The Transforming Anxiety Podcast

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Happy New Year! We made it to 2025...and so far most of what we've accomplished in Kansas City is a massive snowstorm. ❄️ Kinda fun, even if we're all climbing the walls at this point.

Late last year I did an episode about "mental load" and as soon as I recorded that one, I knew I wanted to do a related episode on the sister burden that we all carry every day: emotional load.

Mental load is all of the logistics: the figuring and sorting and scheduling and planning and carpooling and spreadsheeting.

Emotional load is the way it all FEELS, the emotional toll that accompanies the going and the doing. Plus the emotional cost that comes with reading the news of the day, hearing the latest from friends and family, and just getting through the hours, days, and weeks.

We aren't robots. We have feelings about ALL of it. And those feelings add up. It's what we're talking about on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: emotional load.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/278

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I'm baaaack. Again. 🤦‍♀️ Turns out I have, and will, take sporadic breaks from the podcast. Not because I want * to. But because sometimes I flirt with burnout and I need* to.

I missed you. Big time. And I'm so glad to be back with you right as we close out the year...

And I'm bringing a real gentle re-entry 😜 to you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast; we're talking about hope vs. hopelessness, with a strong nod towards expectations.

I've found myself caught up in hope, and not in the good way. Having high expectations and then feeling disproportionately bummed out when things go awry. I know I'm not alone in this; I'm hearing you.

And although I have no answers for you this week (and, honestly, I never look to bring you anything overly prescriptive, because only YOU know what you want and need), I DO want to talk about it with you. Let's explore hope together. I'd like that. 💜

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/277

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Ohhhh, do I have a treat for you today. There are a few books that I recommend to clients, students, friends, family, people in line at the grocery store, you name it...and THIS guy has done it again. Oliver Burkeman is the author of the NYT Bestseller Four Thousand Weeks (that's the one I've been known to push into the hands of anyone who will listen) and he's back at it with the just-released Meditations for Mortals.

And this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is an interview with Mr. Burkeman.

A few nuggets from new book:

"The whole point of facing the truth about finitude is that it gets easier to spend more of your time on worthwhile and life-enriching activities once you’re no longer trying to do all of them, or do them perfectly, or do them with the secret agenda of achieving a feeling of security or control."

And this is another great quote...

"...the life-enhancing route is to think of decisions not as things that come along, but as things to go hunting for. In other words: to operate on the assumption that somewhere, in the confusing morass of your work or your life, lurks at least one decision you could make, right now, in order to get unstuck and get moving."

This is a really great conversation and I'm thrilled he spent some time with us. You can find the video HERE and audio is in your podcast feed or over on the website.

Find out more about Mr. Burkeman, all of his books and other work, plus get subscribed to his newsletter, The Imperfectionist, by visiting: www.oliverburkeman.com.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/276

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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The idea for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is something I've personally been practicing with for a while...noticing those little moments or places during the day where things aren't flowing smoothly. When there are hiccups that totally derail my focus. Times when I struggle with something that seems like it should be much easier than it is.

Friction points. That's what we're talking about today.

Sometimes this is something like: I'm carrying too many things and can't open the car door. Or I keep the lighter in a drawer too far away from where I light candles and I finally notice: hey, I should move this thing over there.

Sometimes it's something far bigger. An unwillingness to look at a credit card statement, which creates a friction point between you and your financial health. A hesitation to apply for a new job, which creates a friction point between you and your professional goals.

We all have these little hangups in our days and we're going to look at it together this week on the pod. Join me and let's talk about friction points...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/275

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I recently got turned on to the idea of mental load...and I HAD to bring this one to The Transforming Anxiety Podcastand talk about it with you.

Have you heard of this concept?

Basically, this is all of the behind-the-scenes, "invisible" work that goes on to get the show on the road. The grocery store runs and laundry and organization and calendar finagling that has to happen to get everyone where they need to go, with everything they need to have, in a somewhat timely and sane manner.

It's the thankless, energy-filled effort that goes into supporting the family system, the work department, or the group / community / organization so that the people can do what they want and need to do.

And it weighs a lot, the mental load.

Come join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it more. Hit "reply" and let me know what your experience of mental load is like. I'm finding this concept SO useful and hope this one helps you, too...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/274

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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It's been a while since we've had a guest on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, but I have some GOOD ones lined up for you in the coming months. And we're starting back in with interviews by talking with THE Karla McLaren.

I have been reading, leaning on, referencing, and using Karla's books since I first started down the path of this work. The Language of Emotions is one I don't even bother "putting away;" it just has its own spot on the edge of the bookshelf where I can easily grab it throughout the week when I'm teaching and talking with students. Because I DO. Heavy rotation, with that one.

And she got to thinking, a few years after she published The Language of Emotions that anxiety kinda got left out. So she wrote another book: Embracing Anxiety.

And I'll warn you, our conversation is a little bit long but, I hope, worth your time. She brings such clarity, levity, and stability to ALL of our emotions and the inner experience.

Join me for this conversation on Embracing Anxiety with Karla McLaren...

Be Mindful, Not Anxious is open for enrollment! If you want to feel less anxious this fall, JOIN US! Click here to find out more and get signed up - we started Monday, September 16th, but it's not too late to join us! www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/bemindfulnotanxious

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/273

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Let's go waaaay back to the basics today. I want to pause for a moment and consider what anxiety in your body looks like and feels like...and how you can approach it.

We are taught to fight against, avoid, and try to route around most of our emotions. There's the relentless pursuit of happiness...and anything less is to be dodged at all costs...

...and it does cost us.

For this conversation today, I invite you to lean towards anxiety a bit and consider how this emotion works FOR you and how you can work WITH it...instead of telling such scary stories about it and trying to "fix" it.

Let's talk about anxiety on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. And how anxiety looks in your body...

Be Mindful, Not Anxious is open for enrollment! If you want to feel less anxious this fall, JOIN US! Click here to find out more and get signed up - we start Monday, September 16th! www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/bemindfulnotanxious

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/272

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Sometimes, we get a little lost in the rabbit holes of our minds and we wind up in the junk food aisle of thought. Y'know, stuff like:

Gossip
Complaining
Quick fixes
Self-doubt
Things you've thought before...

We're going to explore junk food self-talk on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast today.

This is something I'm pretty sure, oh, 100% of us do. 🙃

The more we can pay attention to the quality and content of our thinking, the BETTER.

Because when we clean up our thinking, there's a ripple effect on our emotions, our words, our actions, our behaviors...our LIVES.

I know, junk food tastes good. It's quick, it's convenient, it's so easy and yummy. I get it.

Same with junk food thoughts.

They're just RIGHT THERE, and they typically come with a little zip of dopamine, the little quick zip of pleasure.

But...but...

...just like real junk food, junk thinking isn't healthy, it isn't nourishing, and it doesn't support you in being the most YOU you that you can be.

Let's talk about it together. Junk food self-talk...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/271

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/269

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Back to school, time for fall, changes are coming...so let's talk about what sometimes happens which is: we get overwhelmed. 😬

There are a lot of emotional experiences out there and we flow through MANY of them in a day, an hour, a minute sometimes (know what I mean?). But overwhelm is something that doesn't dissipate quite like the others and it requires some special handling. We need to be extra careful with this one.

Because: overwhelm can take you out. It can complete derail you and wipe out your sense of confidence, capability, and (let's be honest) sanity.

As things gear up for the school year, this seemed especially timely and important to explore together. Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's talk about overwhelm together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/269

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Sooo, I'm thinking we all want to cope better with, well, all the things: work, kids, our own thoughts + feelings, how wild the world feels...y'know, LIFE.

And in this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I'm going to break all of it down into:

Stress
Stressors
Maladaptive coping strategies
Adapative coping strategies

so that we have a practical way to figure out where we are and how to cope better.

If you've felt a bit lost with how to get through a tricky situation or just completely zoned out, for hours at a time, and then come to and wondered where you went, this 20-minute episode will help.

Join me and let's talk about how to cope better...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/268

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Well, I've tried to do this episode a couple of times and I guess this one is tricky to pinpoint and talk directly about...but we're gonna try it anyway this week. We're talking about your magic on this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

What do I mean by "your magic?"

I mean: the things that make you YOU. The daily stuff that brings you closer to yourself. The vibe you have when you walk into a room. The little (and big) things that you do, say, create, think up, and offer simply by being here.

I think this stuff is important. Life-giving, in fact. Because, well, the alternative can be positively life-draining...and I want to safeguard us against losing our magic and, therefore, ourselves.

Join me for this conversation. Let's talk about your MAGIC.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/267

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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So, it's time for another feelings episode on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast BUT! This week we're going to explore how we can feel things without having those feelings ooze into our words and actions...

Have you ever totally lost your mind with your kid because you were feeling impatient? Or slammed a door out of frustration at work because your boss is so demanding?

Yeah...

Turns out: we can FEEL things and not get quite so reactive to those feelings. We can allow our emotions to be there, we can feel them, aaaand we can ask ourselves: who do I want to be in this situation? How do I want to respond? And we can turn up the volume on equanimity (more on that fancy word in this episode) and take action from a place of steadiness.

I know, I know. And yes, this is kinda mind-ninja stuff. It's possible, though. Promise.

Wanna practice together? Let's talk about it. Feeling it without being it. Join me...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/266

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Submit your questions to me by CLICKING THIS LINK. You can write me a message OR you can leave me a voicemail. I can reply directly to you and may use your question or comment on a future episode of the show! Also: I just love hearing from you. Let’s be in touch. 😊

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Welp, we've reached mid-summer and I thought it was time to take a pause...breathe...and ground ourselves with a few go-to, tried-and-true ideas. I wanted to share a few thoughts to live by that have supported me through good times and really tough times.

These are quotes, poems, and lessons I have been practicing with for years. These are all straight from my own personal work; reminders and teachings that I continue to lean on, contemplate, and keep close.

No matter what's going on in my life, these are the ones that I come back to over and over again.

So I thought hey, let's go easy this week and do something simple, but helpful. Bookmark this one; it'll be a great episode to return to down the road.

Join me for this episode. I'm looking forward to sharing these with you...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/265

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I just got back from a week hiking in Colorado and I got to thinking (while I was out of breath on the side of a 14,000+ foot mountain): why do we do these silly hard things?

Over and over again, humans seek ease, comfort, simplicity, and relaxation in life. We'll adjust the thermostat by one degree to get more comfortable. We fall back on old habits and patterns (good and bad) because the exertion required to change things can seem insurmountable. We are drawn to familiarity and what's well-known to us on the regular.

And...

...humans also have a wild capacity to seek out challenging situations, overcome difficulties, and push themselves way beyond their limits.

It's cool to THINK about doing silly hard things...because then we have a better idea of HOW to go out there and DO the silly hard things we want to do. Yeah? Join me. Let's go do some silly hard things together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/264

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Oh goody, we have a fun one today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...we're talking about resentment.

Yes. I know.

But this is an important conversation for us to have. Let's be honest: we're already feeling resentful about SOMETHING with SOMEONE. We all do. It's part of the underbelly of relationships.

Resentment isn't one of those things a relationship can withstand much of. There's really no such thing as "a little bit of resentment is ok" in a relationship.

So, we might as well talk about it. It's just one of those things...

Join me for this episode and let's explore it together. I'll see you there.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/263

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Hi again...I've missed you. And I have a GOOD one for you today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Y'know when you have those days where everything just clicks? Things are going your way and you feel like some luck or magic or your benevolent angels must have a hand in ushering good things to you.

Aaaand then there's the days where it feels almost comically stupid how awful things are going. You look around wondering if you're being punked because: how? How on earth can it all go so horribly wrong all at once?

Yeah...that's what we're going to discuss today. The "broaden and build" theory (which is an official term from psychologist Barbara Fredrickson) vs. the "diminish and demolish" idea (which is a very unofficial term from my own personal experience and the observations of oh so many clients by now).

And I have a few ideas on what to do if you find yourself stuck in the downward spiral of "diminish and demolish"...and it's not as tricky as you might think.

Join me and let's talk about it. Give ourselves a way to find where we are when we feel stuck and lost...and a roadmap for how to get back to where we want to be. I'll see you there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/262

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Something we haven't talked about for a while, but need to return to every so often, is self-compassion.

On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I'm sharing a talk from a mindfulness class I taught a while back.

The foundation for growth, change, and transformation HAS TO BE self-compassion. Otherwise, it'll never stick.

And as we gear up for the summer (here in the northern hemisphere) and those longer, brighter, hotter days with all the different kinds of busy and running around, it's time for a reminder about HOW we need to go about things.

No matter what those things are, self-compassion needs to come along for the ride.

Also: I'm going to be teaching some mindfulness classes and I wanted to give you a small taste of what you can expect if you'd like to join us.

Listen in to this week's episode for more on self-compassion...

...and stay tuned for more info on mindfulness classes coming SOON.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/261

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Something super simple (but of course these things are never all that easy) for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...3 little words that can change relationships AND anxiety. In a good way.

Believe.

You.

When we are willing to say this, I believe you, it creates space for understanding and compassion.

When we offer this, I believe you, it has the potential to connect, instead of separating us from the people in our lives.

When we can pause and get out of the way, I believe you, it allows us to really hear what's happening...not through our own lens, but through someone else's.

This brings people closer together.

This regulates our nervous system.

This is love.

Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it. I believe you...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/260

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Happy Wednesday. 😊 I had this interesting epiphany a few weeks ago in a conversation with a friend of mine and thought, yup, we need to talk about that on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

I think most of us can find ourselves somewhere on the spectrum of people pleasers. It's pretty ingrained in us from a young age that making the people around us happy means: we get attention, we get approval, we get love.

And through a variety of reasons, we make this mean different things:

If I live my life in ways people want and expect, they will like me
If I do what I'm supposed to do, they will like me
If I always say "yes," they will like me
If I am selfless and available, they will like me
If I prioritize their wants / needs, they will like me

We all run theme and variations of this stuff in our minds. It's like the calculus of belonging...

I want to look at a really specific aspect of people pleasing today and that is: how it shows up on a macro level and how that differs from micro-level people pleasing. Same thing, but different lenses.

And when we see BOTH, we can recognize this behavior for what it is...

Join me for this episode the podcast and let's talk about it...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/259

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Let's be honest with each other first thing today: we like to be in control. We like to have control. We like to have things under control.

We are kinda control freaks.

I want to talk about something really subtle re: control today so that we don't wind up thinking we have control where we do NOT have control and then find ourselves in a trap of trying to exert control over the outside world thinking, "wait, I've done this before and it worked" when it most decidedly did NOT and does NOT work.

When things go according to plan, it doesn't have that much to do with us.

When things fall apart, it doesn't have that much to do with us.

Control is an inside job...the things we have the MOST control over are our thoughts, our feelings, and our words + actions.

It sometimes LOOKS like we have control where we don't. And if we fall for that little trick, we wind up spinning our wheels in an effort to stay in control...when we our just pouring our energy into the wrong spot.

Let's talk about it. Today on The Transforming Anxiety it's episode #258, Predictability vs. Control.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/258

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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So this week we are talking about birthdays on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...mainly, honestly, because my birthday was Monday the 22nd and because every year, I get all in a tizzy about it...

...and I've found I'm not alone with this.

For years I've wanted to create something to support us around birthdays so that we can enjoy them.

Which is why I want to hear from YOU. In fact, I made a Google form so that you can tell me all the things re: birthdays and you.

I know this can be a really sensitive issue. Between the nostalgic/homesick/sentimental emotions that we experience on our birthdays to the reality of aging to feeling overlooked, forgotten, or downright ignored...all the way to absolutely loving this thing that is your very own personal holiday, I want to hear all about it. The good, the challenging, and everything else.

If you trust me enough to share, I'm here to listen. Consider it a birthday gift from you to me. 🥳

CLICK HERE if you want to give me your experiences, thoughts, and birthday wishes.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/257

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Over and over again, I talk with students who describe feeling as if they can't turn the volume down on the thoughts in their minds. That incessant chatter gets relentless. The stories and ideas just swirl around until it all becomes a tornado.

exhausting

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I want to talk about how to get out of your head so that you can find some breathing room up there in your mind.

You don't have to get lost in the cavern of your mind, going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, hoping for an easy place to get some peace to show up.

You can help yourself get OUT of your head, so that you can tune in to your life, your experience, your being.

You are so much more than the thoughts you think. Let's talk about it together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/256

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Good morning, happy Wednesday! This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is a discussion about something pretty simple, but a powerful addition to the toolbox that we're all using to take care of ourselves around anxiety. And that is: the inevitable lapses in logic that occur in our minds.

Our brains are shameless; they'll think absolutely anything. But this concept gives us a solid reminder that just because we think it, doesn't mean it's true. It's like there's a glitch in the matrix...

Sometimes we can approach a challenge (work presentation!) or something icky (a snake!) or something scary (teens driving!) with clarity and rationale. Aaaaaand sometimes, we just totally lose the plot.

What's the difference?

Whether we can, or cannot, tell the whole story, all the way through, using reason and logic.

Does our primal brain get in the way and perceive the situation as a threat? Or are we able to slow things down and calmly walk through the potential outcomes, seeing ALL possibilities as opposed to the one or two that point straight to the worst-case scenario?

Let's talk about it. A lapse in logic. This is something we ALL do. Fun! Join me and we'll sort it out together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/255

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Well, this may be (as close as we're gonna get to) the piece de resistance of the podcast: today, we're talking about living well.

Pretty much everything we do around here points to this: how can you feel okay in your skin? How can you move around the world being alright with who you are? How can you live well?

We got pretty caught up in the daily stuff and I think we lose sight of what's most vital. I know I have. And this is something I'm staying really close to right now: living well. Taking care of myself by focusing pretty much exclusively on: mind, body, and heart.

I also am asking simple, but powerful, questions like:

What do I need right now?
What do I want?
How could I get a little more comfortable?
Is there I'm thinking, feeling, or doing that seems icky?
What am I feeling pulled towards?
How can I be a little kinder with myself?

Nothing time-consuming, nothing ground-breaking. But it is helping me to get really honest and clear about what I truly want and need in my life. Join me. Let's talk about it. Probably the first of many, but I'm looking forward to this conversation with you...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/254

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Submit your questions to me by CLICKING THIS LINK. I can reply directly to you and may use your question or comment on a future episode of the show! Also: I just love hearing from you. Let’s be in touch. 😊

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Ok, today we are going to focus on something that I know brings a lot of confusion, guilt, and pressure (aka anxiety) into our lives...and that is: what community looks like.

