Transcript
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Welcome back to the women's mental health podcast.
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I'm randy.
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I'm And I'm Jess.
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And we are two licensed psychotherapists, and this is a safe space where we talk about mental health, well being, and strategies for coping with life's challenges.
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And how all of this is normal, and you are not alone.
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Today we're diving into a topic that's all about finding hope in small manageable ways.
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Something we're calling micro dosing hope.
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Sometimes life feels so overwhelming, and right now that's what I'm really hearing a lot of, is that it's so overwhelming and bleak.
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and so when we face these moments, it's really hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel.
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That there's gonna be a better day without it being false or toxic.
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So we really want to explore how these small, intentional doses of hope can make a big difference in our mental health.
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Whether you're going through a tough time right now, or just looking for a way to stay uplifted in your day to day life, we're going to break it down and talk about that.
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You can find us and more on our website womensmentalhealthpodcast.
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com So have you ever had these thoughts?
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What is microdosing hope?
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How can microdosing hope impact mental health?
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Can microdosing hope help with anxiety and depression?
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What are some examples of microdosing hope?
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How do I start microdosing hope?
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We're going to say microdosing so many times here that we're going to like MD.
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How long does it take to see the effects of microdosing hope?
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Can I microdose hope if I'm already in therapy or on medication for my mental health?
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Who isn't on medication right now?
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I swear to God.
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Alright, what if I struggle to find hope at all?
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That's my microdosing
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hope.
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Popping a pill.
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Where can I find more resources on microdosing hope?
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The reason we're bringing up microdosing hope is because earlier this week, Brene Brown sent off this statement.
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It was how she was feeling and it has exploded.
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It really struck me because I was sitting there in the garage and I was like, How am I going to go into work and help my clients this week when in some ways I was feeling hopeless with some of the things going on in the world?
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I felt totally
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like
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in despair.
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Yes, exactly.
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And so I'm going to read you what she posted because it was so good.
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And I think I have read it to every single person I've worked with this week and they've all been like, that's totally it.
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That's it.
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So despair is a claustrophobic feeling.
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It's an emotion that says nothing will ever change.
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It's different than anger or sadness or grief.
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Despair is tinged with hopelessness.
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People who subscribe to power over leadership.
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Often weaponized despair.
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They count on people giving up on themselves, their work, and each other.
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I get it.
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I'm looking at people I know with suspicion.
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I'm questioning the value of my work.
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I'm wondering if courage, kindness, and caring for each other simply don't matter anymore.
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I'm desperate for someone to blame because blame is an effective way to discharge pain.
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And it gives us a sense of counterfeit control.
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The research shows that hope is a powerful antidote to despair.
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What's interesting, however, is that hope is not an emotion.
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Hope is a cognitive behavioral process.
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It's about having a goal, a pathway to achieve that goal and a sense of agency, or I can do this.
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Right now the thing that is helping the most is micro dosing hope.
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I have no access to big hope right now.
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However, I'm asking myself, how can I support the people around me, the people on my team, in my community?
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How can I make sure that in this maelstrom of emotions, I stay committed to courage, kindness, and caring for others regardless of the choices made by others?
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Doing the smallest next right thing is hard as fuck.
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But sometimes that's all we got.
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That was a really, really powerful statement.
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I have seen it so many times just this last week.
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Well, and I feel that's so true.
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We're all like in a state of questioning why right now and wanting to blame, feeling despair.
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Angry.
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Angry, feeling hopelessness.
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But I love that she said.
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Because I feel this.
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Hope is not an emotion.
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Hope is a cognitive behavioral process.
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So we do have control over that.
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Yes.
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We do have the agency to choose if we want to be hopeful in a time that feels so oppressive and feels so hopeless in a way.
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We can choose to step out of that.
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We can Make that path.
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We can make those goals.
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We can achieve them even while feeling that we can't.
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We can.
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Nobody can take that hope away from us.
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Exactly.
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And so that's why when she was talking about microdosing hope, I was like, I can get behind that because I can find little bits of hope.
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I can have little bits of pieces of hope that we can do.
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So we wanted to bring this to you guys as well, because it just, it was such a big theme this week.
