well with me,
it is. I'll have that initial like

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like when the tires or whatever,
it's like, oh crap, But then

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it's like I don't want to let
myself get into that any negative. So

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if I can clear it out five
or timents, sometimes it takes longer depending

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on what kind of situation is.
But if I can work my way through

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it, it gets me to the
end. That's how I get to the

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other side, so that I'm not
like in down duldrums. I get it.

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That must be a lovely place to
live. That is not where I

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live. You know, I don't
even visit. It's not a place I

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go to. I have heard that
place exists. I just don't have a

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ticket to enter. So here is
where my mind went throughout the week,

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because it was like a week long
process. I go back to a kid,

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like as a teenager I was.
I was always a good kid,

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and I had like a really nice
group of friends who were all really good

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kids. And I was never rebellious. I always got along great with my

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parents. And not that I had
a curfew. But if I would have

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had a curfew, I would buckt
in the kid who would have broken it.

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You know, I didn't drink alcohol, I didn't do drugs, and

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I was always a homebody. So
when I would get together with friends,

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my preference was to invite them over
to my house, my room, talk

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rent movies, order pizza. By
the time I met you, we were,

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you know, in our twenties,
and I was still living with my

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parents, and you know, the
thing went like coming over to my house,

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hang out my house, like I
was always at home. That is

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where I always wanted to be.
The only major issue that was that really

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existed between me and my parents was
academically, like my grades always sucked and

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I was always on the verge of
failing something, and I always thought I

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was going to be held back a
grade. And the funny thing is the

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only thing I ever failed was JIM
and it was because I got I cursed

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out my gym teacher, which was
by the way, well deserved. And

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had I known, is she had
said I cursed her out, and she's

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like, you are never to return
to JIM again, and you officially failed.

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And had I known that, all
I needed to do was curse her

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out and I would have a free
pass out at GIM, I wouldn't done

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that so much sooner what a schmuck
I didn't know. So anyway, I

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was like not punished often. The
only time I was ever punished were for

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like horrible grades and pray. My
parents chose two interesting The way my parents

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chose to punish me was by forcing
me to make plans with friends out side

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of the house. And they would
say, kids your age, have social

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lives, call your friends, make
plans and go out. Liz, I

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that hated the ink punished. Wow, that is a very different punishment than

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I have. Quite the opposite.
You are stuck inside. Here's a book,

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no TV. There were no computers
at the time, so not so

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much fun for me. It was
get the fuck out of the house,

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have a social life, God damn
it. Meanwhile, my sister, who's

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like three and a half years longer, you couldn't. You couldn't keep her

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inside. She had like hundreds of
friends, she had her own phone line.

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She was like so busy, always
on the eye. Please get out

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of your room, Please get out
of the house. No, I don't

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want to. You can't make me
okay again. No, this, in

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all fairness, who was the eighties
and mental health disorders they really weren't like

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recognized, diagnosed, or really discussed
in any way at all. But like,

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seriously, the fact that my punishment
was forced me to be social,

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that's actually punishment. Most parents would
give to their kids today because none of

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them want to actually exit the house. Only right, that's right, would

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prefer being on top and being on
his computer. Putting making him go outside.

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You would think that you were like
skinning him or something. But even

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like the kids who were inside on
their computer, they're hooked up to their

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computer friends, like like they're still
you know, in this world being social

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on the computer. Like do you
watch face oar tapes? Exactly? No.

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My father, who was undiagnosed bipolar
at that point until like twenty years

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after that time, Thank you genetics, struggled terribly with it. My mother,

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who was extremely anti social herself but
always pretended very very well not to

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be again, thank you genetics also
should have known that something was very very

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wrong. What Right wished for more
than anything during junior high, high school,

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college was too simply be left alone, no social contact with anyone at

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all, and quite frankly, that
has not changed. Oh yes, yeah,

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you know, you are the only
person I should really tolerate for longer

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than like, you know, fifteen
minutes at a time. And really that's

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kind of pushing it. Um pre
covid right, single mom, Yeah,

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out in the world, running every
day, ever errands, living what appears

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to be a fully functioning life,
but yet beyond over whelmed. Okay,

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the weight of the world on my
shoulders up early school bus, paperwork,

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emails, phone calls, invoices,
receipts, client, client, client.