I have experienced this myself and I talk to students every week about it. The people in our lives. Get-togethers and social gatherings. Family and holidays and vacations. Friend groups, acquaintances, colleagues.

How are we supposed to interact with all of these people? How many people should we have in our lives? What does community look like?

If you feel like you're constantly cycling through obligations, expectations, and trying to live up to some social-media-inspired lifestyle, full of people, this one is for you. Let's talk about community and take some time to define this for ourselves together today.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/253

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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Good morning. ☀️ I hope this finds you well. That you're doing ok so far this week. That you're hanging in, finding some flow, letting yourself breathe, and being kind with yourself.

On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I wanted to explore how we can move through all the things without having quite such a death grip on life.

Because, I mean, I think we DO. I've noticed we're holding on to it all pretty tightly...hoping that we can make it, that we can push through, that we can force it all to work and get all the people to cooperate and generally get things together.

But I wonder: what if we loosened our grip? What if we relaxed our jaws, shook off some tension, and let go just a little bit? What if we hold it lightly?

We don't have to swing all the way into "screw it, nevermind, I give up" mode. We could just...chill. You've heard of this, yeah? The concept of chilling out. 🙃 Me too. Let's give it a go together.

Join me for this week's conversation and let's take a look at where we're hanging on for dear life...and see if we could hold it lightly instead. I'll see you there.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/252

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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Ahhhhh, it's good to be back...back to transforming anxiety. I missed you.

In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I'm sharing a bit with you about why I took a(n unplanned) break, how I personally struggle a bit, and what we have to look forward to together: work that I want to do, practices I want to steep myself in, teachings I want to stay close to.

With you...

I want you to know that I don’t take the fact that you're here lightly. I don’t for a second take it for granted that you’re here with me. That you listen in. That you share your inbox with me. That this work means something to you. It means the world to me, too. And that’s why I do it. That’s why I show up. That’s why I love on you and bring you these conversations, from my heart and my research and my curiosity and a deep love for all of us who feel and struggle and work with and around and inside of anxiety. I get it. I walk this path right alongside you.

I'm so glad to be back. I've been thinking about you. And working hard. And also had to just take a moment to breathe and sit in the dark.

But I missed you. Let's get back to transforming anxiety...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/251

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we’re going to talk about that inner pileup of garbage that happens after days, weeks, months, YEARS of conversations, work, get-togethers, parenting, and activities. Alllll the garbage that starts gumming up the works, internally. The residue that happens when we ignore ourselves a little bit, when we bite our tongues, when we hold back, when we make ourselves small…

And, more importantly, we’re going to talk about a few specific ways you can take out the trash for yourself so that you feel better and things run more smoothly.

If you’ve ever felt bogged down at work, slow to make decisions, overly impatient with your family, or just like you can quite THINK clearly…it may be because the inner trash is piling up. These are all pretty common signals that something needs to be said, that it’s time to take a good, hard look at how you’re adulting, or that maybe a regular routine or pattern could use some adjustment.

This one is full of practical approaches to emotional ick. Ways to take care of yourself and clear things out. A little preemptive spring cleaning mid-winter, y’know.

Join me and let’s do this one together. Let’s take out all the trash…

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/250

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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I don't know about you, but I looooove to put my nose into other people's business. (Except I do know about you...I'm guessing you do this, too. Only about 100% of my students and friends and family do it. 🙃)

I mean, from our vantage point, we can so clearly see what they should be doing, right? If they would just behave, if they would just cooperate, if they would just do it the right way then all our lives will be easier.

sigh *

The cost of taking your eyes off your paper and nosing around to see what someone else is doing is HUGE. And that’s what we’re going to talk about on today’s episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Using a cute little story I like to call: the neighbor’s dandelions.

What are we looking for when we try and control someone else? Are there any upsides? And what are the consequences? Join me for today’s show and let’s discuss…

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/249

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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I have something that sounds fun today, but is way more important than its cute little name and that is: time confetti.

Have you ever had the feeling that you should have more time in your days and weeks than you do? Or sat down to relax for a few minutes and then looked at the clock to realize that an hour had flown by? Or felt so completely fragmented and distracted mentally that even when you get a moment to focus on something...you can't?

We can't manage time itself, but we CAN manage ourselves around time. And looking how we shred our time into little itty bitty pieces of confetti and then bemoan the loss of it is a pretty powerful way to start the new year.

It'll give us something to think about while we cook this month and gear up for 2024...more about that in last week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. 😉

Join me for this conversation and let's gather up that confetti and stop tearing up our time. We'll do it together. 🩵

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/248

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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New year! But same me. Same you. Same all of us. This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is a "what's new in the new year" but also an acknowledgment of: not much. 🙃

Goals, resolutions, and plans are all great. Yup. And also...maybe we can just slow-roll the new year and spend this month (this quarter?) considering what we want it to look like.

I'm putting the new year in hibernation-mode. And I offer a spin on how to come up with those grand plans and goals we all think about in the new year, too.

Join me and let's talk about it. What's new in the new year? Everything..and nothing. Yeah? But let's do it together

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/247

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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To start out the new year, I am SO excited to bring a really great conversation to you on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. I'm talking with Scott Stabile, author, teacher, and love activist, about his new book: Enough As You Are.

This book is an absolute must read. Pick it up anytime, on any page, and you'll find important lessons that you can bathe your brain in so that you can remember to remember: you are enough just as you are. Love wins. And practices like compassion, truth-telling, and being present are key.

I thought this discussion was the perfect way to begin this year. To clean the slate. To bring fresh eyes and a new perspective as we embark on the next iteration of your path, your growth, your LIFE.

Join me for this rich conversation with Scott Stabile...we'll see you there.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/246

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Tis the season, friend...this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about joy. It seems we have a verrrrry tricky dynamic with joy. Have you noticed?

We want to feel happy. We crave ease and contentment. And then, as soon as we feel like things are going okay, a nagging sense of doom creeps in.

How can we get more joy in our lives? <-- I think this is what we're wanting, yeah?

Well, the answer is weirdly counterintuitive. But I promise it's effective.

Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about joy.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/245

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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Ohhh this is gonna be a good conversation heading into the holidays...something I talk about with EVERY single student of mine is their own personal definitions.

Meaning:

What do YOU think success looks like?
What do YOU think a good friend does / says?
What do YOU think it means to be a wonderful parent / employee / boss / neighbor / writer / activist?
What do YOU think is enough?

We get wrapped up in the ideas of what we think good moms do, how the dinner needs to go, and what we need to prepare, plan for, and schedule for the family. We get consumed with doing more, going nonstop, and pulling off flawless gatherings.

Folks...let's lay that weapon down.

Stop letting outside definitions of what good enough looks like rule (read: wreck) your life.

Today we're going to talk about it and I'm STRONGLY inviting you to come up with your own personal definitions.

For all of it...

Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's talk about personal definitions.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/244

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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Y'know how movies sometimes have the "director's cut" where they play the whole movie with the filmmaker(s) speaking over the top of it, giving insights and outtakes and ideas about the whole process?

Today, on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want to use this Hollywood idea and apply it to our relationships (haha, yup).

I think we can borrow from this to give ourselves, and the people we love, more insight into how we're thinking and feeling. In real time.

Join me for this discussion as we explore the director's cut in your life...and consider how this could bring hugs swaths of awareness, clarity, and compassion into your mind and heart.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/243

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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This one seems timely, given where we're at in the year...and, I don't know, history. Let's talk about expectations today.

Should we raise our expectations? Lower them? Drop them altogether? And where the hell do our expectations come from in the first place?

Yeah...

This isn't a step-by-step tactical roadmap to sorting out expectations. But this conversation IS a study in awareness and giving ourselves some room to breathe.

And after the last few years + as we go deeper in the holiday season, we all need reminders and spaces like this, methinks.

Join me for this brief exploration into expectations...let's do this together.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/242

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to hang out in the gray a bit. That messy middle between the extremes of "all or nothing" and "right or wrong." That murky space where most of life is lived.

We're going to explore 2 contradictory approaches that we can practice. Even though we like things all neat and tidy and black-and-white. These 2 practices can be useful in a wide range of situations and the truth is: sometimes we need one practice (tapas), and sometimes we need the other practice (titrating).

If you haven't heard the words "tapas" or "titrating" before, don't worry, we'll get into all of it together today.

I know this isn't a place where we like to hang out, the gray. But join me there today and let's explore it together. I'll see you there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/241

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Good morning, happy Wednesday. ☺️ It's time for a(nother) conversation about thoughts. We circle back to our thinking from time to time around here because it's so dang important.

We tend to glorify thinking in our culture; we definitely consider thinking to be a "higher" power than feeling. But...is it? What are our minds telling us? Is it worth listening to?

This is what I want to explore with you in today's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Where do our thoughts come from? And are our minds straight up lying to us? (Hint: yup. Methinks so. At least sometimes.)

Join me and let's discuss...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/240

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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Welp, we've made it to November. Which means: everyone is gonna start talking about gratitude. So, ok, ok, I put together a gratitude episode for us. 🙄

Ha, ok, it's not all bad. I roll my eyes at gratitude a little bit because it sounds so damn cheesy. We hear about it all. the. time. and it just sounds a wee bit too earnest for me to get overly serious about.

But in (yet again) researching for this episode and (yup, again) reading up on the benefits of gratitude, and (uh huh, again) digging in with the science backing this concept, turns out, there may be something to this.

(I know...duh. My saying gratitude works is kinda like my saying a Pulitzer-prize winning book is good. No one needs my sign off. But, there we go.)

Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's talk about gratitude. I promise I'll make it worth your while...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/239

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I have another amazing interview for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...Scott Simon is joining me to talk about his book, Scare Your Soul. And this is far more than a book: it's an entire movement.

Scott is a speaker, entrepreneur, and writer. And he has completely transformed his life by harnessing the fear he felt about, well, a lot of stuff. Starting with: his fear of singing in public.

You've heard the old "feel the fear and do it anyway" adage? Yeah, yeah...but, HOW? That's what Scott's here to share with us.

His book outlines a roadmap for HOW to get out of the fear that limits you, keeps you doing the same ol' same ol', and traps you in a life that's not quite you. And the stories he shares along the way are inspiring, silly, heart-wrenching, and wildly motivating. His voice shines straight through the book.

Join me for this conversation with Scott. His perspective on fear is so refreshing. I'm looking forward to sharing this one with you...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/238

Find out more about Scott Simon and join the Scare Your Soul movement by visiting www.scareyoursoul.com

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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How are you? I'm so glad that we get to hang out each week. That you make space for these notes in your inbox. That you join me on this path of transforming anxiety and self-compassion and kindness and awareness. I truly believe this is the most important work of our lives. And it means a lot that you're here. Thank you. ☺️

I wanted to have a short and simple conversation with you this week about emotions; particularly with how we react to emotions.

I wonder what could be different if we considered our feelings as information...

I wonder what could shift if we used emotions as suggestions as to what could be going on inside of us...

I wonder if we could hang out with our emotions for a moment, instead of reacting to how we're feeling, what could change...

Let's talk about it. Join me for this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's explore reacting to emotions together. See you there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/237

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I want to consider a phrase I know you've heard before, don't burn your bridges, alongside a less common idea, burn the boats. It's a fiery mash-up this week. We're going to explore why it's important to keep the bridges, burn the boats.

This conversation is all about relationships and commitment. Awareness and engagement. It's mostly about intention.

What do you want? And how do you get there?

Let's talk about it together today...see you there.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/236

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I have a wonderful guest for you today. I am SO excited for this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Honestly, this one isn't optional. This work isn't a "nice to have" kind of thing.

I don't think I can overstate how important polyvagal theory is in the world of transforming anxiety. These principles give us a how-to guide in befriending our nervous systems and, therefore, a shortcut directly into slowing down the fight-or-flight stress response and leaning towards the rest-and-digest relaxation response.

There are many tools and practices out there: thought work, meditation, yoga, breath work, somatic tools, etc. that give us a way inside, a way to sit, a way to cultivate awareness and compassion and steadiness.

And really, polyvagal theory is the science-backed scaffolding that shows you how and why those other practices are so effective. They all have elements of this theory embedded in them and use our nervous system in various ways to create, well, freedom.

Join me for this great conversation with Deb where we explore:

The 3 elements of well-being
The 3 main principles of polyvagal theory
Resilience
Listening
The pathways of connection
And why we're not supposed to live our lives feeling happy all the time, always comfortable and at ease

I'll see you there...

Full show notes + a video of our conversation are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/235

To find out more about Deb Dana, visit https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety is literally straight from my heart to yours. We're talking about preemptive quitting this week. Why? Because this is the sit-down-pay-attention-clear-the-decks talk I had to have with myself recently.

Preemptive quitting is when you quit ahead of time. You quit as a backwards way of protecting yourself from rejection, disappointment, or failure. You say NO so that no one can say no to YOU.

And hey, it kinda works.

I just suspect there's probably a better way to go about our lives and thought we should talk about it. I know I need this. And I'm offering my personal work to you this week because I suspect I've got some company out there.

Join me for this week's conversation...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/234

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Something I think we all know but don't spend much time understanding is that: change is hard. On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I wanted to explore it with you on a deeper level. WHY is change so hard?

There are a couple different kinds of change that happens in our lives. One way change occurs is that something big and major happens, and it affects everything. New job, new city, new baby, new relationship...the loss of a loved one, retirement, an empty nest, the end of a relationship. These kinds of changes strike quickly and affect everything and it's up to us to deal with the aftershocks as we adjust to the new normal.

But there are other, slower, choice-based changes in our lives, too. Habits, routines, ways of speaking, feelings, belief systems, how we show up in the world. These things take constant choices, daily decisions, and real commitment...so that we can ultimately cross over a line and feel fundamentally transformed as a result.

The latter is what I want to focus on today.

Join me for this conversation re: change. And bringing some awareness and a 4-step process to make change a bit easier (if not outright pleasant). 😉

See you there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/233

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Time for some real talk: this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going underneath the conversation...

Y'know how when you're talking with someone, there are the words that are actually being said, the back-and-forth dialogue that is happening out loud...and then there's the inner conversation you're having ABOUT the conversation?

We all do this. We say, "sure, I'll be there!" when we're really thinking, "ugh, I don't have time for this." Or we complain to our partner about the dirty clothes on the floor while we're really thinking, "why don't you see me and understand me as a PERSON?!"

Yeah. Underneath the conversation.

If you're feeling chronically misunderstood, bitterly resentful, or completely out of sync with what's happening around you, you may be missing what's underneath the conversation.

Remember: we all do this. We're just trying to make it through the day and get dinner on the table. But...

...being willing to get honest about what's underneath the conversation can change your talks, and relationships, forever.

Join for this week's show. Let's talk...like underneath the conversation REAL talk.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/232

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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I'm SO excited to be back to our conversations with authors, psychologists, and all-around amazing people. This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I have a brand-new book to share with you: Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Generation Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World written by psychologist, keynote speaker, and consultant Dr. Lauren Cook.

Dr. Lauren has a refreshing and accessible approach to anxiety and her thoughts are geared specifically towards millennials and Gen Z'ers, making the work timely and uniquely suited to young professionals, parents, and those coming of age with tech, media, and the flood of cultural conditioning that is baked into our world today.

Join me for this conversation around anxiety, our shared phobia (it's weird and gross), and her insights for keeping your head above water in these trying times.

If you'd like to catch the video version of our conversation just click here. This is a great episode not only for all of you millenials and gen Z'ers, but for those who have people in these age groups in their lives.

To find out more about Dr. Lauren, visit www.drlaurencook.com and you can find her on Instagram and TikTok @dr.laurencook

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/231

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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Super quick, simple, and powerful practice for you today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: we're going to talk about naming the things.

Most of the time, we're lost in our thinking. We're telling stories about what's happening, we're fighting against how we're feeling or doing our damnedest to try to feel something else, and we're spinning out over the difference between our current situation vs. what we think should be happening.

sigh

Today we're going to explore the practice of naming the things. Simply recognizing and being aware of what is...and naming it.

I feel anxious.

I don't like this.

I need a break.

I'm tired.

No editorializing, no fixing, no explaining. Just: right now, it's like this.

Become aware. Observe. Name it. Simple...not always easy, sure, but worth practicing.

Let's talk about it together on this week's episode of the podcast. Join me there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/230

Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com

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This week's Transforming Anxiety Podcast is all about giving you a handful of tools that you can use to take care of yourself when you're really in it with anxiety. We're going to talk about the boat, the volcano, the mountaintop, and the tide.

These are all mental images, drawn from nature, that illustrate the journey, the experience, or an ideal direction to point yourself in re: transforming anxiety.

The boat: being safely carried above the water is a good thing, but we have to be willing to look underneath to see what's going on.

The volcano: because we live this close to that eruption point and would rather create space so we can pause and respond mindfully vs. reacting impulsively.

The mountaintop: our struggles, challenges, and pains aren't permanent; we aren't always going to be climbing up a mountain. We can remember to stop, grab a granola bar, and take in the view.

The tide: it all ebbs and flows, crashes and recedes, over and over again.

Join me for this discussion and these tools to support yourself on your path...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/229

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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I think we could all use a little break, a deep breath, a mid-year check-in...

And sure, we can touch base with those goals and resolutions from January. That's not a bad idea.

But I'm more interested in a mid-year return to self.

We live our days, our hours, and our minutes smack dab up close to whatever's happening: what we need to do, all the stuff we have to accomplish, where we need to go, things we need to check off the list.

But this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to zoom out, get some perspective, and take the eagle view of life. The long game. The bigger picture.

Sometimes we all need to hit pause and remind ourselves: we're human beings, not human doings. We need to live, breathe, and BE...not produce, go, and do.

Let's talk about it together this week. Mid-year check-in, baby. Mid-year return to self...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/228

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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We've all had those experiences where something seemingly trivial happens and we explode in response. A spilled cup of coffee. A stubbed toe. A snarky comment from a tween. And we get apoplectic.

Similarly (but opposite) we've completely utterly totally shut down when someone says the wrong thing at the wrong moment on the wrong day with the wrong stars aligned.

What's up with that?

We're going to explore this phenomenon in this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. We're talking about the window of tolerance. How / when / why do you get thrown outside of what feels handle-able? And how do you intentionally practice widening that window so it includes more and more of life's life-y-ness?