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Well, like she said, I have no room for big hope.
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Like it just seems too far fesh.
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Far fetched to hope for something so enormous, but that we can't hope for Tiny, tiny pocketfuls of hope that seems doable.
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Exactly.
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So hope, when we talk about microdosing hope, what we're doing is we're taking small, consistent amounts of something to create a positive effect.
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And that's what's really cool.
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What we're talking about doing is being intentional with these tiny moments or actions or thoughts.
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Something that we can have optimism or joy with.
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Just these little pieces and looking for them.
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Like I'm holding my hand up like this little teeny tiny And I'm thinking like a little
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small puzzle piece.
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Yes, just a little piece.
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That we can eventually piece together for something bigger, but right now all we have is these few little pieces.
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Right.
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It's not about making these huge life changing leaps.
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It's not, it's, it's about taking something small and steady steps that we can build hope over time.
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You can think of it as planting a seed.
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And each small act of hope or seed might not seem like much on its own, but over time they'll grow into something meaningful and sustainable.
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That makes me think of, what is that, like the Shel Silverstein story, The Giving Tree?
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Where it's but it's skip that.
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Anyways, my thoughts got lost on that.
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But when you can plant something and eventually That seed will grow and then we can see it, but it might take time.
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It might take a few seasons.
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It might take, rainstorms.
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It might take snowstorms.
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It might take a blizzard.
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It might take an apocalypse, but eventually it's gonna come back and something beautiful will grow from that rubble.
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So I was watching a reel this morning because I didn't want to get out of bed and it was about this fit Fam, something or other, right?
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This fit, this woman who works, who lives on a farm and teaches fitness.
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And she was showing a picture of her boys, like an eight year old and 11 year old driving these crop things.
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They're literally like monitoring and driving these gigantic, probably million dollar things.
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And I was laughing cause I was like, wow.
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I'm afraid of my kid getting into my Subaru,
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right?
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And here, here they're doing farming equipment,
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farming equipment and stuff.
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Yeah.
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But what she was saying was that, farmers, what they do is they hope.
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And I was like, wow, this concept right now.
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They hope they, they borrow the money to buy these, these tractors.
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They borrow the money.
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To get the crops they borrow the money to buy the land then they go out and they plant the land And then they hope it's going to rain They hope they're going to have a good harvest so that they can go and pay back their bills and she says farmers are the The most hopeful gamblers that there is and I was like,
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wow, okay So it's not a new concept.
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No to plant these seeds and hope a microdosing is not a new concept, but it's You know It's gaining traction because we need something to hold on to and be hopeful for and I feel a lot of times Our hope can get drowned out in the world with especially with like social media and the news and it's so much coming yeah, and it's just so much negativity that we need to flip the script and think about this and is rooted in Positive psychology, Which emphasizes the importance of focusing on strength, gratitude, and resilience.
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Oh, we should do another one on gratitude.
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That would be a great one, too.
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It does and it talks about, when we have hope, it's really being mindful and staying present with where we are and instead of focusing on this big picture of what I want to do in 10 years, it's focusing on the here and now and being hopeful.
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Yeah, so you don't feel overwhelmed.
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Exactly.
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And so when we can use this.
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I think as women, it's going to help us because we have so much going on, especially right now in this season.
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Oh, you feel like you're out of control, especially as a woman.
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Exactly.
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And so I have to have some hope because these small doses of hope are going to reduce my stress and my anxiety.
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I think it's going to improve our moods.
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Is what I'm hoping because a lot of people have just really hunkered down the last couple of weeks and just not been very hopeful.
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So that's what we would like to give to you guys is Some steps to get to this
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part.
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So let's talk about how this really affects us as women and our mental health specifically.
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So here are some practical ideas of how you can start microdosing hope.
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The first is gratitude practices.
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So write down one thing you're grateful for every day, and this is interesting before even all of this I had started a bullet journal for just tracking my brain dumps, journaling but I was like I can do a bullet journal where it's just like one sentence a day, and I also made a page for one sentence a day for my gratitude, so I had already done this and so this was good because I could look back The past couple of weeks since i've started this and be like, okay There are things that I am grateful for that.
