Heal The Hurt is equal parts nom de plume of a buzzing metalcore band and a mission statement steeped in sincerity. Founded by frontman Trevor Tyson – previously known for his Trevor Talks podcast that blended metalcore with mental health – the Georgia native traded in one microphone for another while retaining his passion for exploring the highs and lows of what makes us human.
After a string of summer singles (and a feature on “Stained Glass” by genre heavyweights HolyName), Heal The Hurt recently released their debut, self-titled EP. Sourced from panic attacks and existential ponderance of what it means to be alone, the project reads like a collection of diary entries that affirm our shared corporeal experience. It’s also razorsharp musically as layered production underscores thunderous breakdowns and Tyson’s expansive vocal range.
Shortly after the release of Heal The Hurt, we spoke with Tyson about his journey across artistic mediums, collaborating with standout bands like Convictions, and learning to fill his own emotional cup while being a beacon for others.
End Overdose: I know that music has been a lifelong endeavor of yours. How does it feel to take that plunge and have Heal The Hurt’s first project out in the world?
Trevor Tyson: Surreal. I find so much joy in being able to share those scars that aren't visible, right? Metaphorically and personally, it just feels like being vulnerable and getting real with my words and being able to share what I've gone through in my life. It feels like I'm able to give a weird gift to the next person that's struggling to get through the same scenarios.
I know for me, growing up in Georgia in the South with country music and gospel and all that, nothing has ever made me really feel as comfortable as heavy music. Metalcore in particular has always been a genre that I've had a very fond love and appreciation for. Being able to contribute to the same genre that was there for me through bands like Crown The Empire, Woe, Is Me, August Burns Red, etc. Being able to pour back into that genre and that community of people with a message that's so near and dear to my heart, because my story is surreal. And I just feel grateful for the opportunity to do it. Even a little over a year ago, if you would have asked me if we would have had an EP out by now, I would have said you were crazy.
It just feels like a big gift. Music has been a very safe place for me in my life. And like I said, just being able to contribute with my story, my emotions and my genuine love and appreciation for not only the sound, but the message. It's a gift. I'm grateful.
EO: You mentioned August Burns Red and Woe, Is Me. What were some of your core memories growing up and getting into heavy music?
TT: So I got into metalcore because of someone that is a close friend now, someone that's at my house almost every day. He graduated from the same school as I ended up graduating from and his mom was a parapro or a teacher's assistant for my teacher in kindergarten. I would hear teachers talk about, “Oh, Hance [Allgood] is in a band and he gets to travel all over the world singing and screaming,” and so I looked up Woe, Is Me in high school or middle school and just fell in love with heavy music.
And from there I found Crown the Empire and then August Burns Red. Crown The Empire, their first record that I found – The Fallout – was just very emotional and you could feel it. It made me emotional hearing it … And then August Burns Red, their frontman Jake Luhrs started a nonprofit called HeartSupport, which was a message that I needed to hear in high school.
And so finding bands, it's a core memory that I carry to this day. Woe, Is Me is not the cleanest band in the world, nor are they a Christian band. They were very pissed at any given point and did not care what you thought. And that kind of, against-culture vibe was something that I really gravitated towards, ‘cause I had a lot of aggression in me and didn't really know how to communicate it.
And those songs made me feel less stressed. August Burns Red had that positive message of hope and a lot of the lyrics are rooted in Jake and Matt Griner's faith … that showed me you can share your faith without turning people off or being preachy. And I would say the first heavy band that I really got into was Skillet.
I heard their song “Monster” on Hell in a Cell, which was a WWE pay-per-view.I didn't pay for the pay per view cause I was obviously in middle school, but I heard the song on a commercial and I was like, I remember going to YouTube and type in “Skillet ‘Monster’ clean”, because obviously if it's that good, it's gotta be dirty. And then it's, “Oh, they're a Christian band.” And I was like, I didn't know you could do that. Of course my mom would let me listen to stuff like that. So full sended into that, found Flyleaf and Red and then bought a Now That's What I Call Christian Rock or something like [that in] 2010. It had August Burns Red on it; Demon Hunter; Cutlass; Flyleaf. And that's what really opened the floodgates for me into diving into heavy music and growing that appreciation. That was my way of convincing my mom that heavy music was okay for me to listen to because I would hide the explicit stuff within that and she can't hear the screaming. “I can't understand what they're saying!” Yeah, let's keep it like that. Woe, Is Me is very very faith based. I love it [laughs].
