Hey, this is Jae here. This MINDSET booster is for anyone who's feeling down.

Maybe today wasn't such a good day for you. Or if you're just waking up, maybe things feel a bit off. Maybe there's something that you know that you're gonna have to face later today that you just don't feel ready for.

Whatever you're feeling right now, whatever

hopelessness, exhaustion, frustration, pain, anger… I just need you to know that, you're allowed to feel all of that.

It's part of being human. It doesn't feel good. It really doesn't. It kind of sucks.

There are things in life that can't be helped. Maybe you're pissed about something that someone else did to you.

Maybe you're going through something that just feels so unfair and so unjust.

Or maybe you're mad at yourself. For something that you think was a mistake. But I honestly believe that the best lessons in life are our worst mistakes.

The stuff we regret the most, the stuff that we are ashamed of, the things that make us cringe — they don't feel great,

but hey… as long as we learn from those mistakes, we become a better person on the other side of it.

Isn't that worth something?

And if you've been repressing stuff inside of you, if there's some things pent up in you, you gotta know how to release it.

If you need to cry, cry! You're allowed to cry.

If you need to yell or punch something, do that. Don't hurt yourself, but punch like, a pillow or something.

Whatever you're feeling right now, I want you to take time to identify those emotions. What is it that you're feeling? And more importantly, why?

[🎵 pillows by eaJ x keshi]

We all experience feeling lost at some point in life. We all know what it's like to be scared, to be hurt, or confused, but we also owe it to ourselves to be happy. Instead of looking for all the reasons that we're not, maybe we're better off looking for reasons we should be.

So yes. Right now, things might not look so great to you. Your life could be in a really,

really dark and down place. But don't forget to look for the silver lining. Because believe me — they are always there.

If you want to go through life only

embracing the good, that's just not gonna happen. No one gets a free pass in life. No one gets everything they want, so we've got to learn how to embrace the good with the bad. We've got to embrace all of the crap that comes in life. And that's what makes a silver lining, a silver lining.

Light always shines the brightest after the moments of darkness.

So whatever moment of darkness you're in right

now, it's alright. It's okay. It's a part of life, and I promise you, if nothing else, that it will pass. Just give yourself time to recognize that. To process and realize what you're going through.

But, don't stay in that darkness forever. Don't crawl into a hole and beat yourself up over and over, wondering what's wrong with you. That's just gonna end up with you

wallowing in sadness and self-pity and that's not healthy for anybody.

Instead, be intentional and look for that silver lining. That hope that will give you the strength to pick yourself back up. To get back on your feet again and tell yourself, "I can do this. I can turn these problems into a good thing. I'm gonna learn to shine no matter what kind of darkness tries to knock me down."

You got this. You

can do this. I truly believe that you have what it takes to withstand the storm right now. And me and the rest of this flawed human race, we're sitting right next to you. We are going to experience the ups and downs together.

Alright?

So I love you. Take care of yourself. Be good. Be healthy.

And we're gonna get through this life together.

Listen to this when you need a silver lining.

When Everything Sucks

Hey, this is Jae. And here is a little bedtime story for you if you're ready to wind down and end the day with a smile.

You might even know this story from your childhood and it's called "The Elves and the Shoemaker".

There was once a shoemaker who worked very hard and was very honest. But still he could not earn enough to live upon; and at last all he had in the

world was gone, save just leather enough to make one pair of shoes.

Then he cut his leather out, all ready to make up the next day, meaning to rise early in the morning to his work. His conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his cares to Heaven, and soon fell asleep.

In the morning after he had said his prayers, he sat himself down to his work;

when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes all ready made upon the table. The good man knew not what to say or think at such an odd thing happening.

He looked at the workmanship; there was not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true that it was quite a masterpiece.

The same day a customer came in, and the shoes suited him so well that he willingly paid a price

higher than usual for them; and the poor shoemaker, with the money, bought leather enough to make two pairs more.

In the evening he cut out the work and went to bed early, that he might get up and begin betimes next day; but he was saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning the work was done ready to his hand.

Soon in came buyers who paid him handsomely for his goods so that he bought leather enough for four pair more.

He cut out the work again overnight and found it done in the morning as before.

And so it went on for some time, what was got ready in the evening was always done by daybreak, and the good man soon became thriving and well off again.

One evening, about Christmas-time, as he and his wife were sitting over the fire chatting together, he said to her, "I should like to sit up and watch tonight, that we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me."

The wife liked the thought; so they left a light burning and hid themselves in a corner of the room, behind a curtain that was hung up there, and watched what would happen.

As soon as it was midnight, there came in two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker’s bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was

all wonder and could not take his eyes off them.

And on they went, till the job was quite done. The shoes stood ready for use upon the table. This was long before daybreak; and then they bustled away as quick as lightning.

The next day the wife said to the shoemaker, "These little wights have made us rich, and we ought to be thankful to them, and do them a good turn if we can. I am quite sorry to see them run about as they do;

and indeed it is not very decent, for they have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I'll tell you what, I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat, and waistcoat, and a pair of pantaloons in the bargain; and do you make each of them a little pair of shoes."

The thought pleased the good cobbler very much; and one evening, when all the things were ready, they laid them on the table instead of the work that they used to cut out, and then went and hid

themselves to watch what the little elves would do.

About midnight in they came, dancing and skipping, hopping round the room, and then went to sit down to their work as usual; but when they saw the clothes lying for them, they laughed and chuckled and seemed mightily delighted.

Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about as merry as could be; till at last they danced out at the door,

and away over the green.

The good couple saw them no more; but everything went well with them from that time forward, as long as they lived.

Listen to this when you're in the mood for a relaxing, happy end to your day.

(From The Project Gutenberg E-Book of Grimms' Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm.)

Bedtime Story

Listen to this if you struggle with self-doubt.

If You Ever Doubt Yourself

Listen to this if you are trying to move past a mistake you made.

If You Ever Make a Mistake

Hello Mindset listeners, this is Jae of DAY6 and I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

We're going to be getting real deep and be talking about a lot of real, real issues. But we're also going to be having a lot of fun. So, thank you for being here, and your support truly means a lot. I hope that listening to my Mindset can be a safe space for the both of us.

Now,

a lot of you already know me as a singer and lead guitarist for the band DAY6 — shout out to Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon of course, love you guys. But hopefully you've also seen some of my side projects as well.

My main project is called eaJ, and how that started was one day I just, I was working on music and I found myself at a loss… at a crossroads and, I got hit so hard by reality in the face. I felt it on my cheek.

I

realized that I didn't know what kind of music I liked. I had been writing reference songs for DAY6 for so long that I had forgot what Jae as an individual had liked. And of course, I love DAY6 music. I'm super proud of what we've accomplished, and I'm even more so proud of the discography that we have created until now.

But what I'm trying to say is that as an individual, I felt like I didn't know who I was anymore. Because I had stayed in this

group setting for so long.

So, what did I do? I set out on this like super adventure — to reclaim who I was. Therefore, the name is flipped: e-a-J capital. And I'm extending back to my roots, and I'm just being me. I'm figuring out who "me" is. And that's eaJ.