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My youngest did not know a time
when he didn't have a babysitter from after

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pool until bedtime. Right right,
I felt like I was running, And

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I don't run like I'm like I
was. You were running all day,

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like I was running towards the grave
with no feasible way out. I didn't

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know how to put the brakes on, how to take a step back,

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how to reprioritize my life. I
was going full force and I didn't know

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how to stop. But like my
mother, I have always He's been the

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great pretender, with a smile on
my face, funny stories to tell,

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making everyone else feel so good.
I always worked so hard at pretending that

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everything was okay. But I was
holding on to what was left of my

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mental health by a fucking string that
was threatening to break. Not that anyone

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would know, because no, I
mean, even as we were talking during

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the pandemic, I would talk to
at one point and that we talked to

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you at another point, and I
didn't always realize how much you were pretending

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in front of your kids, and
that's even being at home, and how

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much work you were doing in that
and trying to put a good face on

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things. I was that I like, that was always my main job.

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I always tried to keep it from
my fits, always, always, always,

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always, And that was the hardest
part of the pandemic because I was

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there with my kids. You were
the only person who knew how far from

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okay that I was. There were
times when things got really bad that I'd

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let my mom in, but only
so much. But from the outside,

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I was functioning right while living with
panic and anxiety and depression every single day.

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And then the world was hit with
COVID. Yeah, okay, So

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before I say another word, if
this is just sort of like a disclaimer,

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because I want you already know,
because we've had conversation and you already

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know what's going to come out of
my mouth. But I want anyone who's

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listening to this to know that I
am so utterly aware of how devastating COVID

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has been, the millions of deaths, the complete crash of our global economy,

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the impact that isolation has had,
the forced use of mask wearing,

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how the abused had to remain in
the same health sohold with their abusers.

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The impact on people's mental health.
I mean, I get it. I

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really understand the devastation that this virus
has caused. Okay, complete disclaimer.

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Now with that said, I understand
how horrible my next words are going to

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sound. I honestly think you're going
to be the only one out there though.

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Okay, you know you're not the
only one. I shared this with.

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I shared this with you. You
took a beat before you said anything.

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I actually also shared this early on
with my mother, and he yelled

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at me and said, don't you
ever say that again. Okay, but

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here it is, and I'm going
to say, at this again, I

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am, thanks to COVID personally thriving. I know that I am probably in

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a minority here, I get it. But COVID has given me a totally

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different way of living, a totally
different way of life. My mother was

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so angry at me, and when
I said, actually, I'm kind of

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thriving, she yelled at me,
don't you ever say that again. I

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mean, she had friends that died. It was I understand. I get

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it. For me, being outside
is bad. It's danger, danger,

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danger. I am so hyper aware
of everything that I can't help to turn

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the teeniest, tiniest little thing into
something so completely catastrophic. So thank God,

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like I have a legit reason to
not be in the world, because

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even as the world opened, I
decided not to join it. When the

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lockdown occurred, it was as if
God himself said, you know the way

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that really weird woman, Remy Brooks, wants to live in total isolation where

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nobody leaves their house. How about
we try that, but for the entire

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world. What the hell, Let's
get that a shot and see what happens.

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As if God himself said, you
know what, Len, you may

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be onto something. And suddenly,
for the first and my life is I

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wasn't the outcast right, And I
had never felt so calm, And it

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was the first time that I recall
living a life without anxiety. And that's

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not to say that because when COVID
hit, I was so fearful of it

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too, and you know what was
going to happen and how this was affecting

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everything. I mean, I was
terrified, but it was a different kind

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of terrified. It wasn't my personal
anxiety. I was living a life without

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my crazy anxiety. And it was
such an amazing relief, and it was

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beautiful. We're going to take a
quick break and we'll be right back now.