EO: You brought up the importance of HeartSupport. You personally have facilitated a lot of discussions about mental health through your Trevor Talks platform. How did the conversations you've had platforming mental health carry over into the Heal The Hurt project?
TT: That's a great question. I remember seeing Matty Mullins, the singer from Memphis May Fire, talk about struggling with anxiety and having to go to the hospital because he was having a panic attack and he thought he was dying in interviews that are still on YouTube. I think he was doing press for the Unconditional album and hearing him talk about it made me feel less alone.
And then I saw August Burns Red; Jake started HeartSupport and was talking about his struggle with depression and such, and they would have artists on to interview. I wanted to intern for HeartSupport out of high school, but I always got declined. I don't know why, but being able to start Trevor Talks, which was my podcast and brand before Heal The Hurt, I ended up getting to start events like Choose Life [which] was the first year. And then the second year was Choose to Live where I would bring in Brian Head Welch of Korn, Sonny from POD, Chris Kael [from] Five Finger Death Punch, Spencer from Underoath, Lacey [Sturm from] Flyleaf. And the list just goes on. I got to bring these livestream events together to talk about mental health, but it all started from hearing people like Jake and Matty talk about it. Within the HeartSupport brand, I found that appreciation and, “Okay, I can't work for Heart Support. What can I build for them?” That'll always be like a catalyst for me.
Like [with] the HeartSupport team, when I ended up struggling really hard in September of 2022, right after Choose to Live. I ended up in the hospital from just severe burnout, exhaustion, and I ran my race way too hard and found my identity and my brand. Nate Hilpert and Taylor Palmby of HeartSupport. I don't know Jake personally. I've never really talked to the guy at all. But the message was there … Dave [King] and Taylor saw me that weekend.
Dave's like, “Dude, you don't look good. Let me pray for you. You look bad.” And I knew it, but I just brushed it off. They walked with me through that hard season. Lacey and Josh Sturm walked with me through that hard season. I saw the way my actions affected others. And even though I was spouting that message, which is where I want to get to – even though I built my brand around being vulnerable – I still was struggling myself and didn't really know how to admit it. [I] had found myself outside of therapy and become a workaholic in the mental health space to where I ran myself in the ground.
So speaking about it, falling back into it while doing an event called Choose to Live, two days later in the ER for not taking care of myself in that way. I really felt like I had found myself on my deathbed, almost like I had to die to myself to figure out who I truly am. From that experience on was when I believe I grew deeper in my faith and really had [the] vision for Heal The Hurt and what it's become.
I wasn't suicidal, but I hated who I was and I couldn't live as that version of me anymore. And through that, I found myself deeper in my faith and found myself with a band named Heal The Hurt and started writing with some friends. Mike Felker of the band Convictions, Josh Sturm, and then a lot of friends I met along the way, just helped me steward and sharpen myself as a songwriter and a collaborator. I co-wrote this whole [EP] with Mike from Convictions who talks about mental health [in his own music] and he filled in for August Burns Red when Jake got sick. He knows what he's doing and being able to work with people that know what they're doing and can help me articulate these things, and I could write a song. But when you work with somebody that really knows what they're doing and understands what you're struggling with; in my opinion, it got stronger. So talking about mental health, talking about vulnerability, but still also falling into that trap of running the rat race and trying to build a brand, I found myself giving that brand up that I thought I would die doing.