[🎵 Pinocchio by eaJ]

So with this whole eaJ project, I started to segue out and discover new things. And as eaJ, I had my first collab with a phenomenal artist named Seori. And I kind of just discovered her on YouTube one day, just scrolling through. And I listened to her music and I was just like, my jaw dropped. I was floored.

I heard her singing English and then the next second she

was singing Korean, and then she was going back and forth, and I was just like, "What is happening?"

And her voice is amazing. It's, it's ridiculous.

And I knew. I just knew right then, I had a track called "Tika" at that point, and I was like, "This is perfect." Immediately. Gmail. Sent an email to management. And we got the collab going. "It just is" by eaJ X Seori, featuring keshi's Strat.

[🎵 It just is by eaJ x Seori feat. keshi's Strat]

So musically, or

sonically, that's what I've been up to. But in another aspect of my life, something that I've come into full force contact with in the past year is mental health.

And I feel like, through this experience I've grown a lot but the one thing that I do regret is that I didn't catch it sooner? And I was just really, really sad that I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had just, you know, had, had someone to tell me like, "Yo, these are signs of

wear and tear. This is you getting mentally drained out."

And so in dealing with mental health and continuing to develop myself as a human being, I had an opportunity to work with the Jed Foundation. The Jed Foundation is a place that exists to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for America's teens and young adults.

Thank you so much for listening to this Mindset, and being such an important part of making all of this possible.

Mindset isn't just about artists and celebrities talking about themselves. We really want to be here for you, and we want to put good out into the world. And we want you to feel empowered to do the same for others.

Life can really suck sometimes. And it can bring you down, and you can get angry, and we can just really hate everything and anything all at once. But, if we're only fixated on

the bad and the ugly, that mindset is literally gonna drive us crazy.

So, what do we do?

We deserve, we owe it to ourselves to take a step back and to take care of ourselves. And to find hope, because there is good in this world, we just have to be the ones to find it — or create it.

This is my Mindset.

Meet Jae

Episode One: You Are Not a Loser.

My full name is Jae Park or 박제형 (Park Jae-hyung) in Korean. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 15, 1992.

And… no, for those of you who are wondering, I can't speak Spanish. No hablo español.

But un poquito, you know what I mean? Yeah. But yeah.

My parents were, they were working there. And I think they were doing clothes, like kids' clothing. And I have an older sister, but I was also born 10 years after her. So semi-mistake? Eh… possibly?

And I think that when I was around three, that was when my parents decided to move to the States. We actually spent some time in Canada, first getting our visas ready and

then we came to California, to the city of Torrance and somehow ended up moving super south from there, to a town called Cerritos.

And man, that's a lot of places right? But, I think I consider Cerritos to be my hometown. Plus there's a super big and cool famous library there so check that out, when you can.

I do have some early

memories from before my family moved to Cerritos though. This was back in Torrance, or could've been Argentina.

My sister had bought me a Power Rangers suit. 'Cause you know that's, that's what was poppin' at the time. And the most popular one that all the boys wanted was the red one, 'cause he was like the leader, right? And I really liked Power Rangers.

So, I'm this little kid, and I put it on at home, and then my grandma who was living with us at the time — she spoke Spanish by the way —

when she saw me in that red suit, she lost it. She flipped out.

She was like, "El Diablo! El Diablo!" thinking… I was the devil apparently?

And then she grabbed me and dunked me into the bathroom tub as if that was holy baptism water. And I just, I remember being like submerged and emerged in a repetitious pattern, thinking, "What is going on in my life?"

And that is literally my earliest childhood memory. Good

times.

You know my parents were always busy working, so my sister was pretty much my mom 2.0. Not the greatest thing in the world. She's an educator that has authoritarian DNA so I never got away with anything. Always had to come home on time. Always had to get my homework checked.

And I remember one time specifically when I was in the ninth grade,

she caught me with my ex-girlfriend… at Walmart. And it just, it wasn't a good look.

She was like, "Jae!"

And I was like, "What!"

And then I turned around and was like, "Run!"

But, I'm sure from her side of things it must not have been easy either. You know, having to play the mom role and not getting to just be a sister, and more importantly so, not being able to be a high school student or be a college student. And that must have

been really hard for her.

Growing up in the States, school was… tough man. Like, super tough. I got bullied a lot and I know so many kids have to deal with this.

For some reason I just didn't understand social cues and I was a super reject. Like, seen as complete, like, bathroom-lunch-type deal?

You know the, you know the whole package.

Had no friends. I even had a really hard time with my teachers and my parents were actually convinced that I had like, ADD or ADHD or, or something.

But, with everything comes a silver lining, and big shout-out to Ms. K, my kindergarten teacher, who was super nice to me and the only teacher I didn't… hate?

I will never forget you.

It's really crazy thinking back to her because this was years ago. Literally 20 plus years ago when I still remember her kindness and, you know what they say, kindness goes a really long way.

But, yeah. I was, I was bullied a lot. And there was this one kid in particular who just like, made my life a living hell. Like

super miserable. He verbally and physically attacked me constantly to the point where I, I just asked my parents if I could move schools.

So, in the fourth grade they let me transfer to a private school. And I thought it was going to be this fresh start, thought I was making friends for the first time and, thought I was doing well.

But then what really, really messed me up till this day I feel like is this one time that, I invited a bunch of kids from

my school over to my house for like my first real birthday party. And I bought all these party favors and I was super excited. And I set up the tables and, like, made the plates and like looked it up online like, forks and plates and, and knives are on one side and just did it all proper and… no one showed up.

Like, literally zero. And, that's when it kind of hit me that I had no friends.

And I know it's like a super first world problem, but that was like one of the most traumatic experiences ever for me. And I think because of that, that's why I still struggle so much to this day with having like self-confidence issues and whatnot. And I'm sure, I am more than certain, that a lot of you out there have experienced similar blows to your confidence, but I truly, truly believe from the bottom of my heart that it's never too late to reinvent

yourself.

And my saving grace I think was, college.

Ooh. College. My golden years, right?

I pretty much went into it like, "Jae, you can't be like this anymore. You, you just, you can't be this reject. College is like this clean slate,

and it's your ticket out, so you gotta make some friends, you gotta buy some new damn clothes, talk to some new people, and let's make this work!"

And… it did. It's like, it was like magic. I just, I changed my perspective, tried to be more positive, and really pushed myself to be more social no matter what hiccups came along the way and it freakin' worked. Thank the Lord.

I went to Cal State Long Beach and studied Poli Sci. If that's a shock for you… quick explanation.

Back in high school, I was a part of Model United Nations and in my youthful… hubris — I really liked it. I was good at it. You know, like, I should have made some friends through MUN but, I was always after the prize. Very focused and tunnel visioned

towards that gavel.

And just, anyway, college was like that fresh start that I really needed. And I am so blessed and thankful looking back to be able to say that. And I did make some really, really great friends and, I still keep in touch with some of them till this day.

My name is Robin and I'm from Hacienda Heights, California. It's about 30 minutes east of Los Angeles, and me and Jae were roommates for our second year at Cal State Long Beach.