Let's talk about it. Join me for this week's show...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/227

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want to offer a simple, but pretty profound way to practice acceptance. We're going to explore the teaching: right now, it's like this.

This one isn't full of practical, tactical steps that you can take. Or things you can go and DO. Nope.

This is more of a quiet, meditative sort of thing. A sit-with-it-and-see-what-comes-up kind of practice.

It's something I've been working with for the past couple years and I want to offer this teaching to you in the hope that it will serve and support you, too. It's one for when you're in it. For when things are difficult and challenging and you sometimes just want to take your skin off and get away from yourself. THAT is what this is for.

I'm with you. Let's practice together, yeah? Right now, it's like this...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/226

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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If you've been hanging out with me for a while, then you know I'm super stuffy and serious about things...

...hahaha, just kidding.

And this week, I'm gonna embrace it. On The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're exploring 5 high-brow mindfulness tips. You're probably already guessing these things are the exact opposite of "high-brow." Aaaand you'd be right.

I've found that mindfulness and meditation seem to connote a certain formality. And it doesn't need to be that way. In fact, since most of us like fun things, we might as well make THIS fun, too. You with me?

Come join me for this conversation and let's explore how we can use these ideas to make mindfulness not only a little lighter, but something you're actually going to DO...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/225

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast starts out with a funny story about my brother's granny-in-law...and then segues into an exploration on how we can refuel, restore, and recharge our bodies in order to create a deeper well of resilience and, ultimately, less anxiety for ourselves.

In my experience, we have to consistently and continuously refill our buckets. Throughout our days we're relying on a wellspring of patience, kindness, compassion, and goodness to show up how we WANT to show up. But what happens when that well runs dry?

This episode is all about filling that well up. Cultivating a sense of strength, flexility, and resilience so that you can be the most YOU possible.

Join me and let's talk about your charging stations. I'll see you there...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/224

Text PODCAST to (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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It's time for another talk about: rest.

But listen, we aren't talking about rest so that you can get more done. It's not about resting so that you can go more, power through, and push harder. This isn't about overcoming a necessary evil (meaning: rest) so that you can get to the "real" part of life (meaning: productivity).

Nope.

This is about resting in the interest of cultivating more resilience.

I think we're deeply confused about rest. I think many of us view rest as a hurdle on the way to more hustling, doing, and going. I think we resent rest.

And I want to come at it from a new angle today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Whaddya say?

Let's talk about rest. Rest for resilience...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/223

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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How are we doing? It's Wednesday...again. Morning...again. Are we ready? I know - I'm not sure we're ready either. But here we are. We're in it together. Let's do this...yeah?

I have a simple idea for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. In fact, it's just 2 words: Oh. Really. Oh really. Oh really...?

I wanna explore using these 2 words as a way to curb our collective death grip on being right and invite more curiosity, inquiry, and connection.

What if, when presented with a challenging conversation, we asked, "oh really...?" What if, when someone offered a conflicting opinion to our own, we approached them with an, "oh really...?" What if, when we heard a nugget of information that was brand-new, we took it in with a genuine, "oh really...?"

"Oh really..." is a bridge for unity. It's a phrase to bring people together. "Oh really..." will connect you to the world around you.

Let's talk about it. Join me for this week's episode...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/222

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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How are you? How's summer treating you so far? Sunscreen, sweat, and late summer nights are all a thing over here, and I'm loving it. I went for years craving the fall and winter months; there's something so cozy about that time of year. But I tell ya what: these days, there's something about the brightness and vibrancy of summer that brings me alive in another way. And I'm here for it. I'm curious to hear how it's feeling for you...

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore a metaphor that I hope will really bring your nervous system into color in a whole new way: we're talking about anxiety as an alarm.

I know many of us treat anxiety like an emergency; if we're feeling remotely anxious it means Something Has Gone Wrong. But I want to challenge that this week with a mental image that I hope will stick with you and help you reconsider the messaging behind anxiety when it shows up.

Sneak peek: are the curtains on fire? Or are we dealing with burnt toast? Join me for this week's episode to hear what I mean...

Full shownotes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/221

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time...

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It seems like if we know something, we should act accordingly, right? If you know what you want or should do, then...do it! I mean, according to the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon, "knowing is half the battle" so it only makes sense that if we know what we want to do, we will do it.

And yet...

...we don't.

Turns out knowing is knowing and doing is doing, and the knowing actually has very little to do with the doing.

🤷‍♀️

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore this tricky little reality...the chasm between knowing and doing.

There's science behind this, good reasons why we don't just DO what we KNOW we want for ourselves, and an important link between this chasm and anxiety. Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it.

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 and I’ll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time-to-time…

Full shownotes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/220

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Are you a control freak? Are you a secret control freak and don't want to admit it? Are you surrounded by control freaks and feeling the pressure of complying with their wishes?

I'm going to guess: yes, yes, and yes.

Why do we seek to control? How come control freaks get such a bum rap? What can we do instead of plugging down the same old, ill-fated, control-grabbing path?

On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about control, being a "control freak," and how to re-think this approach to life. Let's hear it for the control freaks.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/219

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Over the last few years, I've found a handful of things that are true when they're put in action, but don't SEEM like they'd be true when you find yourself in a situation that you're not sure how to get out of, how to take care of, or how to navigate. So I pulled together this motley crew of practices and we're going to talk about it today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Today, we're talking about counterintuitive things.

Things that really don't make much sense on paper, but when you live it? Makes all the difference.

And these practices are things that will support you:

If you're feeling anxious
When you don't have enough time
If you need help at work, at home, or with your family and friends
When you're not okay

Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's talk about counterintuitive things...and how you can use these ironic practices to uplevel your day-to-day life.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/218

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So, a while back, my therapist called me a "people-pleaser." Which, to be honest, I thought was totally rude. 🙃 It's just a term I've never personally identified with and the idea that some under current of making everyone happy was yanking me around didn't feel great.

But I got curious...

What if I AM a people-pleaser?

So I started researching. How do people-pleasing behaviors show up? What are the symptoms and signs of people-pleasing?

Aaaand it made things pretty clear.

I'm bringing my findings to you on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . Are you a people-pleaser? Do you, like me, not think you are, but maybe you kinda sorta not-so-secretly are?

Join me for this conversation (and my totally dumb riff on that old you might be a redneck, if... sketch).

And hey: wanna dig into your own people-pleasing tendencies and start cleaning that up? CLICK HERE and let's talk.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/217

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I have another interview for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast; this week, I'm talking to author, long-distance hiker, and community-creator, Nicole Antoinette, about her new book How To Be Alone .

Nicole hiked all 800 miles of the Arizona Trail from the Utah border to Mexico...alone. She camped and rationed water in the desert and dealt with all the wildlife one imagines coming across, all while dealing with the thoughts, feelings, and discomfort that are an inevitable part of the human experience...especially if you're alone and confronted with 800 miles of your own mental chatter and meaning-making.

This is a powerful conversation that covers everything from people-pleasing to the reality of change to hiking gear to sobriety to divorce. We didn't leave much out.

And hey: whether you're interested in hiking or not, think of the trail as a microcosm of LIFE. Everything she confronts on the AZT directly relates to the work we do around here: transforming anxiety, tree by tree by tree (you'll see what I mean in the episode).

If you'd like to catch the video version of our conversation, just CLICK HERE. I can't wait for you to hear this one...

To find out more about Nicole, visit www.nicoleantoinette.com and you can find her on Instagram @nic.antoinette

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/216

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Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to do an exercise in awareness...and we're going to use the vehicle of complaining to practice.

We all complain. It's a very socially-acceptable way of relating and conversing with others. I'm pretty sure it's some peoples' love language (SO FUN!).

What is complaining? Why do we go there so often? Does it get us anywhere?

This isn't a conversation about trying to convince the people around you to not complain. It's not a how-to fix-it guide for solving the so-called problem of complaining.

It IS an investigation into the act of complaining and an invitation to bring awareness in. Which is sometimes all we need.

Join me for this week's episode and let's take a look at complaining...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/215

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A few weeks ago I did a podcast about your daily routine and I heard from a lot of you that it was helpful and gave you a new way to think about and set up your day. And then I got a great question: what about the WEEKEND?

And it made a lot of sense to me; after all, there's a completely different vibe to the weekends than there is to the regular ol' work day. And we still want to feel productive, sure. But our days off from work and school also invite a sense of joy, connection, and rest that maybe doesn't seem as accessible during the week.

So...let's take a look at it together. Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's explore your daily routine: the weekend edition.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/214

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You know I like to come at anxiety from all angles and I want to consider something that we haven't talked about on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast yet: victim mentality.

This is different from being the victim of a crime, of a natural disaster, of random violence or an accident or disease or some other action or event. Those are real and traumatic and difficult and that is NOT what we're discussing.

I'm talking about:

Blaming other people for things that happen in your life
Not taking responsibility for your words or actions
Having big reactions to small things
Believing everyone has it easier / better than you

These are mindsets that can completely sabotage you...and they all lead straight to spinning out in anxiety.

Join me for this week's episode and just consider how this one shows up for you. Spoiler alert: we all do it. This isn't something you're immune to. But you can cultivate more self-awareness and self-compassion and take yourself off this hook.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/213

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore how you talk to yourself in a really specific way: we're going to find your story.

We all have one. A story that we tell about ourselves, our circumstances, our experiences, our LIVES. And this story isn't true, in a real sense. It's "true" only because we tell it over and over and over again...until we absolutely completely totally believe it.

And then we go to work to create a reality based on that story.

In this week's episode I'm going to share a couple ways you can start to unearth your story + what that story really means...and why you want to see all of this with fresh perspective.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/212

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We have another interview this week, this time it's with Dr. Ellen Vora, author of The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response.

I read this about Ellen's work:

"This is a paradigm shift in how we view anxiety and the mind-body connection... Anxiety truly is our teacher, and this book is a must-have for anyone looking to heal." ~ Dr. Nicole LePera

I. Couldn't. Agree. MORE.

Ellen's whole-body approach to anxiety, her work on healing, and her deeply kind presence is a balm in our stress-fueled world. And her book gives solid, practical ways to take care of ourselves in a real way.

If you'd like to see the video version of our conversation, visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/211

You can find out more about Dr. Ellen Vora and her work by visiting www.ellenvora.com

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/211

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If I were to ask you, "what is the opposite of anxiety? " I'm guessing you'd say something like: calm, peace, relaxation.

Right?

Sounds pretty good. And on the surface of things, I think this makes sense. If anxiety is an agitated, wound up, nervous energy, then something soothing like calm or peace seems to be the opposing emotional experience.

Except...I'm teaching a path out of anxiety. I'm offering a "how to" roadmap to create change and turn the volume way down on anxiety. I'm interested in actually transforming anxiety.

And I've been working on a theory about a deeper, truer converse to anxiety.

This is one of those MUST LISTEN episodes of the podcast . Join me for this week's show to learn more about the opposite of anxiety...and why it isn't as simple as calm, peace, and relaxation. (Hint: it has to do with telling the TRUTH...)

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/210

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It's the little, ordinary, daily things that we do that make the biggest difference in our lives because: we do them so often. It's what makes up the biggest part of our lives.

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want to focus on your daily routine and how it's working, or not working, for you.

In talking with students, I get the sense that it's not WHAT they're doing throughout the day that's problematic and creating anxiety for them, it could be WHEN they're doing what they're doing.

I want to consider the arc of your day and give you a framework to structure the building blocks of your day around. So that you can get what you need, and want, to do done and so you can optimize your time, work with your natural flow of energy, and create a healthy lifestyle.

Join me for this episode and let's explore your daily routine together.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/209

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For most of us, there are things we know we want to change in our lives: habits, thoughts, ways of showing up in our relationships, career paths, how we're spending our time, what we do with our money...

But knowing we want, or even need, to change something vs. actually making the change? Well.

That's tricky.

Because: change is hard.

You follow The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and, I'm guessing, are looking to make some changes for yourself re: anxiety, at the very least. That's the whole name of the game around here.

But...it can be a pretty serious struggle. And we're going to talk about it today on the podcast. Why change is so hard + what you can do to start facing change head-on and integrate the shifts you want to see in your life.

Join me for this episode...it's a pretty important one.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/208

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I have another interview for you: this time with Dr. Kirk J. Schneider about his brand-new book, Life-Enhancing Anxiety...and can we talk about how amazing just that phrase is?? What if anxiety were life ENHANCING instead of, as he talks about, life DENYING?

In this interview we explore:

Life-denying anxiety - the pull towards black-and-white thinking and how keeping this mindset leads to dead-end living.
How to counter life-denying anxiety - being more aware of the wonder and awe of life and engaging there instead of bombarding ourselves with fear and fairy tales.
Life-enhancing anxiety - the kind of anxiety that "enables us to live with and make the best of the depth and mystery of existence."
The tyranny of sameness - and how "the desire for sameness can actually be one of the most destructive aspects of being alive."
How to move from anxiety to awe - and the importance of allowing ourselves to grapple with the discomfort of emotions like anxiety as a way to move towards real personal freedom.

This is a rich conversation and I hope that you find it helpful. Join me for my discussion with Dr. Kirk Schneider in this week's episode...

If you'd like to see the video version of our conversation, visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/207

You can find out more about Dr. Kirk Schneider and his books and articles by visiting www.kirkjschneider.com

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/207

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're talking about intense, negative, or uncomfortable emotional experiences...and how you can allow yourself to ebb and flow through them.

When you're up against something difficult, it can be tempting to avoid the hell out of it. Cut and run. Push it all WAY down so that you don't have to look at it.

But I want to offer you a way to intentionally and deliberately move in and out of intense experiences and why you'd want to do that. How it can help. And what letting yourself ebb and flow can do to alleviate the overall experience.

Join me for this week's episode and let's explore ebbing and flowing together...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/206

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want to talk about something important: sleep. And not just that you should get quality sleep (sure) or that sleep is good for you (duh), but I want to explore the idea of befriending sleep with you.

This is more of a mindset kind of thing. How do you approach sleep in your head? How do you talk to yourself about sleep? When you go to bed, are you going to war with yourself? Do you value rest, and sleep, or think of it as something that gets in your way?

These are all important things to consider. Sleep, after all, is at the core of our physical, mental, and emotional health.

Join me for this conversation and let's explore befriending sleep...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/205

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"I feel so bad about it..." <-- This is how most of us are feeling about...well, basically everything, amiright?? Parenting, work, our homes, friendships, how we're showing up in our marriages...you name it, we can feel guilty about it.

Why is that?

I want to explore guilt with you today and touch on healthy guilt (I did something bad, I own it, I apologize, I learn) and unhealthy guilt (I can't / don't want to meet society's expectations of me, my cultural conditioning is at odds with my authentic self, these shoulds and supposed-to's are killing me).

Healthy guilt = path towards positive change

Unhealthy guilt = road straight towards anxiety

If you have an ongoing experience with guilt, this is worth looking at. Let's talk about it together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/204

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Ohhhh I have something so FUN for you this week: my dear friend, Becky Vollmer, has a new book out in the world (birthed on January 3, 2023) and I brought her on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast to talk all about it.

Becky is like that wise, sassy, older sister who is full of encouragement and shares her hard-earned life lessons, and she's heavy on the love part of "tough love."

Her book reads just like having a conversation with her. And if you've found yourself in tough spots, navigating big decisions in life, or generally feeling trapped in inaction thanks to what Other People think, I'm telling ya, this book will wiggle you loose and point you firmly in the direction of FREEDOM.

If you'd like to see the video version of our conversation, visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/203 (another fun perk of doing interviews!). The audio will come straight to your regular podcast feed through all major platforms.

I so hope you enjoy the conversation, energy, and offering from Becky. You can find out more about her and her work by visiting www.youarenotstuck.com

Follow Becky on Instagram @youarenotstuck

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/203

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I have something really important for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast : we're going to talk about breathing for anxiety .

For sure, someone somewhere along the way has suggested you "take a deep breath" when they noticed you were feeling anxious or overwhelmed. You've likely handed out this advice yourself; it's almost a knee-jerk response when we see someone is upset. "Ok...take a deep breath..."

And there's a solid reason for that: IT WORKS.

I want to share a bit of the how and why behind this so that you have a deeper appreciation for the power of the breath, particularly in transforming anxiety.

And towards the end of the episode I share 2 breath practices you can use right away to support yourself in actually transforming anxiety. It's one thing to know these things in your mind; it's a whole other thing to implement them and practice with them so they become yours. That's where the transformations occur.

Join me for this episode and let's breathe together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/202

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Well this is fun...this week is episode #200 (!) of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast ! That's 200 conversations, 200 times we've hung out together, 200 weeks, of transforming anxiety. First of all: thank you. Thank you for showing up and being here with me. Thank you for sharing the show with your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with me by writing in and letting me know how it's impacting you. I'll keep it coming, every Wednesday, and I sincerely look forward to all we'll do together in our next 200 episodes...

Now...THIS week we're going to talk about your only job . There's a theme that I started in last week's episode on no goal new year that I want to keep with as we get into 2023 and that is: you only have one job, ever, and that is to take care of yourself. That's it.

Join me for this episode and let's explore what that looks like, how you can think about your daily activities differently, and what taking care of you means re: anxiety.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/200

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Welp, it's that time of year. When we all get serious about New Year's resolutions, plans for 2023, and goals.

But I have an idea and want to explore it with you on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast : how about a no goal new year ?

We are SO obsessed with more, better, faster, further. We think the only measure of our worth is what we can achieve, accomplish, and produce. But there's a better way.

Because also, please let's not forget what the last 3 years have been like, my goodness. A global pandemic, wild political and social unrest, fear and uncertainty, more mass shootings, war, the deepening climate crisis...not to mention the individual struggles and pains we've all experienced.

Maybe now, more than ever, we need to let go of the idea of pushing harder, achieving more, and keeping our nose to the grindstone. This moment calls for more steadiness, more deep breaths, bids for connection and offers of kindness, a focus on self-compassion, and listening to what we really want and need. Goals seem borderline superfluous right now.

Welcome to the no goal new year . Let's do this...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/199

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We're doing it...we almost made it to the end of 2022. Can you believe it? I know we always say that because humans seem to be mesmerized by time passing, but honestly, in this case, I almost can't believe it. What we've all been through, the tumult of this moment in history, is so intense. Our nervous systems are on fire. And...we're doing it. Hard, messy, icky though it may be, we. are. doing. it.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to look at our thinking...specifically metacognition and how we can think about our thinking.

