"For me, a lot of the symptoms of anxiety are physiological: shortness of breath, headache, coldness, and clumsyness. I get trapped in rumination, often overthinking everything. This has an impact on my ability to cope in social situations as there is a lot of stimulus to take in and process.

I find myself creating multiple potential futures for each outcome and simultaneously contemplating the worst of each. This causes my mental state to be focused on the worst possible outcomes for futures that never eventuate."

"Protect your mental state, that way you are in the best place to help others.

It is important to realise that your mental state is the lens in which you view the world, if it is compromised, so to is your ability to judge the people, events and actions of your life..."

Zachary reveals how he discovered his obsession with avoiding his own thoughts, the addictive pull of social media as well as how creativity can be stifled by too much external input.

"If you are always listening to other peoples words, you are always having an external person influence your thinking process ... by allowing for silence, you get to discover what you truly believe and feel about things."

"When somebody is in a down mental state there is a tendency for them to feel like they have always been in that state.

Personally, when I am going through a bout of anxiety, depression or disociation I feel like I have always been suffering from it. It taints every memory of my past and makes me feel like it will be there for each instance in my future.

To combat this, I have written a 'mental health check list' that outlines that things have and will get better (they always have). As well as lists the activities that have worked for me in the past . 
I leave this on my wall as a reminder and promise to myself that I will try to get better, even if it feels like I can't. 

In this episode I go in depth, explaining what I do to pull myself out of a down mental state..."
 

Social media is a highlight reel of life - not a true representation of reality. People only post the best and worst of their lives, not the mundane.

In this episode, Zachary Phillips discusses the impact that social media consumption has on our mental state.