How Do You Calm The Monsters?

Ze, I miss you. Please come back. Your videos where you create a safe place like this, and talk about the hard things in an open, hopeful, and helpful way have always given me peace. They've helped how I think, and feel, and hope. Please come back. I need that safe place again.

you have to sing the snake to sleep so it relaxes around your shoulders like a warm scarf. songs you can sing include: "at least i did something!" and "I'm working on getting better by sucking for a while!" and "no time is wasted as long as i put something thoughtful into the universe!" if these songs don't work, whip out the last of your arsenal ze, the big gun: "there are literally thousands of people whose lives i've touched, whom i've inspired, and who appreciate and applaud my efforts, so get lost, snake!"

Feed it a cookie you've baked. The fabulous taste of the cookie will make it sleepy; at which time it just . . . slips off. The "cookie you've baked" represents the achievements you've made and the people you've touched just doing what you do. The "insecurity snake" can't do anything against hard work and proof and eventually it just tires itself out.

I have definitely been attacked by that snake. Here's how I deal with it: the snake is strong, but he lives in the dark and his eyes are sensitive. You have to turn on the light, very bright, show him the truth. Shine all of your achievements and accomplishments down on that snake and he'll loosen his grip and wither away. 

You have to uncoil the snake. It has two sides. One side is covered with the times you've fucked up, and that side wraps around your head. The other side is covered in all the good things you've done, but you can't see it while it's wrapped around you. Only other people can see that side then. So you have to unwrap it, and see it from the other perspective: see the side the rest of us see.

Snakes have almost always been portrayed as liars, Ze. Each lie is a layer of skin and as the snake sheds it's skin, it's just one more lie that falls away until the snake is gone.

Close your eyes. You can't see anyway, because the snake has its hold around your face. Remember the moments of awesome that people have given you over the years, those moments that happened because of what you have done. The snake doesn't like those memories. From the tip of its tail, stuck in your spine, to the tip of its head, it shrivels up until it's nothing but a thin, brittle twig. Then shake your head and it'll crumble into dust.

Ze please start making more videos. I love the advice you give. It's helped me a lot in life.

IT'S 2018, I HAVE REPLAYED ALL OF YOUR VIDEOS TOO MANY TIMES THAT I CAUGHT MYSELF REALIZING HOW MUCH I NEED MORE OF THESE KIND OF VIDEOS. PLEASE MAKE A COMEBACK.

Thank you for this! My monster is a butterfly that sits on my shoulders, whispering to me constantly. She whispers irrational words of worry and doubt, and I know I shouldn't listen, but I can't seem to help it. Like the monster herself, the words are faint but they linger and I can't let go of them. As for your snake, my advice is simple. Charm it with the music of your accomplishments and gratitude. 

ZE, some people have IT,  I don't know what it is, but you have IT.   The sound of your voice,  the depth of your soul,  your willingness to share,  There are those of us out here who love [yes, love] and trust you.  But, you know that. Are these more personal demons?  You can still share, I would not judge and I feel certain that I am not alone.  Let us be your sounding board.  I can't stand to think of you in pain.

Heres what you're gonna do with that one....  You're going to create someone to be on your side.  It's going to look like love.  It's going to feel like all the people who have ever been kind to you.  It's going to sound like all the kind words and validations you've ever received.  It's going to sound like you when you're okay, and you know your worth.  It's going to feel like you when you're proud of yourself.......    and it's going to hold that snake like a baby and love it. Because you have to love it, it's part of you.  When the parts of you that are hurting you..... are winning.....  they don't need to be killed, or banished.... they need to be loved.  If you don't have the ability to do it, you need to create the ability to do it.  If your pain is represented by monsters, then the healer should be beautiful.  A mender of broken hearts, a reminder of kind words, and the glue that uses love to put you back together.

Ze, I miss this. You make me feel comfortable being incomplete, help me breathe deep and look at things, and sometimes you make me feel big emotions too, when it's appropriate. Thank you.

ZeFrank, because of you and people like you, there are people like me that don't feel so alone in this sometimes alienating world. To some of my own monsters, you're one of my tools in my toolbox. Thank you to the Moon and back.

Remove the snake monster and wear him as a belt. Re-purposing him into something useful will remind you of your own capability. 

On dealing with your snake, toot your own horn, as it were. Imagine a flute, and as you play it, it plays a song of all the amazing things you've done and the song begins to charm the snake so that it releases its grasp on you and your spine and eventually uncoils and drops to the floor.

Dear Ze, I have severe clinical depression and I also know about those mean little monsters that wiser lies into our ears. I just wanted to thank you for teaching me so much. My emotions are pretty big as well and sometimes I don't know what to do with them. I try to talk to my parents but they are just not as emotional and tell me that they don't understand. So thank you for teaching me what they can't. Thank you for teaching me how to just be me.

Ze, thank you. I don't think you know how much your videos like this help some of us. I know my monsters and my demons won't go away over night, but knowing that other people deal with them too, helps. It helps a lot.

Despite the system of commenting being so messed up, a ZeFrank video is still filled with honest, inspiring and interesting comments. How fucking cool. 

The decription of the anxiety monster was absolutely brilliant. I wish I had a suggestion for the snake, but the other comments here have wonderful ideas. I hope you are comforted to see how much you inspire people toward introspection and compassion.