It's a very cool mind ninja trick that we can use our thinking to consider our thinking; and it's a really meaningful skill to employ when we want to better understand ourselves, what we're up to, and what we want.

Join me for this episode and let's talk about metacogntion and get to thinking about our thinking together ...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/198

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This one goes out to the version of you that is IN IT...that is having the worst time, feeling the most intense feelings, and can barely imagine how things will ever feel okay or normal again.

I hear you. I see you. I've been there.

And this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast speaks directly to THIS moment: when you're in it .

This is a pretty heavy heart-to-heart. Keep this episode handy. Bookmark this page . Because when you're IN IT, you can't get clever and creative and resourceful. You can't pull yourself out. You need something to refer to say step 1, step 2, step 3. And this episode, I hope, can be that for you...

You've got this. You're doing it. This is figureoutable. I can help.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/197

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On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I want to challenge the notion that outer order creates inner calm...because maybe NOT .

I mean...have you seen Monica on Friends? Have you ever been around someone who is a complete neat freak? Are YOU kinda sorta obsessed with tidiness?

Is it working to create that inner calm promised with the whole "outer order" fantasy?

Just seems like if this were really true, then cleaning up and decluttering would basically equate to feeling calm. And I've yet to run into even ONE example of that.

Let's talk about it today . And challenge this idea, sure, but also explore what this might look like for you and how you can ease yourself down off this perfectionist ideal.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/196

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore protecting your headspace . Think of your mind as a plot of land, all the real estate that you have in your mind, just like a city. When we aren't paying attention, the real estate in our minds get rented out to low-level thoughts, phone notifications, and other people's ideas about what we should do.

We gotta be better stewards of our headspace.

This is a practice in awareness and challenging our habitual patterns and tendencies. It's a matter of waking up and asking: does this work for me? It's the work of prioritizing our headspace like it's our most important asset.

Psst: it is.

Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it more...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/195

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The holidays are almost here and that means a lot of get-togethers and family time. So I thought it might be helpful to explore mindful communication on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast .

Mindful communication pulls in, yup, elements of mindfulness and gives us a framework to think about how we're communicating. Because: communication is so ordinary, yet so powerful.

What we say matters.

We're going to explore some different elements of mindful communication in this episode, namely:

Show up and be present
Lead with curiosity and kindness
Remember what matters

Join me this week to zoom in on communication and consider how this could impact your experience of anxiety, stress, and overwhelm...and how practicing here could transform all of that for the better this holiday season.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/194

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're discussing thoughts, but in a way we've never talked about it before: we're going to explore the quality of your thinking .

Here's what I mean. We talk a lot about WHAT you think about. And how your thoughts affects your emotions, your actions, and how your life goes overall.

But this week we're going to talk about the content, the focus, the substance of your thinking. Where does your mind go? What form do your thoughts take? When you zoom out and consider the bigger arc of your thinking mind, where does it typically go?

Now, this isn't about high quality or low quality thinking. It's not about good or bad thinking. I'm talking more about the makeup of your thoughts, the qualities your mind returns to.

Join me for this week's episode and let's dig in together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/193

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Now, for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're talking about anxiety, specifically how anxiety is okay.

Because there's an underlying assumption that anxiety is bad, that it's something to be avoided, that we need to resist it. This is how we react to it. Even in our conversations about transforming anxiety, there's the unspoken idea that we'd want to because: anxiety = bad.

So this week, let's talk about it. Is anxiety all bad? Can it be okay? How else can we think about anxiety?

We're going to explore:

The fight-or-flight stress response
The rest-and-digest relaxation response
The excite-and-delight challenge response
The tend-and-befriend bonding response

There's more than one way to go about this. And I want to invite you to consider that anxiety as we know it is only one option...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/192

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going back to the basics; we're going to talk about the foundation of you.

A foundation is the lowest level of a structure, the load-bearing support that holds everything up. And THAT is what I want to consider with you today.

What is your lowest level? The part of you that's below ground, totally behind the scenes, holding everything up?

When you are on the path of transforming anxiety, cultivating healthy habits, living mindfully, and creating a sustainable life that fulfills you, it's tempting to skip to the most triggering, or most exciting, parts. To try and fix the juiciest and most attention-grabbing problems right away.

But we HAVE to start with the foundation. We have to fortify and solidify there first. Without a solid foundation, nothing else matter. With it? The sky's the limit.

We're going to talk through 3 primary basics...and then 4 other elements to consider as you strengthen your own foundation. We have to start here. And then? Game on...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/191

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Well, this sounds super fun. Let's talk about feeling UNCOMFORTABLE on purpose, yeah? 🙃

But there's a reason for this...

The key to doing / getting / achieving / feeling pretty much anything you want? It's on the other side of some discomfort.

If you want to do something new, you're going to have to feel uncomfortable. If it were totally easy and obvious how to do that thing, you'd already have done it.

If you want to get or achieve something you've never had before (a loving partner, a promotion, a new habit), you're going to feel some discomfort on the way. You'll definitely have to get vulnerable, face rejection, and dig deep to uplevel your relationships, work, and routine, so it's bound to get uncomfortable.

And if you're used to feeling anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, and worried and really want to create a new feeling state for yourself? It's going to require you to do new things, challenge your thinking, and open yourself up to new emotions. Spoiler alert: not totally comfortable, that journey.

So, being willing to practice discomfort on purpose? It's not for the sake of being uncomfortable. It's in the interest of things, feelings, and experiences you want for yourself. All of that is on the other side of discomfort.

Let's explore how you can practice discomfort in a safe way and how that training can cross-pollinate over into strength and resilience in all areas of your life. Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/190

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Now, despite the word "efficiency" in the title of this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, this is NOT a discussion about time management, life hacks, and getting more done. In fact, this is about the opposite of that stuff.

We're talking about protecting your efficiency today.

So, let's back up. I had a moment on a tall mountain in Colorado during a long hike when I thought to myself, "I bet there are people out there who are way more efficient with their hiking." People who aren't distracted, who aren't fiddling with their packs, who aren't spending time and energy doing things that don't serve them while they're on a tough hike at high altitude.

And this shows up in our minds and our emotions, too. We get distracted with planning thoughts, judgmental thoughts, thoughts about how a conversation went yesterday or how we want something to go tomorrow. And when we get lost in those thoughts, we can't use our minds efficiently with what we find valuable, meaningful, and important.

We feel anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed on a regular basis and when we try and show up in our lives as the parents, friends, workers, and family members that we want to be, we have to try and funnel all the anxious energy into something completely different...and we can't use our emotions efficiently at all.

So...let's talk about protecting your efficiency and clean all of this up together.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/189

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As you go through the motions of your day, it's easy to lose track of the bigger picture. We get so mired in our to-do lists, the work deadlines, the kids' activities, and just trying to keep our heads above water, that we can completely miss the larger perspective.

Or any perspective, really.

Everything starts to feel important. Little things add up and we get stressed out. Overwhelm comes in waves as we try to do more, keep it together, and press forward.

I know this all too well. I hear you. Which is why I want to offer you a reframe on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: it matters...and it doesn't matter.

Is it important that you get you get your work done, get dinner on the table, send a well-timed "happy birthday" message to a close friend, and clean out the basement? Sure. It matters.

...and it just doesn't matter at all.

I offer you this concept as a portal to freedom. Of course it all matters. It's meaningful to you. You value the things you're doing and the experiences you're having. Absolutely.

And in the end? It doesn't matter as much as we think it does.

When we can hold both of those truths at the same time, we're really on to something. You can't look too closely at it, or else it gets all mind-bendy and slithers out of view.

But recognizing that all of it matters, and at the same time none of it matters, is one of the most liberating realizations I've come across.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/188

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Well, it's no secret that life can be hard. In all of its amazingness, life throws in plenty of challenges, difficulties, and pain.

And I see the suffering life hands us in 2 ways: there's the suffering that creates more suffering. And the suffering that creates freedom.

When something bad happens we can choose to be with that pain, we can feel what it feels like to have something bad happen. Or we can suffer MORE.

And for why? Let's not suffer more.

A couple examples of how to create more suffering when you're already in pain:

Complain about it
Keep doing the same thing that created the initial suffering in the first place.

But...you could point yourself in the direction of freedom instead. When suffering comes knocking, you could:

Kick off from rock bottom
Be with the discomfort
Do it anxious

On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to explore the 2 kinds of suffering: the kind that leads to more suffering, and the kind that leads to FREEDOM...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/187

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Has anyone ever told you to "be the bigger person?" Or to look for the "silver lining?"

Yeah, these are helpful ideas. Valuable concepts. Things I teach my kids even. I can be the bigger person and show patience, compassion, and kindness. I can find the silver lining in a tough situation. Sure.

But sometimes? Sometimes I don't want to.

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about those little teachings and aphorisms that we wind up using against ourselves. We're going to talk about those times when you want to be a regular person, not the bigger person...those times when you see the whole damn cloud, not that tiny silver lining on the perimeter.

We're going to talk about spiritual weaponizing.

In this episode, I want to highlight what we're doing when we use these ideas against ourselves + invite you to drop those weapons. If the idea works, great. If the teaching points you in the direction of freedom, awesome.

But if you're using concepts like these to push yourself harder and faster? If you're using these phrases to power through when you want to just stop and take a breath? Yeah...let's not keep spiritually weaponizing these things and fighting against ourselves.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/186

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Y'know on your phone how you can set your notifications to ping you in real-time, so that every time you get an email it pops up on your screen? Orrrrr you can set it so that you have to open the app and actually check your email to see what's new?

Yeah, that's kinda sorta what we're talking about today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Because we do this with: our to-do lists, requests from family and neighbors, societal norms and expectations, text messages, and work projects. We tend to walk around with our "push notifications" from the external world wide open, setting ourselves up to be virtual antennas for whatever messages are coming our way.

But I want to consider what would shift if we moved towards a "pull" system instead. What if we didn't allow our attention, energy, focus, and awareness to be yanked around by whatever "they" wanted from us? What if we checked in with ourselves first...and determined whether we had the capacity or bandwidth for whatever request was landing in our laps? What if we allowed the people around us to empower themselves, take care of themselves, and feel however they're feeling...all without our needing to contribute if we didn't sincerely want to?

What then?

Let's explore the idea of push vs. pull this week together in this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/185

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Most of us have a tendency to mentally time-travel into the future and, while we're there, tell wild stories about how everything is going to HORRIBLY wrong. You know what I mean?

The project is going to bomb
The savings account is going to shrink to nothing
The friends / kids / partner are going to find out I have no idea what I'm doing and leave me alone and destitute

Our minds fill our attention with such scary stories of doom and gloom and instead of remembering that these predictions aren't REAL, we fall for those tales and wind up filled with dread, overwhelm, and anxiety.

So here's what we're going to talk about on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast this week: anticipation is worse than reality.

If you ever find yourself losing the plot, fully immersed in the story your mind is weaving, worried sick about how to control the future, this episode is for you.

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/184

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I'm baaaack! And oh it feels good to be with you, bringing you a brand-new episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. And ha, we're going to kick it off with a killer topic; we're diving back in talking about why it doesn't suck.

Which...well, let me explain. 😂

There's a lot of data backing the importance and benefits of practicing gratitude. Grateful people tend to be physically healthier, more resilient, have deeper relationships, feel more joy and happiness, and experience decreased levels of depression and anxiety to name a few perks. Not too shabby.

But if you have a little bit of an inner eyeroll when you think about creating some kind of regular gratitude practice, join me in lowering the bar and making this even easier: I love to ask myself, "how does this NOT suck?"

From simple things like my to-do list to larger-scale situations (pandemics, war, social justice issues) it can get pretty easy to get bogged down in just how difficult, scary, and awful things can be. But I like to right-size things by asking, "why does it not suck?" and finding places where I can rest easy, let go, and even get grateful.

Join me for this new episode of the podcast and let's explore why it doesn't suck...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/183

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Come join the 6-week How to Meditate to Transform Anxiety course by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate

This course will teach you:

All about mindfulness meditation + debunk the myths around it
The key to shifting your relationship with anxiety
How meditation can work for you day after day after day
How to slow things down and quiet the infernal chatter in your mind
Why meditation hasn't worked before...but can support you moving forward

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August is here! And I'm traveling like a pre-COVID jetsetter this month. So I'm going to practice what I preach and go a little easy on myself...and I'm hoping that this proves supportive and valuable for both of us. 🤗

First of all: make SURE you're subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don't miss the upcoming bonus series, a little something I'm calling Mindful Mondays. I designed these episodes to give you a short-and-sweet overview of mindfulness meditation + some ideas on how / why these practices really help to support those of us who tend towards anxiety. So tune in for those August 8th through August 29th.

Secondly, there are 177 episodes of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast out there and with that many, there are a few that have risen to the top as clear MVPs. This month we're going to revisit some of the most popular episodes (so far!). I find that hearing these things multiple times definitely helps...and it often lands much differently than the first go-around.

So, in that spirit, we're going to do another round of Worry is Not Love this week. I have been thinking about worry: What do you worry about? What does it look like when you worry? Does worry ever "work" for you?

Here are some common things I hear from clients:

I can't help but worry...
I worry about things I said or did in the past...
I worry because I think if I don’t worry, then the thing I’m worrying about will happen...
I worry about everything...

Sound familiar?

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to break worry down and get specific with it.

And I'm going to offer you some practices to crowd the worry out...

Because: most of us worry because we love. But: worry is not love.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/182

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Welcome to a 4-part series that I'm doing through The Transforming Anxiety Podcast feed called: Mindfulness Monday.

Each Monday from August 8 - August 29 we're going to explore a different aspect of mindfulness meditation. By now, no doubt you've heard about the benefits of meditation. Maybe you've tried it yourself, but it hasn't stuck...or maybe you're not sure where to start.

Whatever your experience so far with meditation, you're here because you want to find relief from anxiety. And I've heard from many of you that you're looking for a way in with meditation. A way to practice. Some more of the "how and why" behind meditation...and practical ways this approach could support you on your path out of anxiety.

These short podcast episodes will give you:

An overview of mindfulness meditation (what is it?)
What to expect with a meditation practice (why do it?)
How meditation supports those of us who tend towards anxiety (will this help me?)

This week we're going to be taking a look at practice. Cuz here's the truth: the benefits of ANY of this work don't come without practice. We have to show up and regularly practice being kind, showing compassion, being present, having awareness, and being mindful in general.

Just like if you were learning a foreign language or learning to play an instrument, you'd practice. Just like great athletes, it takes repetition and consistency. Just like with our relationships and routines and health and finances...we keep showing up, day after day, practicing. Yeah?

So let's talk about practice today. How this plays into mindfulness and meditation and what the heck this all has to do with anxiety, sound good?

Full shownotes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/mindfulmonday4

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So, in that spirit, we're going to do another round of The Inner Voices this week. Ever feel like there's a nonstop chatterbox in your mind, commenting on every single thing that you do throughout the day?

Yeah, you're not alone.

Most of us are particularly "head-y," meaning we live in our minds and think think think incessantly. We have opinions and judgments and stories. We are constantly listening to a running commentary about what's happening around us. It's nonstop up there.

In order to gain some perspective, I've found it helpful to separate all that chatter into 3 separate inner voices:

The critic - the one who constantly berates and ridicules you
The council - the inner "board of directors"
The culture - the borrowed thoughts that we layer onto our ownthoughts, thanks to the society we live in

Personalizing these inner voices means we're not quite so entangled with them. We can see who's talking ("hey there, critic!") and recognize thoughts that are specifically UNTRUE ("thank you, culture"), all while taking certain beliefs or comments with a grain of salt ("I hear ya, council").

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to explore these inner voices and, in doing so, gain an important amount of perspective. <-- It's this perspective that will help you gain authority over all that inner chatter.

Sound good?

See you on the podcast...

Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/181

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Welcome to a 4-part series that I'm doing through The Transforming Anxiety Podcast feed called: Mindfulness Monday.

These short podcast episodes will give you:

An overview of mindfulness meditation (what is it?)
What to expect with a meditation practice (why do it?)
How meditation supports those of us who tend towards anxiety (will this help me?)

This week we're going to be taking a look at compassion.

Here's what I know for sure: you cannot hate yourself into feeling better. You can't beat yourself into calm. You cannot berate yourself with negative self-talk and hope to create the life you want.

It doesn't work that way.

When you cultivate a sense of compassion, for others but most importantly for yourself, you invite a space and kindness that allows for, say, experiences like anxiety to wiggle loose and dissipate. Holding on and trying to control and spinning in worst-case scenario thinking is a recipe for more of the same, more ANXIETY.

Compassion ushers in room to expand, grow, and breathe.

Join me for this episode and let's explore compassion together...

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/mindfulmonday3

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So, in that spirit, we're going to do another round of Friend Anxiety this week. Now, I'm not here to dole out any friendship decrees. This is more of a discussion with some general ideas to bear in mind.

If you changed your perspective on the friendships in your life, would you feel differently? Could you feel better even?

We're going to take a look at friendships and the ideas of:

Some friends are there for a certain season in our lives
Adults get to do whatever they want to do (and we should believe them when they show us who they are)
How love languages + boundaries factor into even the closest of friendships

If you've experienced any bumps or shifts in your friendships (pandemic-related or not), then join me for this episode. I'll help you bring some fresh ideas into your friendships...and wiggle loose the anxiety that may be showing up instead of the love you want to be feeling for your pals.

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/180

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Welcome to a 4-part series that I'm doing through The Transforming Anxiety Podcast feed called: Mindfulness Monday.

These short podcast episodes will give you:

An overview of mindfulness meditation (what is it?)
What to expect with a meditation practice (why do it?)
How meditation supports those of us who tend towards anxiety (will this help me?)

This week we're going to be taking a look at presence. Just like they say in Vegas: you must be present to win. 😉 Presence is so important for overall emotional health aaaaand I have this theory that presence just might be the opposite of anxiety.

Thoughts?

Join me for this episode and let's explore presence together...

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So, in that spirit, we're going to do another round of How to Let it Go this week. Anxious people often hear things like:

Calm down!

Don't worry so much...

Oh, just relax.

Let it go...

sigh

Yeah, WE KNOW! Amiright?! If we could calm down, quit worrying, relax, and let it go, we so totally would. No argument there.

