Spaceship You 

my man just made an 11 minute tutorial on how not to be depressed

"unlike excercise, it's not simple to just lie down and 1, 2, 3, sleep" My dad: *you underestimate my power*

IMPORTANT NOTE: You do not need a pandemic or a lockdown order to create the spaceship You. It is now November 2021, and I am FINALLY starting to create my spaceship. Long overdue, but I know there are at least a few of you out there in similar situations.

This is a beautiful and succinct guide to maintaining a healthy quality of life. Thank you.

"Don't do entertainment where you work" *screams in programmer*

You’re probably watching this from your default station: couch Jokes on you Grey, I’m watching this from the maintenance station: toilet

Captain's Log 2021/10/20: It has been approximately a year and a half since launch, though we are now in a state where inter-pod existence is possible, I am still largely within my own pod. Outside factors have damaged the mental half of the core, but re-watching this guide has set me on a path to recovery. Thank you, Admiral Grey, thank you.

I love how he throws the book at 1:40 to propel himself forward. He could have tried to swim over but Grey's too smart for that.

Instructions unclear: My landlord got pissed at me for drawing the 4 stations on the walls and glueing my couch to the ceiling.

I'm in shock... Parents, friends, therapists, teachers all tried to teach me how to do this... And this made 1000% more sense

This is fantastic. You are truly a gifted writer and educator. Thank you.

This is after the pandemic, but you'd be amazed how may cross-overs there were for me and my disease. I tried explaining it as "the line" but it wasn't quite right. Thank you for saying it just how I want to.

for everyone who's watching it now: it's never too late to improve your station. You got this, Captain.

This has to be the best representation I've ever seen for one's health

1:41 I love the small detail of having the stick figure move opposite to the direction he threw the book and having more mass... he accelerated less but also equal... amazing!

This actually helped me realize I wasn’t respecting my “stations” and helped me to fix it. Thank you!.

Parents: "CLEAN YOUR ROOM! YOU CAN´T LIVE LIKE THAT!" Me: "Yeah, maybe later" Grey: "Your living place should be clean and nice" Me: "Omg, he´s right, Imma do it"

"You’re probably watching this from your default station: couch" Me: watching this in my sleeping station instead of sleeping

Over the past year I've learned just how much environment impacts motivation. You can't work entirely off of willpower, expecting yourself to be able to work in a relaxing space I've learned is insane. I come back to this video every so often to remind myself of how to build spaces when i feel like everything is BLEH. Tysm

Captains log 3/16/23. Over 3 years since it started. Mental slowed quite a bit and health stayed fine mostly, I have been able to leave the ship more times now. I plan to come back to earth 2024.

I don't think we appreciate just how good of a writer Grey is. "The mental and physical are halves of a whole, so accelerating one accelerates the other. Each adds to the total momentum making additional pushing easier, priming the core, creating motion, making light and order."

Me at the beginning of the pandemic : "I'll watch this later" Me now : *Facepalm in dissapointment*

Omg, I wish the algorithm had recommended this during lockdown 😮. Brilliant way of explaining.

I wish I saw this at the beginning of the pandemic. Very beautiful and well articulated. The concept of the house being a ship is a great way to look at life in a different perspective. Thank you for this wonderful video!

all i took away from this video was that every mundane thing i do sounds way more important if i imagine its on a spaceship.

If both psychical and mental health are both zero, that means they’re balanced. Checkmate, psychiatrists.

Actually this is really helpful. I have been struggling with maintaining productivity when working from home and I've read so many times about what I should be doing but I've never taken a step just passively consuming "tips". However, the way you broke key concepts into easy-to-digest format through visuals and animation was really helpful that I have actually written down a plan on what I'll be doing and I will start today, thank you.

"When the ship is in trouble, prime with the physical" is such simple, seemingly obvious advice,. But It always works for me.

More than "lockdown productivity", this is an intro to "how to get through a depressive episode".

CGP Grey: “ You are the only person in your “spaceship” ” People that live in a small house with their family: “Actually...”

To anyone seeing this video now, as we are far out of lockdown and things are slowly going back to normal, remember that these ideas are not restricted to the past, and instead of wishing you had done this during quarantine, know that it is never too late to start

Man I wish RU-vid figured out how much I needed to see this earlier

"Keep your stations separate" **pauses with a plate of food in hand while eating at my standing desk mid squat while watching RU-vid on my work computer** uh.....