The first time I met

Jae was through our mutual friend, he introduced us on campus. And my first impressions of Jae were that he was really, really tall… I think he's like six foot tall. And he's like, super skinny. He's like a really tall super skinny kid with like a, like a nice voice. That's probably a lot of people's first impression though, when, when they meet Jae.

So our second year, we moved in together. It was me, Jae, our friend Alex, and our other friend Cameron.

I remember, we would like

pull pranks on Cameron, 'cause it was me and Alex in one room, and Jae and Cameron in one room. And what Jae would do was, he would set an alarm in the middle of the night, and then he would like wake up and then start like, pretending he was sleep talking in Korean, and it would scared Cameron like a lot. And then the next day Cameron would tell us, but me, Alex, and Jae were all in it.

And then he did that for like a long time. So Cameron, I don't even think Cameron knows that it was a prank. So that was a really funny memory.

You know, just living with Jae, you know figuring out what to

eat for dinner. Play NBA 2K, he loved to play NBA 2K for some reason.

A lot of the mornings, he would wake up early and he would just sing in the shower, while all of, all of us were still sleeping. And then it was like super annoying 'cause we would get woken up by his singing. But it was also, like, beautiful, 'cause he has a nice voice. So it was, like, annoying, but like, beautiful?

But basically he would practice a lot. We would hear him practicing on his guitar. He sings the same thing over and over again, the same

like, first note. And then he would get really mad at himself for not getting like that first note right?

So he's an extremely hard worker, and I'm pretty sure his fans can see because he's releasing so many different things right now. Like you know podcasts, like Twitch, YouTube, and so many things. And it, it, it makes sense. It makes sense to me.

And he is not taking what he has for granted, because, I went to his first show, overseas show in Taiwan. 'Cause I just happened to be living in Taiwan. So it was like a coincidence. And it was a really,

really small show. And then after the show, he was super emotional.

Then like four or five years later, he had another show in LA, and I went to that too. It was way bigger. And, but he was still the same guy. Like after the show he was super emotional, super grateful.

It's, it's kind of surreal, but it's like not a surprise, if that makes sense. Because like, he, like I always knew — I, I always told him like, I've never heard someone sing like him. Like not, not to like you know,

over-exaggerate or whatever, but like, you know a lot of people say they sing and stuff. But, when you hear Jae's voice, it's like, wow, this is like special.

I told him to like, "You should just go to America's Got Talent." And he was like, "No, no, I'm not good enough," and stuff like that. But I always thought he was good enough. So it's, it's nice to see him like finally do what he wants to do, for his life, you know? And that's just to sing.

You

know, the reason why I'm sharing all of this, isn't just to talk about my life. I'm just one person in the midst of what, almost like eight billion people on the planet now? Everyone has a right to be loved, to be taken care of, and to be happy.

But I also do recognize that because I'm an artist, because I'm in the public eye, I have a platform and the way I live my life and show who I am can impact a lot of people. So I'm sharing these

personal stories with you because I want you to know that you are not alone.

If you've ever experienced bullying, or being an outcast, or just feeling unworthy, and like a reject or loser, let me tell you, loud and clear — you are not a loser.

You hear me?

I'ma say it one more time for everybody in the back — you are not a loser!

It really sucks when you can't do

anything about a particular person picking on you, especially because in social hierarchy that person's gonna be higher than you usually, right? And if you say anything at all, he or she or whoever is going to do something stupid and, just turn it back on you.

There's really no advice for this. It's just hold onto yourself. Hold onto your sanity. You're not what they say you are.

They do these things to you because they're ashamed of who they

are. Because they, they see things in other people that they want, and they're angry, and this anger always stems from somewhere else and it's not your fault that they're doing this to you.

Don't ever blame yourself, for someone mistreating you verbally or physically or whatnot. It is never, never your fault. So just hang on there, and you'll be fine later.

Listen, even if this world has made you feel like you're a loser at some point in your

life, don't let that keep you down.

Or maybe it's not even the world coming at you. Maybe it's you telling yourself that you're not good enough.

We can be our own worst enemies at times, but if you don't like who you are and if you know you have things to work on, you don't have to beat yourself up over it.

It's never too late. Every day is a new day. Don't let your past paralyze you. Your future can still be beautiful and you can reinvent

yourself to be a better version of yourself.

So get out there and make this day a part of that. Make this day mean something to you.

Aight?

This is my MINDSET.

Brrrreett!

It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

You Are Not a Loser

So this is Episode Two, and we're going to be talking about what happens when two completely different things collide.

I've been living in Korea for about… 10 years-ish now? And even though, yes, I'm ethnically Korean, culturally I still feel super American. And you know being Korean-American, these two cultures are

very, very different from each other.

So, disclaimer — I don't really see one as better than the other. I fully embrace being both like, Korean and American, but they're just two really different parts of who I am, that to this day I think I'm still trying to figure out like, how to balance this correctly.

It's like water and oil, right? You can, you can mix them together, especially if you shake things up really hard, but eventually when everything settles

and all the tension is gone, the separation is as clear as day.

Water separates from oil no matter what. They're just different.

And I know that this isn't unique to just me, and not only are there plenty of other Korean-Americans or 교포's ("gyopos": overseas Koreans) living in Korea, but like all over the world there are people who don't fall into one single category. Into, you know like one definition or identity.

Whether that's race or culture, gender,

sexual orientation — some of us are still trying to figure out who we are and what we are… and that's okay.

But I do want to share more openly about how these two worlds of mine, you know, being like Korean and American, how these worlds collide.

A lot of you already know that I was a contestant on a show called K-pop Star. And that's what got me out to

Korea in the first place. But I would have never imagined in my life that something like this would happen.

I always loved singing, and I remember like, I would scream Brian McKnight songs in my mom's car at literally the top of my lungs, which she hated. But I honestly didn't think I was any good at it.

Like, even now I still don't think I'm that good of a singer. And for those of you who are like, "No Jae, shut up, you're so good."

Remember… Jae was a reject in school. That fourth grade birthday party messed me up, for good. No self-confidence whatsoever. Somewhat still resonates within me till today.

But, there was one day at my house when I was in high school and some people came over and we were just chillin', and one of my friends picked up my dad's guitar. It was this acoustic guitar, it was just left out rolling around, and he started playing

it and I think he was like, playing like a worship song or something? And I just hummed and sang along.

And then all of a sudden, everyone in the room was like, "Wait."

And it got super quiet. And they were like, "Holy crap Jae… you can sing."

And I was like, "Huh? Wait, really?"

And they were like, "Yeah."

And that's literally how it all started.

So after that, I got into singing covers and uploading them on

YouTube, and I gained a very, very minute amount of traction, right? But it was, it was still really fun and it was a joy because I finally found something that made me feel respected, and I found people who loved me for my craft.

And the first cover I ever did, Lord… was a SHINee song called "누난 너무 예뻐" (nunan numoo yeppuh: nuna you're so pretty). I still think back to that bandana I had on that day. So cringe.

But I mostly did American covers. Just songs that I liked that everyone else was listening

to at the time, you know like Daphne Loves Derby, Hello Goodbye… but there was this one time that I covered "Sun & Moon" by Above & Beyond, and they retweeted it.