It's more a matter of HOW TO, yeah? The stumbling blocks on the way to calming down, relaxing, and letting it go are what we struggle with.

This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is a 3-part framework that answers that "how to?" question. We'll explore how to let it go with 3 simple concepts borrowed from the Buddhist teachings.

Join me for this one if this is something you'd like to start implementing in your life right away...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/179

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Welcome to a 4-part series that I'm doing through The Transforming Anxiety Podcast feed called: Mindfulness Monday.

These short podcast episodes will give you:

An overview of mindfulness meditation (what is it?)
What to expect with a meditation practice (why do it?)
How meditation supports those of us who tend towards anxiety (will this help me?)

This week we're going to be taking a look at awareness. Whatever we're doing, well, we can't do it without the power of awareness.

In a world where we're all rushing towards the next thing, scurrying through our to-do lists, and feeling constantly overwhelmed and exhausted, mindfulness meditation holds some pretty powerful tips for how to get aware, be in this moment, and LIVE.

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/mindfulmonday1

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So, in that spirit, we're going to do another round of Certainty, Uncertainty, & Anxiety this week.

If you're anything like me, you've tried a lot of things in order to create more certainty in your life:

Plan ahead
Make all the lists
Prepare for the worst-case scenario
Plan some more
Arrive early
Over-pack and bring all the things
Ask a bazillion questions
Plan some more
Play out the what-could-go-wrong possibilities
Get exhausted and fall into a heap

Anyone? 🤚

It seems like if we can just be certain about how things are going to go, that we can be ok.

But there's a far more useful and beneficial way of going about it.

Instead of hoping the other people are going to cooperate, planning to the max, and trying to predict the future, what if we strengthened our ability to deal with uncertainty?

Basically: since certainty isn't coming for us, let's learn how to deal with uncertainty.

You in? Let's do this (again)... 💜

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/178

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Ever get totally caught up in the to-do list and wind up lost in a sea of going and doing and just completely forget that you're ALIVE?!

Yup, me too.

This week, on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want us all to hit pause and remember: this. is. LIFE. We're living it.

And...there's an invitation in this pause to move, with intention, towards those places where you feel the MOST alive.

I got to really thinking about this for myself. Where do I feel the most alive? What takes me closer to myself? To who I want to be in the world?

And I found a few hints that I'm on the right track:

Spaces and destinations where I have a strong sense of place - for me this is in the mountains, the woods, certain loved ones' homes, and near the lake
Activities where I lose track of time - like on my yoga mat, with a good book, hiking, and when I'm with my kids
And (maybe my favorite): the places where I don't have to pretend - this is with my closest girlfriends, my pets, my coach, and (increasingly) myself...

Let's explore this together this week. Come join me for a short-and-sweet discussion on where you feel the most alive. And let's keep moving in that direction together...

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/177

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Fun times...today we're talking about CONFLICT over on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

But then, we talk about all sorts of fun stuff around here: anxiety, family drama, feelings, the messiness of life, emotional health...I mean, we were overdue for a chat about conflict, no? 🙃

Here's how I thought we'd do this one:

I'll share with you 2 different approaches I take with conflict to support myself and reframe the whole thing...
We'll consider how anxiety plays into conflict + what to do to ease that anxiety so you don't get caught up in a panicky spin

Let's do conflict and transform that anxiety...

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/176

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It's hot, hot, hot here in Kansas City, so I wanted to offer something this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast to help cool things down.

I work with SO many clients who are experiencing some form of burnout: at work, at home, with their families, even with their friends. And what's happening is that they're holding on so tightly to whatever they're doing that they're building tension...physical tension, mental tension, and emotional tension.

That tension is HOT...there's a reason they call it "burnout," after all.

This week we're talking about cooling your mind (because that's where this all starts) and exploring what cooling it down looks like, and how that could serve you.

Listen: if tension and burnout got you where you wanted to go, you'd be there by now. It doesn't work...

Meaning: you need to cool it. 😎

See you on the podcast…

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/175

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How are you doing? I hope summer is treating you well...although I know the news and events just keep hitting + the pandemic that just. won't. end. I hope your heart is doing alright in the midst of all of this. I know it's a lot.

That's why we're here...to drop in and take care of ourselves. Even for a few minutes each week with the podcast. With awareness. With compassion and kindness.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about running away from yourself...specifically how most of us are packing our schedules full and cramming our to-do lists with junk as a way to flee from ourselves.

It seems so noble, being busy. But in this week's episode, I invite you to consider: WHY are you so busy? What is all that busy-ness about? And is it possible that you're using your calendar and to-do list as a way to run away from yourself (and your habits, emotions, wants, and thoughts)?

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/174

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There's anxiety...and then there's the ANXIETY of anxiety. The anxiety on top of anxiety. The anxiety we feel about anxiety. Y'know what I mean?

This is a wild ride. It’s a multi-layered, tornado spin of pure adrenaline. We’re going to talk about it today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast because even though it’s no good, it’s VERY common.

And normalizing this experience, knowing and reminding yourself that nothing has gone wrong because you get anxious over being anxious, is super helpful.

You can feel better. Anxiety doesn’t have to be quite so gobsmacking and total. And it certainly doesn’t have to be in control of you. Let's talk about it together...

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/173

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Happy SUMMER! It's officially here and I'm on vacation this week. I'm visiting my home-away-from-home, Chicago, and right now I'm probably walking along Lake Michigan with an iced coffee in hand, hanging out with my adopted city, visiting my old apartment, and making sure some of my favorite places (like Ann Sather's, Unabridged Books, and Intelligentsia) are still there.

Annnnyway, this week, since I'm gone, I'm sharing a talk on Happiness & Joy that I recently gave to a mindfulness meditation group. I'm doing more and more of this work as I finalize my meditation teacher certification and I wanted to share a bit of it with YOU this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

I have found that mindfulness and meditation are 2 of the most important tools I have in transforming anxiety. This talk will give you a little taste of that world and I hope you find it helpful. 💜

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/172

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One of the most valuable things we, as people who tend towards anxiety, can learn to do is regulate our nervous systems.

Why?

Feeling anxious ups the adrenaline and cortisol in your system. And you become a bit of a pressure cooker, constantly turning up the volume with more to-do lists, more people-pleasing, and more perfectionism.

Regulating your nervous system on purpose is like hitting the release valve and blowing off all that extra steam...it helps to recalibrate your nervous system and bring things back to steady state. phew

In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk through 5 ways to regulate your nervous system. These are things you can put into place right away.

You know how it is to feel anxious, like your nervous system is totally amped up, on overdrive, and pouring gas on an already panicky fire.

Let's turn that down by practicing the opposite - soothing, easing, and down-regulating yourself. Sound good?

Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/171

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I know you've noticed that all day, every day, your mind is talking to you. It has ideas, stories, and opinions. And those ideas, stories, and opinions are pretty much the same ones from yesterday...and the day before...and the day before that.

And just like the songs on the radio, if you hear something often enough, you start humming along. You start singing the words. Basically: you fall for it. You start to believe the latest Justin Bieber song is the best thing out there...and that your mind must be right about that whole, "you're not good enough" thing.

So in this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to take a closer look...

...like, imagine you're walking down a city street and you pass a shop with one of those sidewalk signs out front. It's all cute with its chalk artwork, enticing you to come inside. You know the drill.

Now: imagine your mind is that sidewalk sign. And one of those top 10 ideas that your mind thinks all day every day (usually something like, "you’ve got to get all of this done," or, "you can't handle this") is what you've got plastered on it, in pretty font.

Would you stop in that shop? Would you buy what you're selling?

Join me for this episode and let's talk about it.

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/170

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I'm sure you've noticed the never-ending nature of life. More emails, more laundry, more projects, more dinners to cook...and then clean up after. We're all in an infinity loop of doing and going.

Yet, we're also stuck in this weird trap of believing that somehow, someday, we'll be caught up. That we'll have achieved, accomplished, and completed enough that we can finally sit down and relax.

I want to take a closer look at this phenomenon with you today on this week's episode.

I'm calling this one: there's always something. And I want to debunk the myth that there's NOT always something. Let's just embrace that. Because it's true!

But this doesn't have to be bad news. How we approach this is key. Let's discuss...

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/169

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I recently finished reading Jane Goodall's newest book, The Book About Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times and I got to thinking...we should talk about hope.

Because no matter what your personal experience with anxiety looks like, no matter whether anxiety is something new to you or a very old companion, no matter how often anxiety ebbs and flows in your life, there's a common thing that brings all of us together each week for The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

That thing is hope.

Without hope, what's the point? Without hope, we lose touch with the hunch we have that things can feel better. Without hope, we stop trying to create what we want in our relationships, at work, with our kids, and in our friendships. Without hope, we stop moving forward.

Hope may not always be at the forefront of your emotional landscape, but hope is always there. Let's talk about it this week: what hope is, how to harness hope, and what you can take away from this and into your week immediately.

Hope is necessary...

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/168

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Q for you: how do you show up? How do you show up with your family? How do you show up at work? How do you show up with your friends? How do you show up for the things you enjoy, the causes you believe in, and the activities that you engage in?

...a lot of us are barely showing up.

And I don't mean we aren't getting stuff done. Look around. We 👏 are 👏 DOING 👏 IT.

But are you there for your life? Do you fully experience the things you're doing, the words you're saying, the people you're with? Are you connected? Or are you merely going through the motions?

Are you showing up fully in your life?

That's what we're talking about today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. I wanna explore this one with you and consider the ways you may be hitting the "medicate-and-run" button instead of fully showing up, being present in your life.

This is an important one. Let's get HERE...

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/167

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Quick poll: on a scale of 1 - 10 (1 being not at all, 10 being totally tuned in), how readily are you paying attention to YOURSELF?

Uh huh...most of us are saying a big fat, "umm..." to that one and, if we're honest, landing closer to the 1 than the 10 on that scale.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about it. Listening to your body is something I mention in passing a lot around here, and I thought it was time to give this topic the deep dive it deserves.

We're going to look at this one from several angles: a few fundamental elements, like listening to your body when it's tired, sick, or injured. But also listening to your emotions, knowing that your body (physically and emotionally) will always win, and getting curious about what your body is holding on to...

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/166

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If you've been hanging around with me for a while, you know I talk a lot about acceptance (if you're new, buckle up...it's a very common theme here). But I've bumped into something interesting in my own personal work and I wanted to bring it to the podcast and explore it with you and that's: acceptance vs. apathy.

The thing with acceptance is that we don't have to LIKE it in order to ACCEPT it. This is tricky. We fall into believing that if we don't like it, we can't accept it. That's not the case. Our collective acceptance of COVID is a good example: we accept that it's part of the reality of the world, we don't like it whatsoever. You follow me?

But sometimes we veer away from acceptance towards apathy, adopting a "I don't care, whatever" kind of attitude and calling THAT come-what-may approach "acceptance."

There's a biiiiig difference between acceptance and apathy. And it's worth discussing because we can't leapfrog ourselves into acceptance from apathy...dammit.

Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it.

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/165

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Anyone else feel like they're trying to be Wonderwoman on a daily basis? 🙋‍♀️ The pace we (try) to keep is insane. We are rushing from here to there pretty much nonstop. We go from this thing to that thing and when we arrive we think, "huh, I don't even remember the drive over."

We are very rarely HERE. And you know what? That's the only place we're rushing. It's only ever MORE here. THERE is always in the future. We never get THERE. We're only ever HERE.

Have you noticed...?

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to discuss rushing and rushing. Because we all have a hunch that slowing down would be helpful and would probably feel way better. But why? How?

Let's talk about it...

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/164

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We find patterns everywhere in nature: waves, stripes, spirals, and symmetries are just a few patterns we find in plants and animals. And wouldn't you know it, we humans are natural beings. And we love a good pattern, too, don't we? This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore patterns...more specifically how we tend to repeat our patterns.

I want to explore with you where this shows up (hint: it's not just in what you're DOING) and a subtle, but extremely important, difference in how we repeat the patterns in our lives.

So if you've ever wondered why you keep living out the same patterns (even when you know it's not working for you), join me for this episode and let's crack this one open so you can see it differently...

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/163

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Anxious people often hear things like:

Calm down!

Don't worry so much...

Oh, just relax.

Let it go...

sigh

Yeah, WE KNOW! Amiright?! If we could calm down, quit worrying, relax, and let it go, we so totally would. No argument there.

It's more a matter of HOW TO, yeah? The stumbling blocks on the way to calming down, relaxing, and letting it go are what we struggle with.

This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is a 3-part framework that answers that "how to?" question. We'll explore how to let it go with 3 simple concepts borrowed from the Buddhist teachings.

Join me for this one if this is something you'd like to start implementing in your life right away...

www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/162

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I have a very technical, official episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast for you this week. (Ha, no I don't. That's a joke.) But what this episode lacks in formality it makes up for in USEFULNESS. We're talking about Relationship Mathtoday. And well, listen, I don't know if the title "relationship math" does this one justice. We're talking about the rule of thirds: how pretty much across the board, 1/3 of the people you run across are going to dislike you, 1/3 of them will be totally apathetic about you, but 1/3 of them are going to LOVE you.

And that last 1/3 is the one to focus on.

So many of us spend our time and energy hustling and trying to convince the first 2/3 (the haters and the apathetics) to come over to the 1/3 that LOVES us.

But this is a lose-lose situation.

Because 1) no one wants to be manipulated into a different, less authentic 1/3 than the one they're in, and 2) you totally miss out on the connection with the 1/3 that genuinely WANTS you.

Yeah?

Join me for this episode one and let's explore relationship math a bit more closely...and see how this one shows up with the people in your life.

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/161

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One of the hottest topics with my clients is self-trust...it doesn't matter if you want to break old habits (i.e. overdrinking, staying up too late, feeling anxious) or clean up your (physical / mental / emotional / financial) health routine or simply feel good in your own skin, whatever it is you want for yourself that you don't currently have? It requires self-trust. So this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore self-trust and HOW to develop trust in yourself. This is a big topic. Something we will surely revisit in future episodes. For now, we're going to look at self-trust by considering:

HOW to cultivate a practice of self-trust
What belonging and fixing our own broken wheels has to do with trusting in ourselves
Why we can't begin to show up kindly or compassionately for others until we do the work inside, first

However shiny we might look on the outside, most of us walk around with a never-ending stream of self-hatred on loop in our minds.

Self-rejection is not the way to steadiness, peace, or compassion, my friend. Let's talk about it together.

For more on The Transforming Anxiety Collective and to apply for the next cohort (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/call

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/160

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

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We're going to do something a little different this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...I want to have a conversation with you about something I'm personally working on. This is not unique to me at all; it's something I suspect is the work ahead of many of us. And that is: Being Yourself. How do we do this? What does it even MEAN to "be yourself?"

Because we all live in a world where we're told exactly how to do the things and what we should look like and how to show up and what all we need to get done. The world is flooding us with that information. Nonstop...

So how do we strip it all away and simply BE?

We're constantly bombarded by cultural conditioning and messaging about what a "good mom" does and what success looks like and oh yeah, here's what your house and clothes and vacation should be, too. The world tells us what's normal and convenient and expected of us. All the time...

So how do become less of what "they" want from us and simply BE?

To be honest, I've got more questions than answers this time around. This is a conversation about being yourself. I am pretty sure we're all going to have to find our own ways in, but I also have a hunch this is pretty damn important.

It's the work I'm doing right now with my coach. So I thought I'd bring it here and chat about it with you. Let's inquire together. How to simply BE?

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/159

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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We are all well versed in the benefits of physical fitness at this point. It's no secret that exercising regularly is great for our bodies, minds, and supports us emotionally, too.

And I got to thinking...what about being mentally fit? What would it look like to extend our ideas of physical fitness to our mental and emotional states, too? And not just the perks of moving our bodies, but intentionally cultivating mental fitness.

So that's what we're going to explore today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: the importance of being mentally fit + how we'd go about it.

I break this topic into 4 elements:

Training
Strength
Agility
Rest

(Hint: that last one might actually be the real winner, here.)

Join me for this episode and let's discuss mental agility...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/158

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Women struggle with anxiety for a handful of reasons, but one of the biggies is a lack of confidence. We treat confidence like we got lucky and have it, or don't. That it's something we may magically feel someday down the road, but can't right now. That it's on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum from anxiety...meaning: we can either feel anxious OR confident, but certainly not both. (Subtext: if I'm regularly feeling anxious, then confidence is not for me.) In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I want to highlight the places where confidence goes to die and offer you the antidotes for those confidence thieves. If you've ever had thoughts like:

I've never done it before...
I've tried it but it didn't work out...
I don't know HOW to do it...
Everyone else has it all figured out...
I could never do it...

where "it" is: getting a new job, being more patient with the kids, starting a nourishing morning routine, or any other life / work / financial / health / relationship thing, then this one is for you.

Confidence is not unattainable. It's not for "other people." And you CAN create it.

But it requires a few simple steps and practices. Let's explore this one together...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/157

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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There's a strong undercurrent of "not enough" in our culture... We are always trying to be better, thinner, funnier, smarter, richer, and further along than we are right now. There's a never-ending striving towards MORE. Having more, producing more, doing more... Have you noticed?? This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore the idea of "enoughness"...because: you are enough. I want to consider a few things with you in this episode:

The practice of letting this moment, right now, be enough
How we fill our lives with STUFF in order to cover up painful feelings
Even though shortcuts seem tempting, we steal from ourselves when we try to find the quickest path to our goals

Join me for this episode and let's talk about you being enough.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/156

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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We are constantly making decisions: this or that? In or out? Option A or option B? And I'd like to consider the opportunity cost of one of these (emotional) decisions in this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Specifically: what do we give up when we "choose" (however subconsciously) anxiety? What is the opportunity cost of anxiety? Anxiety is something we assume we're stuck with. That we can't opt out of. But when we start to appreciate anxiety for what it is (a signal, a messenger, an experience that has wisdom to offer) we recognize that not only can we opt out...but that what we may want to choose instead contains vast rewards. The opportunity cost of anxiety is the life we give up when we stay stuck in the Groundhog-Day cycle of stress, worry, and overwhelm. The opportunity cost of anxiety includes the chances you don't take, the words you don't say, and the opportunities you don't pursue. The opportunity cost of anxiety is the presence, steadiness, and peace that we want. Let's talk about it together today. And consider what the opportunity cost of anxiety looks like for YOU and what you want to be choosing moving forward...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/155

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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One of the really fun 🙄 hallmarks of anxiety is that we take it so personally. Have you noticed? We make it mean something about us as individuals, like we alone are to "blame" for this experience. But: what if the anxiety isn't yours? You inherited your height, your talent for music, and the way you laugh from your ancestors. What if you inherited your tendency to worry, your sorta-kinda-a-little-bit neurotic inclinations, and that damn anxiety from them, too?