When he called me captain that made me feel special and I wasn't expecting it.

this is, without doubt, one of the best videos, you've ever made

Thank you for writing this video, it's helped me so much. Time to start building my spaceship.

I feel like this could just be for people who are moving out to live on their own.

Rich people: We're all in the same boat! CGP Grey: We are all in separate spaceships!

man i wish i saw this during lockdown

As someone who became chronically ill right before Covid, who spent days literally catatonic in pain, having Covid hit right when I was getting used to my new normal hurt. It hurt more than I ever have words to describe. We're not out of it yet, but this has motivated me to clean my room, re-set the boundaries of each station, and start fresh when I get back from visiting a friend for the next week. Thanks Grey.

Grey: Pandemic Season Me: Holy shit Grey made this video in like ... less than 2 months.

There’s a “don’t cut” message on the wire, so I assume that’s an anti suicide message. Thank you, Grey.

This is the best and most helpful video I have ever watched in my life. I have revisited this video multiple times and it has helped me every time. Thank you CGP Grey.

I'm watching this in 22 and I think this is immensely powerful and helpful beyond just the pandemic lockdowns. To a certain extent we live on Spaceship You all the time, it's simply docked on Earth again - for me at least that core still needs to be manually spun up even now.

Grey: only sleep in your bed Me, eating lunch, working on a paper, and watching this in my bed: oh

WHY DID I NOT WATCH THIS MASTERPEICE AT THE BEINGING OF THE PANDEMIC

I wish I saw this before quarantine ended. My mental and physical health spiraled down into nothing. I didn't do any schoolwork, I couldn't think straight, and I felt completely alone. Now, after all that, I am completely different, like a part of me was stolen. My personal advice would be: if we have to isolate ourselves again, do all the things Grey says in this video, like I should've done months ago.

This video and 7 Ways to Maximize Misery are pretty much mandatory yearly watches.

Just got communication from mission control. "The mission has been extended, good luck."

My spaceship has to many annoying other captains.

this video was my wake up call when the pandemic started, going on a downard spiral, declining health and lethargic to my studies. Who knew being alone could do that to a person. After realizing that with this video, I decided to take on the mission: "To return better than you left." Seperated everything into zones in my room and home, fixed my bad habits and schedules, took up Enduro MTB as exercise, eventually a competitive one and losing weight, focused on my studies and plans for the future more, learning life skills and improving my social skils by a lot. Without this video recommended to me I might be in worse shape than before or even worse, thanks Grey.

If there was ever a justification for a RU-vid award this is it. Incredible video

I feel like this is general life advice that goes beyond just during the shutdowns.

*every vessel has a couch* Laughs in college student

I finally took this serious and I feel like it changed my life. I have a lot of social anxiety so I'm almost always in the 'spaceship' anyway, regardless of pandemics. I'm now almost 2 months into learning VFX, something I've been wanting to do for a really long time. I feel like I took a turn to get a more fulfilling career and hopefully be happier. Thanks Grey

This is honestly the best youtube video i have ever watched. This single video has helped my mental health more than any therapist in this entire world. I come back to it every time im feeling down and out and every time it gives me a new perspective on things and forces me to get back on my feet. Thank you so much for this, CGP Grey, may God bless you for this video.

The music choice is genius here. At the beginning, he has some of his normal music until spaceship you lifts off, changing to a melancholy piano piece as he talks about the changes ahead before fading into a positive space-like theme as he explains the stations on spaceship you.

When the pandemic is long enough so that even CGP Grey can upload a 10 minute video related to the current events.

Can we just appreciate the fact that the ship has burn marks from when it was passing through the atmosphere

Even though lockdown is still over, I still feel like this video is really necessary. If you want to improve your life with tangible steps, this is it! The amount of time my room became an all room due to my mental health is …embarrassingly often. Doing these steps has helped me make those times fewer.

I can’t imagine this is greys spaceship because there’s just random wires hanging around with signs saying don’t cut

When did Grey become a metaphorical motivational speaker? He is doing a phenomenal job and I love it

this is one of the most important videos on the internet, Grey is a great teacher and a fantastic human being for trying to help so many people

Calling from the ship. It's been 19 months up here, and still no end in sight. Got a few upgrades for the couch station and creation station, but exercise and sleep stations have fallen into disrepair. At this point, not sure if the planet will recover or even if the ship will survive re-entry.