And that blew my mind. I was just like, "Whoaaa."

But I guess the question stands like, did I ever see myself singing professionally? Hell no.

Me becoming a singer to me was like, the equivalent of becoming the president of the United States. It's like,

it's like one of those impossible possibilities.

And, just to show you how crazy it is that I'm a singer today, I'm gonna just take a quick moment to embarrass myself and play a clip for you of one of the songs that I first ever professionally recorded.

[🎵 Better Man by Jae Park]

Good Lord. Good Lord Almighty help me. That was a trip. Okay now I got a play you some eaJ to redeem myself, so here you go.

[🎵 Pacman by eaJ]

So, yeah… kind of crazy how life turns out right?

Anyway back to the story. So after I did the whole YouTube thing, I guess some scouts from K-pop Star saw my channel and they invited me to audition. And this was gonna be the first season of the show

too.

But I had like, such low expectations and I didn't really take it seriously… at all. Like I, I sang "Sunday Morning" for them, which was my go to song that I sang at every open mic at It's A Grind, ever.

And the audition was in L.A., and BoA had actually come to L.A. too. So she was the one who auditioned me in pre-screening and she was like, "I see something in you."

And I was like, "You be trippin'."

But

somehow I got in.

I was in a waiting list. And I guess this was all like, like a plan to like surprise us and tell us live on camera that we had been accepted.

And I first heard it with my parents, when the film crew from SBS and everybody had come to my house in America. And then I was with my parents and then they sat me down, they were like, "So, you made it to Korea."

And it was like such a surreal

experience. It was like winning like one of those radio contests with a lottery? But, that's not supposed to happen to you in real life. So it just felt super surreal for me.

So I get to Korea, and you know I thought my Korean was pretty good, but I quickly found out that it was actually trash. And I also got my phone taken away. All the contestants did. And that was like the

first time I ever experienced anything like that.

And from there it was just a ton of tense moments like, over and over again, not only because it's a high pressure situation and you're on TV, but again it's like, it's that water and oil. They don't mix well, and I was just constantly scolded for not understanding things or not saying the right things.

And I literally felt like I was a fish out of water. And everything was moving super

fast and it just all felt so new but, I'm really grateful to the people who helped me along the way.

Especially this, there was this one 누나 (nuna), this older sister figure to me, and she was dope.

So 영미 누나 (Yeong-mi nuna) was someone that was super important to me because she was very, very open to American culture and, you know, being in the role that she was in the K-pop Star program, she was just always willing to like listen to what I was thinking and what was going on. And I think she

was actually one of the only people who explained to me why things were happening in such a way.

No one else would tell me. Everyone else would just be like, "It's just the way it is." And I felt like no one had the answers, almost to a point where I like, felt like they just didn't know the answers.

But then as soon as I began to be able to speak with her, and conversate with her a little bit more, I began to understand the reasoning behind decisions, and why we can't have our phone, and why we can't go out in the middle of the night, and et cetera, et

cetera.

And then that's when I kinda started accepting like, "Oh, okay. That makes sense. Maybe I can do this because this makes sense to me now."

So she's someone that I really, really thank. Because without her, I feel like my assimilation to Korean culture would have been much harder.

Jae, I think it's been about 10 years since we've met. 10 years ago, we met at your K-pop Star audition in L.A. right? At that

time, I remember you walked into the audition hall with your guitar, and you were so cute. You played guitar and sang "Sunday Morning" for us, and I thought your "Sunday Morning" cover was the best out of all the covers that day, because it felt really fresh and new. And after your performance, we asked you a few questions, and I still remember how you were so embarrassed and laughed after giving your answers.

But when we first met, since you were a performer, and I was in the production crew, and there was a big cultural and language barrier… I was a bit worried about how things would go. And if you would be okay. You know, you had to work really hard to prepare for the stage, and I had to make sure you understood the rules of the audition. So if we didn't understand each other, we could have ended up arguing. But

you and I, we were considerate toward one other, and you understood everything really well. We just communicated well.

And do you remember how after debuting, you took me and my husband out to dinner with your first paycheck? You treated us to a nice meal at a fancy steakhouse, and it was really touching. I thought to myself, you probably didn't even know restaurants too

well. And to take us out, you must have searched online for things like "fine-dining", "luxurious atmosphere", "expensive food". And I could feel the effort that you put in for us that night, and it was very endearing. I was very grateful and moved by that.

You know, it's been 10 years since you've lived here in Korea, Jae. And I really want to compliment you for all that you've

accomplished. You've done everything so well. You're so awesome. And I've seen all your hard work with my own eyes these last 10 years. I just want you to be happy, and to keep doing what you want to do.

Thank you again 누나 (nuna). I really appreciate you and, I always tell you this but, I really wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for you. I really appreciate your support still.

And… thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Always.

But yeah, it was interesting. It was an interesting experience and just going through the whole K-pop process.

My mom, in the beginning, was just like chillin'. My mom is like the, the king of the household. She makes all the executive decisions right?

My mom told me to go have fun in Korea. She probably wanted

me to, you know, understand Korean culture. And not gonna lie, watching 1988 — Reply 1988 — changed my whole perspective on why my mom says certain things and wants certain things out of me.

It made me respect Korean culture a lot more. It made me respect my parents more. And I think living in Korea was something that she thought would have that effect on me, which it didn't in the beginning, because I just didn't understand. But it does now, so kinda worked out.

I think one of my takeaways from the whole K-pop Star experience was… that's when I first learned that artists sing with no sleep. Like I literally got no sleep. I feel like I did a lot of those stages on like two, three hours of sleep?

And it's not because our schedules were weird, but like I was sleeping at like a good like 12, 1, 2 a.m. but we would wake

up at like 6, 7, 8. And then we would have to go to like, you know — and I wasn't used to that. I was used to sleeping a full like 10, 11 hours, 'cause I'm kind of a bear and I hibernate.

And I learned that it's not just work ethic, but it's mindset? Damn. It, it was actually an illusion. Because I thought that making it was super easy because of that program.

Once I came out on that program, like I would go out and then like,

people would like mob me. And it was crazy, cause I thought that, "Wow this is so easy. I just came out on this show, and that's all it took for all these people to know who I am?"

Little did I know that I was on one of the most successful survival audition programs of Korean history, right? I think the viewer rate that I got voted off in sixth place was 25 percent, which is a fourth of the people that have their televisions on in Korea. And I didn't realize that.

So it made me, it gave me this false gassing of self-confidence that, "You know what, all I need to do is go and debut and everything will be fine."

Ha, ha, ha.

But with the whole music stuff, in the beginning it was more of a meme. And then it started getting really serious towards the end when J.Y. was like, "Hey you should come to us."

And I was like, "Oooh."

And my mom was like, "Helllll no!"

And then I was just like, "Uhhh, but we should, we should go and listen."

And then we went and listened and… we signed.

You know we started off this episode with how different Korean and American culture are. I feel like, like I said before, there are pros to both Korean culture and American culture, right?

Korean culture I feel like is very group-oriented. It's one for all and all for one. If someone does well,

everybody reaps the rewards. Everybody sows the seeds and reaps the rewards.