You've been taught how to manage family and work, what success looks like, and the "right way" to react to all of life's challenges from the people around you. What if you learned to freak out and get anxious from them, too?

Society has delivered a bazillion memos to you about how to look / act / talk / show up / work / parent / love plus what to wear while you're doing it...what if you learned how to fuel all of that with anxiety, just like the culture has fueled its messages with fear?

On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore the idea that the anxiety might not be yours plus I've got a few tips on what the heck to DO with the anxiety you've been handed from past generations and lessons from society.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/154

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Tell me, how often have you said something like:

I can't handle it when my boss is so demanding
I can't go through with that conversation
I can't handle it when the kids are sick
I can't imagine how I'd get through that kind of situation...

Our vocabulary is filled with "I can't..."

And what I want to explore with you on today's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is can't vs. don't want to.

Because what's often more true is:

I don't like it when my boss is so demanding, but I can handle it
I don't want to go through with that conversation, but I will
I hate it when the kids are sick, but we will get through it
I don't want to imagine that kind of situation...but if I need to figure it out, I will

There's a huge difference. One is full of limitations, inabilities, and obstacles. The other implies choice, options, and empowerment.

Join me for this discussion and consider where YOU can shut down the "I can't..." in favor of, "I don't want to..."

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/153

Text PODCAST to +1 )816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is one that cuts straight to the heart of so much of the anxiety that we create for ourselves...

Like, have you noticed when you do something that puts you on edge (say, going to the dentist, or being in a large crowd) your tendency is to pretend that everything is fine and you are totally cool?

Or when faced with a difficult family member or a friend you're at odds with, you're tempted to sweep it all under the rug and carry on as if nothing's bothering you?

Or, my favorite, when you catch yourself playing a wild game of hide-and-seek with yourself because you're trying desperately to avoid knowing some deeply buried truth that's threatening to show itself (i.e. you hate the job, the relationship isn't working, you're sick of volunteering at the school) until you can barely recognize yourself?

Yeah, it may be time to name the elephant...

Consider how much effort it takes to avoid the elephant in the room, ANY room, when you're trying to (artificially) keep it together, keep the peace, or avoid the reality of an inconvenient truth...

It's a lot.

This week, we're going to explore the places where we could name the elephant instead, owning our thoughts and feelings without apology, and thereby alleviating a huge source of anxiety that we burden ourselves with otherwise.

Join me and let's discuss together...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/152

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Anyone else find themselves going through the day, just trying to keep the peace?

Between the kids, the co-workers, the family, and the love-her-but-she's-kinda-tricky friend...not to mention the bigger world and all the COVID disagreements and social injustice and political upheaval...well, my friend, there's a lot of unrest that could use some peace-keeping.

But I have an idea I want to share with you to save you the pain of running around out there trying to make your people happy and get all of the pieces in your life situated "just so..."

And that's the idea of peace-making.

Peace-keeping is when we try to make sure that everyone and everything is taken care of so that we can feel okay.

Peace-making, on the other hand, is when we show up with a deep sense of okayness already within us.

Peace-keeping says: I've got to keep all the balls in the air.

Peace-making says: If (or when) it all crashes down, I'm willing to sit in the muck with you and love you.

Peace-keeping says: Better keep going and doing and pushing to get it all done! Productivity is the most important!

Peace-making says: You don't have to be any better or smarter or cuter or further along or do another damn thing.

Join me for this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's take a look at peace-keeping vs. peace-making together. 💙

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/151

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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One of the truthiest truths I know is that we are all trying to get control. Control of the kids, our schedules, our bank accounts...control of the pandemic news, the political opinions, the understanding we have about what's going on in the world...control of our minds, how we're feeling, and what we're DOING, dammit.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I'd like to explore the idea that, well, we don't really have all that much control...

...but that we do have a GREAT amount of influence over our lives and our experiences.

We can't control what happens out there. Life gets pretty life-y. And no amount of effort grants us more authority over what's coming at us. I'm sure you've noticed that by now.

You know what, though? You have the power of influence, meaning you can:

Direct your attention towards more of what you want in your life (and away from what you don't want)
Sway your entire emotional landscape, generating feelings on purpose and crowding out unnecessary feelings
Choose the thoughts and feelings you want to live into...which gives you enormous power over the results in your life

Control isn't a useful aim. We just aren't getting it. (Those of you trying to grab on to control day after day know what I'm talking about.)

But influence? Now THAT you have, my friend. Join me this week and let's talk further. I'll see you there.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/150

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I'm gonna guess that by now, your inbox + social media feeds + TV ads have crammed the "new year, new you" idea so far down your throat that you're positively choking on the frustration bred in the chasm between that nonsensical (commercial) idea and the reality you're experiencing: which is that today, this week, this month are actually remarkably the same as the past day, week, month…

I'm with you.

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about the notion of Same Old Anxiety and remember that:

We're here to transform anxiety, not to transform YOU...
...because there's nothing wrong with you,
and it turns out you can feel anxious without being anxious.

Sound good?

To apply for the next cohort of The Transforming Anxiety Collective, visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/call

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/149

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Well, ready or not, 2022 is here!

And instead of wishing you a "happy new year" I'm just going to say: "new year!" Because really, it doesn't have to be happy. Or easy. Or peaceful. Or certain. If we've learned anything the past 2 years, we've learned to adjust our expectations of what might happen. So I'm going to just stick to the facts here: new year to you!

Over the winter break I did a LOT of reading, mainly because I spent the fall getting behind on the reading I need to be doing for my meditation certification. And I was re-reading a certain chapter of Sebene Selassie's book You Belong and came to a section on compare and compete and thought: YES.

I'm always looking to understand more about how we disconnect, separate, and create suffering for ourselves...because I'm deeply interested in connection, belonging, and creating steadiness as a lifestyle.

And at the root of so much of our anxiety is this constant churn of comparing (what is she wearing? how much do they make? what does he eat for lunch?) and competition (how can I get better? faster? thinner? smarter? richer? prettier? cooler?).

Join me for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and let's explore this one together. Where do you compare and compete? What is the cost of all of this comparison and competition? And where could you lay down the reins?

To apply for the next cohort of The Transforming Anxiety Collective, visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/call

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/148

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Happy (almost) New Year! 2022...and who the hell knows what this year will hold. I think most of us stopped guessing in early 2021 when it became pretty clear life was gonna be just as life-y as it wanted to be... 🙃

And although we're certainly along for this ride (whether we like it or not) and it's obvious we don't have control over how things are gonna go out there, there's actually a decent amount of authority we all have in our lives when we turn our attention inside.

When we pay attention to how we approach this journey, what our minds are spinning about, and how we're feeling, we can show up with quite a sense of power over our lives.

One way to do that?

How we go about setting goals + supporting our daily routines and habits.

Which is what we're going to talk about today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Tis the season for everyone to go all in with the fresh starts, new beginnings, and resolutions, yeah? But how we approach 2022, and our goals, habits, and routines, can make a huge difference in the results we ultimately see in our lives.

Join me for this conversation about setting goals...and all of the underpinnings that are so important to goals, but also daily life.

And hey, Happy New Year. 🎉

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/147

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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It's Christmastime, dear ones, here we go! For so many of us it's like the parenthood superbowl, the to-do list marathon, and the Pinterest-perfect Olympics all wrapped up into ONE DAY.

sigh

It also doesn't have to be that way...

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about being imperfect...emphasis on being.

We've all read plenty of articles on perfectionism, we've come across the books and tips and talking points. We don't need to KNOW more about perfect and imperfect.

What we need is to BE.

We need to integrate more being into our lives. Not the doing and going and achieving and producing... The BEING.

So I thought we'd have a little chat about being imperfect. What that would look like. Why it's difficult. And how we can practice more being and less perfectionism.

In this episode we're going to explore being imperfect through:

Wobbling
Feeling
Acceptance

It’s been a wild ride these past couple of years and there’s nothing like the holidays + family get-togethers to really intensify our internal drive to get things done and do it all perfectly. Let’s hang out together and ease into the idea of being imperfect…

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/146

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This should be fun, right?? A conversation all about being awkward.

I've found that feeling awkward, and even a fear of feeling of awkward, can be quite a source of anxiety. And y'know, around here, instead of shying away from those kinds of topics, I like to move towards them and see if we can't make some sense of them together.

So this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going all in on awkwardness.

What is awkwardness?

How does it affect our conversations, relationships, and how we go about our lives?

How can we shift our perspective and use awkwardness as a kind messenger instead of a "hit the exit" alarm bell?

☝️ These are the ideas we're going to explore together. Join me. Let's make awkward as straightforward and easy as possible. Whaddya say?

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/145

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Have you ever talked to anxiety?

Most of the time, we're pushing against anxiety, going to battle with it, and generally hating it...you with me?

But this week on the podcast, I'd like to explore the idea of having a conversation with anxiety.

When we lean towards anxiety and get to know it, we can understand how and why it's showing up vs. resisting anxiety and losing all of the wisdom and insights it holds for us.

When we stay curious about anxiety we can see what's real and true in the moment instead of making blanket assumptions and creating self-fulfilling prophecies that feel terrible.

And when we cultivate kindness and compassion and support ourselves when we feel anxious, we get to FEEL that kindness and compassion...instead of fueling ourselves with the usual anger, frustration, and vitriol we typically save for anxiety.

Just like Joy, Disgust, Sadness, Fear, and Anger all had conversations in the Pixar film Inside out, Anxiety has things to share with you, too. Let's listen in this week and see what it has to say.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/144

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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How are you this week, my friend? We've made it to December (!)...and this year that's no small thing. This ongoing pandemic is taking a toll and I just want to take a quick moment here to say: yay, you're doing it! Well done you. 👏

Sooooo, in light of the end of the year, the holiday season, and (again) an ongoing, soul-sucking,uncertainty-generating global pandemic, I thought it might be helpful to focus on family anxiety together this week.

And this isn't all about holiday get-togethers! Oh no...this one is for ALL the family fun: phone conversations, birthday celebrations, annual traditions, and general familial expectations.

Because: there is no shortage of anxiety re: family stuff. #universaltruth

Some key things we'll cover in this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast include:

Letting people be exactly who they are
Dropping the Normal Rockwell expectations
Triaging the event / people attending
Questioning how "we've always done it"
Remembering: this is YOUR experience, too

I tell ya, the sooner we accept that not all families look rosy and fun, the sooner we find freedom. Let’s explore some family anxiety and move closer to freedom this week, yeah?

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/143

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Happy Thanksgiving week, fellow Americans! Although we usually talk about gratitude at this time of year, I'd like to change things up and focus instead on generosity.

Most of the time, when we're feeling grateful, it's because someone was being generous.

And one of the quickest ways out of our (anxious) heads and into our (more steady) souls is to show up with generosity. It's hard to feel overly stressed, overwhelmed, or worried when you're committed to showing up generously.

In this episode we'll explore a few different ways to practice generosity (hint: it's not all about spending money or time!)...and remember why it's important to live generously in the first place.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/142

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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How are you doing this week, my friend? Here in the States we're on the eve of Thanksgiving, which means the eve of the holiday season...and with that, oh boy, with that comes a whooooole bunch of...well, overwhelming, stressful, anxiety-inducing STUFF. Amiright?

So I thought we'd kick off the holiday season with a little talk about kindness. Specifically how (and why) we can be kind, not polite.

We all know polite people. They're always good for a nice word, a courteous response, an absolutely approprite way of showing up and saying "the right thing."

There's nothing wrong with polite. Politness helps the world spin a little bit more smoothly and gently for sure. It makes moving about the world with all of the humans more pleasant. Definitely.

And...

...sometimes polite gets in the way of kind.

Because sometimes being polite means we're choosing other people over ourselves. Sometimes politeness requires abandoning our wants and feelings in the interest of what we're "supposed" to be wanting and feeling. Sometimes, being polite means we prioritize the external world over our internal landscape.

Join me for this week's episode and let's explore politeness (being nice, common courtesy, the "done thing") vs. kindness.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/141

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week on the podcast I want to take a look at waiting from 2 different angles:

How we're constantly waiting to be better, faster, smarter, stronger...i.e. that some fantasy future is out there for us
That we're continuously tumbling towards the next thing, i.e. rarely giving this thing the attention it deserves

We don't need to fill our lives with so much WAITING.

Because PSA: life is happening, right here, right now. It's not out there, it's not going to start when the pandemic is over, and it's not the next thing and the next thing and the next thing...

Let's practice being here and stop waiting together this week, yeah?

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/140

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I'm coming at you short-and-sweet on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast this week. Because this one doesn't require a whole lot of words and I know most of us have overanalyzed it beyond reason already.

We're talking about anxiety and how it's not personal.

Look around. I know you're used to seeing the highlight reels from (for instance) picture-perfect Halloween parties on your friends' social media feeds, and idealized versions of beauty online, and that we're fed a load of "here's what you're supposed to do and how you're supposed to feel about it" from the culture that we're swimming in...but the stats on anxiety point to a different reality.

Feeling anxious doesn't mean there's something wrong with you.

Feeling anxious doesn't mean you're broken in some way and need to be "fixed."

Feeling anxious isn't about YOU at all...it's about being human.

Let's talk about it together on this week's episode...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/139

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I've joked over the years that asking the question "why" over and over again can lead us straight into the depths of what's going on in our minds. And I'm not really joking (although it's a gross oversimplification of the process) because to a large extent, this is what we're doing as we're untangling the stories and belief systems that run our lives.

Why did I say that?

Why do I feel this?

Why do I want this and that and the other thing?

But today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to explore a different question: WHAT?

"What?" leads us in a different direction than, "why?"

"What?" tends to keep things based in reality, dealing in facts, simplifying the situation.

"Why?" usually stirs up the thoughts and opinions and judgments that go into dealing with the "what"...

Today we're going to ask things like:

What happened?

What's going on here?

What do I want?

I'm excited for this conversation and can't wait to hear how this shifts things for you and your own personal self-awareness...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/138

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Every once in a while I see a theme pop up with my clients and this time it's so universal and so good that I thought we should do an episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast all about it. This week we're talking about doing it messy.

Soooo many of us are trying to get through the hard parts of life in a way that "looks pretty" or "feels graceful" or is somehow completely devoid of mistakes and discomfort.

I have a better idea, my friend. How about let's NOT pretend anymore. Let's just do it messy.

Because the only difference between doing it in a way that looks pretty and doing it in a way that looks like a total dumpster fire is our preferences about it. We don't WANT things to look like a dumpster fire, so we convince ourselves they CAN'T...which is actually not true at all.

Done is better than pretty. Moving forward is better than perfection. Being in the flow of your life (instead of stuck on the sidelines) is better than faking it and presenting yourself as the most societally-acceptable version of who you are.

The sooner we embrace the messy, the better. It's the fastest path towards freedom...with whatever you want to do, create, and feel.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/137

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I was at the grocery store the other day with my kids and had one of those small moments that kinda changes everything, you know what I mean?

We were picking out ice cream. And we were standing there in the freezer section debating between cookie dough and plain chocolate. And all of a sudden, I realized I could get whatever. I. wanted.

Pistachio. Butter pecan. Coffee. Something horrendous the kids would hate...all of these options were available to me.

I could choose anything. Just because I wanted it.

(I say all of this with awareness of the privilege I have to even be in this situation in the first place.)

Now, I know this seems like a silly example. Ice cream isn't a make-or-break decision, after all.

But it's not just ice cream. It's how I earn a living, who I spend time with, my daily routine, the boundaries I set (or don't), what I buy and consume...it's how I live my LIFE.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about wanting what you want; specifically that you can allow yourself to want what you want. My gut says this is going to be news to some and a solid reminder for the rest...

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/136

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I've found, over years of talking to people about how they're feeling (I'm always the wallflower at a party, in a corner with one other person talking about the big stuff...I can't do the small talk that most get-togethers require) that not everyone uses the word "anxiety" to describe this experience.

In fact, there are a lot of people feeling similar feelings that don't identify with the word "anxiety" at all.

Some of the other words I've heard used to describe the same emotional experience are:

Fear
Worry
Overwhelm
Perfectionism

I bring this up because IMHO it doesn't matter quite so much what we call it, as how we handle ourselves within it.

Can we allow ourselves to feel how we're feeling?

Can we remind ourselves that nothing is wrong with us, no matter how we're feeling?

Can we have enough care, understanding, and trust in ourselves to know that we can handle whatever is coming our way?

That's what we're talking about in this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Join me for this show and see how it feels for you. Do you call it "anxiety?" Or is there another word that resonates with you?

To enroll in the current How to Meditate to Transform Anxiety course visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/135

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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We're doing something fun on the podcast this week: we're doing a kind of philosophy lesson a la Alanis Morisette. I've chosen a handful of her songs and pulled out a few lines from each and I want to explore this with you this week on the podcast.

Because: Alanis is a truth-teller, poet, and she speaks straight to our souls.

She's also kind of life coach-y.

Join me for this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast as we take a look at 4 of her lesser-known songs and the powerful lyrics that support us in our practice of taking care of ourselves, handling change, letting go of perfection, and making space for rest.

To enroll in the upcoming How to Meditate to Transform Anxiety course visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/134

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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How are you doing this week? I'm doing great...and at the same time, I've been going through some friendship ick over the past year or so and in talking with my clients, I've found I'm not alone in this.

Turns out: adult friendships can be tricky. And we've been making ourselves anxious about it.

And I thought we'd talk about friendship anxiety this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast.

Now, I'm not here to dole out any friendship decrees. This is more of a discussion with some general ideas to bear in mind.

If you changed your perspective on the friendships in your life, would you feel differently? Could you feel better even?

We're going to take a look at friendships and the ideas of:

Some friends are there for a certain season in our lives
Adults get to do whatever they want to do (and we should believe them when they show us who they are)
How love languages + boundaries factor into even the closest of friendships

To enroll in the upcoming How to Meditate to Transform Anxiety visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/132

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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How are you doing this week?

