The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast

Send in a question or comment via text.

The Anxious Morning is a project I've been working on for about a year.  On January 3, the first edition of The Anxious Morning will hit the street, and the airwaves!

For all the ways to listen or to subscribe free to the email newsletter, visit https://theanxiousmorning.com

My goal with this project is to give you a more in-depth discussion of important anxiety and recovery topics that you can consume outside the chaos and algorithm madness that is the endless social media scroll.  Subscribe free to The Anxious Morning email newsletter and have everything dropped in your inbox each weekday morning.  Follow The Anxious Morning podcast on your favorite podcast app and listen to each episode as you start your day.

These will be little 300-500 word newsletters and 3-5 minute podcast episodes that you can consume when in a quiet time, reflect on, then hopefully use as you go forward in your day.  I'll share some of my own stories, we'll go over recovery tips and techniques, I'll give you things to think about and work in, and I'll do my best to educate, encourage and empower you on your journey.

I've always wanted to do a little morning "show" this way, and I love to write, so this is the best of both worlds, and hopefully a win/win for you and me.

Join me in launching The Anxious Morning and making it a success.

Thank you as always for your continued support and enthusiasm for my work.

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

Recovery is based so much on intentionally doing things that are scary and difficult.  This concept is often interpreted as being a “mind over matter” thing.  While I understand the spirit and intention of this interpretation, is it quite incorrect and can actually be counterproductive. In reality, recovery is the exact opposite. Recovery is about allowing MATTER (reality) to take precedence over MIND.

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For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/187

My books, social, and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth with a small donation: https://theanxioustruth.com/donate

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission) https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

When gripped by an anxiety disorder, much of life is dictated and driven by fear.  We make our choices and our decisions based on what we fear in an effort to avoid feeling the things we do not want to feel. When we work to build a new relationship with our anxiety, and we learn to no longer fear it, our lives become less about fear and more about what we truly value.  The process of recovery is in many ways a march from a fear-driven life to a value-driven life.

For full show notes on this episode: 

https://theanxioustruth.com/186  

My books, social, and other links: 

https://theanxioustruth.com/links  

Support The Anxious Truth with a small donation: 

https://theanxioustruth.com/donate  

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission) 

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

"Why can't I feel happiness and joy?!?!?!"

This question gets asked all the time.  It's a question I am personally quite familiar with.  When we are in the middle of the recovery process, still in the grips of anxiety and fear, we often find that we are unable to experience feelings of happiness, joy, or gratitude, at least not the way we think we should be experiencing them. But really, this is not a matter of being unable to feel happy.  This is really a perception problem, and a patience problem.  We often carry a somewhat distorted and unrealistically high expectation of what "happy" is supposed to feel like and how often we should feel it.  Then we want so badly to feel happy and joyful in contrast to how we feel when we suffer, that we forget that the path to happiness is an incremental path that requires patience.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/185

My books, social and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

MUSIC CREDIT:

AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

Why on Earth am I talking about living recklessly? Most of us would agree that being reckless involves intentionally doing dangerous things and being somewhat responsible. Let’s take a few minutes to relate that to the process of anxiety recovery. And no, I am not going to teach you how to be truly reckless. It might just feel that way.

When we do the hard and scary recovery things that we’re always talking about, that often feels really dangerous. You resist that for two reasons. First, nobody wants to do difficult scary things. This is just human nature. But you may also resist this recovery principle an entirely different level as well. You may resist this because intentionally doing scary and difficult things may FEEL IRRESPONSIBLE, DANGEROUS, AND RECKLESS.

In many ways, the process of recovery actually feels like living irresponsibly and recklessly for many of us. We're not truly doing dangerous things. But when we stop trying to save ourselves from the perceived but false threats and disasters of disordered anxiety, that often feels very wrong. That feels dangerous. That feels irresponsible. That feels reckless. When we engage in the practice of exposure, non-reactivity to fear, and disengaging from the maladaptive thinking habits that fuel conditions like GAD, we may truly feel like we are being reckless.

In this light, the process of recovery can be very much an exercise in learning to live recklessly, even if it really isn’t.

• For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/184
• My books, social, and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links
• MUSIC CREDIT: "AfterGlow" by Ben Drake (with permission) https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

Positive self-talk is awesome. But not in the way you may think. When I tell people that positive self-talk is bullshit, I mean that it does not belong in your arsenal in the heat of the moment when experiencing that high anxiety spike or a panic attack. Positive self-talk, mantras and affirmations are great as a setup tool BEFORE things get rough for you. Use them when calm.  Use them when getting yourself ready to do hard things. But ritualizing positive self-talk as a safety behavior when in the grips of panic is a bad idea and isn't terribly effective anyway.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/183

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My books, social media, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

MUSIC CREDIT:

"AfterGlow" by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

"BUT WHAT IF THERE ARE REAL HEALTH ISSUES OR LIFE CHALLENGES????"

This is a question I get asked all the time.  In this week's episode, we find some inspiration and encouragement from the awesome Jessica Sidener. Jessica is an inspiring example of a real human that was forced to handle two of the most stressful events imaginable at the same time. Jessica not only managed to get through it all intact, but she also turned her experience into something positive in the world. When you are sure that your anxiety struggles are too much, or if you're dealing with anxiety alongside other problems, Jessica's story will provide hope and inspiration that we all need sometimes.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/182

My books, social media, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

MUSIC CREDIT:

"AfterGlow" by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

Coping skills. This is a term heard every day in mental health circles when trying to get a handle on anxiety problems. But what are coping skills? What are they designed to do? Do we really want or need them?

Traditionally, the most common coping skills are all targeted at helping you escape the discomfort, fear and distress of anxiety. They may try to distract you, "ground" you, or help you find assistance from people that will help you get away from the anxiety or panic situation. They are offered with the best of intentions, but special evasive maneuvers designed to get you out of an anxious state or to help you "make it" through another panic attack are not really the best options when it comes to long term, durable recovery.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/181

My books, social media, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

MUSIC CREDIT:

"AfterGlow" by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

One of the more common mistakes, especially in early recovery, is trying to actually reach a recovered state before you do the recovery work. If you're trying to figure out a way to not be afraid so that you can start your recovery, you're putting the cart before the horse. If you're hoping that you'll find some magic words that will make all this hard stuff "click" so you can get started, you're doing it backwards.

You must do the recovery things first, then you "get it.” It "clicks" after you do the work. And you must do the work of recovery WHILE AFRAID in order to ultimately not be afraid.

If you could find a way to not be afraid first, then there would be no need to recover. You'd already be there!

For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/180

My books, social media, and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Music Credit

----------------

"Afterglow" by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Send in a question or comment via text.

While you may want to ask for specific instructions on exactly what to do to feel better right now, this is not always the best approach to recovery in the long term.

Asking for instructions can become a bit frustrating and overwhelming as you find yourself returning again and again for instructions based on today's thought, sensation, or specific fear.  Focusing on understanding and applying the concepts and principles of recovery is a better approach that leads to longer lasting and more durable results.

Knowing the principles of anxiety and recovery means that you no longer need specific instructions for every situation.  Instead, you become better equipped to stand on your own as you successfully navigate through previously "impossible" situations. Learning and applying principles allows you to give your brain the productive experiences it needs to move down the path to recovery.

For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/179

My books, social media, and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Music Credit

----------------

"Afterglow" by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.com

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.   Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website.  None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth  is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.