FUCK ANXIETY: For High Functioning Women Ready to Heal Anxiety with Hypnotherapy

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Do you ever wonder why nothing seems to be working out for you, or why it feels like everything's working out for everyone but you? This episode is for you. It's not bad luck, and by the end you'll see the pattern you didn't even know you were building, or have had deep in your subconscious your whole life.

EPISODE SUMMARY

This week I'm telling on myself. After moving to Austin and building new community from scratch, I kept asking myself why the same things kept happening to me, why it felt like everyone else, even my own family, was thriving while I wasn't. Turns out I was doing something I thought I'd already healed: building an entire identity around being EXCLUDED. Not just feeling left out one time, but scanning for proof of it everywhere, calling friends I knew would take my side, and slowly turning a single emotion into a full blown personality. In this episode I break down the difference between feeling an emotion and identifying with it, why the victim role feels so hard to release even when it's costing you everything, and the exact journaling process I used to unwire it, the same one I walk clients through one on one. If overthinking, control, and the same painful situations keep finding you, this episode will show you the subconscious pattern actually running the show, and how nervous system regulation starts with just noticing it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why certain painful situations keep repeating themselves, and how you might be unknowingly reinforcing the pattern
• The real difference between feeling an emotion and building an entire identity around it
• Why the victim identity can feel so hard to release, and exactly what it's protecting you from
• How to spot a "bandwagon friend," and why venting can quietly turn into gossip
• Why an already healed pattern can come back "in costume" to test whether you really learned the lesson
• A full journaling practice to find the subconscious belief actually running the show
• How just 120 seconds can move stress chemicals like cortisol out of your body

REFLECTION

• What is the story you keep telling about yourself, or about your life, right now?
• Who are you presenting to the world when this identity is running?
• What would you have to feel, and who would you have to become, to get what you actually want?

If you've done the work but something keeps pulling you back into an old identity and you can't figure out why, book a free Freedom Roadmap Session. It's just a conversation, no pressure, just clarity on what's keeping you stuck. Link in the show notes.

And if you need something tonight, the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset can move the stress chemicals of that victim spiral out of your body in about 120 seconds. Link in the show notes.

You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

02:17 — The identity shift that started with her move to Austin, and feeling like everyone else was thriving but her 

03:00 — The 40th birthday retreat story in Mexico, and spiraling into "poor me" 

04:41 — The difference between feeling an emotion and building an identity around it 

06:29 — Why this isn't a character flaw, it's the mind in survival mode 

08:04 — The real payoff of staying the victim: not having to be responsible for changing anything 

09:17 — Bandwagon friends, venting versus gossip, and misery loving company 

10:27 — How an old wound can come back "in costume" without you recognizing it 

12:07 — Recognition as the first step, and why victim energy tanks your power 

13:02 — The journaling practice begins: naming the story and the core emotion underneath it 

14:43 — What you actually want to feel instead, and who you have to become to get there 

15:44 — Noticing the thought loop and the inner voice running it 15:57 — Locating the feeling in the body

17:14 — Who you're presenting to the world when this identity is running 

19:33 — Closing encouragement to come back to the journaling questions with radical honesty 

21:05 — Reminder about the free 5-minute Nervous System Reset and closing out

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This week I'm sitting down with Dr. Melissa Weiss for a raw, unfiltered conversation about grief, trauma, and what it actually takes to become the creator of your life instead of the victim of it. 

Melissa lost her husband Derek to COVID complications while she was nine months pregnant, and she takes us straight into it: the hospital, the missed phone call, the moment she found out he wasn't coming home. We talk about the difference between people who let tragedy become their identity and people who let it become their catalyst, why the victim role can feel comfortable even before the tragedy hits, and how nervous system regulation, radical self honesty, and plain old stillness rebuilt her from the inside out. 

