888 Your Health Is Not Shameful

YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEBODY. So many of us (especially men) are afraid to open up about what we’re going through. We often don’t even tell the people who are closest to us. For whatever reason, we think we have to suffer alone. But there is freedom in sharing your struggles. Whether it’s depression, low self-esteem, or something like erectile dysfunction, you need to be able to tell your doctor. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisited a conversation I had with Bill Phillips where he talked about the importance of getting help for depression and other problems. Bill is the former Editor-In-Chief of Men’s Health Magazine and the author of The Better Man Project. Learn how to talk to your doctor and confront your health issues in Episode 888. If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/888 and follow at instagram.com/888 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is Five Minute Friday.

• 0:10Lewis Howes?

  This episode is with the one and only Bill Phillips, and I'm very excited to introduce you guys to Bill. He is the editor in chief for Men's Health, which is the world's largest men's magazine. And during his time as the brand's online editor, Phillips quadrupled traffic from 2.5 million to a record 10 million monthly uniques. The site has been nominated for three Digital National Magazine Awards under his leadership, and he is also the author of The Better Man Project.

• 0:43Speaker 01

  Depression is not a problem that's going to fix itself. It's not something that you're going to talk yourself out of. You know, and there's a difference between sort of, you know, if you're clinically depressed and you have suicidal thoughts, I mean, that's, you know, versus the bad day, kind of, you know, quote unquote, depression. I mean, obviously, those are different things. But you do need, you need to talk to somebody. Obviously, the medications for depression are very, very good. And they do work. They absolutely do work. And there's no shame in asking for help. And I think that's, that's really ultimately with, with guys, with men, and I think you and I both could probably attest to it. And there's some, probably, there's something about ourselves that, oh, we're too embarrassed

• 1:27Speaker 01

  to share with, with others. You know, like, it holds us back. We don't want to seek help. We don't want to tell our spouse about it, or our significant other. So, you know, we hide layers of ourself from, from everyone. And, you know, it's important to know that, like, this isn't, doesn't mean you're broken. Like, if you are depressed, or have low self status, it doesn't mean you're broken. If you have erectile dysfunction, or, you know, which is another one guys are afraid of, it doesn't mean you're broken. These are, these are medical issues that can be treated and can be fixed. And, you know, you can't You can't just will them away. You can't just like pretend they don't exist.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  There's no shame in asking for help. And I was at a doctor, I was at Johns Hopkins about a year ago. And I love that facility, such a great institution. And I got to meet with a bunch of different doctors. I was in the liver center, the pancreatic center, radiology and a few others. But I met this guy, this doctor who runs what they call the men's vitality center at Johns Hopkins. And I was asking him, I was like, men's vitality, like, what's that mean? And he's like, it's sexual health. It is the place people come to when they're worried about the quality of their erections or whether they're pleasing their partner.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  And he's like, do we call it men's vitality because it's not, men are afraid of that. They're not afraid to say to their spouse, yeah, I have an appointment over at the men's vitality center because it's positive. It's like, oh, you're going to be more vital? Fantastic. He doesn't like that, right?

• 3:01Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  So it's like even the medical institutions are kind of coming around to like coaxing men. Come on in, it's okay. But the thing he said to me is, and he's like, there's nothing you can tell me about how your body's working that I haven't heard before. And men just have to get over that fear. You know, just like, you know, I have, my older daughter is going to be a teenager this year. She's in middle school. And there are those days when, you know, she comes home, gets off the bus and she wants to sit in her room. And I know something's not right. And I know it's something probably that happened at school. And she doesn't want to talk about it. And I always say to her, it's like, we've lived through this. We've been through this too.

• 3:44Speaker 01

  Like, honey, like, there's nothing you can say that is going to be something we can't relate to. And as a guy going to see your doctor, there's nothing you can say that he hasn't dealt with before.

• 3:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  And hasn't heard before.

• 3:58Lewis Howes?

  You don't have to feel ashamed about it, yeah.

• 3:59Speaker 01

  You do not have to feel ashamed to it, whether, you know, especially like something like depression, which is... You know, really takes, you know, not just the joy out of life, but it can also kill you. Even if you don't, you know, some people obviously decide to take their own lives, but it'll, it'll kill you in other ways, too. I mean, you know, the, the research around, you know, happy people, I think happy, happy people, generally happy people live on average seven years longer than generally unhappy people. And, you know, that's just, that's just, you know, brain chemistry at work there and, and, and that can be switched with, with the right treatments.

• 4:45Lewis Howes?

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