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In all fairness, unlike so many
other people, my kids were at

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an age where they could do virtual
school on their own right, take care

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of themselves more or less exactly.
So I got to sleep in until like

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one two o'clock in the afternoon every
single day. I got to drink NonStop

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cups of coffee and chain smoke in
my garage and binge, watch TV and

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talk to no one except my kids. I was living my fantasy life.

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And then something very strange happened that
I never in a million years I thought

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would occur. What was that?
My tvr very quickly somehow, with seven

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percentful to zero. Now, fear
not, Liz. I did have Netflix

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and I did have Amazon Prime,
but like in no time at all,

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I very clear, huh, And
now I was facing uncharted territory. What

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does one do when you literally have
no TV to watch? I did not

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know this answer, because I'm not
on social media. I had no idea

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what people did. So I asked
a friend, and apparently people were cooking

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elaborate meals. However, I don't
even know how to scramble eggs, so

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that was not something that was for
me. Not No, apparently, somehow,

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and I still don't understand what this
is all about. People were baking

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sour dough bread. That became a
thing, that was a big thing.

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It was hard to find. You
stop telling it. I don't get that.

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I don't know how that became a
thing. Dy projects became a thing.

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I don't own a hammer. That
was not going to be a thing

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for me. So I figured if
I had no TV to watch, then

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clearly I would write my own TV. Right, right, So I picked

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up an old hobby that I dropped
because I didn't have time to pursue it.

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So in nineteen ninety four, the
week after I graduated college, I

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moved out to LA to pursue writing
and acting, which clearly went nowhere,

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says the therapist. So now here's
COVID, right, perfect opportunity to all

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the entire world slowed down, and
now I had time to write from beginning

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to end. And I realized that
I still left it, and I was

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still good at it, and I
wrote like many different TV scripts and two

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of them, both thirty minute dramedies, were picked up, and I somehow

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became a client of a TV production
company called Voyage Media, and I have

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shopping agreements for both of these scripts, and this same production company is now

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producing this podcast. Like how the
fuck do you jump to here? Like?

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Who would? Life is crazy?
It's crazy. Professionally, telehealth becomes

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a thing right right, which no
one did before. What the hell?

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I honestly, I never even heard
of telehealth before. I never heard of

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zoom, and suddenly I'm seeing clients
over zoom. And in the meantime,

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I realize, which was like the
greatest thing in world, that there was

241
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.039
no reason that I have to get
out of my pajamas. No, you

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00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:10.240
never have to see a client in
your household again, never again. I

243
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wasn't leaving the house, and I
was a much happier human being in pajamas

244
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than I was in clothes. And
by the way, I recommend it to

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00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:22.920
people, it's fabulous. So even
when the lockdown ended and the world started

246
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:30.440
becoming more normal, I felt free
to continue saying no to social and family

247
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expectations and my baseline, anxiety stayed
down, and we're like past two years

248
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:41.319
into COVID, and I only go
out when I have to, and I

249
00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:48.519
rarely have to, and I am
living a mostly anxiety free light. Oh

250
00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:56.400
oh, Liz, something awful happened
this past week and my anxiety, which

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I have not felt in over two
years, skyrocketed through the roof. It

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00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:11.319
was awful. What I thought?
I get an evite to Randy's seventieth birthday

253
00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:17.960
party. No, no, I
have not been to a social event in

254
00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:22.000
over two years. I can't do
this. I cannot. I can't do

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00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:26.599
this, and I don't want to
do this. And I remember you telling

256
00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.880
me about what the first time you
went out to a restaurant when COVID once

257
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:34.559
everyone started getting their shots, and
just a restaurant with a couple of people,

