The Transforming Anxiety Podcast

We're all dealt a certain hand in life. These cards are our life's circumstances. And we can throw a fit about it, or we can choose to double down. We can choose to go all in. We can choose to bet on ourselves . No matter the circumstances... Many of my clients are looking at a hand full of anxious cards. They've been dealt difficult people, a stressful job, or even a really scary diagnosis. And t...

We have covered some solid ground in the past few weeks re: relationships, have you noticed? Control freaks, difficult people, and now, well, you know where we're going now? Boundaries. Anxiety around setting boundaries. Anxiety around not  setting boundaries.  Anxious boundaries. I'm introducing the topic of boundaries by looking at them this way: Boundaries are for you , not against them Boundar...

Oh boy, difficult people. That's the topic of this week's podcast episode. I felt this was apropos heading into the holiday season, looking at the end of the year, and well, just in general. Am I right? I separated this episode into 4 sections: There are *no* difficult people There are *always* difficult people Difficult people are thoughts, not circumstances Believing someone is difficult affects...

Do you know a control freak? Are *you* a control freak?? Whether you're dealing with a control freak or you, ahem, can see some control freak nature in yourself, this episode is a good one. We're going to look at control like this: Other people being other people is *not* an invitation to step in and control them No one gets the *results* from an interrupted model Controlling other people is just...

Truth is: life gets kinda life-y. Sometimes the things that are happening around us seem as if they're taking over, affecting us more than we can keep up with. The people in our lives are doing things that impact us. Our jobs, politics, the weather...it's all influencing our lives. Big time. In other words: the circumstances of our lives can get really LOUD. If you've been listening along to The T...

Coaching, like life, is sometimes contradictory and this episode is a good example of using complementary but opposite practices in an effort to get to know yourself better. This week we're talking about WORRY and I'm introducing you to 2 practices: - Worry Time - Worry Vacations Intentional worry time is where you schedule worrying ahead of time in a deliberate, planned way. You let yourself go a...

Last week we started talking about Emotional Decluttering. And I told you all about minimalism and how this is all great and fine for our physical spaces, but I started thinking...what about our mental and emotional spaces? And we talked about a few feelings and actions that are worth challenging and, most likely, decluttering from our lives. Things like worry, overwhelm, boredom, confusion, exhau...

Have you gotten caught up in the minimalism trend sweeping us all into a box destined for Goodwill? I have. And ever since I did the episode on minimalism and anxiety, I've been contemplating tidying up, getting rid of things, decluttering. Ok, yes, I still like the whole *playing house* thing, sure. But what about that emotional space inside of us? The rooms of our mind that need a good airing ou...

We're kinda conditioned to think of "relaxation" as something spa-related. Something luxurious. Something we gift ourselves with, but only on rare occasion. This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to bring the experience of relaxation down from the stratosphere of "oh so special" and reconsider it as a practical, daily practice that counteracts stress . This isn't something you...

Right and wrong thinking is a trap we all fall into from time to time. In this week's episode, we're going to tackle this mindset problem from 3 different angles: Labeling feelings, actions, and results as "wrong" Confirmation bias One-up and one-down dynamics Join me this week to challenge the extremes in your mindset and start finding the midpoint so that you can bring authenticity, transparency...

Ever feel uncertain? Yeah, me too. And my clients? They face uncertainty as well. Seems to be part of this whole human experience deal. I've also seen how uncertainty can freak people out. Things like: What will they think? How's this going to go down? Am I going to have a meltdown? What if I'm anxious? spin around in our minds and create, yup, MORE uncertainty. Whether you experience uncertainty...

This week we're talking about a really trendy topic: minimalism. I've been thinking about minimalism for a while and got curious recently about how decluttering could support those of us looking to transform out of anxiety and towards freedom. And it occurred to me: minimalism isn't only for physical spaces, like our homes, offices, and cars. It's also for our mental and emotional spaces, like our...