If you've ever wondered why your healing doesn't look like everyone else's, or caught an old pattern like people pleasing or self judgment sneaking back in after you thought you'd already done the work, this conversation will meet you exactly there.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why the victim role can feel comfortable, even familiar, long before tragedy ever shows up, and how to catch yourself in it
• The grief box and grief button metaphor Sari shares, and why grief never fully disappears, it just gets quieter
• How dissociation and "throwing yourself into tasks" is actually the body's intelligent protection mechanism, not a personal failure
• Why radical ownership, not blame, is the real starting point of healing
• How your nervous system has to be calibrated before it can actually call in the next relationship, opportunity, or level of life
• Why stillness and quiet, not constant doing, is where you learn the most about what you actually need
• How grief and old trauma resurface together, and why healing one often means finally facing the other

REFLECTION

• Have you ever noticed the victim role feeling strangely comfortable, even before anything tragic happened?
• What is the "grief button" in your own life, the thing that still gets hit sometimes even years later?
• What would you need to feel calibrated enough in your own nervous system before you could actually call in what you say you want?

Work With Sari

If you've done the healing work but something keeps pulling you back into old patterns and you can't quite figure out why, that's exactly what a 1:1 session is for. Book a Freedom Roadmap call and let's see what you can't see from inside the jar. 

And if you're the woman who has read every book and listened to every episode and is still waiting to feel the shift in your body, start with the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset. 

Something that actually helps tonight. 

Connect with Dr. Melissa Weiss

You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

00:56 — Setting up the topic: the grief Melissa has walked through since losing her husband 

04:11 — How Melissa met her husband Derek, and what made her know he was the one 

16:10 — Dissociating, then throwing herself into logistics instead of feeling the loss 19:28 — How the body protects a pregnant mother and a grieving wife at the same time 

21:51 — Admitting she sometimes hates her husband for dying, and why all the feelings need room 

22:52 — Sari's grief box and grief button metaphor 

26:02 — What actually separates someone who grows from tragedy from someone who stays the victim 

27:45 — Passive suicidal thoughts, and choosing to keep going anyway 

29:21 — Radical ownership over blame, and stepping out of the victim role 

32:33 — The lesson from Melissa's energy healer on receiving feedback without becoming a victim 

34:24 — How the depth of past trauma reveals the height you're capable of reaching 

35:36 — Facing childhood sexual trauma while grieving and parenting solo 

45:00 — Grief, death, and the idea that we only experience 1 percent of reality 54:02 — How grief recalibrates what you will and won't tolerate in relationships 57:18 — Dating again as a widow, and choosing joy before choosing a partner 1:00:59 — Why your nervous system has to be calibrated before you can call in what you want 

1:03:11 — Melissa's closing message: don't be afraid of stillness 

1:05:52 — Melissa's move to Florida and the new Reclaim for Women program with Dr. Jen Auchter

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If you've googled "why meditation doesn't work for me" or "why can't I quiet my mind," this episode is for you. You're not doing it wrong. Your brain is just running on autopilot in a survival state — and once you know that, everything changes.

EPISODE SUMMARY

You've heard you should meditate. Maybe you've even tried. And maybe it felt like a total failure with racing thoughts, a body that won't sit still, a mind convinced this isn't for you. 

In this episode, Sari breaks down the brainwave states (the states in which your mind is in) behind anxiety, meditation, and hypnosis, and why "high beta" — the survival, overfunctioning, racing-thoughts state, might be the only gear you know how to live in. She gets honest about falling off her own meditation practice for three weeks, what happened to her nervous system because of it, and what it felt like to come back. 

You'll learn why closing your eyes is one of the most powerful things you can do for your nervous system, why affirmations don't work when you're stressed, and why real change happens in the quiet, suggestible states most of us never learn to access. This is the science behind why meditation and hypnosis actually work — not just theory, but what it feels like in the body.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why meditation doesn't work for anxiety the way most people are taught to do it, and what actually needs to happen first
• Why anxiety and overthinking might just mean your nervous system is stuck in "high beta," not that something's wrong with you
• The difference between beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwave states, and why it matters
• Why closing your eyes is one of the most powerful tools for your nervous system
• Why affirmations don't work when you're stressed (and when they actually do)
• What happens in the body when you stop meditating — Sari's own three-week story
• How to tell if you've been in survival mode so long it just feels like your personality
• A simple 5-minute practice to start downshifting your nervous system today

REFLECTION

• Have you been in survival mode so long that it just feels like your personality?
• When was the last time you gave yourself five minutes of intentional stillness — no phone, no to-do list, just breath?
• What would it feel like to zoom out from the grain of rice you've been staring at?