258
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:41.200
you knew You're now talking about a
party. There's no there's there's absolutely

259
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:47.720
no way I can do this.
And I'm scrolling to see like how many

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people have been invited now and already
RSVP, and I may be slightly exaggerating,

261
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Okay, so we can take that
add into account that there might be

262
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:11.599
a slight exaggeration, but roughly eight
hundred and thirty two thousand people are going

263
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:18.559
to this party in the so about
zero one of that, About eight hundred

264
00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:22.759
and thirty two thousand people are going
to this party. Okay. So in

265
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:30.279
the last two years, I have
worked my way up. I have gotten

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together in a group with my immediate
family consisting of no larger than eight people,

267
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and I am fucking proud of myself
to have gotten to that point.

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Okay, So there is no way
that I can attend a party of nine

269
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hundred and sixty seven thousand people.
I can't see that group quickly. I'm

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pretty sure it was the exact same
number I told you before. It's it's

271
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about a hundred a million. It's
close to a million people. And by

272
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the time I'm anything I want to
say, I might be slightly exaggerating the

273
00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:26.039
numbers, but not by much.
By the time I got this invitation,

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it was too late to call my
mother. She was already asleep. So

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I was like done. I can
ask yes, because the answer was no.

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There was no way in hell I
was going to this party. There

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there was no way, and I
knew that she was. She was going

278
00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:48.079
to be upset. I'm her kid, and this is her husband, and

279
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of course I should be there.
Um, all of the family is going

280
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to be there, and how could
I not show up? And this was

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going to be a thing and the
last thing in the world. Old I

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00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:02.640
wanted to just upset my mother.
I don't want to upset my mother.

283
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:06.000
I'm like, so scared of my
mother, you know, so I don't

284
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.400
want to upset her. But I'm
not going. I can't go. I

285
00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:15.599
was up all night long panicking.
So the next and I take sleeping pills

286
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:19.559
and I still couldn't sleep. So
I took more sleeping pills, but I

287
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:25.160
still couldn't sleep. So now I'm
like close to overdosing. But I so

288
00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:30.119
can't sleep and I'm terrified and I'm
scared and I'm full of anxiety. And

289
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:32.920
I finally get her the next day
and I'm like, I can't, I

290
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:36.599
can't, I can't. She's like
what, And I'm like the invitation Randy's

291
00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:40.359
Burgle party, I can't, I
can't, I can't. And she's like,

292
00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:45.319
oh, honey, where already knew
that? Oh wow? Why would

293
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:51.039
you not have given me a heads
up? Why would you would have put

294
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.480
me through that? Why would you
have made such a big deal out of

295
00:29:56.519 --> 00:30:00.680
that. So she was so wrong. She was just she was so wrong.

296
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:07.519
Anyway, here's the thing again that
COVID did for me. It was

297
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:17.640
because and during COVID, because I
had always hid and pretended that, you

298
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:21.880
know, I didn't have any problems. I'm okay, I can handle things

299
00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:26.599
that had I not. It was
over these last two years that I became

300
00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:34.079
so much more verbal about my mental
health issues with my family. And which

301
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:38.200
is really good? Would you say? Which was really good? Because I

302
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:44.200
don't think they realized how much certain
situations really that it wasn't just that you

303
00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:47.440
didn't want to because you didn't want
to, There was something behind it exactly.

304
00:30:48.119 --> 00:30:52.160
Had that not happened, I would
never have been able to attend the

305
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:56.200
party, and they would have assumed
that it was just a big fuck you.

306
00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.680
Yeah, And how would I have
been able to explain, you know?

307
00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:07.960
So it opened up all of this
communication between me and my family,

308
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:14.000
and it also it taught me to
prioritize my mental health, which is amazing

309
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:21.839
and strangely enough, it even translated
into my practice too, because before I

310
00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.160
used to take on any client that
came through, and I stop doing that.