I thought I was going to be the Ryan Seacrest of the mental health and metal world. And realizing that, maybe that's not 100 percent me and maybe that's the safe version of what I'm here to be. And that's a metal vocalist – that makes me the happiest person in the world. Songs like “Suffocating on Sorrow,”the intro for the EP, and “Withering,” are very vulnerable in my mental health struggle, as well as “Alone,” struggling with the thought of being alone my whole life and not having a spouse to love and care for, and maybe never having kids. Maybe I'm not built for that. Maybe I'm going to be on tour all the time. But I'm not on tour now. I'm trying to be vulnerable in a healthy way now as a songwriter, as a lyricist, as a vocalist, and as a human being. You can't pour into someone else's empty glass with an empty glass yourself.
The journey from where I was mentally [was] amazing, bad, learning, and then becoming who I am today. And it goes into a space of faith for me; I'm always going to be pursuing greatness or pursuing to be a better person in my life. Being vulnerable is one thing, but also you can indirectly hurt people with not taking care of yourself because people around you feel the weight of it.I hope that makes sense. I genuinely want to care for people and love on them, but I had to learn firsthand how much my actions can affect others with me not taking care of myself, and that becomes a selfish thing, right? I had to come to the end of myself to find out who I truly am. That’s a vocalist [and] a songwriter. There's a lot of stress that leaves your body when you're screaming all the time and all that stress [from] day-to-day work stuff. I feel like I found a weird balance with the aggression that goes into heavy music. And I hope people can hear that. And the emotion that not only goes into the lyrics, but the recording. I find myself crying in the studio and I will keep those takes like in “Withering,” like the first vocal takes for my singing were me bawling my eyes out.
I hope people can hear that and appreciate it. I'm not trying to be the best vocalist in the world. I'm trying to deliver a message in a way that people can understand it and hopefully feel a little less alone in this world.
EO: Transitioning from the Trevor Talks to being a metal vocalist, do you now have more space for introspection and an outlet of catharsis through songwriting and screaming?
TT: Absolutely. Even my doctors [said], “I think metal music might've saved your life.” I've never been able to gain weight and suddenly, all this aggression that I'm letting out, my body starts functioning properly in my digestive system and I'm not sick all the time. I believe God can use things to heal you that don't necessarily make sense to everyone.
Not everyone likes metal. And that's fine. But for me, I've found an outlet to be able to let out pent up aggression and anger, but also love and compassion. I got to interview all my heroes about their songwriting and vocal techniques and everything within Trevor Talks and their mental health journey.
So I got to hear hundreds of stories and I feel like that had a direct impact on me becoming a vocalist and a frontman. I got to interview all of them. Before that, it was like, it's us and it's them. “Us” is the interviewer and “them” is the artists. No, we're all crafting something together and none of our jobs [are] more important than the other's job. We're all doing something and we're all pursuing our unique callings. We're not all called to be metal vocalists. We're not all called to be lawyers. We're not all called to be doctors. We're not all called to be podcasters. We can do our thing within our lane and make an impact. I had to get out of the safe zone.
I felt like the safe zone for a long time was … it's a lot more acceptable to be like, “Oh, I have a podcast,” growing up in the South, in Georgia, [than],”Oh, I'm a metal vocalist.” I just had to let that ego aside and not care. You can't tell me what I already haven't told myself at some point.
So the thought of what people think about the songs and stuff – I'll read some comments where people are like, “Oh, who do you think you are?” You're writing that from a keyboard the same way I write my songs. Like maybe that's the outlet you need. And I hope that keyboard warriors can see that there's human beings that read comments and feel that. Instead of getting worked up about it or feeling as if, “Oh, that's really going to affect me,” how can I appreciate this person? Maybe they're looking for that. So maybe my comment back can reflect some love their way. Even though they're spewing hate.
EO: I remember when I started my metalcore Tumblr blog when I was 15, getting this anonymous DM was like, “Your writing sucks. You should quit.” For some reason, as a 15-year -old, it didn't really hurt my feelings. I was like, I just have to keep writing and stay true to my mission.