Work With Sari

If you've tried meditating and it hasn't felt like it's working, you don't need more information — you need to feel the shift in your body. Grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset to start training your nervous system to downshift. Link in the show notes.

And if you're ready to go deeper and actually work with your subconscious directly, book a free Freedom Roadmap call. We'll map out exactly what's keeping your nervous system stuck. Link in the show notes.

You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

00:01 — Intro: why this episode is for you if meditation feels confusing or like it's "not working" 

01:42 — Meeting the version of you that's always "on" — restlessness as your normal 

04:05 — Why Sari loves hypnosis alongside meditation, and her own journey 

06:16 — Meditation as medicine — the thyroid medication analogy 

08:18 — Falling off her routine for three weeks, becoming the "pool filter," and the dark cloud that followed 

10:42 — Brainwave states explained: beta, alpha, theta, delta 

11:51 — High beta explained — survival mode, and what it felt like living there for three weeks 

13:38 — "Have you been in survival mode so long it's begun to feel like your personality?" 

15:37 —  the "magnifying binoculars" of high beta 

17:25 — Neuroplasticity and neural pathways — how alpha and theta reopen the door to change 

18:41 — Closing your eyes as a portal to imagination and a higher intelligence

 20:31 — Zooming out from the grain of rice — why meditation is non-negotiable medicine 

22:05 — Why five minutes of stillness matters more than a "perfect" routine 

24:22 — Guided visualization begins — the first deep breath and downshift 

27:54 — What this practice builds over time, and how Sari works with clients in theta states 

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If you've done everything right, the career, the house, the kids, the smile, and you still feel like everyone else got invited to something you weren't, or someone else got the promotion, the pat on the back, this episode is for you.

That quiet hum of not enough, not worthy, not included? That's not your anxiety. That's the wound underneath it. And it has been running the show since you were small.

EPISODE SUMMARY
You're building the business, raising the kids, showing up for everyone. And underneath all of it there is this energizer bunny that never actually stops running. Am I enough yet? Do I belong yet? Am I worthy yet?

In this episode, Sari breaks down why the need to belong is a primal nervous system survival response, not a personality flaw, and why no amount of achievement, likes, applause, or acknowledgment from the outside will ever touch the love you actually need to give yourself. She shares her own story of growing up as a middle class Jewish girl in a wealthy community, earning her worth through dance performance, and how that wound followed her all the way into her business, her social media, and every room she walked into wondering if she was going to be included.

She closes with a guided visualization to help you meet the little girl who first decided she had to earn her place, and tell her something she maybe never heard enough.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why the constant doing, achieving, and performing is the symptom, not the root cause
• How the fear of not belonging triggers your nervous system into survival mode
• Where the "I have to earn my place" wound starts and why it never stays in childhood
• Why the most successful people you're comparing yourself to might just be performing better at the same wound
• The real shift: from looking for external validation to belonging to yourself first
• A simple pause to practice before you post, say yes, or push harder at work
• A guided visualization to meet the little girl who made the agreement and give her what she needed

REFLECTION
Where in your life are you still running the energizer bunny trying to earn your place?

Before your next post, your next yes, your next push at work, can you pause and ask: am I doing this because it's true to me, or am I doing this to be seen?

What would it mean to belong to yourself first?

RESOURCES + WORK WITH ME
You can understand this intellectually all day long and still feel that hum underneath everything. The subconscious belief that got wired in when you were small does not shift from one podcast episode. It shifts when you do the deeper work and find exactly where it lives in your body and your story.

If you feel the pull to do that work, book a Freedom Roadmap session with Sari at thegrowthgoddess.net. Just a conversation about what this could look like for you. No pressure, just clarity.

5 Minute Nervous System Reset

And if the energizer bunny is running hard today and you need something right now, grab the free 5 Minute Nervous System Reset at thegrowthgoddess.net/reset. A tool you can come back to the moment you feel the hum getting loud.