311
00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:33.559
I now only work with clients that
I truly enjoy working with, because

312
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.000
I really want to enjoy the work
I do. So if there's a client

313
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:41.759
that comes through that I don't personally
like really like to work with, I

314
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:48.119
refer them out, which is something
I never expected to occur. And it's

315
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:52.880
interesting because since that happened, I've
started to get more and more phone calls

316
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.720
and the practice started to grow.
Oh, it's very it's so weird,

317
00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:01.240
and like things with my kids have
changed, like there will never be another

318
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:06.480
babysitter and I will always have time
to help with homework and I will never

319
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:12.519
miss bedtime routine again, and like
I will now I write all the time,

320
00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:15.599
and it's not just something that I
like to do. It's become something

321
00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:22.759
that I really need to do.
I think, my darling, that feeling

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00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:31.759
that I didn't know what it was. Dare I say, I think I'm

323
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:44.319
feeling optimistic about how my life is
going right now, which is kind of

324
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:51.480
crazy and kind of good and unlike
you, I was never that person that

325
00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:57.880
was like about gratitude. I mean, I be grateful when the next horrible

326
00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:00.599
thing is just waiting around the corner, and get prepared for the horrible be

327
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:07.720
prepared for the horrible, but I'm
actually feeling quateful. So like, yeah,

328
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:14.720
I'm still the weird one who prefers
to stay home in pajamas at all

329
00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:22.519
times, but that's okay. I
like, and you still have your ups

330
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:28.279
and dinners. It's not that you're
saying that you don't have those anxious moments

331
00:33:28.359 --> 00:33:30.039
or and I know what, the
kids starting to kind of get out of

332
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.480
the house too, allows you some
time to, like you're not twenty four

333
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:39.559
seven having to put on a phase
that you can, you know, take

334
00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:43.440
some time for yourself now that everyone's
kind of getting out of the house and

335
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.480
back to school and stuff. So
I think that helps too, so much,

336
00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:54.960
It helps so much. And it's
like I think that I'm feeling more

337
00:33:55.400 --> 00:34:01.599
like you in that, like you've
always been very grateful for your family,

338
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:08.800
and like you're you're you're a grateful
person, Like I am grateful for my

339
00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:15.280
family and their understanding and their support
and something that I've always taken for granted,

340
00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:21.440
which is interesting because even even though
my dad died so young, you

341
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:25.639
know, I've like kind of taken
it for granted because of COVID. Through

342
00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:31.480
COVID, and I feel like we
you me, my kids were like the

343
00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:36.280
only people left on earth that haven't
gotten COVID yet. Like I don't know,

344
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:40.960
I feel like we're the last remaining. But yes, I'm like so

345
00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:52.800
grateful for just like everybody's health and
for my much slower pace of life and

346
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:58.519
for renewing like this old passion and
realizing that it's still there and strong and

347
00:34:58.599 --> 00:35:01.280
oh my godless on my be turning
into one of these grateful people, which

348
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:07.039
is so not me and should pass
really really soon. But for the moment,

349
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:15.760
I'm just I'm appreciating it. I
think, yeah that the bottom line

350
00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:22.440
is I knew I needed to make
a huge change in my life, but

351
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:28.760
I didn't know how to do it. Yeah, and for me, COVID

352
00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:31.760
elicited that change, and I don't
ever want to go back to the way

353
00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:38.119
I was living before. And like
so I understand and see this is where

354
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:43.719
you see. Of all the horrors
that there were because of COVID, as

355
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:47.840
you stated them before, oh my
goodness, your glass halfful is you were

356
00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:52.360
able to take something from it and
change how you were living your life to

357
00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:55.760
make it, you know, less
stressful, less anxiety, you know,

358
00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:00.840
having less anxiety. So now seeing
the glasses halfful. It won't happen all

359
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:06.800
the time. No, I'm sure
it won't. I'm sure the feeling will