TT: [You get] better as you grow. You learn things that you'll do better now that you didn't know two articles ago. I learn each song. There's a lot of things that I would do differently about our EP now that I know a lot more about what goes into producing and such. This EP is a lot of me finding what my sound is and learning how to use my voice going into our next project … you're always going to find something wrong with what you're doing, but at some point you have to say it's done and release it. Because if not, you're just going to keep working on stuff and nothing's ever going to get released. Yeah, you can do things better, but you don't regret it. You just move forward with that renewed perspective. And for you [with] the Tumblr people, “Okay, maybe my writing did suck and maybe 10 articles from now I'll be a lot better writer.”
But if you're not practicing, what are you doing? You're not learning at the end of the day and you're never going to be able to make everybody happy. So I try to remember that. And of course you're going to get some heart wrenching mean, very personal [comments] attacking your story. And one thing that hit hard for me was, I laid out my most vulnerable piece of work being the music video for “Withering” and people being like, this sucks. The cinematography is terrible. The lyrics are garbage." This is a piece of me that I tried to hide for over a decade and you're completely shitting on it right now. And man, that hurt. But as you go along, as you've probably noticed, it gets lighter. People are going to say what they're going to say. And at the end of the day if you truly care about what you're doing, let them talk, let them run their mouth. I try to respond to everything, even if it's negative. Now on Instagram, you can comment back with GIFs sometimes when it wants to work and I'll put a Friday emoji with a joke or Will Smith or people dancing and it's like, maybe showing them that I'm resilient to what they're saying can help them feel resilient enough to do something their self. Maybe they're struggling with the courage to become a vocalist or become a writer themselves. And they need to see, “Oh, my negative words aren't going to impact this person.” Maybe that's an insecurity I'm struggling with that they're projecting onto me or trying to. So they’ll get over it at some point. And I like to think that we can make the world a better place, one GIF at a time.
EO: I think the hate comments come with the territory of becoming more and more visible. The probability of someone who wants to talk shit, just to talk shit, goes up. When people comment that they want a reaction. So to completely diffuse them with a GIF and just you're giving them the antithesis of what they want. And like you said, you might even be making them think about, “Why did I say that to begin with?”
Yeah. And even if they're angry right now, you're allowing them the opportunity to think about what they're saying. So they might tell their self like, “Oh, who does this guy think he is?” and it might make them even madder. That's the best part. What we were talking about in AA, like you gotta hit rock bottom before you accept that you need to change. Maybe they're borderline at rock bottom and this is going to make them madder than they've ever been and realize they have a problem. Maybe it's helping them in some way and maybe it makes them kind. Maybe it's a part of their journey. You never know. And you never know what somebody's going through. They could be suicidal and just, “I hate the world.” And you being like, you're the scum of the earth, because they say that your art's worse than garbage. Maybe responding with kindness and love is what they need. You never know what somebody's going through.
I try to respond to everybody because we're still a relatively new band, so I want to make sure I'm like, “If people are gonna listen to our songs and buy our merch and love on us,” I want to be kind to them too. If someone's being mean, that's fine. I'll try to respond with either humor or love.
EO: I want to touch on a point from earlier. I'm curious if, through working with guys like Mike from Convictions, if there are any kind of insights you gleaned both artistically and personally.
TT: Yes, like working with HolyName on the song “Stained Glass.” I wrote that for my band and I sent it to Tommy [Green] to see if he wanted to feature on it. And then he called me asking if it could be a HolyName song. And I learned a lot about it. From Tommy from HolyName and Mike [from] Convictions, Lacey Sturm who was the vocalist for Flyleaf. A lot of my friends are in the secular, mainstream rock and metal world, but they're also Christians. And I was scared to talk about my faith in my music at first. And the more I dive into it, it's “I'm not going to shove anything down anybody's throat.” And we're not marketed as a Christian band. But if you listen to our music and call us that, it's not going to offend me. I've gotten to learn through experience, be authentic to who you are. And if that means sharing your faith, that means sharing your faith. And if that means sharing your hatred for the world – I hope that's not the case – but it gives me an opportunity to be a vessel to you. I hope that people can hear the authenticity and wearing my heart on my sleeve and sharing the wounds that you can't really see with them. I feel like I'm growing as a songwriter and being able to be more vocal about the things that I care about versus what I think people need to hear. ‘Cause sometimes it's what I need to hear and that's what's going to help people.