 You're not broken.
 You're not behind.
 And you're not alone.

TIMESTAMPS
00:02 Welcome back, anxiety as the messenger, and why subconscious work is the key
02:29 The quiet hum underneath all the doing: am I enough yet, do I belong yet, am I worthy yet
03:19 Why we are anxious when we look like we have it all
04:03 You've done everything right and something still does not feel fulfilled
04:24 The tribe metaphor and comparing yourself to people who look like they cracked the code
05:30 Sari's personal story: growing up as a dancer, a middle class Jewish girl, earning validation through performance
06:25 How conditional validation rewires the subconscious and when it starts
08:57 When acknowledgment becomes identity and why it does not stay in the studio
09:30 The wound follows you everywhere: the hair business, the house, refreshing the likes
11:11 Why you cannot rest because resting feels like not earning your place
11:39 Real freedom is not chasing belonging from the outside
12:31 No amount of likes, revenue, or applause will touch the love you need to give yourself
12:43 Do I love myself enough to belong to myself first
13:11 The invitation to the tribe is not external, it is from yourself
14:17 This is not a concept, it is a moment by moment practice
14:28 Catching the thought and asking who you are earning love from
15:20 The pause before you post, say yes, or push harder
15:43 No judgment, just honest awareness and a choice
16:41 Guided visualization begins
19:08 Telling her what she maybe never heard enough
19:51 You already do belong. You always did.
20:13 Coming back to the body, you get to choose yourself now
21:41 One on one work and the discovery call invitation

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If you wake up already scanning your body for what's wrong, already bracing before your feet hit the floor, this episode is for you. You are not crazy and you are not broken. Your body has just been trying to talk to you, and somewhere along the way you stopped listening, not your fault, this has become a learned habit.

EPISODE SUMMARY
For years Sari felt like the victim of her own anxiety. Like it had a hold on her and she was just along for the ride, waiting for the next panic attack, predicting her whole life around it. If you've been diagnosed with a medical condition and you're left wondering why your body keeps reacting, new things are showing up, or if tension and restlessness have become so normal you don't even notice them anymore, this episode breaks down the WHY.

Sari walks through why the body speaks first, always, before the mind ever creates a single anxious thought. She unpacks the feeling and thinking loop that turns one heart palpitation into a full blown spiral, why chronic anxiety reprograms your nervous system to expect chaos, and the real difference between being a victim of anxiety and learning to work with it. She closes with a guided body scan to help you start asking your body what it's actually been trying to tell you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why anxiety can feel like your own body is turning against you
• How chronic stress and a dysregulated nervous system are connected to diagnoses
• Why your body sends the signal first, before your mind ever creates the anxious thought
• The feeling and thinking loop that turns one small sensation into a full spiral
• Why tension and restlessness start to feel "normal" the longer you live in survival mode
• The real difference between being a victim of anxiety and choosing to work with it, listen to what it's trying to tell you
• A simple way to start listening to your body instead of bracing against it

REFLECTION
What has become so normal in your body, the tension, the restlessness, the bracing, that you don't even notice it anymore?
If your body could talk right now, what would it say?
Are you living as the victim of your anxiety, or are you ready to start working with it?

RESOURCES + WORK WITH ME
This is exactly the work Sari does with her clients in one on one sessions. Not a general meditation, but going in together to what your body is specifically holding, what it's been trying to say, what got shoved down so long it just became background noise.

If anxiety feels like it has a hold on you right now, start with the Free 5 Minute Nervous System Reset. Something that actually helps in the moment, before the spiral takes over.

And if you're ready to stop being the victim and get curious about what your body has been trying to tell you, book a Freedom Roadmap session with Sari. It's less of a discovery call and more of a curiosity call. No pressure, just clarity.

 You're not broken.
 You're not behind.
 And you're not alone.

