Our guest today is Mark Metry, a serial entrepreneur, host of the Humans 2.0 Podcast, TedX speaker, and best-selling author of the book, Screw Being Shy. In this episode, we talk about his experience with severe social anxiety and depression, how he found his true self, and how you can do the same. If you are seeking to live a truthful life and express your authentic self, then this episode is for you!
Mark’s Journey
“I don't want to box myself in, in terms of my career, but also psychologically speaking, in terms of my mind, and my identity.”
Mark is the child of Egyptian immigrants. His parents came to America with limited money and didn’t know anyone when they arrived. Mark grew up in a humble but loving home and lived in an ethnically diverse and accepting neighborhood.
However, around the age of 7, his family relocated to a small town in Massachusetts, with no racial diversity. He was bullied for being different and started to experience racism for the first time in his life.
Mark’s coping mechanism was to keep to himself and not socialize, which led him to become more and more unhappy. He didn’t have many friends and was shy and reserved. As a result, he developed severe social anxiety over the years.
Mark felt like he had no success or validation in his life, so he started to experiment with entrepreneurship from a young age. He became very successful at that, but he still felt isolated and unhappy. Feeling disconnected from people eventually led to depression.
A Moment Of Clarity
“It felt like life just zoomed in on me”
Mark hit rock bottom at age 18 while he was in college. He was struggling academically and socially and used food as a coping mechanism. It went so far that he even started to have suicidal thoughts.
One day, Mark was walking on the Boston Bridge in the middle of the night. It was a dangerous area of the city, but he didn’t care about his safety at that point. The street was completely empty, and he experienced a moment of presence or grace. He felt like he heard his own voice for the first time in his life. His perspective shifted and he was able to see himself in a different light and separate himself from his limiting beliefs. He realized that the way he was living was a very slippery slope.
Mark grew up in a spiritual environment, but he never believed in it. At this moment he understood that there was more to life than just the physical realm.
Living a Truthful Life
“What am I pretending not to know about myself?”
After this awakening moment, Mark knew that what he wanted was to live a truthful and fulfilled life. He was tired of trying to be someone else and push his feelings and who he really was down.
According to Mark, our relationship with truth stems from our childhood. The more we live in a lie about ourselves, the more we become desensitized to our own lives.
Mark also shared that a lot of people distract themselves on a daily basis in an attempt to not feel pain and discomfort. While it is okay to do that at a certain level, Mark feels if this turns into a way of life it becomes a problem.
Embracing Death
“I choose to show up as myself because I know how limited life is.”
Mark looks at death from two perspectives. His short-term perspective is that when he faces a lot of inner resistance, the idea of death is a tool to snap back and realize that all we really have is the present moment.
The long-term perspective is that at the end of his life, he doesn’t want to regret that he did not do the things he could have done as he was too caught up in society’s expectations. For Mark, regret is the biggest pain, so he aims to always be true to himself.
Palma’ Reflection On Carrying Your Identities Lightly
This week, we invite you to play with the idea of carrying your identity lightly.
Is it possible to carry all of your identities lightly no matter what they are? It could be political or geographical identities, or that I'm a father, a mother, a husband, a wife. or single. It could be I’m a founder, a boss, a CEO, or an employee. Or it could be I'm a seeker, spiritual. an environmentalist, or an activist.
Who you are is so much more than any of these roles and any of these identities.
We invite you to reflect on how you would like to be this week, rather than what you would like to do or who you would like to be.
If you could have one quality this week, that will be supportive of what you want to achieve, what would it be? It could be calm, present, compassionate, kind, or anything that comes to your mind.
Set an intention to cultivate that quality for the coming week and then see what happens.
About Our Guest, Mark Metry
Mark Metry is featured on Amazon Prime's TV Docu Series "The Social Movement" season 2 attempting to solve some of the world's biggest problems. He is also the Host of the Global Top 100 podcast called Humans 2.0 featured by Forbes, NASDAQ, and Yahoo Finance as the "Top 21 Growing Podcasts you must listen to in 2019." Mark's show has been listened to over 10 million times and features some of the greatest leaders of our time exploring today's dynamic of the human experience in our modern technological times.
Mark is also the founder of Growcasts, a podcast acceleration network teaching entrepreneurs, creators, and executives how to start, manage, and grow social movements by starting a podcast.
He is an MC (emcee) and TEDx Keynote speaker delivering mind-blowing talks centered around human potential, mindset, social anxiety, mental health, transformation, and using podcasting/marketing to grow awareness & business.
Mark also consults & educates Fortune 500 companies, conscious organizations, entrepreneurs & startups on podcasting, company communication, marketing, and authentic branding.
Mark's story has been featured in 3 books, including Ditch the Act by McGraw Hill, Standing O! alongside Billionaires and other mavericks, and We're All Marketers. Mark is the author of the book Screw Being Shy: How to Eliminate Social Anxiety which was released in March 2020.
Mark has also been a guest on over 120+ podcasts, radio stations, and television.
A special thanks to Mark Metry for taking the time to share his inspiring story with us.
Resources Mentioned In The Show:
Continue Your Journey
Now it is time to find your own unique path. We can help you to connect with your innate wisdom and create an inspiring vision for a deeply fulfilling and meaningful life. Apply for a discovery session on our website,palmamichel.com.
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Thank You
Thank you for joining us on this journey of the Explorer’s Mind Podcast.
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Until next time, We truly appreciate you listening and look forward to continuing this journey together.