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I am hopeful for these things don't have to be big Just something that you appreciated that happened in your day It can just be that you had a hot cup of coffee or the perfect I see latte, whatever it is, just focus on that one thing and write it down.
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I did get pretty excited over a cup of tea yesterday.
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I was
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like, Oh, there's
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all my different choices
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at breakfast.
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But I have, and we had talked on a previous episode about micro dosing self care.
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And this was also way because I was like, I do do a lot of small things for myself.
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And sometimes I don't feel because like it's.
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big that's worthwhile.
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So with me and my bullet journal, I was writing down okay, took a hot bath, had coffee with a friend.
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And then I could look back and see I have been doing these little things that are getting me through.
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And the next one is, is what I love.
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It's the chunking idea.
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Set small achievable goals instead of these huge to do lists.
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Pick one small task to focus on and complete it.
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That way you're successful.
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You feel, okay, I'm hopeful.
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I got something off my list today, which is great.
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And because.
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no matter how small, it builds momentum.
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It does.
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It does.
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It builds momentum.
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Good job.
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Another one is surrounding yourself with positivity.
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This can mean following uplifting accounts on social media listening to your favorite music, watching a funny video, things that are positive and not negative.
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So you're filling your brain with those good endorphins and dopamine.
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Mm hmm.
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Yeah, exactly.
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And then the other thing is to really celebrate your tiny wins.
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Tiny wins are still wins.
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Did you get out of bed on a tough day?
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Did you brush
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your
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teeth?
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Oh, yeah, I took a shower today.
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Like, I mean, I celebrate when I'm like, yeah, I washed my hair and brushed it out today, right?
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Did you
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go for a 10 minute walk?
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I took the dogs on a walk yesterday, and they didn't kill each other.
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It was great.
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I loved it, and nobody fell, right?
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It was a good day.
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Another good thing is connecting with others, especially others that are a safe place for you.
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Reach out to a friend or family member, even if it's just a quick text.
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It can make all the difference.
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Human connection can be incredibly powerful and healing and helpful for restoring your hope.
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And I love how you said safe.
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That's a big one right there.
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Somebody who is safe because if they're not safe and they're going to drain you, those are the people that you have to just, when you're feeling
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despair or hopeless.
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My boundaries have been hardcore.
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Like lately I'm just like, yes or no, tell me.
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And then that's it.
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Because I need a safe space right now.
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I need a place, to heal.
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I need a place to find hope.
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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Lastly is also to remember that self compassion is huge.
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It is such a huge part and so important.
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Because some days, microdosing hope might mean simply letting yourself rest and not feel guilty about it.
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And that's huge.
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That's huge.
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Not feeling guilty and not feeling shame and being kind to yourself because sometimes like in this world when it's so rough right now We need to be our own cheerleader.
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We need to be kind to ourselves.
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We need to be the hope for ourselves
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Exactly because most of us have littles that are watching us And so we need to figure that out so we can help them as well And if you don't have littles You have people around
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you that rely on you.
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Mm hmm.
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So now let's answer our have you ever question.
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So Jess, what is exactly microdosing hope?
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Let's break it down again.
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It's about recognizing the power of little moments and letting them guide you towards that bigger hope that we all wish we had right now.
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Changing your perspective, your perspective and your train of thought.
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Yeah.
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And changing your brain.
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Okay.
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How can microdosing hope impact mental health?
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Randy,
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when you are focusing on hope and positive things in your life, it can help reduce feelings of being overwhelmed of being mentally drained, it can help make things seem more manageable in your life.
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And over time, these little micro doses of hope can lead to your mood being improved.
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It can help you decrease the anxiety and worry you feel and give you a more resilient outlook on your life.
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Just can micro dosing help with anxiety and depression.
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Yes, while it's not a cure, I can't be like, Hey, I'm gonna go microdose some hope and not take my Xanax or anything else.
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It's a step in the right direction.
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Exactly.
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It is a valuable tool that you can put in your coping toolbox.
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And so we all need that toolbox that we can pull from when we need it.
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And it's going to encourage you to find and focus on small joys and small victories.