TIMESTAMPS
00:01 Welcome back, where Sari's episode ideas come from, and the idea of being a victim of anxiety
00:01 Sari's husband's early shift and the adrenaline that hit her just from him saying goodbye
02:31 Anxiety as a messenger, and how symptoms can feel like the body turning on you
05:01 Living in chronic anxiety until it starts to feel normal
06:59 Victim of anxiety versus working with it, and the energy of curiosity versus control
08:44 The body speaks first, always, before the mind creates the panic
11:08 "The mind doesn't create anxiety. It reacts to what the body is already feeling."
13:06 The feeling and thinking loop, and how one palpitation spirals into a full panic
14:18 The Body Keeps the Score, and how dysregulation starts to feel like a normal Tuesday
16:18 Why it's so hard to hear the whisper when chaos is all you've ever known
16:37 Taking inventory of what's become normal, and why Sari uses hypnosis
17:32 Why meditation and hypnosis aren't about emptying the mind, they're about creating space to hear what's already there
19:28 Not knowing what joy or love even felt like, and imagining freedom from anxiety
20:49 Meditation and hypnosis as a phone call with your body
22:22 A guided body scan, noticing tension without judgment
23:14 The beginning of working with your anxiety instead of fighting it
24:07 Asking your body what it's trying to tell you and what it's ready to let go of
25:25 The curiosity call invitation and closing

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If you've been to all the doctors, tried all the things, and your anxiety still won't budge, this one is for you. Maybe the reason nothing has worked is that you've been trying to think your way out of something, but maybe it's not a thinking solution, maybe your body has been holding on to something the whole time, and you need to heal through the body.

About This Episode

I sat down with Jenny Cohen, an author, a speaker, a cancer survivor, and a dancer who believes movement is your birthright to heal. She used dance to stay alive through her cancer treatment, and what she shares in this episode is something I have lived in my own body for years.

Anxiety is not just in your head. It lives in your body. And when you have nowhere to put that energy, it doesn't disappear. It builds.

We talk about why your anxiety is the messenger, not the enemy. We get into why your body will go to extremes to get your attention, the difference between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind, head up versus head down, and what's actually happening when emotion releases as crying, shaking, or going completely still. Jenny also shares the dead simple daily practice that helped her, and the one question she asks her body the second symptoms show up.

If you're a high functioning woman holding it all together while quietly crumbling, this is your permission slip to stop performing and start letting it move.

What You'll Learn

1. Why your anxiety can get worse the moment you stop moving your body
2. Why anxiety is the messenger, and how the more you ignore the whispers, the louder your body has to get
3. How your conscious mind and subconscious mind split, head up versus head down, and why it matters for healing
4. What emotional release actually looks like, and what to do when it happens
5. A simple daily movement practice you can start with no skill and no one watching
6. The one question Jenny asks her body when symptoms show up

Reflection

Where in your life have you stopped moving, and what might be trying to get your attention?

When was the last time you let your body do something just because it felt good, with no goal attached?

Your Next Step

If your anxiety feels stuck in your body and you need something that actually helps tonight, start here.

Grab the free 5 Minute Nervous System Reset

And if you're ready to stop managing your anxiety and start getting to the root of it, this is where one on one work comes in. That is where we rewrite the subconscious patterns underneath, not just talk about them.

Book your free Freedom Roadmap session

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome and meet Jenny Cohen
 01:43 When movement as a birthright to heal first came online for Jenny
 03:07 From dance to occupational therapy
 05:31 How dance kept Jenny alive through cancer treatment
 06:15 What was driving the anxiety underneath
 07:46 Overlapping conditions, depression, and unresolved trauma
 09:25 Dancing before, during, and after breast cancer treatment
 11:01 Sari shares how her own anxiety didn't show up until she stopped dancing
 12:26 Movement is for everybody, even after your shower
 13:23 Why our life force requires movement
 15:18 Why our bodies will go to extremes to give us what we want
 16:19 Why anxiety is the messenger, not the enemy
 18:30 Fixed movement versus improvisation
 22:21 The moment emotion released mid movement
 23:20 Why you never touch someone who is emotionally processing
 25:18 Conscious mind from the head up, subconscious from the head down
 30:55 Why forgiveness is part of healing
 36:53 You have the right to move, you were born with it
 37:51 The daily practice, five random songs
 39:19 Naming three things you liked about what you did
 44:26 The question Jenny asks her body when symptoms show up
 46:40 Sari's movement challenge
 48:32 Are you doing your self care in a present way
 49:49 Where to find Jenny Cohen

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Are you feeling emotionally numb and you don't know why? Are you doing all the right things, and feel exhausted? This episode is for you. You're not falling apart. You're not in crisis, but just going through the motions and feeling nothing. That is a subconscious program running the show, and that's not a I need to be doing more problem. And if you're a mom, there's a good chance your kids are running a version of all of this too.

