The Transforming Anxiety Podcast

Holy moly, March is over. The kids are on spring break, the 1st quarter of 2021 = ✔️, and we have *finally* settled in with the daylight savings time switch. Phew... How are you feeling? And not the "fine / busy / tired" version...I want to REALLY hear how you're feeling. (Like: reach out on Instagram @khanlinmccormick and let me know!) While I'm waiting to hear from you, let's get to this week's...

I know next to nothing about improv, comedy, and acting. However, I do know that the first rule of improv is a concept called "Yes, And..." and I love this idea so much, it's become not only a tried-and-true coaching tool of mine, but a mantra of sorts. This is something I employ to support my kids and help them shine. It's something I've used to get to know other people better. It's definitely so...

We talk to ourselves all day, every day. Have you noticed? That nonstop commentator in our minds that has an opinion about *all the things*. It's like the ticker tape that runs along the bottom of news shows...but instead of headlines and weather updates, it's full of ideas and judgments. Exhausting... Unless, that is, we harness that inner commentator and make that voice work for us instead of of...

I am SO happy to be back with you this week. Our family has been completely down and out with COVID and it was *not fun* but we are absolutely among the lucky ones and are, slowly but surely, recovering. And I don't even want to talk about COVID this week, lol. I want to get back to the good stuff we do around here on the regular! ​ Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're talking about par...

Well...I'm coming to you *straight* from personal experience this week. We're going to talk about COVID anxiety on the podcast. Because, spoiler alert: COVID-19 hit the McCormick household. We're coming up on our 1-year pandemic "anniversary" here in the states, and the ongoing collective and individual anxiety of this moment, so I wanted to revisit health anxiety and focus this week specifically...

Have you ever had the sensation of living life through a plate glass window, like there's a thick barrier between the full, rich, sensory experience of LIFE and, well, *you*? Or, have you ever caught yourself telling the SAME story about the SAME situation and realized nothing is changing, that you're stuck in a soundbite you just keep rewinding and playing over and over again? Yeah...me too. And...

We're due for a chat about *mindset* on the podcast , so I thought it was time to talk about how our minds lie to us... Now, listen, I don't think our minds are out to get us. In fact, I believe our minds are the most powerful machines we possess . But like anything, it's important to understand the pitfalls of our minds so that we can manage them and help to optimize our headspace, using our mind...

This week on the podcast, I'm sharing something a bit more personal than usual... I'm going to tell you all about going 3 years with no alcohol . That's right. Giving up drinking has been one of the biggest, hardest, and (I know, I know, but seriously) life-changing things I've ever undertaken. Remember in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy's house lands and she opens the door and all of a sudden the w...

What, what?! Today marks 100 episodes of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast! I could say cliche things like, "I can't believe it," or, "I wasn't envisioning the 100th episode when I started the podcast" buuuuut I CAN believe it and I have totally been envisioning hundreds of episodes of the podcast . Because: transforming anxiety is not a quick endeavor. It's a lifestyle . We were never going to do...

We'll get back to our regular programming next week, but for today...well, today I thought it was important to create some space . I know I need some space. Space to feel. To process. To try and make sense of all that's happened...and still happening. There's a LOT going on... ...and there's been a LOT going on for so, so long. Our hearts are tired. Our minds are weary. Our souls are wrung out. So...

Happy New Year! To kick off 2021, we're going to talk about one of my favorite things: feelings. 🙃 Specifially: emotions and moods and personalities ... See, I've come to a very UNscientific belief re: our feelings. I think ~80% of our day-to-day emotions come from what's right in front of us : how we're thinking, what we're telling ourselves about our life, the meaning we're placing on the circu...

It's that tiiiiiiime. And, as a coach, I'd be remiss if I *didn't* do something around goal-setting at the end of the year. So, this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast , let's do it - this episode, we're going to focus on intentions and goals . Throughout the year, there are some natural reset points. Your birthday. The changing seasons. Special anniversaries. Back-to-school season. And the...

