0:00

When I started this podcast five

0:03

years ago, I never imagined it

0:05

would become what it is today. It's

0:07

a community. It's

0:09

a safe space. It's a place

0:11

where we all can breathe a little

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easier. Your stories and

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messages, they have shown me that

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we're all looking for the

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same thing. Connection

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in a disconnected world. That's

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why I'm super excited to introduce, comment

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down deeper. It's

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not changing the podcast that

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you know and love. It's

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creating more space for us

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to connect. There's going to

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be morning affirmations, guided meditations.

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There's already some Sunday reset

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sessions. I'm calling the calm,

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the Sunday scaries and early

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for $5 a month. And

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right now there's even a 20 %

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off that. So if you're curious, head

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over to commentdownpodcast

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.com for a free

1:01

trial. Now, let's

1:04

get into today's episode. There

1:09

are days when nothing

1:11

is really wrong, but

1:13

something still fills off, right?

1:17

I mean, you wake up tired, not

1:19

just physically, but the kind of

1:21

tired that doesn't go away with

1:23

no matter how much you sleep.

1:25

I mean, you move through

1:27

the motions, you get dressed, you

1:30

answered your emails, you made

1:32

small talk, but

1:34

underneath it all, there's

1:36

this quiet weight, this

1:39

heaviness, and

1:41

maybe it sounds like

1:43

you should be further along

1:45

by now, or you

1:47

should feel more grateful, or

1:51

you should know what you're

1:53

doing. I have no idea

1:55

what I'm doing, but you

1:57

feel like you don't. At least not

1:59

today, anyway. Like you're

2:01

not exactly falling apart,

2:03

but you're also not exactly

2:05

100%. And it's hard.

2:07

It's hard to name what

2:09

this is because it's

2:12

not loud. It's not obvious.

2:14

It's subtle, right? Like

2:16

this background noise that no one

2:18

else seems to hear but

2:21

you. Well, that's what

2:23

this episode is all about.

2:25

Not trying to fix it, not

2:27

trying to wrap it up

2:29

with a motivational quote, but to

2:31

just sit in the quiet

2:33

with you, at least for a

2:35

little while. And to

2:37

remind you that whatever this

2:39

feeling is, you are

2:41

not the only one

2:43

going through it. I

2:46

promise. I'm

2:48

Chad Lawson and Let's

2:50

comment down in

2:52

three, two, one.

2:59

I want to start with this

3:01

question. Not enough

3:03

for who, exactly.

3:07

Because when that feeling shows

3:09

up, the one that tugs

3:11

at your confidence, the one

3:13

that makes you second guess

3:15

your own reflection, it usually

3:17

doesn't bring. a clear

3:19

reason with it. Have

3:22

you ever thought about that, right? It's

3:24

just a sense that like

3:26

somewhere and somehow you are

3:28

falling short, no matter what.

3:31

And if we're being honest, I

3:33

mean, half the time we don't

3:35

even know what the measurement is. I

3:38

mean, is it how

3:40

productive you were today? Is

3:43

it whether People

3:45

laughed at your jokes at

3:47

lunch or at the table. Is

3:50

it that you haven't replied

3:52

to that one text from three

3:54

days ago and now it

3:56

becomes like a whole thing in

3:58

your mind? Because most

4:01

of the time that

4:03

voice, that one that

4:05

says you are not

4:07

enough, it doesn't come from

4:09

truth. Did you hear

4:11

that? It comes from

4:13

expectation, right? Maybe it was

4:15

yours, maybe someone else's, maybe

4:17

even a version of you

4:20

from 10 years ago who

4:22

thought that life would be

4:24

different by now. I

4:27

get it. I

4:29

have been there a lot. I've

4:32

looked around the room and I

4:34

have felt like the dullest light

4:36

bulb in the box. Right?

4:38

I mean, I've stared at

4:40

a blank page with more

4:42

dread than inspiration. I've listened

4:45

to the silence after sharing

4:47

something that was honest and

4:49

transparent and then wondered, oh,

4:51

did I say too much

4:53

or maybe not enough or

4:55

just the wrong thing entirely.

4:58

But that inner voice

5:00

doesn't always shout. Sometimes

5:03

it just quietly chips away.

5:05

That's the hard part because before

5:07

you know it you are

5:09

questioning your worth based on How

5:11

many emails that have been

5:13

unread or maybe you feel like

5:15

you belong in sweatpants instead of

5:17

jeans I mean like all

5:19

of these things start going through

5:21

our mind, right? But

5:23

here's what I'm learning slowly

5:25

just so you know But

5:28

often the hard way You

5:30

are not a productivity report.

