In this episode, Alexis breaks down the emotions most people spend their lives trying to avoid and explains why avoiding them is exactly what keeps people stuck. She walks through the fear family, sadness, anger, shame, disgust, and more, getting into where each one comes from, what it's actually trying to tell you, and what it takes to heal it.
Alexis also gets into the fears that quietly run people's lives, from the fear of death and failure to the fear of being seen, being left, or never becoming who they were supposed to be. She makes the case that no emotion is actually bad, and that the relationship you build with your own inner life is the most important one you'll ever have.
00:00 Introduction to Negative Emotions
01:12 Understanding and Healing Fear
05:47 Exploring the Sadness Family
07:27 The Dynamics of Anger
08:55 Navigating Shame and Guilt
11:29 Disgust and Social Rigidity
13:35 Threat to Self & Vulnerability
14:48 Existential Emotions & Overwhelm
18:10 Confronting the Fear of Death
21:18 Living Wrong & Feeling Stuck
25:17 Fear of Loss and Change
27:00 Meaning, Purpose, and Uniqueness
28:47 Embarrassment & Knowing Yourself
31:00 False Identity & Dying Alone
33:10 Career, Money, and Success Fears
35:29 Relationship & Breakup Fears
40:02 The Fear of Being a Bad Person
41:09 Friendship Fears & Humiliation
44:17 Core Fears and Healing
ABOUT SANITY OPTIONAL
Sanity Optional is a podcast about the parts of mental health we usually keep to ourselves.
It’s for the moments when your life looks fine on the outside but feels messy underneath. When you’re tired of being told to “do the work.” When you secretly wonder if you’re the only one struggling with something that feels too taboo to say out loud.
Hosted by therapist and founder of Rowan Healing, Alexis Ely, this show was created for people who feel like they’re in the other club. The ones who don’t fit the timeline. The ones who have been to the edge of their own mind and made it back.
Alexis shares her story, from early trauma and suicidal depression to the perfectionism and addiction that followed, and ultimately the kind of peace she once believed was impossible. She brings clinical experience and lived experience into the same room, without turning healing into a performance or a checklist.
This isn’t about becoming a better version of yourself. It’s about feeling at home in your own mind.
Welcome to the rabbit hole.
Rowan Healing: https://www.rowanhealing.com/