EPISODE SUMMARY: Sari opens with a real life recent story, coming home exhausted, being reactive with her oldest daughter, and the conversation the next morning that changed everything.

Her daughter was doing all the things. Good grades, chores, helping out. And she still was feeling unloved. She believed her younger sister was loved more, because she saw that her sister didn't have to earn it.

Sound familiar?

In this episode, Sari unpacks the subconscious agreement that so many high-functioning, anxious women are looking through life without realizing it: if I do more, I'll be loved more. She breaks down how this belief was formed in early childhood, why it keeps running on autopilot no matter how much you accomplish, and why 95% of your daily thoughts are recycling the same quiet story you made up about yourself when you were small.

She also speaks directly to moms: your children often mirror the subconscious program you modeled during their earliest years. Learning to see the agreement in them, and ask the right question instead of reacting to the behavior, is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and for them.

She closes with a guided breathing and visualization exercise to help you meet the younger version of yourself who first made that agreement — and begin to choose something different.

This is not about doing more. It is about finally seeing the lens you have been looking through.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why you feel emotionally numb even when you're doing everything right — and the subconscious program driving it
• What the agreement or belief you're looking through life actually is — and how to identify yours
• How subconscious programs get formed between birth and age eight and why they keep running without you knowing
• Why your children often mirror the agreements you modeled during your most anxious years — and how witnessing theirs can heal both of you
• The difference between conditional love (earned) and unconditional love (already yours)
• Why self awareness is the first crack of light — and why it is not enough on its own
• Why hypnosis and subconscious work reaches what conscious effort and surface-level tools cannot
• A simple breathing and visualization practice to meet the younger version of yourself who made the agreement

REFLECTION:

1. What is the agreement or belief you are looking through life right now? What lens are you seeing everything through?
2. When did that agreement start? How old was the version of you who made it?
3. If you replaced that lens with unconditional love, how would you move through your day differently?
4. For the moms: what subconscious belief might you be watching play out in your child that you recognize from your own story?

If anxiety feels like a constant hum of "not enough no matter what I do," 

Grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset. 

It's a tool to bring you back to yourself when the autopilot takes over. 

And if you're ready to stop collecting insights and actually feel the shift in your body.

Book a Free Freedom Roadmap Session

 It's just a conversation. No pressure. 

 You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

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If you've got so much on your plate that part of you secretly wants to burn it all down and quit everything, this episode is for you. You're not falling apart. Your anxiety just found a new way to talk to you. And once you learn the language, you get your power back.

EPISODE SUMMARY This week Sari shares a real time story of anxiety showing up in a way she'd never felt before. After years of chronic panic attacks, she thought she knew her pattern, the fight response. Then she overcommitted herself into the ground, PTA, a leadership role, clients, the podcast, managing mom life and hit a wall where the only answer her body could find was quit it all.

In this episode she breaks down the four survival responses, fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, and how anxiety presents differently depending on which one is running. She talks about why high functioning women keep filling the void, where control sneaks in, and why honoring your no is the most regulating thing you can do for your nervous system. Anxiety is the messenger. This is how you start listening before it becomes a Mack truck.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why your anxiety can show up completely differently than it used to, even years into healing
• The four survival responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) and how to spot which one is yours
• Why high functioning women overcommit, and the real question underneath the busyness
• How control shows up when you believe you have to carry everything alone
• Why awareness alone doesn't change you, but choice does
• How honoring your no actually settles your nervous system
• What happens in the subconscious mind when we sit down and have a conversation with the pattern instead of fighting it

REFLECTION When your anxiety gets loud, which response do you reach for first, fight, flight, freeze, or fawn? And what would change if you treated it as a messenger instead of an enemy?