5:34

You are not someone's

5:36

opinion of you. You

5:38

are not the mood that

5:40

you woke up in. You're

5:43

a person, a

5:45

whole person, one who

5:47

gets tired, yet one

5:49

who needs grace, who

5:51

sometimes forgets that their

5:54

own capacity because the

5:56

world keeps convincing them

5:58

that they're not measuring

6:00

up. Hey,

6:02

just checking in. Are you still

6:04

listening? Either you're really enjoying

6:07

this or your headphones are tangled in

6:09

your hair again. You know what happens. But

6:11

while you're here, I want to

6:13

talk about comment down deeper. Think

6:16

of this as your all -access

6:18

pass to calm with all

6:20

the episodes, early access, zero ads.

6:22

You're not going to be

6:24

hearing them. like you are right

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now, plus exclusive meditations and

6:29

behind the scenes content that'll make

6:31

you feel like you've got

6:33

the cheat codes to relaxation. So

6:36

if you are ready to

6:38

deepen your calm, head over

6:40

to commentdownpodcast .com and look

6:42

for comment down deeper. Or

6:45

don't, it's okay. But just know

6:47

that you're missing out on the

6:49

equivalent of finding out your favorite

6:51

coffee shop has a secret menu.

6:55

Go ask. All

6:57

right, back to it. So

7:02

what do we do with

7:04

this? Well, first,

7:07

take a pause. Not in

7:09

the trendy take a bubble bath

7:12

and just forget your problems kind

7:14

of way. I wish that worked,

7:16

trust me. But I mean like

7:18

really pause. Long enough

7:20

to hear what the

7:22

voice inside you is

7:24

actually saying is it

7:26

fear? Is it

7:28

loneliness? Is it

7:30

grief that's showing up

7:32

in some disguise? Because

7:35

not enough. It's

7:37

rarely about being lazy. It's

7:40

rarely about failure. More

7:42

often, it's about

7:44

tenderness. It's about

7:46

a part of you that is

7:48

asking to be seen, not fixed.

7:52

I mean, what would it look like? to

7:54

treat that part of you not with shame, but

7:57

with care, with

7:59

empathy. Like you would

8:01

a kid who's trying their

8:03

best, but just ran out

8:05

of steam, right? Or a

8:07

friend that says, I'm fine,

8:09

but clearly they are not,

8:11

right? You wouldn't just throw

8:13

more to -do lists and

8:15

motivational speeches at them. No,

8:17

you wouldn't tell them to

8:19

toughen up. You'd just sit

8:21

next to them. Maybe

8:23

you would even offer them

8:25

a blanket and a warm

8:28

slice of chocolate banana bread

8:30

But you would say, you

8:32

know, it's okay. It is

8:34

you are allowed to feel

8:36

this way So let me

8:38

ask can you do that

8:40

for yourself? It's not

8:43

easy. I know especially

8:45

if you've built your

8:47

sense of value around

8:49

being useful around being

8:51

impressive or whatever

8:53

version of held together,

8:55

quote unquote, that you've

8:58

been taught to perform. And

9:01

here's a quiet truth, here's a

9:03

quiet truth, I want you to understand. You're

9:06

worthy before you proved

9:08

anything. And you'll still

9:10

be worthy when you're tired, you'll

9:12

still be worthy when you're

9:14

unsure, or just barely hanging

9:17

on. Here,

9:19

I wanna do something with you, super small.

9:22

Place your hand on your chest. Now,

9:24

just notice that it's warm,

9:26

that you're alive, that you're

9:29

still here. Now

9:31

take a gentle breath in. And

9:34

an exhale. Once

9:37

more, breath in. Exhale.

9:42

Now want you to quietly sage yourself,

9:45

I don't have

9:48

to earn my

9:50

worth. One

9:52

more time. I

9:54

do not have to

9:56

earn my worth. Now

9:58

that might feel strange.

10:01

Maybe even untrue. It might

10:03

feel that way, but

10:05

that's okay. Because the

10:07

point isn't to force belief, it's

10:09

to open the door. Did

10:12

you hear that? Because when

10:15

we open this door, this

10:17

door of knowing that you don't

10:19

have to earn who

10:21

you are. You begin

10:23

to become comfortable knowing that

10:25

you don't have to do

10:27

more. You don't have to

10:29

be more. You don't have

10:31

to look more together. You

10:34

just have to

10:36

be here. And

10:39

you are. So,

10:42

today feels heavy. If

10:44

you've been carrying that

10:46

low -grade hum of I

10:48

should be more Just know

10:51

this You don't and

10:53

you're not alone in it

10:55

Even the people who

10:57

look like they've got it

11:00

all figured out the

11:02

ones with tidy houses or

11:04

tidy lives or tidy

11:06

Instagram captions They have their

11:08

own days where they

11:11

feel like a question mark

11:13

themselves. They just

11:15

might not say it out loud, right?