Today, we're going to do a little science + coaching. You ready? First, the science: we live in a universe that is constantly expanding . Ever since the Big Bang, the galaxies in the universe have been moving away from each other. The universe is SO vast that it may as well be infinite...meaning the universe is on a never-ending path of expansion. Why are we talking about this on The Transforming...

We've all just lived through a *highly* uncomfortable time. Still are, in fact. 2020 proved to be quite the crash course in discomfort... And since we don't know what we don't know about 2021, I thought now would be a good time to talk about  discomfort and growth . What do we DO with all of this discomfort? Are there different kinds of discomfort? And how can we support ourselves by experimenting...

Nearing the end of the year that we've gone through has me returning to the basics in a lot of ways: simple meals, lots of walking and no-frills yoga, and re-watching classic holiday movies for the hundredth time. And I wanted to do something similar here on the podcast this week and get back to the basics by considering: where does this whole anxiety experience come from, anyway? What's the impul...

As much as we've all had on our minds and hearts throughout 2020, we are turning towards the new year and wondering: what's in store for us in 2021? So I thought today on the podcast we'd explore the idea of Negative Anticipation . Most of us recognize our complete and utter inability to control the future. And yet...it's so tempting to time-travel in our minds into what lies ahead so that we can,...

Ah, the holidays. Ready or not, they're here. 2020-style, no less... So I thought this week on the podcast we'd take a look at one of the (ideally) most fundamental aspects of the holiday season: gratitude . Aaaaand, I don't know about you but for me, there's something kinda sappy about a "gratitude practice." It feels more than a little hokey to sit down with a journal and make a list of the thin...

Are you feeling worn out? For so many reasons, some obvious and some less so, many people are experiencing complete exhaustion right now. A lot of my clients are wanting coaching on feeling wiped out and what to do about it. And so I thought it was time we talked about this weariness on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . Specifically, I want to focus on emotional fatigue with you today . Collectiv...

Wow. What a year last week was, huh? (Is that joke getting old yet?? Haha...) 2020 keeps piling on the intensity for sure. And I want to take a few minutes this week and talk with you about uncertainty, canceling, and change. Because it seems as if a lot of us are stuck in one gear of 2020-intensity and could benefit from hitting the *pause* button and coming up for air to remind ourselves what's...

Well, this is interesting. You're reading this email after Election Day, but I'm writing it to you before hand , so you know more about what's happening in THIS moment than I do. Which is why I thought I needed a topic that could bridge this strange time-knowledge gap. So, this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're talking about Lovingkindness . I know, I know...before you roll your eyes...

You've heard of "survival of the fittest," yeah? The idea that those most suited to the environment are the most likely to survive? And yeah, there's a lot to Darwin's theory of natural selection of course. We see this play out all around us: from the animals in nature to the boardrooms in corporate America. But something just as (or more?) compelling is the theory of Survival of the Nurtured . Th...

Do you remember when "self-care" meant things like bubble baths...and it worked?! I think back to, well, any time before 2020 when the self-care practices that I went through each day, things like yoga and meditation and hot tea, really nourished me and filled me up. They steered me away from feeling "meh" and tipped me towards feelings of deep contentment, joy, and peace. And then came 2020. The...

If you've wondered the basics about life coaching like... How does it compare to therapy? What do we DO in coaching? Why would I want a life coach? Who is coaching for? ...then this is a great episode for you. This is the audio taken from a new video that I recorded to answer some of the most common questions that I get about life coaching. You can watch the video here .  I hope this helps answers...

Wherever you stand on things, you'd have to be a robot to not feel the tension, stress, and anger that's being flung all around right now. We are all deeply immersed in the energy of this election season...and it ain't good. So, I thought we should talk about it. (You know me: when things get tricky, I go ALL IN.) This week on the podcast is all about Election Anxiety. We're going to look at: Chec...

This week, we're going to talk about finding calm. Because: I think that's what most of us are looking for, it's how we want to feel, and it's a place we want to be able to return to anytime. Yeah? We're going to look at calm in a few ways: Finding calm through our thoughts Finding calm with our emotions Finding calm through mindfulness Aaaaand the Care Bear Stare Listen, we can all use a little s...