As I grow as a writer, the more I have to dig –and it's not that writing music is trauma dumping – but it makes you think about maybe things you don't want to think about. And through that, you're able to reconcile mindsets and opinions you have of certain people and certain things. And it's been a very healing process for me. And that's where Heal The Hurt came from. This is very therapeutic. And I hope that it's therapeutic from a listener's perspective [so] that they can jump on this healing journey with us. That the hurt could be healed in their life potentially by being able to gravitate towards these lyrics and take them on as their war cry for whatever they're struggling with, whether it's mental health, addiction, suicidal ideation whatever it is ... I don't care. We're all hurting in some regard, but we also have to make a decision to heal. You have to make that decision. And yeah, it's a growing thing. I hope as we progress, the songs' messages get deeper and better and more articulate to be able to communicate things that maybe I don't know how to explain right now.
“Where Our Hearts Divide” specifically is about the way someone made me feel worthless and alone and talking down to me from a work perspective. And that's where our hearts divided. This person that I once could see as a sibling … I got to see the true colors one day and [it] wasn't pretty, and it made me feel pretty small.
Whether you've been in a relationship or a friendship, or maybe even your parent or siblings are very aggressive or maybe have a short fuse and a temper, it's not the end of the world, but it's also okay to put that relationship on ice and let them know that what they did was not okay and you're not going to allow that in your life anymore. So that was a healing thing for me. Now I'm able to pass that realization at the end. “I'm searching for a way out of this endless night/trying to find the strength to stand up and fight. The dawn is breaking, my spirit's worth saving/It's where our hearts divide.”
It's really an anthem for building boundaries, healthy boundaries, not isolating yourself from people and not turning on everyone that attacks you. Maybe at some point, someone's just holding you accountable and [you can] use your discernment on that. But that was a learning experience for me because I now have a healthy relationship with that person, because I was able to tell them what they did was wrong. And we were able to grow from that. [We may not be] close as we were, but at least I don't hate that person anymore. So it was a growing thing.
EO: I also had a friend who was like a brother to me. We were inseparable. And he said a few things to me that were really condescending and just hurtful. And I communicated that to him, “Hey, if we're going to remain friends, this isn't okay.” And it took two years for us to get back in touch. Now we're back in touch and friends again.The relationship is different because boundaries have been set, but I think it's for the better. I think when we stand in our power, it leads to a healthier situation for everyone.
TT: Yeah. Agreed. It's hard, but it's so healing. I hope everybody can have the opportunity to grow in that way. Not that I hope that people are mean to you and you have to do that, but I feel stronger and more sharpened and more seasoned as a human being now that I've gone through that emotion. And I don't think it ever gets easier. I think you just get a little more resilient to [the fact that] people are going to make mistakes. Sometimes you have to forgive people when they're acting like idiots. We're all idiots in some way, shape, or form. So when you start to view people as almost an idol, that's when things get tricky.
EO: I liked what you said about the notion that Heal The Hurt can relate to anyone’s personal hurt. You’re coming from a very specific personal situation as a songwriter, but you release it and it allows people to process their own pain.
The lyrics, “This pain, it cuts like a knife/A wound that won't heal. This darkness is all consuming/It's all I can feel.” When you're in the heat of it, it freaking sucks. How could you do this to me? I get my heart broken, man. It's not fun at all. Men aren't … there's always been this stigma that men can't feel in that way. Oh brother, I feel, and it sucks sometimes, but that's me. And now others that feel the same way, maybe they haven't heard it out of a guy … feeling emotions, even having a healthy crying session has been deemed as “less than” masculinity. That's not true. We all feel, and we're all dying to heal. I think that's an Architects lyric. “We're all dying to heal.” You live, you learn, you feel you grow. Let's move on. I don't want to waste precious time here on Earth with my friends and family that I love so much in pain.
Let's have a hard conversation. Did I wrong you? I apologize. If you feel wronged and I don't think I wronged you, let's talk about that, because somewhere there's been a miscommunication, but instead of ghosting and not being open to having conversations, let's have some healthy conversations, set some boundaries, and let's get on with our lives.