11:20

So maybe that's like, maybe that's

11:22

where the shift begins. Not

11:24

with some like huge reveal,

11:26

but with like this quiet

11:28

permission to be where you

11:30

are and to let that

11:32

just be enough. I mean,

11:34

to feel what you feel.

11:37

To stop proving your worth in ways

11:39

that leave you empty. that

11:41

leave you guessing of who you are. You're

11:44

not behind, you're not

11:47

broken. You

11:49

are not too much, you're

11:51

not too little. You're

11:53

a person, you're a person learning

11:55

how to be human in the

11:57

world that a lot of times

11:59

it forgets how hard that can

12:01

actually be. So

12:03

if all you did today was show

12:05

up, if you made the

12:08

bed, or if you didn't, If

12:10

you text it back, or

12:12

if you couldn't, or if

12:14

you got through the morning

12:16

without crying, or

12:19

maybe not, it

12:21

still counts. You

12:24

still count.

12:27

So let your presence

12:29

be the proof. Let

12:32

your breath be enough.

12:35

And when that voice returns, because it

12:37

will, let's always what happens. The

12:39

one that tells you that you are

12:41

falling short, maybe you don't

12:43

have to argue with it. I

12:45

know it seems counterintuitive. Maybe

12:47

you just nod and gently

12:49

say, hmm, yeah, I

12:51

hear you. But you know what? I'm

12:54

staying because you

12:56

are. You're still

12:58

here. You're still

13:00

breathing and you're still

13:02

trying. And that's

13:04

my friend. That's

13:07

enough, because I am here with

13:09

you. Thank

13:11

you. Thank you

13:13

for listening. Thank you

13:15

for living. Until

13:18

next time, be

13:20

kind to your mind. And

13:23

I hope you'll join me

13:26

again as we calm it down.

13:34

Hey, I see that you have made it to

13:37

the end, either because you loved it or

13:39

because your phone's playing to an empty room while

13:41

you're in the kitchen making a sandwich. I've

13:43

been there. Either way, here's a

13:45

scoop. Comment down premium. It

13:48

exists. Weekly episodes,

13:50

no ads, early access,

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exclusive content. It's

13:55

like finding out your favorite

13:57

restaurant has a secret menu. But

13:59

instead of extra sauce, you

14:01

get extra serenity. It's true. So

14:03

join me at comment down

14:05

podcast look for comment down deeper

14:07

or don't it's okay, but

14:09

like why wouldn't you want the

14:12

extra sauce? Either

14:14

way Thank you

14:16

and until next

14:18

time be kind

14:20

to your mind

14:22

Define more episodes of comment down

14:24

see where I may be appearing in

14:26

your area or to simply want to

14:28

know where to send me some chocolate

14:30

chip cookies visit comment down podcast This

14:34

podcast was written and

14:36

produced by yours truly

14:38

Chad Lawson, composer, pianist,

14:40

and nationally recognized Sweet

14:42

Dooth. The views, expressions,

14:45

and techniques in this episode

14:47

are of my personal opinion

14:49

and not intended, nor should

14:51

they. Service is substitute

14:53

for medical advice or diagnosis

14:55

rendered to you by your

14:57

individual doctor or other healthcare

14:59

provider. Only a

15:01

licensed physician should evaluate your

15:03

situation, provide a diagnosis,

15:06

or render other medical advice

15:08

to you. And you

15:10

should only act upon the

15:12

advice of this physician. Now,

15:14

I'm in an extreme empath by

15:16

nature, but my profession is

15:19

that of a composer and pianist, not

15:21

a licensed therapist or physician. I

15:23

hear from thousands of listeners how

15:26

my music has helped them through

15:28

various stages of emotional needs, and

15:30

I simply want to offer this

15:32

in future podcast episodes to aid

15:34

those needs. So to

15:36

find a list of

15:39

licensed professionals in your area,

15:41

please visit cometdownpodcast .com. And

15:43

if you've enjoyed today's episode,

15:46

please leave a review, or better

15:48

yet, share it with a friend. While

15:51

it takes less than 60

15:53

seconds to do, its impact will

15:55

last for years to come

15:57

as every little bit helps in

15:59

growing the awareness and the

16:01

importance of mental and emotional health.

16:04

Thank you for listening. Thank

16:06

you for living. And until

16:08

next time, be kind

16:10

to your mind. Enjoy me

16:12

again as we calm

16:14

it down.