U tellin me everyone else is in space while im stuck at home?

It took me more than 30 seconds to realize that the spaceship is a metaphor.

This explains physical and mental health even better than a lot of therapists. And this coming from a guy who had depression and attempted suicide. Twice. Thanks CGP grey

It’s 2022, and the pandemic still hasn’t slowed down. I’m rewatching the video to keep me motivated. Thank you Grey!

...Anyone ever tell you you're a good person, Grey? They should.

This was posted a year ago (exactly), when the pandemic was just starting. Back then, the videos that became "viral" were about handwashing. This video is far more important, and could have been beneficial to a lot more people. This deserves at least 10 times as many views.

a couple years on and whenever i need to do just about anything i come watch this video because it's the one thing able to convince me to turn my phone off, turn my music off, and just focus. I've had adhd my entire life and this *still* is the closest I've got to beating it

I love this man’s skill for analogy, and his animator does a great job in tandem with him

“The sleep area is for sleep” me watching this In bed right now.....wait a minute

"no using the bed for videos for social media or watching videos etc" *Gets on floor*

Even over a year an a half later, me never being in lockdown (cashier at a grocery store), and it not being perfect, this video has still helped me so much with my depressio. I've started to replay this video when I notice my 'ship' is in dire need of mataince. And it truely does help give me a much needed reset to get things done. I know you probably wont see this with how old the video is but.... I just want to say, thank you Grey. Thank you for creating this easy to understand metaphor for keeping a life in order, no matter the disturbance to the daily cycle it encounters.

✨the couch helps you.. couch✨

It’s Jan 2021, I am failing, so I came back to this video to help me start moving the core again.

The fact this video only had a reason to exist about a month or two ago makes me seriously respect how quickly this was uploaded

This made me realise that I needed an actual creative station. So: From "I don't have the space" to "what do I tear down" and beyond! I used to have one, but it was reassigned to home office use in 2020, and the attempt at dual use failed, but silently.

I never knew my spaceships was almost a wreck untill I watched this video. Thank you for giving me vision.

"... Captain ..." The most motivational single word ever. Seriously got me out of bed & moving.

Watching this makes me realise that my whole life routine is a mess.

I love grey's videos cause all of them are so fantastical like lockdown=spaceship, research=forest of all knowledge, youtube algorithms=dragon tyrant

I found this too late… _23 months too late_ * -And I completely missed the era where this video was relevant-, yet I still appreciate it just as much.* Correction: it’s still relevant in the summertime! And yes, if you were asking, that second line was an _Incredibles_ reference

My core makes the Chernobyl reactor look like the most stable thing on earth

Anyone else just imagining gray having his entire house cut up by lines of colored tape?

It's been two years since this video was uploaded and I think it has been one of the best videos to help people go through the pandemic! Even though I think I could have exercised more often and used my creative Station in better ways, overall I can see that I improved at least a little, so the goal of "Coming Back Better Than Before" has been accomplished! Congratulations once again on the great video, Grey!

Anyone else appreciate that he doesn't call you Captain until the very end?

So it seems there are a lot of people here who are already in a dark place and are going "well I'm already depressed and apathetic I can't get motivated to exercise" and the "non-optional" part seems more like intimidation than encouragement. CGP Grey says, "PRIME with the physical". If he'll allow me to elaborate on that: ANYTHING BETTER THAN ZERO. What this means is, don't berate yourself because you can't go from an amorphous blob of CheezyChips to doing 3-hour HIT workouts. Mark off a place in your spaceship (or just designate a "Sacred Wristband of Exercise" if you live in a closet, there's no excuse) and start with. . . something. One push-up, maybe, or whatever you can manage. ONE. Of something you can do. That's it. That's your starting point. When the Physical gauge is at zero, 0.00001 is still better than zero. ANYTHING is better than zero. If the next day all you can still manage is one, that's fine. Do it again. Do exactly one push-up/sit-up/jumping jack/whatever. Next day, do it again. If you're feeling up for it, try two! Or stick to one if that's all you can manage. Anything is better than zero. If you betray yourself and forget, don't worry -- next day, do what you can, even if it's just one again. It's still better than zero. Breaking a poisonous cycle is infinitely harder than climbing a slope when you have momentum. So that first whatever is enormous. Just the very act of ritualizing exercise, no matter from where you start, is meaningful. It's the start that leads to progress. So spend THREE SECONDS to do that one thing, and then pat yourself on the back for having accomplished it. Why not? It's better than what you did yesterday! Anything better than zero.