You never know when your time's going to come. And I love people and I love having, being in unison with people. I love getting to grow. So in my head, I'm like, man let's just move on. It's where our hearts divide and that's okay. Maybe it can be healed. Maybe. It can be patched up for a little bit and you can address it later. Whatever it looks like for you, do that. But for me, it's a growing process and hopefully I'll keep growing in wisdom and hope and faith until the day I die.
EO: What’s the overarching message you want people to take away from your debut EP? Looking forward, what is your ultimate vision for the Heal The Hurt project?
TT: I hope people walk away feeling empowered to make [a] healthy change in their life. If I were to break it down for a sentence for each song, “S.O.S. (Suffocating on Sorrow)” is for you to realize where you're at and realize that you need to make a change. For me, it was crying out to God, like literally, “Take me – take me if this isn't going to get better. Just take me away. I'd rather not be here”. And then realizing I need to heal the hurt in my life. Screaming our band name in the intro track was very intentional of, “This is what this is. Heal the hurt, heal it. Take it from me. I can't do this on my own.”
“Forgiving the Sickness” is about people around you making poor decisions and watching them spiral out of control and choosing to love them through it. Whether they're struggling with an addiction, whether they have Alzheimer's or had a stroke, forgiving the sickness; forgiving the things that they say that they may not mean in the current moment, whether they're on a rampage or whatever ...
“Thieves in the Night” is an anthem for the working class person that maybe works for a boss or a corporation that doesn't value them as a human being. And the corporate work environment that is breeded [out] of, they pay you enough to where you can live, but not enough to where you could pursue your dreams too. So it's almost like they're a thief in the night. They're building their empires on the backs of your stolen dreams. You're not able to pursue your dreams. You're just here to work for me and build my empire. That was not only about my tenure of working as a sales rep and then a manager for a popular cell phone provider, selling phones and that time of my life, but also into the music industry. Everybody wants to build their vision and they don't really care about yours. Unless you find really unique artists or people to work with, which is what I'm trying to grow into, I want people to pursue their dreams. I don't want to steal their dream on the thoughts of my own. So hopefully that song is empowering people to pursue their dreams as well and refuse to let it be stolen from them.
“Withering” is my journey with panic disorder and realizing that I need to make a change: “This weight, I can't bear to pick it up/Tonight I don't want to be here alone.” Getting help, going to therapy, getting on medication, that worked for me. Interviewing therapists to where I can then find the one therapist that really clicks with me. So that's my call to action, but also, that song and video are a reflection of me and my lowest mental state. I hope people can find the hope that I found in making that song. And the lyric, “The sun seems further while the shadows paint the room,” is like, through every dark night, there's going to be sunlight at the end of the day. And you're going to see it. Maybe it's the branches reflecting on the wall after you've been puking all night. From just being that exhausted and malnourished like I was. And you're up from the dark and you see the sun come up and the shadows are painting the room.
“RUIN” is about being in that pit of despair; realizing you have a problem and looking around and seeing all the damage that you caused in your own life, or maybe in forgiving the sickness, seeing the damage that people have done around them and seeing the ruins and having to sort through it and build yourself back up from it. So that song is an anthem for wherever you're at in your healing journey … “I'm the king of nothing.” Who am I to think I'm any better than you are? But also having that strength to get up and fight.
Ending the record with “Alone” was very intentional because it's a journey of things I've had to heal from. And it gets the high moments and you have the low moments and it ends on a somber, sobering thought of, “Maybe I'm going to be alone my whole life.” When you're in that pit of feeling alone … the breakdown, it's, “So drag me down/I welcome the emptiness, taunting, prying, tearing at the wounds/I won't break, I won't be your wounded vessel/These storms won't settle, If I were happy, would I be me?/I'm buried by hopeless insecurity.”