I'm mostly good, and also a little meander-y feeling with the family all out of the house during the week.

Now that we're settling in and back-to-school is feeling more like the-routine-of-school I got to thinking about a few old favorites. It seems these friends rushed right back in as soon as things started looking remotely "normal" around here.

And by favorites I mean familiars. By friends I mean regulars.

So I thought we should talk about it today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast together. Because I know I'm not alone with these.

Specifically, I'm talking about these ideas:

I need to get caught up
I'm trying to balance all of this
I just want everyone to be happy

Recognize any of those oldies but goodies? Yeah...

I titled this week's episode 3 things to abandon. Because we're going to take a look at each of those ideas and let. them. go.

I know your mind is going to say, "wait a second, are we just going to abandon them here?"

Yes. Yes we are.

Join me for this episode to hear more about the 3 things you can abandon right now to ease anxiety and live more peacefully.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/132

Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I got a GREAT listener question a week ago and I had to bring it to the podcast to talk about because I figure there are a few of you wondering the same thing. Namely: why are you still anxious, Kelly?

I mean, I get it. Here I am, an anxiety coach, helping other people navigate anxiety, and I still feel anxious.

So what gives? Why do I still feel anxious?!

Because all human beings do. Anxiety is part of the deal.

Anxiety is an emotion (just like we all get frustrated and sad and mad and excited, we all get anxious) and it's a feature of the human body (the fight-or-flight stress response that gets activated when your brain perceives you are under threat).

The goal around here has never* been to eliminate anxiety from our lives*. (Honestly, anyone who is promising you that is lying to you IMHO.)

It's just not possible.

Just like getting rid of sadness, irritation, anger, the occasional digestive issues, or daily fatigue isn't possible.

Humans experience all of it. And my goal as your coach isn't to pull you out of life's inconvenient experiences. No, no, no...

My goal is to show you: it is 100% possible to feel anxious and not be derailed by it.

In fact, it's 100% possible to face whatever life hands with you without losing it, freaking out, or having a total meltdown.

In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about just how much anxiety I still feel (spoiler alert: a lot) and how I handle it with steadiness, calm, and stability.

Do I still feel anxious? Of course.

Do I feel limited by anxiety, stuck with anxiety, or like I'm going to completely lose it? I honestly don't.

Join me for this week's episode to explore this further.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/131

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want us all to slow. things. down. and talk about FOMO vs. JOMO.

FOMO = the fear of missing out

JOMO = the joy of missing out

And they're two sides of the same coin.

FOMO has us going all the time, trying to fit in, hustling for approval, and worrying about what could happen if we say "no" to anyone or anything.

JOMO is all about the joy that we miss out on when we fall for FOMO.

And the not-so-great cherry on top is that FOMO is one of the biggest anxiety-instigators out there.

Join me for this week's episode and let's take a few minutes to explore FOMO vs. JOMO...and consider where you could create more joy and less fear in your life.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/130

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is an interesting journey: we're going to talk about supersizing, rivers, and perspective (I promise this all ties together).

Have you felt like the volume has been cranked up on all the things lately? The good stuff is amazing (pool parties! back to school! it's almost pumpkin spice season!!) and the rotton stuff feels intense (headlines... busier schedules... never-ending pandemic season... ).

Many of my clients are telling me that the highs are high and the lows feel low low low right now. And I get it. Me too.

So I wanted to talk this week about supersized anxiety and how we don't have to turn the volume up quite so high.

Meaning: we can choose to keep anxiety "right sized" instead of going overboard and supersizing every time it shows up.

So if anxiety currently feels overwhelmingly supersized, tune in this week to learn about right sizing it instead.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/129

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Decisions, decisions...we all make decisions throughout the day, but how we approach those decisions and what we believe about decisions makes a HUGE difference.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about decision anxiety.

Because recently, I got a great question from a new listener. She DM'd me on Instagram and asked: "How do I make a decision about whether or not to travel right now...especially when the group I'm traveling with all has a different POV on COVID than I do?"

And between the flights, the restaurants, the delta variant, the risk of bringing COVID home to her family, she started feeling like she didn’t know how to make this decision AT ALL.

Decisions don't have to be anxiety-inducing. Let's take a look at decisions and break down how you can approach any decision with solid clarity. See you there.

For more on The Fierce Calm Project and to join in (and have me as YOUR coach!), visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/128

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for anxiety hacks, inspiration, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're talking about something new: empty thoughts.

Empty thoughts are:

Thoughts that pop into your head that have absolutely nothing to do with reality...like, "I can't handle this," or, "I don't know what to do here" <-- These thoughts can block our way forward because we believe them
Thoughts that ping-pong around in your mind but don't become reality...like, "I want to start meditating regularly," or, "I'd love to get closer to my partner" <-- These thoughts are basically dead on arrival because we don't intentionally breathe life into them

Identifying the empty thoughts in your repertoire is helpful so that you can dismiss them as untrue (a thought like, "I'm just not sure...") or intentionally bring vitality to them (a thought like, "I know I don't have to feel this anxious all the time").

Join me for this episode to learn about empty thoughts, what they look like, and what to do about them.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/127

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Remember in elementary school how you learned to make sense of new words based on context clues? The words and circumstances around the new word gave you hints to what that word meant. You used everything surrounding that new word to better understand what you were reading.

Well, turns out we still use this trick to learn new things about the world...and thanks to those early lessons, it comes pretty quickly to us.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to take a look at the power of context to understand it even more.

Because: while this is a clever mental trick to help us make sense of the world around us, it's always based on our past experience and knowledge.

And when you want something (like freedom from anxiety, or a promotion, or patience with the kids) that you haven't had before? Well, you can't go searching around in your past for it. You'll come up empty-handed that way every. single. time.

Join me for this week's episode where we take a look at the power of context + I'm going to offer you a few tips for creating context out of your ideal future, instead of only depending on your past.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/126

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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We haven't had a good talk about TIME for a while, so let's do it. Specifically, I want to talk about the idea that "we all have 24 hours in a day..."

...and what total B.S. that is.

Most of us think some form of this thought. If you've heard, "Beyonce has the same 24 hours in a day" or thought, "I should be able to get more done, look at what Oprah has accomplished" then you know what I mean.

I mean, it seems factual. On paper, we DO all have 24 hours in the day.

Buuuuut, many of us are using this belief as a "compare-and-despair" weapon against ourselves. And I want to take you off that hook.

Join me on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast to explore one of the most prevalent, and harmful, time beliefs out there. Let's debunk this one together, yeah?

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/125

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Last week we covered part 1 (if you missed it no biggie, you can catch it here) and this week we're looking at another round of 5 of the most common thought errors in our sweet minds. Things like:

Mental filtering
Negativity bias
"Should" statements
Emotional reasoning
Labeling

Our minds feed us plot lines the way the Earth spins around the sun: it just happens. Nothing has gone wrong here. If you can find yourself falling for one (or all) of these thought errors great: you're human! We all do this.

Tune in to learn more about how these show up in everyday life + a few tips for catching these errors before you start living your life believing in them.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/124

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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You know how some writers have a formula they use to churn out novels (I'm looking at you John Grisham, James Patterson, Nora Roberts...)? It's because it works. There's a reliable pattern and when you plug in new characters and places, boom, the book writes itself.

Well, our minds like to do the same kind of thing to cope with adversity. When something bad happens, our minds want to reach for a reliable script to get us out of difficulty and back on solid ground.

And this sounds great in theory! Who wouldn't want a dependable pattern we could easily follow to deal with hard things?

Thing is, these scripts regularly get it wrong. I call these thought errors. And today, we're going to take a look at some of the most common thought errors out there and why they don't work.

Things like:

All-or-nothing thinking
Overgeneralizing
Catastrophizing
Taking it personally
Mind reading

You don't have to fall for these kinds of thought errors. When you begin to see them for what they are, you aren't stuck with them.

Use this episode to see how thought errors show up in YOUR life. And practice witnessing these plot lines as optional stories you can follow...or not.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/123

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Ever since the start of the pandemic, I've found myself outdoors. Craving the fresh air, the space, and the sounds and smells of the Earth. And after a year+ of being so dedicated to getting outside, nature is seeping into so many areas of my life: from hobbies (hiking) and social get-togethers (walking with a friend instead of going out to dinner) all the way to coaching.

So this week on podcast, we're going to explore a new concept I've been finding very useful: your mind as a garden.

Here's what I mean:

In order to feel and behave how we want, we need to plant thought seeds in our minds on purpose...
Then we need to keep our minds weeded so that the seeds we planted have room to grow, plus...
We have to acknowledge and be patient through the different seasons of our lives, experiences, and minds.

If you, like me, are loving the outdoors more than ever before and could use a good Mother Nature metaphor to get your mind cleaned up, then join me for this week's episode. I promise, it's a fun one.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/122

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Most of the time, when we're faced with something we don't like or don't want it looks like this: NOOOOOOO!

And instead of pausing to respond to _______ (fill in the blank with "snarky teenager," or, "demanding boss," or, "inner feeling of dread") we react by resisting, avoiding, and shutting down.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to take a look at where, and how, we say NO in our lives...and then I'm going to invite you to really make this yours by considering how you can say YES instead (and why the hell you'd want to give it a try in the first place).

We are programmed to say NO. You're not alone.

But learning how to say YES is a powerful practice...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/121

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the growing community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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If you're anything like me, you've tried a lot of things in order to create more certainty in your life:

Plan ahead
Make all the lists
Prepare for the worst-case scenario
Plan some more
Arrive early
Over-pack and bring all the things
Ask a bazillion questions
Plan some more
Play out the what-could-go-wrong possibilities
Get exhausted and fall into a heap

Anyone? 🙋

It seems as if we can just be certain about how things are going to go, that we can be ok.

But there's a far more useful and beneficial way of going about it.

Instead of hoping the other people are going to cooperate, planning to the max, and trying to predict the future, what if we strengthened our ability to deal with uncertainty?

Basically: since certainty isn't coming for us, let's learn how to deal with uncertainty.

You in?

Join me for this week's episode and let's explore certainty, uncertainty, and anxiety together. {Plus: this is going to prove valuable as we navigate what seems to be a more and more post-pandemic world.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/120

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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This week on the podcast, we're talking about the most powerful question you can ask yourself.

Before we get to that, have you noticed how many dead-end questions we ask throughout the day?

What's wrong with me?
Why can't I figure this out?
What if fill-in-the-worst-case-scenario-here happens?

I categorize these as "dead-end questions" because they're asked in a limiting way. They are designed to hone in on one (usually negative) outcome. They intentionally block opportunity.

I have another idea for us.

Tune in to this week's episode to find out what the most powerful question is + why I believe in it so deeply & how you can use this in your life right away.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/119

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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I recently asked our Facebook group community about worry: What do you worry about? What does it look like when you worry? Does worry ever "work" for you?

And there were some great comments in reply:

I can't help but worry...
I worry about things I said or did in the past...
I worry because I think if I don’t worry, then the thing I’m worrying about will happen...
I worry about everything...

Sound familiar?

This week on the podcast, we're going to break worry down and get specific with it.

And I'm going to offer you some practices to crowd the worry out...

Because: most of us worry because we love. But: worry is not love.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/118

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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As a coach, yoga teacher, and meditation student, I tend to hang out in the realm of emotions, perhaps more often than most. The inner landscape of emotional health is one of my regular playgrounds and I got to thinking about the emotions that we welcome in to hang out with us vs. the emotions we’d rather banish to the far corners of the park.

Truthfully, I get tired of labeling some emotions as “good” and others as “bad” in an experience (y’know, life) that requires the entire range of feelings. What if we let all the emotions in? What if we didn’t have to put up that shield of resistance against some of them and work so hard to exile them? It seems like it may be easier overall. Yeah?

This week’s episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast features the biggest and baddest emotions on the block: fear, anger, and anxiety. I know these aren’t exactly the kids next door…

But what if they’re more misunderstood than “bad?” What if they’ve got more to offer than we originally gave them credit for? Join me for this week’s show to find the side of these emotions that we can be grateful for...and find out where they stop playing by the rules and cross over into true “bad guy” territory.

Apply for The Transforming Anxiety Collective by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/call

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/117

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Ever feel like there's a nonstop chatterbox in your mind, commenting on every single thing that you do throughout the day?

Yeah, you're not alone.

In order to gain some perspective, I've found it helpful to separate all that chatter into 3 separate inner voices:

The critic - the one who constantly berates and ridicules you
The council - the inner "board of directors"
The culture - the borrowed thoughts that we layer onto our own thoughts, thanks to the society we live in

Sound good?

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/116

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Ahhh, friend, I'm recently "back" from a 7-day virtual meditation retreat (a truly pandemic experience since I did the whole retreat from home but definitely felt as if I were somehow away at the most divine summer camp).

And I have something really special for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: lessons from retreat.

I'm sharing my experience (including my hesitation to do it at all!), a couple of things I learned, and how I'm integrating the practice into my personal routine, my teachings, and my coaching.

I hope this is an interesting episode for you.

I'm not overstating it when I tell you that last week made for a big up-level in my mindset and awareness.

I'm looking forward to sharing these lessons with you today...

Join The Radical C.A.L.M. Workshop happening this week at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/workshop

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/115

Test PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join the community by visiting The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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One of the most common things I hear from clients, friends, and family is: I'M DOING EVERYTHING! And when we dig into it together, I hear people say everything from "my partner isn't helping," to, "I don't think my family cares about me," to, "my co-workers are doing it wrong."

I know. I've done that dance. And if feels terrible.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to talk about the idea of doing everything, what we're really telling ourselves, and I'm going to offer you a few ways to unwind this painful story.

Because: staying committed to the idea that you're doing everything feels terrible. Yeah? See you in this episode for more...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/114

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little notes straight to your phone!

And join me for The Radical C.A.L.M. Workshop happening May 18, 19, & 20th by registering here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/workshop

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Does it feel like you can't quite get your ducks lined up some days? Or that they're damn near running you off the road...?

I hear ya. I see so many of my students and clients lining those ducks up, day after day, only to have them wander off more times than not.

It can wind up feeling like you're completely out of control.

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about how to get control and I'm going to share:

The great irony around control
Where we think we need to get control
Where we actually have control

(Hint: it's not the ducks.)

So, for all of my control freaks (I see you!), this one's for YOU...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/113

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Have you had a good fit lately?

A loooooot of people are finding themselves extra irritable, impatient, and at the end of their rope.

We're going on a year+ of pandemic life and between the "shoulds" of spring (we should clean! get outside! feel BETTER!) and ongoing uncertainty of COVID (what exactly does the vaccine unlock?) we find ourselves, yet again, in a collective spin situated somewhere between thriving and outright crisis.

So this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to take a look at mental temper tantrums and how this shows up in the everyday. Whether it's COVID, work, family stuff, parenting, health, drinking, financial, sex, or otherwise, this episode will help you see if (ahem, where) you're throwing your own mental temper tantrums...and how to move forward in a more peaceful way.

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/112

Text PODCAST to +1 (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Happy (almost) Earth Day! In honor of the spirit of sustainability, we're going to talk about personal sustainability on the podcast this week.

If you've ever tried to use willpower to create a specific result in your life or coasted the initial wave of excitement when you start something new, you know that they fizzle out sooner than later.

Why? They're not sustainable.

And you're right back where you started: trying to break a bad habit, trying to create a good habit, or just generally trying to feel better.

When you're looking to create long-lasting change in your life, well, "fizzling out" is not ideal. Have you noticed?

In other words: sustainability is key. It's simply required for real and lasting transformation.

In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to break down the ecosystem of YOU:

What are your natural resources as a human being?
How do you go about consistently renewing your natural resources?
What is the long-lasting impact of living your life in a way that's personally sustainable? (Spoiler alert: transformation!)

Breaking down the ecosystem of y.o.u. and adding in those always-important ingredients of awareness + understanding, makes personal sustainability a no-brainer. I'll show you how...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/111

Text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 for inspiration, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone!

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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Over here, we're officially into the final quarter of our virtual school year (omg we made it) + the boys' golf season started this week (yay, outdoors!) + we're tentatively making summer vacation plans (hello Chicago and Devils Den Park)...the hope is STRONG for a post-pandemic world in the McCormick household!

So...what are we up to on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast? This week's episode is all about FOCUS...

...specifically using focus to ease anxiety. Because one of the most fertile breeding grounds for anxiety is when we splay our energy every which way. We wind up feeling fragmented and exhausted...which just feeds that anxiety monster.

So, what can we do? I'm laying out a simple 3-step framework to help you practice FOCUSING in the interest of easing up on that anxiety. It goes like this:

Stop - whether you're feeling the first inkling of anxiety or you're in deep, it's a signal to stop so that you can...
Cut - cut the story, cut the drama, cut the extra, cut the control and...
Act - because peace and calm and steadiness aren't coming for you, you have to go out there and grab 'em

Join me for this week’s episode to learn all about easing anxiety through focus...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/110

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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It's springtime, which means spring cleaning. And since we focus on all things anxiety around here, I thought I'd bring the 2 together in an episode all about digital spring cleaning.

Because: how you interact with your devices could very well be playing a part in how anxious you're feeling on the regular.

We're going to look at:

Seeing what you want to see when you're scrolling (meaning: more of what supports you and less of what makes you go 😰)
Shaking things up by eliminating one huge time sink from your phone (just one will make a big difference!)
Being intentional about your screen time overall...the how and why to make this happen (yep, it's possible)

Your digital life is no small part of your overall life these days. Let's get going with this digital spring cleaning together...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/109

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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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 episode of podcast. I'm always up for challenging the status quo and debunking a myth or 3...

So in this week's show, we're going to take a look at 3 of the most common anxiety myths and let. them. go... Stories like:

Something is wrong if you're feeling anxious (nothing is wrong with you, I promise)
You're stuck with anxiety forever (no way!)
Nobody gets it and you're on your own (for sure not the case...)

We don't appreciate the scary stories that we tell ourselves about anxiety for what they are: scary stories.

And today, we're going to debunk these 3 anxiety myths so that you can let. them. go…

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/108

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook Group by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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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 something I utilize in my marriage, with my extended family, and in both personal and professional relationships.

The power of living with a "Yes, And..." philosophy is:

You (and everyone around you) are invited to become your highest, best self
This approach provides a tactical way to accept reality and drop into what is
And it's a really powerful path to cultivate presence + ask powerful questions to help you move forward

Life is a neverending experience of improv anyway. Contrary to what we might like to believe, we're all just making it up as we go along. Using the "Yes, And..." approach will help you truly harness that awareness. Let’s do this...