If someone screws up, everyone takes the flak for it. It's just, it's built so that everyone is, is one. It's a union.

I think America is a bit more independent. And I feel like they have this go-getter mentality that allows them leeway to be more adventurous, right? To take more risks.

And I feel like that's what the American dream is based off

of. And that allows people to pursue bigger things at a bigger cost and bigger risk.

But, for me personally, it has been a little bit tough, like really tough learning how to navigate both of these worlds, and there's always been this kind of like, anxiety of not being able to perfectly blend these two aspects of my life.

But I do feel like I've come to a point where looking back, I'm thankful for the growing pains.

And for the lessons learned, and especially for the people who helped me along the way.

And I now realize that I just gotta be who I gotta be. So I can get to where I want to go.

And I hope and wish that for you too, if you're ever feeling stuck between two worlds, two identities, two situations — sometimes things just don't fit into this perfect, pre-existing mold or condition. And you might actually drive yourself

crazy, waiting for things to like, magically align.

Water and oil are different. And they always will be. But hell, you can take two things that don’t mix well together, and create something completely new.

So, if you gotta make a new path, if you gotta make your own path, to be true to who you are, and to stick to what you value — then just do it.

Make that path.

That's what I'm gonna do, and I'm here

for you, to cheer you on to do the same.

This is my MINDSET.

Sometimes we face an identity crisis. But stay true to your values and embrace who you are.

Water and Oil

Hello everybody. This is Episode Three: Don't Give Up.

[🎵 Rose by eaJ]

When I started at JYP, you know I came in as a trainee, and Korea has a super rigorous system to scout and groom new talent, and

it definitely works. K-pop has taken over the world.

And, as a trainee, you're taught all kinds of new things like vocals, dance, language, culture, but you really don't know how or when you'll actually debut. And a lot of things can change and do change. And it's not abnormal to be a trainee for like years, and years, and years.

But for me specifically, I was put in a new project that

JYP was doing at the time. And it wasn't going to be like a K-pop group per se, but more of an acoustic band, where we'd also switch off instruments and kind of be like this "genius band" concept and — that was it.

So Young K and I, we both learned how to play bass and guitar at the same time. The other members too, they learned other instruments like the djembe and cajon and all of that stuff, simultaneously.

And all of us in DAY6 back then, we weren't as organic with our instruments as some fans might believe. We trained and worked hard and we still practice and rehearse like crazy to be able to do what we're doing now.

You know, we've had concerts where we like completely switch things up. Like I'll be on keys, Sungjin will be on bass, and Young K on drums, and Wonpil and Dowoon playing guitar, and we're all singing and… that's insane right? But that's only possible because we

trained in all of those instruments all those years back.

And believe me, there were days when we just wanted to give up.

[🎵 Sing Me by DAY6]

I completely believe that artists are not born, but made.

A true musician is absolutely obsessed with perfecting their craft. With always wanting to get better, and at the same time being humble enough to accept that there is always going to be someone out there that's better than them. Right?

So being open to inspiration and innovation, that's so important. I can't stress enough how important that actually is.

And that's not just when it comes to creating music, but in life

in general. I just feel like no one's born with a perfect set of skills. And even if you do think someone's perfect, chances are, they worked their ass off to get to where they are now.

And if you want to achieve something in life, if you want to get somewhere, you better be willing to work hard for it. Because there's so much value behind that.

When DAY6 debuted, we were a very new product to the market, to a heavily Korean audience and for some reason, bands just didn't resonate that well. And it was hard for them to stay relevant in Korean pop culture. Other than a few bands, a handful of bands, like

CNBLUE or FTISLAND, who are huge.

It was just, it was hard for bands to really have that come-up story. More so than idols and, and dancing singers who would have like, choreo to their songs.

I feel like there were so many talented bands at the time, even today, there are so many bands that just go ham on stage. Amazing shows, great music, and just, they, it's, they find it hard to place on the charts for some reason.

Band music is always incorporated and always has been incorporated in popular K-pop music, but it's just bands have never really seen the limelight, except a few exceptions. And hopefully that can change someday.

But yeah DAY6 really struggled to debut, and a lot of people were against us debuting? And a lot of people didn't really believe that we would be able to cause a ripple or bring traction. And even

after debuting, things were at times a bit rocky.

We thought that like having this JYP tag would make us blow up as a team but, you know we didn't do so hot on our debut, on the charts. And we got a little bit of traction and buzz and then just completely fell off for a while. And we didn't see the light of day on charts till years after that.

We also write and compose our

own stuff under Studio J, which is a division under JYP Entertainment that creates music more independently.

And like, writing songs is not easy. Composing melodies? Not the easiest thing in the world. But having to do that with a band, with multiple personalities, multiple instruments, multiple parts, and most importantly, multiple conflicting opinions — that's when it gets super difficult.

Then there's the elephant in the room. You know we're called DAY6, but we have five members because one of our members had to leave right after we debuted. That was… that was a really rough time for us.

We had to completely reset as a band. Re-split parts, the singing — Wonpil especially, he had to step it up to cover both the synth and the keys. Respect.

So, all

to say it felt like the whole world was against us. In reality they weren't, but that's what it felt like at that point. Like at every turn, there were just so many situations where we could have fallen apart.

And the reason why I'm sharing this with you is because if we had given up, and if we did call it quits right when things got hard, there would be no DAY6. DAY6 would cease to exist. Or maybe we just would have never even happened.

But me and the boys, we pushed through. We fought through it and gave it our all. And I think that the moment when things really started to pick up for us was when we first initially launched our "Every DAY6 Project", which was a project in which we released two songs every month for a full year.

[🎵 DAY6 Montage]
- I Wait
- You Were Beautiful
- How Can I Say
- I'm Serious

Was it a struggle to come up with a new song of title quality every month, to be passed through a rigorous JYP auditing system for music? That passes through JYP, the number one songwriter in Korea, himself?

Yes. Yes it was. It was hard.

And I feel like a pivotal part of that was our producer 홍지상 작곡가님 (composer Hong Ji-sang), as well as all the members and the hard work that they put in.

Especially Young K. Young K really worked on lyrics and his craft during that time, and he mastered it. And he got it down to a point where we could be solid, and we wouldn't really worry too much about the lyrics anymore.

At that point, it was more so about

melodies, topline, instrumentation, how we sing it, what we sing.

You know, we started off as these kids with dreams who weren't doing too well. But then we ended up as kids who were well on their way to reaching that success story. It almost feels like we're the characters of a cartoon with a happy ending. So, I'm really thankful for my team. And 지상이 형 (Ji-sang hyung).

So personally for me, something that really drives me to keep going, especially in like the face of adversity is… just my curiosity.

I'm always wondering what could be done to create a better product? What can I do to create more traction? What can I do to make better engagement results?

And I feel like I'm always experimenting in my head.

Like my head's running 24/7, and I feel like that's kind of a problem and why I sound crazy sometimes? And why I say things without pretext and people would just look around the room and they're like, "What the hell is this guy talking about? He's just rambling."

But in actuality, I have this mapped out in my head from steps one to 10. And I guess I have a really hard time explaining one to nine, so I just tell you 10. And then that might be the problem? And I'm really bad at explaining things but… that's what it is.