Grey:use the sleeping zone for sleeping *only* Me watching this at 1:46 am: sounds about right.

In an 11 min video, you have done more for giving people meaningful life structure than my entire journey through education. 38 years old, wish I was told this when I was 18.

Watching this video again 2 years since the pandemic hit, I can say with certainty that this is what got me through (and kept me sane). Thanks for making this!

Alright y'all, here is some nuance a lot of you are missing: _"Return better than you left"_ does *not* mean: _"Return having achieved a major life accomplishment"_ You do not have to write a novel, you do not have to become the physically idealized version of yourself, you do not have to master a craft, you do not have to learn a language. _"Return better than you left"_ might very well be _"Return a tiny subatomic smidge better"_ Because no matter how small, progress is progress, and progress keeps our core running. We are genuinely like water: If we stagnate, we rot, we stink and everything good about us dies. That might mean that, for you, progress is going to bed at the same time every day. Eating all your meals. Exercising for 5 minutes every morning. Grey begins his video by saying _"To accomplish this, you must maintain your vessel"_ Being frank, the majority of us started this mission *not knowing how to do that* So, for us, _"Mission: Better than we left"_ means _"Better at taking care of our vessel"_ Not even _"Become actually good at taking care of our vessel"_ just _"Become _*_better_*_ at it"_ Grey defines and maintains 4 areas of his vessel in this video but maybe we can only do one while the rest is the usual mess. And that is fine just as long as we continue to move forward, inch by motherfucking inch. Also, please don't use the fact that your circumstances are harder than Greys to give yourself a reason to do nothing. We do this all the time: _"Well, I have a family, so I can't"_ _"I have more homework than ever, so I can't"_ _"I live in a much smaller place, so I can't"_ Can you achieve a major life accomplishment? Most likely not, but you can do *something* , hell, *anything* as long as it moves you forward. Even if just a teensy little bit. If you for one second believe you cannot do anything, then you are in a prison of your own making and so you were long before the pandemic began. **breathe** We cannot go and create a great work that glorifies mankind yet*, because we can't even take proper care of ourselves yet. So *there* is where we begin. And *that* is still progress in accomplishing Mission: Better than we left.

Grey: "Seperating tasks by spaces is essential in maintaining mental and physical health." Me, looking at my computer desk where I create, eat, and couch, backed up against my bed where I sleep and couch, and my absolutely barren workout schedule: "Uhhhhhhhhhh-"

The four stations are 1. The Sleep Station: This is where you go to sleep do not distract yourself from sleeping by using technology instead of sleeping. Go to sleep at a set time for a set amount of hours. 2. The Creativity (School/Work Station): This is where you get things done! Focus on what you need to do, do not get distracted by mixing the relaxation station with your work station. No unrelated RU-vid videos when doing your work you need to do. 3. The Fitness Station: This is where you keep your physical self in shape by doing bodyweight exercises or hypertrophy training (working out and lifting weights to get those sweet sweet gains) if you have the equipment. 4. The Relaxation Station: This is where you keep your mental self in shape my taking your mind away from everything else and just focus on relaxing and doing things you like. Playing video games, eating, watching RU-vid videos, reading, and etc. Again set boundaries between each station and make sure not to cross them. Crossing stations (mixing stations together) is a slippery slope since it can destroy the effectiveness of each individual station! That was my summary of the video I hope you all enjoy! :D

This video has so many little details for explanations like the sleep cycle bars splitting the blue/grey videos clearly indicating which ones are worth watching while never explaining etc. Also like throwing the book to move, or the straps on the sleeping bag.

Mission: ‘come back with the core intact’ Optional mission: ‘come back better than before’ Absolute mission: ‘come back’ IMHO

“Captains Diary: Uneventful day, had a moment of self doubt, but soon went away again” - Captain Star

Thanks! I know it's not much but thanks for helping me be a better me

i love how Grey is shown on a monitor, because in "spaceship you" that's what you'd be watching this on