There is light, but you have to find that. I think it comes with accepting where you are in your life and looking at the things that you are blessed with and finding joy in your family and your friends, or maybe even in your own skin. There's been several days, like, growing up in high school where I would look in the mirror and think I'm ugly. It was less about the physical aspect of it, though. I associate it with I hated the way I looked. I didn't like the person I was becoming because I was neglecting my art, my passion to be a vocalist and make music, especially in metalcore. So I looked at the ruins around me and realized, maybe if I just have this, maybe that's it. Maybe that is my marriage on Earth. Maybe being a vocalist [and] maybe not having a spouse and having a family one day is on the cards for me. And I look around and I see all the amazing people like yourself that I've gotten to meet along this journey. And I'm just truly grateful for what I do have.
“So drag me down/I welcome the emptiness.” I've got all these things around me that are beautiful. But when I choose to look at what I don't have, that's pretty negative. So I'm choosing to look at what I do have. I have my faith. I have my friends. I have my family. I have my amazing dog, Frito, that struggles with his allergies way worse than a lot of dogs should have to struggle. Seeing him hurt breaks my heart. But I get to be his dad and take him to the vet … I choose to find the joy and the love and care that little guy gives me. He'll be on tour with us, rest assured.’ Cause nothing brings me joy like that little dude has. But I also realize that one day he's not going to be here. And when you lose somebody you love so much, or something you love so much, instead of viewing “Oh, they're not here anymore,” feel it. Realize, “Okay, I have to accept it and you mourn that, but I'm so grateful for the love and care and compassion and joy that they brought me while they were here.”
I hope people can walk away with hearing the songs and hearing these lyrics and hearing the sound of it all. It's all intentional and I hope they can walk away feeling encouraged and motivated to be the best version of themselves, but also not accept the bare minimum. Give it everything. You've got to kick anxiety's ass. Don't allow yourself to be just enough, be better, grow, be open to take criticism and learn and grow. Chase your dreams. Refuse to lose. You can win. It may not feel like it right now, but if I could challenge anybody in this interview, it's, man, if you don't reflect inward and see the things that may be driving people away from you, if you have people coming and going in your life – I'm writing about this right now for the next thing – it's if people are coming and going in your life and nobody seems to stay, maybe that's a you issue that you need to work on.
So for this EP, before I get into the next thing that I'm really passionate about, be open to serve people. Don't get greedy with your time, but also make sure that you're allowing your glass to get full before you're going out and serving others. Reflect inward, focus on reconciling some of the maybe toxic traits that you have, and then focus on things that other people might've caused you. If you start viewing it as, “How can I improve and how can I do better?” and what I'm blessed to have in my life,
I truly believe that you'll start to see your life get a lot happier and better. A little sidebar is getting physically active and getting out in the sun and not being inside. I work from home, I work wherever I have an internet connection for my day to day work. It's easy to not go outside and get sun and work out. I get lazy. I don't want to work out. Getting conditioned for shows forced me to work out and my physical and mental health have never been better. So I'm not saying that's a one-size-fits-all. I still take anxiety medication. I still go to therapy. I still pray for healing. But another thing you can do is try to eat a little bit better … That was a big thing for me. So those are some sidebar things that I've found to be very healthy in my life. Allowing yourself to get bored, stop doom scrolling, sit and think, turn your brain off for a little bit. And I feel like as a society, we're so conditioned to like TikTok, every seven seconds, we're just doom scrolling and not allowing ourselves time to create and be still in our own mind.
That's why we're always exhausted. We're not allowing ourselves to rest. Those are sidebars. I hope people can walk away from hearing this with a refreshed perspective on how they can make healthy changes in their life, whether it's inward or with people around them. Maybe they're in an abusive relationship and that needs to end, hopefully they can hear a message in there for them to get out of that. Hopefully if they're struggling with depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, addiction, that they would be able to see what I've had to go through and they can feel like the progress that I've been able to make as a human being. Not as a Christian, not as anything other than as a human being. I hope they can find something that helps them heal the hurt in their life as well. That's the message of Heal The Hurt. And that's all I really care to put out into the world. I hope that we can be a vessel of healing like bands like August Burns Red, Memphis May Fire, The Devil Wears Prada, and bands that I grew up listening to that were that for me in a time that I needed it.
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