I'm just curious. And I want to know how I can do better, and how I can get better results.

Contrary to common pop culture, a lot of people say, "Work smarter, not harder."

I believe in, "Work smarter and work harder." That's what's gonna get you the best results.

This MINDSET isn't just about how DAY6 overcame and found success. Our story is one that

happens just all around the world, every day.

If people give up on their hopes and dreams just because things get hard then, there would have been no moon landing. There would be no cell phones. No… I don't know, breaking the four-minute mile.

But, what I'm trying to say is you don't need to break a four-minute mile to feel special, okay? Everyone experiences all kinds of roadblocks, but when you overcome them,

no matter how big or small, you deserve to step back and tell yourself, "Good job."

You deserve to smile and to be proud of yourself for not having given up.

Just the fact that you woke up today, that's an accomplishment. Pat yourself on the back.

Whatever or whoever tries to stop you from fulfilling your hopes and dreams, don't let them.

Now, I'm not saying to get feisty and step on people, but just know that whatever growing pains

come your way — you can get through them, you can push forward, and you can overcome it.

So don't give up.

Don't ever give up.

This is my MINDSET.

Don't let anyone make you give up on your hopes and dreams — especially yourself.

Don't Give Up

We are gonna talk about the boys today. This is Episode Four.

[🎵 DANCE DANCE by DAY6]

DAY6, the boys and I, we are straight. We're family.

We've gone through so much together from being trainees, to struggling to debut, to touring the world…

twice. Just so much these past few years. I, I freaking love these guys.

Now, it doesn't mean that we never fought, and in actuality we fought a lot. Especially in our early days. But I think that it was one of the things that we had to go through. We just had to fight it out, to eventually get to a place of nirvana where we could all understand and respect each other.

And after writing music for a couple years together, we realized that

more than our own individual parts, what we do as a whole is more important to the integrity of a song.

So like, if a song is good, it's good. Period. Doesn't matter what part you play. It took a while, but once we understood that, that's when everyone stopped caring about who did what. And we were able to work out all the kinks. We were able to form this kind of like, bond and trust where we became family.

[🎵 Day and Night by DAY6]

Sungjin, you know he's like the leader of the group. He's the one that takes all the flak for us. He takes responsibility, like a true leader.

But, what I respect about him the most is that he's extremely honest. And that's what I learned from him. Honesty.

I feel like I didn't really know how to be honest until I met Sungjin.

Young K, Brian, he's just a hard worker. He works for everything he achieves, and it's as clear as day. His, his vocals, his lyrics, like when we were trainees, after showcases and progress reports we would get to go on vacation, right?

But Brian would be like, "No, I'ma stay here and work."

And I saw that, and I was like, "Oh damn, this man means business. And I'm gonna do what he's doing."

So,

I started to do that too. Did it help? I don't know, but it made me feel better, like I was working hard.

Wonpil, he's like the peacemaker of the group. He never has problems with anyone. Like if Wonpil doesn't like you, there is something wrong with you.

And I know I always say that he's annoying for all the 애교 (aegyo) he does, and that freaking cutesy stuff, but Wonpil has always supported me and stuck by me especially during some of my roughest times.

And

Dowoon. He's the youngest of the group, but he tries really hard to understand everyone. And he tries his absolute best to understand me.

Culturally, I think we're the most different? But we’ve still had deep conversations and I respect that about him a lot.

[🎵 Hi Hello by DAY6]

I think the boys and I especially get along well together 'cause we're all really weird.

My favorite memory actually, is a public memory that we've shared with everybody. But it was Dowoon's birthday, and we were like, we should buy a cake. But then cakes are wack and nobody eats cakes? So we were like, "We should just get a baguette."

And then we got a baguette, and then we bought like a straight-up

candle. And then we stuck the candle in the baguette. And then it wouldn't light, so we were like, "Damn, this isn't gonna work."

So we stuck a chopstick in the baguette. And then we lit it on fire. And then that was his cake.

That's gotta be one of the favorites.

All I've ever really wanted is for DAY6 to blow

up, and for the boys to succeed. They have been through so much crap, whether they know it or not. And they deserve to have more than what they have now.

So people who listen to DAY6 might just see us as a South Korean rock band but, there's so much that goes into "making it," that no one ever really sees.

Like, once it hit me that bands don't chart well in Korea, I knew we had to go another route. Maybe a little bit more international, and we had to go

viral through some other means.

And at the time, social media and hashtags were really blowing up. Like I literally spent weeks and months studying the formula, and I followed the formula. I wrote out these long-ass hashtags that made no sense and that somehow created a little bit of buzz for us.

And when I became a host for ASC, you already know, I was always trying to plug and promote DAY6. I

even went as far as to create my own YouTube channel and call it "JaeSix". That thing literally took me, like seven months of just running back and forth with a 32-page PowerPoint trying to produce it.

But, the thing was, back then, a lot of people laughed at me because no idol groups were vlogging or doing internet contents on the YouTubes at the time. YouTube wasn't that big in Korea yet. Now today, almost

every K-pop group has at least one member that vlogs or does some kind of online contents on YouTube.

Ladies and gentlemen. It is a historic day today, because today's the day that Jae begins his first vlog ~

Today! What are we gonna do? We're about to go to Arirang, the broadcast station, we gotta take care of things, we gotta do the radio. And then after that we gotta do some ASC, you feel me bro? And then after ASC it is time to go back to the motherland!

AMERICA.

It's too early for this. What are we expecting in the motherland? There's gonna be bomb food. And then what else is there gonna be? There's gonna be bomb shoppin'. And then what else is there gonna be? There's gonna be English speakers!

Let's have a good day, let'z get it, let'z go! Ah!

[🎵 Freely by DAY6]

Throughout my entire career in Korea, any chance I

could, even when people like, contacted me solo, I always did my best to plug DAY6 and really tried to punt every opportunity to the boys. And I feel like we gained a little bit of traction internationally.

We even got into a big festival in Jakarta last year, "Head in the Clouds," and of course, it got canceled because coronavirus but, just getting into that and doing all that paperwork — it was a lot of work.

I just want to make it

really clear that by no means am I saying that I'm the reason why DAY6 is where we're at today. I just want people to know that I did my part. I love this band. I'm loyal to the boys. I've given my blood, sweat, and tears to help the band in every way I can.

And I still want more for us. And that's why I just keep reaching. I'm gonna keep reaching.

So I've talked about the boys a lot in this

episode, but I wanted to take a moment, just to thank them directly, through a letter I've written. So, Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, Dowoon — this is for you.

Dear DAY6,

You guys have always had my back, in every situation, without question. You've always reached out to me and lent me a hand whenever I was in desperate need

of one, and you were there for me, to comfort me, and reassured me that I was sane even when everyone else was telling me I wasn't.

To you who told me to keep going on when I wanted to give up. To you who always encouraged me whenever I took risks and then were the first to cheer with me when I succeeded. To you who showed me that there is love beyond

only blood. To you who trusted me with your futures and gave me a voice. And to you who taught me what brothers truly are… 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being my family. And thank you for being DAY6.