Free 5 Minute Nervous System Reset If your nervous system feels strung out and you need something that actually helps right now, grab the Free 5 Minute Nervous System Reset. Something you can use tonight.

And if you're ready to stop white knuckling your way through and have someone help you talk to the pattern underneath it all, book a Freedom Roadmap Session. This is the work that gives you freedom from the very thing keeping you stuck.

 You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

TIMESTAMPS 

00:02 Welcome in, and why anxiety shows up in so many different ways 

02:24 The real question underneath overcommitting: what void are you trying to fill 

04:47 Carrying it all alone, and where control actually comes from 

07:10 The week it all caught up: Warrior Women, the missed episode, freeze and flight 

09:35 The four survival responses explained: fight, flight, freeze, fawn 

11:14 When the answer becomes "I quit everything, burn it all down" 

12:47 Sitting in your emotions, and anxiety as the messenger 

15:03 Your power and your choice: how long do you actually need to feel it 

17:31 Giving yourself space, and why the coaching call landed so differently 

19:52 Honoring your no, the Oracle card, and finding your own pattern 

22:00 Hypnosis: having a real conversation with the program that's been protecting you

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If you wake up every morning already knowing how the day is going to go, bracing for the same feelings, the same version of you, the same feeling as the day before, this episode is for you. You haven't run out of options. You've run out of permission slips. And that's exactly what we're talking about today.

EPISODE SUMMARY: What if the thing keeping your anxiety alive isn't your schedule, your relationships, or your past — it's the version of perfect you've been quietly chasing since someone else decided what that meant?

In this episode, Sari shares what an unexpected movie day with her daughter  taught her about optimism, worthiness, and how deeply we shrink ourselves to fit into someone else's idea of who we're supposed to be.

She gets real about waking up as the anxious version of herself: the one who started bracing for the next panic attack before her feet even hit the floor. She talks about what it looks like to break that pattern, not with a 10-step routine, but with 1% of willingness to do something different.

If your anxiety is wrapped up in perfectionism, needing approval, or a quiet belief that the way you are just isn't quite right.... this one will open something up for you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why waking up expecting the same day keeps you locked in anxious patterns
• How perfectionism and anxiety are more connected than you think
• What your need for control is actually trying to protect you from
• Why your uniqueness isn't the problem, it might be the exact thing that sets you free
• Whose rules of "perfect" you've actually been following (and where they really came from)
• The 1% shift that can start changing everything — starting tomorrow morning

TIMESTAMPS: 

00:02 — Sari opens: being human and using her tools every single day 

01:27 — Letting her youngest take a mental health day; the STAAR test; being in her luteal phase 

03:54 — The UglyDolls movie story begins; why she said no to it years ago 

06:19 — Waking up expecting the same anxious day; bracing for panic attacks before getting out of bed 

07:18 — The optimist UglyDoll character; being a pessimist from anxiety and stagnation 

09:20 — Judging by the outer layer; how control showed up in a simple parenting moment 

11:57 — Reflection: how did you wake up this morning? 

12:48 — You get to decide right now; shaking up your morning 

15:16 — Are you willing to stand up and do something different? 

15:26 — Worthiness of a new experience; the perfect doll vs. the ugly doll 

17:50 — How anxiety shows up when you feel like you don't fit in; birthday suit metaphor 

19:54 — Stop being ashamed of how you look 

20:13 — Question what perfect even means 

20:18 — Changing your idea of perfect = a permission slip to be yourself 

21:43 — The insecurities behind the people who built these standards 

22:15 — Finding real freedom by letting go of what other people think 

23:51 — How perfectionism kills your ability to have fun; the painting class story 

25:15 — Your uniqueness is what makes you shine

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

• Where in your life are you waking up expecting the same thing — and quietly believing you're not worthy of something different?
• Whose definition of perfect have you been carrying around that was never yours to begin with?
• What would it look like to give yourself a 1% permission slip today?