360
00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:12.719
pass quickly. But for right now, I'm going to take that as a

361
00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:19.199
win. And I think that that
is why I looked at that piece of

362
00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:27.559
art and didn't didn't laugh. So
I think I realized it before I realized

363
00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:31.000
it, you know what I mean? Yep. Yeah, Well, you

364
00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:35.920
know, there's so many ups and
downs that people have gone through and they're

365
00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:38.360
you know, obviously there are people
out there that became isolated, but I

366
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:44.159
do think that there are people out
there that realized, hey, I want

367
00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:46.000
to work from home. I want
to have the flexibility to stay with my

368
00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:51.239
family and you know, not spend
an hour driving to a job in an

369
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:53.599
hour driving home from a job.
And I think it has allowed a lot

370
00:36:53.639 --> 00:36:59.519
of people to kind of reprioritize and
see, you know, what's important to

371
00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:06.199
them. You know, I wish
some more people would kind of take that

372
00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:12.079
in line and would less be walking
down hallways saying what the f and blah

373
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:15.920
blah blah and realize, you know, it's not the worst thing in life.

374
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:20.880
It's an inconvenience, but they're far
worse things out there, you know.

375
00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:23.000
And if it only happens to every
once in a while to see the

376
00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:27.599
glass half full, at least you're
standing in half full. That's a wonderful

377
00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:30.159
way to view it. Yep,
it's a nice change. Oh, I'm

378
00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:32.800
glad it's happening for you. And
I'm glad it happened for you because I

379
00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:39.840
know over the years, you know
how I never realized, you know,

380
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:45.079
until as you started telling me as
to how just anxious just regular situations.

381
00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:47.440
I know you didn't like you didn't
like getting lost, but just out there

382
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:51.639
driving or meeting new people or you
know, I was always happy to go

383
00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:53.159
to your house for like, you
know, yeah who or one of the

384
00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:57.320
you know, one of the holidays
and stuff, and you detested it and

385
00:37:57.400 --> 00:38:00.320
not realizing it wasn't just that you
didn't want to spend time with your family,

386
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:04.000
it was just the whole anxiety of
being there with all the people and

387
00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:14.480
that whole situation. Yeah, it
was like every little thing was so you

388
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:20.280
know, so much anxiety was attached
to everything. So it's just it's a

389
00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:22.320
it's a nice break, Liz,
It's it's a nice break, And I'm

390
00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:25.000
going to take the break for as
long as I possibly can, and if

391
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:30.599
this becomes, you know, my
new reality, then just how wonderful would

392
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:36.920
that be. So I'm hanging onto
it for as long as possible. Absolutely,

393
00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:40.480
thank you, my darling, Well, thank you. I think it's

394
00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:45.679
good that people know that there were
that they are different experiences to come out

395
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:49.800
of that whole situation with COVID,
that some of them were definitely negative,

396
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:52.679
but some of them were positive,
and that if it's like you and it's

397
00:38:52.719 --> 00:38:57.559
being a little bit more not out
there in the world, but still being

398
00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:00.119
out there in the world in your
own way, what works and functions for

399
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:04.039
you, that that's okay, you
know, And I think that's what it

400
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:06.960
is. By saying someone, Okay, I can do my work online and

401
00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:08.599
I can interact with people, but
I don't always have to be out there

402
00:39:09.559 --> 00:39:13.440
with everyone all the time. I
think that's good for people to know that

403
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:19.000
that, you know, it's all
right. Yeah. I think that again,

404
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:23.960
it has impacted everybody on such different
levels, but that I think we're

405
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:31.199
going to get a lot of feedback
hearing how it has impacted people so differently.

406
00:39:32.039 --> 00:39:38.719
Absolutely, you can reach us at
Voyage Media, at Twitter, Instagram

407
00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:45.440
and on Facebook. And you can
reach out directly to me at Panicked Remy

408
00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:49.599
on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.