[🎵 I'll Try by DAY6]

As human beings, we need community, right? And I'm blessed that I have DAY6. You can't go through life on your own. You need to like, lean on people, and there are people who need to lean on

you, but I get that it's hard to do that sometimes.

You know, we get hurt. We get disappointed and we also hurt and disappoint others. But at the end of the day, you're not alone. And you shouldn't be alone. There are people you can like, build a community with.

For me, not only do I have DAY6, but I've also been able to build another community, through gaming. The people that I play games with, we'll just call each other, and we'll have these

long talks to make sure and to check that we're doing alright.

And you know when I first started gaming, these people didn't even know who I was for like six months and, I didn't tell them I was a singer. But they still heard me out, and they still supported me. And yeah… now they know who I am.

[🎵 Better Better by DAY]

There are genuine kind people in the world who can and will care about you. Of course, it has to go both ways, and you can't just be on the receiving end but, what always helped me get through my hardest times and my hardest days, for sure were the people I could call family.

So find a community. It doesn't have to be with just one group of people either, but you do need to find or build your own

support system. I think that should be number one.

And if you feel like you don't know where to start building, consider me the first member. I’m here for you through this MINDSET, and I'll always strive to be a place of comfort. I might mess up at times, but that's the type of community I want to build with you.

We need community to stay healthy and happy.

We need each other.

This is my MINDSET.

The boys of DAY6 have stuck by each other through thick and thin.

My Boys

[This episode covers the topic of anxiety. If you are experiencing any health concerns, please be sure to consult a licensed medical professional.]

깨있는 순간들 다 (kkae-it-neun soon-gan-deul da: every moment that I'm awake)

꿈꾸는 순간조차 (kkoom-kkoo-neun soon-gan jo-cha: even the moments that I'm dreaming)

Oh, you are my day ~

My Days! This episode's for you. Episode Five.

[🎵 My Day by DAY6]

There are 365 days in a year, and a lot of these days just pass by and a lot of what happens in our life feels super mundane or like, boring, right? But

we all experience like, these days that we'll never forget. Whether good or bad, high or low.

And for me something that always picks me up and lifts me up, no matter what kind of day I'm going through, are the people who love and support DAY6.

You know the official name for our fandom is "My Days". And we came to choose that name because they were our days. And they became a

part of our lives. And we wanted to become a part of theirs as well. So becoming a family was, I guess the main objective.

And with that same time period, a song called "My Day" came out. So we were like, "Hmm, coinkydink? I think not."

Therefore, we became My Days and DAY6.

[🎵 Letting Go by DAY6]

But of course, I'm here doing this MINDSET not just to talk about DAY6 and the people who believe in DAY6. I'm also here to talk about what I've gone through as an individual. And I've had my fair share of both good days and bad

days.

I think one of my lowest points and kind of the scariest moments, at least recently, was experiencing my first panic attack.

I was, I was shooting "Truman," and there was just a lot of stuff I was dealing with at the time. And I think I had, like I had been repressing a lot of emotions inside of me for a while, and stuff was starting to really just pile up and get pent up.

And at one point I felt like I couldn't, I couldn't breathe.

And I legit thought that it might be COVID. So I actually got it checked out but was told I was okay, which was, thank the Lord, but it still didn't make me feel better 'cause I couldn't breathe.

But anyway, while we were about to film I think, the second half of "Truman," all of a sudden I started like, shaking. My heart was beating super fast and like racing, and I just felt so out of it and weird.

And then I was like, "Hey, I'm so sorry guys but I'm not

feeling well and I think I need to go home."

And of course they were like, "Oh yeah, totally. Okay, no problem."

I felt super bad 'cause they were all there for me but I, I just couldn't do anything about it. I felt really weird.

So I got into a taxi, right? And then I asked the driver to take me home first. And then throughout the ride like, it was just getting worse and worse and worse. And at that point I was just like, "Okay… actually, can you take me to the hospital?"

And it ended up being a two-hour drive. And I

really didn't want to freak out the driver, so I had to like 참아 (cham-ah) — hold it in.

And every time I talked to him, I was just like, "Oh yeah," 'cause he kept talking to me a lot. I don't know why he was talking to me. Maybe he wasn't talking to me that much, but it felt like he was talking to me a lot? It was weird.

He was just like, "Oh, I'm so sorry it's taking so long to get to the hospital, you must be hurting," or whatever, and I was like, "No, I'm good!" But on the inside, I'm dying. I'm burning inside. I'm like, "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die."

Which I found out was a

very, and is a very common occurrence when you're having a panic attack.

And… it just, it wasn't great. Right?

So the, the taxi ride ends. I finally get to the hospital and I'm told that I'm okay, and that it was just a panic attack.

But… you know what? Hearing it doesn't make you feel better at all. 'Cause I didn't feel okay. Because if you've never experienced something like that before, it's, it's hella scary.

And

so I just walked home and on the way home, all of a sudden for no reason, I just started crying, and I didn't know why. Just tears everywhere. Weirdest experience ever.

[🎵 Zombie by DAY6]

But as you know, I'm not a mental health expert. And it's so important to have the right resources and information to get help. So I just wanted a doctor to come on, just to kind of explain what a panic attack is and why it can happen.

(Doctor)

My name is Dr. Tali Ball. I'm a psychologist in California, and I lead the Stanford Translational Anxiety Research Lab

at the department of psychiatry at Stanford University.

So what is anxiety? Anxiety is, basically defined by our experience. It's a state when we have kind of, high energy, you could kind of think of it that way. And it's actually really useful. It's there so that we can notice and handle possible danger. So that's what it's for. Even though sometimes it doesn't feel so useful.

Anxiety involves the physical things that we feel in our body,

like a heart going fast or muscles being tense. And it also involves what goes on in our mind, like thinking about the dangers that could be in the world, or worrying about the worst case outcome. And when we feel anxious, that's our body preparing us to deal with danger, like to escape or run away.

A panic attack is a type of anxiety. So anxiety can involve a panic attack, but what's different is a panic attack is usually a higher intensity,

and a shorter amount of time. So it comes on very quickly and comes to a peak very quickly. It may also resolve more quickly than, kind of overall sense of anxiety that can hang around all day.

A panic attack is sort of the technical term in a mental health field. So there is an official definition or diagnosis for what a panic attack means. I think anxiety attack is a phrase that a lot of people use, and so that's more of a

colloquial term that just anybody might use.You could use it to mean a lot of things.

So some people use anxiety attack to mean panic attack, and some people might just use it to mean, like a very anxious day, like that high anxiety that's hanging around all day that might not be exactly the same as what a medical professional would define as panic attack.

Sometimes panic attacks have a trigger and sometimes they come out just out of the blue. Common triggers are things that are like the physical symptoms

that you would experience with panic. So if something like asthma or exercise makes you have that shortness of breath or heart-racing feeling, even though it's because of asthma or exercise, those worries and thoughts might start to kick in where you think, "Oh no, it's happening again," or, "Oh no, this is going to be terrible again." And of course that's not a relaxing thought at all.

So it can kind of steam that way and turn into a panic attack even if the starting trigger was unrelated. Of course, it can also be triggered by

periods of high anxiety and stress as well.