5 Minute Nervous System Reset

And if today's episode hit and you just need something that helps right now, grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset. [https://thegrowthgoddess.net/free-meditation]

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 If you've tried the medications, the doctors, the counselors, and nothing is changing in your life, this episode is for you. Jen had tried it all too. And then she found what was actually underneath it, no more playing with symptoms and band aids.

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Jen Auchter is a functional medicine doctor. She knows all the science. She was doing all the "right" things. And she was still circling in high functioning anxiety she couldn't touch.

Her health, her business, her relationships. Everything felt connected to one root cause she just couldn't reach. Doctors treated symptoms. Counselors talked in circles. Nothing was getting to the subconscious patterns that were running the show, and she knew something needed to change, she had the knowledge, but needed the how.

In this episode, Jen shares what happened when she finally said yes to hypnotherapy and what shifted in her body, her nervous system, her hormones, and her life over eight weeks of working together.

This is a real conversation with a real woman who came in ready to put in the work, went deep into her subconscious mind, reconnected with her inner child, and came out the other side breathing easier. Literally.

If you've been wondering what hypnotherapy actually looks like, what holistic/alternative healing really means in the body, and whether any of it could work for you, this is the episode.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why talk therapy often misses the root cause of anxiety and subconscious patterns
• What hypnosis actually feels like from the inside (from someone who was scared of losing control)
• How the subconscious mind gets built in childhood and why that matters for healing now
• What inner child work actually does in the body
• Why your physical symptoms like hormones, gut health, irregular cycles, and inflammation are connected to your fight or flight response and thought loops
• What it means to stop being responsible for everyone else's feelings (and why that is a massive anxiety pattern)
• Why holistic healing and nervous system regulation actually show up in your physical body
• Why healing is not about becoming someone new. It's about peeling back to who you actually are.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:52 — Jen shares why she started looking for alternative healing options in 2025 01:55 — What drew Jen to hypnotherapy and how she stopped overthinking the decision 

03:44 — Sari reflects on witnessing Jen's growth 

04:20 — What Jen thought the subconscious mind was before they started 

06:35 — Jen describes hypnosis as a deep, personalized meditation (not what you think) 

07:42 — Why Sari builds trust before going deep and what happens if you skip that step 

08:38 — The inner child session: what it felt like and why it changed everything 

11:43 — How hypnotherapy compares to traditional talk therapy 

13:22 — The combination of conscious work and subconscious work 

13:53 — The Panther meditation: reclaiming power you didn't know you gave away 

17:22 — How personalized hypnosis makes meditation possible for people who "can't meditate" 

19:00 — What to do when your mind wanders during a session 

22:55 — Knowing you are the problem and not knowing how to change it 

25:13 — How people in Jen's life noticed the shift before she did 

26:38  The guilt and resentment loop: what Jen worked through and where she is now 

29:18 — What it means to stop being a chameleon and start choosing for yourself 

30:11 — Miracles happen when you stop pretending to be someone else 

33:02 — What the mind does when we replay fake anxious scenarios on loop (and how that affects your health) 

35:50 — Jen as a functional doctor on how thoughts directly affect hormones and physical health

36:56 — The parasympathetic state and what rest and repair actually does for your body 

38:50 — The physical results: gut health, hormones, cycles, breathing 

39:47 — Why giving yourself 20 minutes gives you so much more time back 

42:21 — What Jen wants you to know if you are on the fence 

43:20 — Sari on the ripple effect of doing this work 

REFLECTION:

1. What in your life right now feels like it is all pointing back to one root cause you cannot quite name?
2. When did you last ask yourself what she actually needs, not what everyone around you needs?
3. If you stopped feeling out of control tomorrow, what would change first?

FREE NERVOUS SYSTEM RESET: If anxiety feels like it is running your day and you need anxiety relief right now, download the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset to start giving your body what it has been asking for. Link in show notes: https://thegrowthgoddess.net/free-meditation

WORK WITH SARI: If you are ready to stop living in anxiety and want to finally get to the root of it through hypnotherapy and subconscious work, you can book a free discovery call. Link in show notes: https://link.thegrowthgoddess.net/widget/bookings/freedomroadmapsession

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