➡️ Ready to recover? Apply to join

If you've been told anxiety is something you manage for life, this episode challenges that directly.

15 years ago, I was diagnosed with an anxiety and panic disorder and handed the same tools everyone gets: breathing exercises, coping strategies, the chemical imbalance explanation. None of it moved the needle. What I eventually discovered is that most of what we're taught about anxiety keeps us stuck — not because it's bad advice, but because it's addressing the wrong problem.

In this episode, I share 10 lessons from my own recovery and seven years of helping people around the world heal from anxiety and chronic symptoms. These aren't coping tools. They're a framework for understanding what anxiety actually is, why it persists, and what it takes to come out the other side.

You'll learn:

what it means when your nervous system gets stuck on protection mode
why the things you're doing to turn anxiety off are often what's keeping it on
how to stop playing whack-a-mole with individual symptoms using the anxiety umbrella framework
why the situations and places you're avoiding are what will actually help you heal
what "you don't need to feel safe to be safe" means and how to act on it
whether anxiety can come back once it's gone, and why that question stops being scary
why making lifestyle changes specifically for anxiety keeps anxiety at the center of your life
why recovery feels invisible from the outside

Key Takeaways:

00:00 The anxiety lessons most people never hear

00:50 Lesson 1: Anxiety isn't caused by a chemical imbalance

02:50 Lesson 2: Your nervous system is stuck on protection mode

05:05 Lesson 3: Everything you're doing to turn it off is keeping it on

06:45 Lesson 4: Stop treating each symptom like a separate problem

08:15 Lesson 5: The things you're avoiding are what will heal you

09:55 Lesson 6: You don't need to feel safe to be safe

11:10 Lesson 7: Your body will test you before it trusts you

12:55 Lesson 8: Can anxiety come back once it's gone?

14:50 Lesson 9: Make lifestyle changes for your life, not for your anxiety

16:00 Lesson 10: You are not alone — and this is not a life sentence