A first time somebody has a panic attack, many people do go to the hospital, and that's because when we have these symptoms, like, "Maybe I'm having a heart attack," or, "I'm going crazy, I might be dying" — those are really common thoughts or sensations to have during a panic attack. And so, you know, if something new or unusual for you is happening, especially with your heart or other kinds of things, I think

that is appropriate to consult a healthcare professional right away.

If you've had panic attacks before, so you've had like the experience in the clip where a medical professional has said, "It's just a panic attack" — which I don't love because it's not just a panic attack, they're quite uncomfortable — but if you have been told, you know, "You're having a, an experience that's very similar to a previous panic attack," then you can try some slow breathing.

Slower breathing is relatively quick,

and it's free. You're always breathing. You'll always have the materials with you that you need to do slow breathing. And it's a way to sort of counteract that danger signal kind of physical symptoms that your body might be doing during a panic attack.

The most important part to slow down is actually the exhale, breathing out. So you could breathe in and sort of count how long it takes you to breathe in.

Like, you might go in… two, three.

Try to hold it… two, three.

And then add a count when you breathe out. So breathe out… two, three, four.

And you can start with any number, but you want to try to slow down the exhale and include a little bit of a hold at the top. And that'll sort of physiologically slow down your breathing and start to send the signals to your body to relax.

If you tried a little bit and the symptoms don't subside, you might still want to consider consulting a medical professional, or if you have new or troubling symptoms, you know something that you're concerned about, it's, it's okay

to consult. You could also try the slow breathing to see if that helps.

In general one thing that I hope people know is that a panic attack is not actually dangerous or harmful to you, even though it is quite uncomfortable. And a panic attack by itself doesn't mean that you have a disorder or diagnosis necessarily, even though panic attacks can also be part of some anxiety disorders.

And the other thing that's important to know is that panic

attacks and anxiety disorders are very treatable. There's really good treatments for them, including non-medication treatments, certain types of therapy that have a really strong base of evidence that they really can help people quite a bit to reduce the frequency and intensity of panic attacks.

[🎵 Afraid by DAY6]

Thank you Dr. Ball. This is so helpful to all of our MINDSET listeners, and really helpful for me.

It's really, really important that we take care of ourselves. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and I hope that if you ever come to a point where you do need help, you're not afraid to ask for it. Or if you have been searching

for help already, please, don't give up until you find what's right for you.

Just be good to yourself, because you deserve to get the help you need.

And one thing that I really do regret the most is that I hadn't noticed the signs of the coming panic attacks or my increasing anxiety for what it was. I just thought it was me having stage fright, the trembling lips, the not being able to breathe sometimes… they were

all subconscious things, and I wasn't able to put a finger on exactly what it was.

I knew something was wrong, but everyone around me was telling me, "Hey, that's normal. Everyone's having a rough time. You're good. Nothing bad's gonna happen. What's the worst that can happen?"

And… the worst happened.

And it sucked. And the panic attack was really crap.

So, if I could ever be an influence on anyone about anything,

I feel like this would be the thing. Please. Please, please, please don't downplay what you're feeling. Your emotions are extremely sensitive. Human beings are built to only be able to take a certain amount of emotional build up until it completely capsizes the boat and just blows up.

Notice the signs, be educated on what panic attacks are and what anxiety is, and realize that you can fix these problems before they

get to a point where they affect your life permanently.

That's just all I want you to know. And please, please, please don't downplay yourself again. 'Cause even if everyone around you tells you that you're fine, the truth of the matter is, nobody around you knows exactly what you're feeling.

And if you feel like you need help, then you should get help, because that's the right answer.

[🎵 Days Gone By by DAY6]

Whew! Okay, I know that was some heavy stuff, so let's end things on a high note, right? We can't let the bad days keep us down.

I think one of my happiest moments in life, one of the biggest moments of just pure bliss and joy for me… after three years of

struggling to debut as a band, we finally saw our album cover on the front of the JYP building. And it was, it was on the wall with the greats. It was right up there with everybody else in the company.

And when the boys and I saw that, we just all lost it. Completely broke down. Because we had passed by that building every day, looking at that wall thinking, "You know what, someday we're gonna be on that wall." And there we were.

And also, going on our first world tour too, that was, that was sick. That was an amazing feeling that I'm never gonna be able to forget. 'Cause we literally had done like 20-something stops around the world, and every stop we went to, there were thousands of people just waiting to see us and having the time of their lives. And that in itself was so uplifting because the boys and I had worked so hard for these moments, and we just worked

and worked and worked for years.

All the seeds that we had been plowing into the dirt for so long, for the three years that we were training, for the two years that we kept on struggling to make more music and to upgrade our musical ability — it felt like everything had come into fruition during that first world tour.

And we had always seen these videos of like Coldplay or The Script or all these other amazing bands, U2,

et cetera, et cetera, that were playing these live shows and then we would see tens of thousands of people just screaming the song back at them and this, this immaculate and just perfect synergy between the band and the audience, and that's what we dreamed of.

And it really hit home the first time that we went on this world tour. And our first stop, all we hear is, "Congratulations 넌 참 대단해 (nun cham deh-dan-heh) oo-whoa-oh-oh!"

from the crowd, and I just feel like that moment… was magical in itself.

And that first time that we heard our song back to us, is a moment that no one in DAY6 will ever forget.

What uppppppp!

Man, tonight, tonight was an experience. Just, I can't say it enough — thank you, thank you,

thank you so much, for… thank you so much for blessing us. For letting us be able to come before you. And for us to have this opportunity. Not DAY6, but for us to have an opportunity to perform in this hall tonight.

I know I say this word a lot but it's kinda my word right now, so…

Nah not, "Let'z get it," that was season one. That's, that's over with, that's gone. Nah… 

But today, today was beautiful. Y'all were beautiful. Your music was beautiful. The voices were beautiful. The vibrations in this concert hall was beautiful. Y'all made tonight beautiful. Thank you guys.

And overall, I think we've kinda, DAY6 kinda stipulated that,

we want to be back. So if it's cool with you guys, like… 

I'ma take that as a yes!

Guys, whenever you guys need us there, we'll definitely be there. We got your back just as much as you had our back tonight, okay?

Aight fo sho. So, just all in all, thank you very much. Thank you.

(Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung!)

Alrighty! On a, on a brighter note, we got a couple of songs for you guys but… 

And every single one of those stops, every single one of those amazing and unforgettable moments, who else do we have to thank but you? Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I know I say this a lot, and I sound like a broken record sometimes but, I truly can't express how thankful I am

This episode contains content regarding panic attacks and anxiety. Please listen with caution.

We all experience good days and bad days, but if you're a My Day, you help Jae to keep going.

eaJ

What a Year

A Letter to My Fans

Friends Keep You in Check

My Biggest Demon

Finally Content

Nice to Meet You (Again) – My Name is eaJ

A Lookback, A Lookahead

21 Questions with eaJ PT.II

Meet Jae

You Are Not a Loser

Water and Oil

Don't Give Up

My Boys

My Days

Idols Aren't Perfect!

Measuring Success

You Deserve to Know

21 Questions with Jae

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