Jacob H.

When I discovered metal, I realized there were more people out there like me!

I come from a very small town where I was the only person with a guitar and long hair. In my early teens I felt like an outcast and there was no one telling me otherwise. When I discovered music and especially metal, I found a subculture that totally resonated with me. It was a bunch of people from all layers of society and we all signed some sort of pact that we’d be each other’s guardians as long as we had metal in our lives.

I still feel like that. Traveling to the other side of the world, you see a person in a metal shirt and you quietly think to yourself: “this person is my friend”. That’s fantastic.

All this can very much be used for so many positive things. I am trying to give back to the community by making some music that I hope resonates with people as much as it resonated with me.

Music and in particular metal is very healing. There are metal songs with deep, deep layers of poetry in both words and sounds, and it’s extremely important to my and many people's well-being. I know that for a fact.

I feel like I am quite healthy mentally. I try to always be aware of things to change and be conscious about. If there’s a little bit of anxiety popping up, I need to address it, not with medication, but with positive strategies.

There are many ways of doing that, but I do have some mantras that I say and try to use for this. Things like: “this too shall pass”, and my favourite one: “habit over motivation” keeps me sane. “Habit over motivation” is the one that I use in my professional life. I never ask myself: “am I motivated for this?”, as I’m afraid my brain will answer “no”.

When I started running a couple of years ago, thai was my mantra as well. Don’t ask yourself if you want to. Just do it. Very cliche, but I meet so many people who seem to wait for motivation in various ways of life and careers, and nothing happens.

A few things that I do, which keeps me sane:

• I never watch the news. Ever. And don’t listen to the news either. It’s rarely positive news, and it’s nothing I can change anyway.
   

• I run three times a week with podcasts in my ears (learning new skills - this is not entertainment, but teaching myself!).
  I get up at 5:00 am and run. Never ask myself “Do I want to?”. Habit over motivation
   

• Sometimes during the day when things are going a bit down, I treat myself with a lovely cup of freshly brewed coffee. I say it out loud to myself: “That cup of coffee will be fantastic!” - and it is. It’s the little things sometimes.
   

• I have a cat. Petting it makes my pulse go down to almost meditating.
   

• I remove negative people from social media. Don’t need it in my life.
   

• Speaking of social media, I only allow myself to use it when I’m going to the toilet. Yes. It is like that. That puts a limit to how many hours per day I use it.
   

• Take a close look at your bad habits. I know what mine are, but I do not smoke, do not drink (occasionally a beer), do not use drugs - ever! - and do not take medication. Sugar is heroine. Keep an eye on your sugar intake! This also means Netflix!
   

• Eat healthy. And no, don’t let your brain tell you it’s OK to comfort yourself with bad food (salt, grease, fat and sugar). I love the “Eat your food as your medicines otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food...Health is Wealth” quote.
   

• Invest in yourself! Learn a new skill when the world gives you a break, e.g. during lock-down. It’s amazing to learn something that you’ve always dreamt of doing!
  Read some interesting books that resonate with you and the part of you that wants to get better at “life”. Listen to podcasts that teach you fantastic stuff! Not entertainment. You can do that later ;)