Ep. 103: A Journey of Self-Compassion with Ethan Smith

Your Anxiety Toolkit - Anxiety & OCD Strategies for Everyday

Kimberley Quinlan, LMFT | Anxiety & OCD Specialist

Self-improvement, Education, Anxietymindfulnessmeditation, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 802 Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ethan Smith Guest Interview OCD Anxiety IOCDF Self-Compassion Stigma Common Humanity Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast host Kimberley Quinlan

On today’s episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast, we are talking all about a journey of self-compassion. Yep, that’s right! This is one special episode.

This week we are joined by previous guest, Ethan Smith, the national ambassador for the charity called the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF). Ethan talks all about his new experiences and journey of self-compassion and how he has learned a lot about himself in the past year. Consider this Chapter 2 of Ethan's story, as he shares his struggles with taking responsibility for what goes wrong in his life and not blaming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for his struggles. Ethan also shares how he is learning how to cope with “bad” choices and making mistakes and how he was pushed into the practice of self-compassion when he realized he was still under the spell of internalized stigma of mental health. This is such an important issue and one I want to focus on in the future of Your Anxiety Toolkit.

Ethan also shared his journey of self-compassion as he learns how he would internally compare and contrast the mistakes he has made before, during and after treatment. He talked about how recognizing this process has made him realize how hard he really was on himself. I think we can all resonate with this at times and Ethan beautifully shares his vulnerable and authentic experience.

Ethan addressed how he is now learning to cope with unrealistic expectations and how self-compassion has taught him to accept himself as he is. He talked about how common humanity is a concept that he fought for so long in fear that it will make him complacent and careless.

I am sure you will learn a lot from this episode and I hope that it helps you reflect on your journey of self-compassion.

Before we go, I want to remind you about the upcoming IOCDF conference in Austin, TX, from July 19-21. This national meeting focuses solely on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related disorders. I will be one of the presenters among over 100 presentations, workshops, and seminars. There will be support groups and evening events as well. Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Your Anxiety Toolkit, episode number 103.
0:10.9	Welcome to Your Anxiety Toolkit. I'm your host, Kimberly Quinlan. This podcast is
0:16.9	fueled by three main goals. The first goal is to provide you with some extra tools to help you manage your anxiety.
0:23.6	Second goal, to inspire you.
0:26.6	Anxiety doesn't get to decide how you live your life.
0:29.6	And number three, and I leave the best for last,
0:32.6	is to provide you with one big, fat virtual hug,
0:36.6	because experiencing anxiety ain't easy. If that sounds good to you,
0:41.6	let's go. Okay, so I'm so excited to share this episode with you. I just finished recording with Ethan Smith. He's been on before.
0:56.6	But if you've listened to that episode, and I really do encourage you to go back and listen to
1:01.8	that episode first, then come back here and consider this the second chapter of this really incredible story about the practice and journey of self-compassion.
1:19.8	Now, the reason I love this episode so much is because Ethan tells a story in this really raw and vulnerable way of the journey of
1:36.3	self-compassion and how he wrestled with it and some of the breakthroughs he had with the practice of self-compassion.
1:46.9	He talks about the roadblocks he had, some of the incorrect thoughts that he had, the struggles
1:54.0	and issues that arose that was preventing him from really holding gentle space for himself.
2:01.3	And it was just such a beautiful episode.
2:04.2	And I do encourage you guys just to sit back and fully embrace and savor this journey
2:13.2	that he takes us on of his experience with negative self-talk and stigma and pride and falling down
2:23.3	and making mistakes and feeling like a failure and oh my gosh I just loved this episode so much
2:31.4	and even for hours after recording it I kept welling up with emotion
2:36.7	and at gratitude that I get to have these conversations with people. I'm so, so grateful that I can
2:45.3	have these real, roar and vulnerable conversations and share them with you guys so that you guys can listen
	...

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