We are kind of obsessed with the idea of "normal." We want to look normal, seem normal, feel normal. But, what is normal, anyway? I looked up the definition and normal is: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. Ok. Here's my question: compared to what? In this episode, we're exploring what normal is, defining normal for yourself, and finding your own normal. If you're ready to star...

*Buffering* is what we do when we're resisting, avoiding, or generally trying to escape from the current moment. Maybe we don't like how we're feeling, or maybe the emotion seems so big and intense and scary that we don't know how to process it. Whatever the case, we buffer against it so that we don't have to feel it. Common buffers: food, alcohol, tv, social media, work... Less obvious, but all t...

When I say *relationship* what comes to your mind? Your partner? Your kids? Your family and friends? Your co-workers, maybe, or the people that you volunteer with? These relationships are all wonderful and important additions to our lives, but today, we're focusing on the most important relationship of all. The relationship you have with yourself. And I made a worksheet to start you down the path...

We live in a very power-hungry time, where expectations run high, pressure is on, and we believe we have to do things the "right way" at all times. Running our minds through the lens of worst-case scenarios with all of this at stake is a ripe breeding ground for chronic overthinking. Have you noticed? But there's another way. This week, we're exploring overthinking and one simple, pragmatic tool t...

One of the first things I'm looking for with my new clients is how *reactive* vs. *proactive* they are - not only with anxiety, but with other emotions, with life in general. Today, I'm going to show you how to check in and see if you're being reactive...and the 4 steps you need to practice in order to be proactive instead. And I made a worksheet for you to help you along with this work (because:...

Do you ever feel as if you're going to going to explode at any moment? That you're living your life at the very top of a volcano, and that you're going to spew lava and ash everywhere? You're not alone there. This week, we're going to go a bit deeper with the physical aspects of anxiety and I'm going to introduce you to a practice that you can do every single day to help bring yourself off the edg...

There are 2 sides to the experience of anxiety: the physical sensation of it and the emotional feeling of it. Today, we're going to explore the differences between sensations and feelings and play with how anxiety fits into all of this by using 2 *other* experiences that have strong physical and emotional characteristics... Hunger. And fatigue. I always find that it's helpful to cross-pollinate wh...

Sometimes, we look at a change we want or need to make in our lives, and we think, well, I'll work on that someday. I'll get around to it later. Maybe next week / month / year. We keep kicking the can further down the road and we don't make the changes that we want or need to make. Transforming your experience of anxiety may be one of those "someday" things for you. But today, we're going to talk...

There are lots of things we want to change in our lives. How we're feeling, how we're acting, or maybe an end result that we're seeing for ourselves. Whatever it is we want to change, ultimately it comes down to this: we have to change our minds. Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings drive our actions, our actions create our results...so wherever we want to create change, it all begins wi...

We've been fed this idea that the "pursuit of happiness" is where it's at. That we need to be happy all of the time. That if we're not happy, something has gone wrong. Friends, we're going to debunk the myth of the "pursuit of happiness" today and, instead, we're going to pursue reality. Starting with: emotional balance. Embracing the belief that we are going to feel amazing some of the time and,...

Folks, we talk about where we are right now, doing the same ol' same ol', as being in our "comfort zone." And yet, we're not comfortable! We crave change and transformation, we have big goals and plans, we dream of our fantasy future when everything will be "better." I think we need to reframe our current position as a *familiarity zone* and plan how we're going to create our zone of comfort by be...

This week I'm answering some of the most commonly coached problems I hear around anxiety...this is the first Anxiety FAQ episode! Today, I'm answering 3 problems I hear a lot from new clients: 1 - I don't want to feel anxious anymore 2 - I feel completely out of control when I'm anxious 3 - I can't handle it Tune in for my coaching on these 3 topics and, hey, if you want one-on-one help with your...

Does money stress you out? Do you get anxious thinking about money? This week, I wanna help you get ALL of your power back re: money so that you feel fully in control where money is concerned. Money is no small part of the world, so this is a pretty big piece of adulting to clean up. After this episode, you'll see how money can no longer make you anxious. And I made something for you! Grab your *f...