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/107

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Facebook Group by joining here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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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 offering snide jabs about our every move.

Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to discuss the inner commentator:

What happens when we leave that commentator unchaperoned?
What if we intentionally manage that voice instead of letting it manage us?
What does life look like when we talk to ourselves like we mean it?

If you're dealing with an inner commentator that's somewhere between snarky judge and outright bully, join me for this week's episode and let's change that. Sound good?

Find out more about The Fierce Calm Project by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject.com

Full show notes are located at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/106

And join us over in The Transforming Anxiety Facebook Group by joining here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/349545883117706

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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 participating in your wellbeing.

I talk to a lot of people who are dealing with anxiety, stress, and overwhelm. And I hear 2 common ideas:

Life happens
Life is happening AT me

This week on the podcast, we're going to explore how we can bring more acceptance to that whole life happens part...and debunk the life is happening AT me part.

I think of this as a dance...so let's dance. :)

And come join us over in the Facebook group by clicking here!

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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 on COVID. Especially now that I've had a front-row seat to the experience.

I want to talk about being in the thick of it, and how to handle ourselves, our minds, and our emotions when life hands us a circumstance we don'twant.

Also, I missed you. COVID is, by necessity, a very isolating experience. But whether you've experienced COVID directly or not, I know most of us are missing our lives, our fun, just our sense of "normal" at this point. I hear ya. Join me and let's talk a bit about it together this week.

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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 I wanted to explore it a bit on today's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast...let's talk about living through thoughts.

Our minds can be a powerful cushion between our bodies and the world. And the world, let's be honest, can be a bit much. We seek to turn down the volume on all the life out there by telling story after story about it in our minds. And we wind up living more in our heads, spinning our stories, than we live in our bodies, experiencing our lives.

Also - come join us in The Transforming Anxiety Facebook group! I go live and coach you there every Wednesday at 10am CST, plus we share resources, support, and community.

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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 minds to our best advantage.

And we can't fix what we aren't seeing, y'know?

There are 4 angles to consider when we think about our minds as liars:

Our thoughts are real, but not necessarily true
Our mental maps of the world can be very misleading
The trick to what we want is usually completely counterintuitive
We project onto the world and misinterpret what's happening around us

Join me for this episode to see what's happening with your mind and how you can become aware of these potential pitfalls...

And c'mon over to The Transforming Anxiety Podcast Facebook group and join our growing community!

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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 whole world is in color?! No more shades of grey, it's all vibrant and intense and rich?

I mean, that's kinda what it feels like waking up every day sans booze.

I know that some of you are taking a look at your own relationship with alcohol. And it's my personal hope that our society as a whole starts taking a hard look at the role alcohol plays in all of our lives.

But whether you're questioning your drinking, have quit drinking altogether, or plan to keep drinking forever and ever, this episode will shed some light on what it looks like to create serious change in your life.

Does the drinking message resonate with you? Or maybe you're subbing out drinking and replacing that with your relationship with food, shopping, or social media. Because: this one applies to ALL the things.

Also - there's a worksheet that goes along with this one! Patrons of the podcast can access it in the Patreon community (click here to join) and Fierce Calm members can find it in the Podcast Vault under "Resources."

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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 a handful of shows and then call it quits.

Which is why, to celebrate the 100th episode, I have some FUN things to share with you. Like:

3 membership levels for The Fierce Calm Project because I want to meet you where you're at and make this work accessible to everyone who wants to feel better (no one will be turned away for lack of funds!)
A brand-new Patreon community where I'm going to offer worksheets for each podcast episode so that you can apply what you're learning when you listen
Our Facebook group where I'm going LIVE every Wednesday and sharing other behind-the-scenes fun, resources, and connecting with you
2021 updates, ideas, and my vision for where we're headed (and I don't mean ME, I mean you + me, us, WE)

Join me for this episode to celebrate YOUR work here and what transforming anxiety has looked like for you...and where you want to take this work in 2021.

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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, for the podcast this week, I'm modeling what I'm teaching. It's a short episode, straight from my exhausted heart to yours.

It's ok to not be ok. And that is all I want to share this week.

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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 circumstances in front of us.

But...what about that other ~20%? Where do those feelings come from?

That's what I want to explore today. What are emotions? Moods? Where do our personalities come from?

It's my hope that an understanding of these concepts can help us from becoming an Eeyore, believing that that's "just how I am" and instead encourage us to get curious about whether we're in an emotion, mood state, or personality trait...and what that means for moving forward the way we want.

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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 biggie...January 1st.

I want to explore the difference between intentions and goals (because it's pretty important) and I want to help you take a look at 2021 and that shiny, new, fresh start in a way that feels supportive and nourishing...not chock-full of productivity, more to-do's, and a self-deprecating list of "things I haven't done yet but feel like I should have."

Because: bleh.

Join me for this week's episode and let's explore your approach to resolutions.

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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 Anxiety Podcast?

Good question.

Now, the coaching: I love this as a metaphor for us teeny tiny human beings. That we, too, are constantly expanding. That we are so vast as to be infinite...meaning that we, too, are on a never-ending path of expansion.

There's a lot of talk, as the new year approaches + promising vaccine news hits the headlines, about "going back" to the way things were. A pre-pandemic world. Our old normal.

I want to offer another idea: that there is no going back.

We are ever-expanding. We are growing, changing, and opening...constantly. Individually and collectively.

Our default is to hold on, to hope for what's familiar, to revert to our old patterns and ways of being. But in this week's episode, I invite you to bring into your mind's eye the possibility of your own expansion. The TRUTH of it.

And let's start practicing loosening our grip on "going back." And deliberately opening our aperture to consider our expansion...

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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 in the safe playgrounds of our lives, so that when things get intense, we're ready?

Join me this week on podcast to learn about discomfort and growth...and how to take care of yourself in the face of it all.

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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 impulse for anxiety?

This is maybe (likely?) a new way to consider anxiety. And it's helpful to consider your personal experience of anxiety (or stress or overwhelm or fill-in-the-blank-with-your-emotion-of-choice) by getting curious about the impulse. It could be:

The anxiety is showing up as a cover for another emotion
The anxiety is a reaction to something external
The anxiety is a habitual pattern that comes up...often

Join me for this episode and be ready to get curious about your own impulse for anxiety. This is a great one to apply to your life and see what comes up for you...and what could change because of this new awareness.

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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, well, what exactly? Prepare? Understand? Get ready?

We'll take this one in 3 parts:

What to do when the negativity bias gets super loud
How to stop dragging our past experience and knowledge around
Recognize when we're trying to avoid future pain by creating pain now (this one is super cute, ugh)

Join me for this week's show to bring awareness to your own negative anticipation and use these tips to practice a new approach to your own future.

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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 things I'm grateful for.

So I want to introduce you to a couple ways that I do practice gratitude. Ways that feel meaningful and definitely don't make me roll my eyes with cheesiness. Join me for this episode to learn more...

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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.

Collectively, we have been stuck in a high gear most of this year. And that is a LONG TIME to be in any one gear, let alone the most intense...

So, what do we do? How do we handle emotional fatigue? And, more importantly, how do we come OUT of it? Join me for this episode and let's talk about it...

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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 what.

I want to get clear on the "uncertainty" we all keep hearing so much about. "Uncertain" is the new "fine" and it's such a bland approach to all that we're facing.

I want to talk about canceling each other out and judging, assuming, and "othering" the people around us. We are all in this together. We resist and fight and struggle against one another so, so much...but what's the upside?

And I want to take a moment and consider change. Being with change, flowing with all that's happening, and asking ourselves, "now what?" instead of proclaiming, "no change for me, thankyouverymuch."

This is an episode about reality. About humanity. About your place in all that's occurring. This is one of the most important conversations that I've ever had with you, and I am looking forward to sharing it.

For more info, visit me at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/90.

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Well, this is interesting. You're reading this email after Election Day, but I'm writing it to you beforehand, 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 at that term, join me for the podcast and hear me out...

Because no matter what this moment holds (results, confusion, relief, anger, elation, despair) we are all in this together.

I heard a story that went something like this...pretend you're in a subway car and you lose power. You're stuck, stranded with a train full of people. Strangers. As time goes on, someone gets scared, so a few passengers soothe them. Another person gets hungry, so someone shares an extra granola bar they had in their bag. A baby cries and people shuffle around so that the baby can get walked back-and-forth. People rally. They come together.

Folks? We're in that subway car. All of us alive on the planet in this moment. Look around. This is the train full of strangers that they were talking about in that story.

Let's come together. Soothe each other. Hand out granola bars if we have them, and receive them graciously if we don't. Let's make room for the people pacing around with babies and rally with each other.

Yeah?

More info at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/89.

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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.

That we survive best when we connect, when we feel seen and understood, when we love and are loved in return.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, I want to invite you in for a little talk about nurturing.

For those of us who are tired of having to FIT IN and GO and DO...an episode about interrelatedness, bonding, and nurturing...

Also: my free 5 Days to Calm Your Anxiety Mini-Course is coming up! We start on November 9th, perfect timing to get your stress and anxiety calmed down for the holidays. Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/calm to sign up and I'll see you there.

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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 "self-care" that most of us have depended on for years doesn't begin to scratch the surface right now. It barely helps us keep our ducks in a row...and oh yeah, we're still trying to figure out SO DAMN MUCH that we don't have time for something like a bubble bath anyway.

If your regular self-care practices are falling short (I'm looking at you manicures, massages, and girls' nights out) then join me for this episode and let's take a look at more meaningful, and longer-lasting, self-care practices. For 2020, sure, but far beyond this moment, too...

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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 any questions that you may have about coaching and how it could fit into your life.

Don't forget to rate and review and click "subscribe" so you never miss an episode (including BONUS episodes) of the show. And share this with a friend if you know someone who could benefit from less stress and anxiety in their lives.

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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:

Checking (and checking and checking) the news
Leaning back vs. turning off
Holding our beliefs lightly
Finding our right place

This episode will help you navigate the rest of this election cycle so that you can breathe, rest, and feel like yourself in the midst of all that's happening.

And if you are ready for your own personal life coach to help you navigate the rest of 2020, c'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/apply to get started.

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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 sweet nostalgia right now and somehow the Care Bears seemed like the right place to go this week. I promise, it all goes together and (I think) makes sense.

For show notes visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/84 and to get enrolled in The Fierce Calm Project go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject.

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I thought it was time for us all to take a breath and sit together. I needed a new meditation, and I love to meditate with you.

We sometimes lean towards someone or something out of love, out of curiosity, out of interest. We are pulled off-center, but it's short-term, unattached, and beautiful. It fills us up.

Other times, we lean in out of fear, worry, or tension. We grasp and cling. We try to control and manipulate. Maybe we overstay our welcome and we wind up sacrificing ourselves in order to get in there. It depletes us.

There's also leaning away...when we try to avoid, route around, or resist what's happening. We're arguing with reality when we lean away like this. This is the "if I can't see you, you can't see me" method.

But...we can also simply lean back. We can open our hands, loosen our grip, and let life unfold exactly as it is. When we lean back this way, we may hit pause on our own actions, but we gain perspective, clarity, and recognize what's happening. This is the "go with the flow" technique.

We cycle in and out of these...we lean in and out, we get filled up and wiped out.

So we return to center. That's the practice, anyway. We ground in and root down. We find that core part of us where we're on our own team, in our own corner, having our own back.

This meditation brings it all together... You can find out more at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/meditate/2

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Are you familiar with the children's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt? In case you haven't been inside a preschool in the past, well, ever, it's a children's story about overcoming obstacles.

For some reason, 4 kids, a baby, and a dog are on this adventure (hunting bears?!) and they encounter a bunch of barriers (a deep cold river, thick oozy mud, a big dark forest) on their way to the bear's cave.

However implausible this all seems (it's a kid's book, we'll go with it), the refrain they repeat every time they find another hurdle is:

We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no!
We've got to go through it!

And if this isn't the refrain for 2020, then I don't even know...

This week, we're going to look at pandemic-life through the lens of the kids' bear hunt. How very, very much we're all going THROUGH right now...

And! I'm offering a FREE mini-course: 5 Days to Calm Your Anxiety. To find out more and get registered go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/calm

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Who needs some rest?

My hunch is that we're all experiencing that "tired but wired" sensation that we sometimes get right before bed. You know, where you can't stop scrolling through Instagram even though you know you should put the damn phone down and go to sleep already? But on a mass, collective scale.

The pandemic just. keeps. going. The election is looming. The kids are back to school but everything looks different than we could've ever imagined. Some of it sweet, some of it heart-wrenching.

This week, I wanna talk about rest.

How can you tell when you're tired? What KIND of tired are you? How do you rest up? And are you waiting for permission to get that rest?

After you listen in, share your rest ideas with me! Text me at (816) 354-1279 and DM me on Instagram, I'm @khanlinmccormick. Let's rest up...

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Well, this isn't the sexiest podcast episode, buuuut, what it lacks in glamour and happily-ever-after it makes up for in vulnerability, real-life anxiety, and legit: this is why I do this work.

I have to remind my clients and students all. the. time. that the goal with this work is not to get rid of anxiety, never stress out again, and live a life free of overwhelm, worry, and self-doubt.

But while the goal has never been to eradicate anxiety from our lives entirely, we can learn to relate to it differently; we can have a completely different experience of anxiety when we feel anxious; and we can find calm around it.

Yup, you too. Join me for this episode and then get enrolled in The Fierce Calm Project to do this work for yourself. Text me at (816) 354-1279 to find out more and visit www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/81.

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If you had a dollar for every time you've recently heard, "these are uncertain times," am I right?

Listen, times are uncertain. But not any more uncertain than pre-pandemic. Times have always been exactly this uncertain...

So how do we deal with that sensation of being untethered and groundless? Where do we find certainty? Why do these times feel more uncertain than normal?

Let's explore it together in this week's episode.

And remember: text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 to get mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes from me straight to your pocket. :)

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Do you have a tendency to lump things into THIS or THAT category? Label people, experiences, and emotions as GOOD or BAD? Indulge in ALL or NOTHING thinking?

Yeah, you're not alone.

This seems to be an extra-special feature of the thinking-mind that we all fall into...especially when things are intense. And (I think) we can all agree that things? They're intense.

So this week, we're going to tackle all or nothing thinking. Although, it's a gentle tackle, because we're coming at it via the vehicle of meditation.

Find out more over at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/meditate/1

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When the memo for 2020 landed on our collective desks (pandemic! racial injustice! political strife!) it didn't sound great. And eight months in, it's still not sounding so hot.

But every once in a while, I come up for air and look around and think, "Huh, look at us! We're doing it!"

And I got to thinking...no matter how life-y life gets, we humans were made for this.

Our capacity for resilience, neural plasticity, hedonic adaptation...there are all kinds of wild ways that humans are literally designed to not only handle life's challenges, but return to a steady state, and even thrive in spite of hardship.

This episode is part pep-talk and part compassionate-head-nodding. We got this. We were MADE for this.

Find out more at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/79 and don't forget to text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279 to get mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes straight to your phone.

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Many times, I've had the idea that I want OUT of anxiety: it wasn't even enough to push against it or try and avoid it, it was like I wanted to take my skin off, throw it on the ground and get AWAY from the whole experience.

And that was just on a Tuesday.

Add to that a pandemic, political strife, the cancellation of life as we knew it, racial injustice, and overall uncertainty and that sense of I want OUT of anxiety goes through the roof.

This week, we're going to talk about the thought, "I want OUT of anxiety" and how we can reframe this notion.

And don't forget to text me! Just text PODCAST to (816)354-1279 and I'll send you mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes.

And get on my email list - I'm holding a public call this Friday, August 7th at 1pm CST called: Ask Me Anything about Anxiety. Bring any questions, struggles you're facing, worries that you have about the upcoming school year, you name it...I want to talk to YOU, and I want to help. See you on your phone and on Friday!

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Is your idea of handling anxiety hiding, playing small, and resisting the whole thing?

I get it. And you're certainly not alone if this seems like a solid plan for managing the ick.

There's such a deep sense of groundedness and authenticity on the path through the discomfort that just can't be found any other way. And in the end, that path, the very journey of healing and discovery, is the most awe-filled path of all of the paths.

This week we're going to talk about resisting anxiety, why outright resistance doesn't work, and how to move towards acceptance...

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I'm interested in all kinds of ways that I can care for my mental and emotional wellbeing. Because I don't know about you, but I've found that there's no one thing that eases feelings of anxiety and overwhelm every time.

So there are a few things in heavy rotation on this path: yoga, meditation, sleep, lots of water and tea, and self-compassion.

Self-compassion consistently helps. No matter what else I'm up to, if I can bring self-compassion along for the ride, things are bound to go smoother and I'm more likely to find that flow with life rather than finding myself at odds with the reality around me.

In this episode, I talk through 4 self-compassion practices and how they can positively influence your experience of anxiety.

And there's a worksheet that goes along with this one! Just click here or go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/76 to grab your copy.

You can text PODCAST to (816)354-1279 to get mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes directly to your phone. Plus, ask me any questions about the podcast or let me know what you'd like to hear on the show!

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We're doing something a little different this week on - I'm sharing a bit about where I'm at, in my personal journey and in my offerings for you, and then I'm inviting you to take a short seat with me for a sweet meditation backed up with music from the amazing DJ Sol Rising.

This week, we're making some Breathing Room together. Together, apart.

I've been on the path of self-discovery and growth for a long time. And I've been practicing and teaching yoga for a while as well. And I see an obvious place for me to up-level my own work...and I want to take you with me.

Mindfulness, for one.

And meditation, for another.

Let's start here and now. I'm so glad to be here with you, and grateful YOU are here with ME. <3

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Jack Kornfield defines mindfulness as, "paying attention to the present moment without judgment, characterized by interest, friendliness, and clear seeing." And this week, I want to bring that sense into the work we do around here on mindset.

There's a lot of energy behind achieving, doing, going, more more more...we live in a power society that's borderline obsessed with busy-ness.

So I want to slow things way down in this episode and bring attention to mindset. Sound good?

And I mention in the show how we can now TEXT each other (!), so if you want to get in touch with me and receive mindfulness tips, anxiety hacks, and little love notes, just text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279. "See" you in your contacts list... :)

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Do you ever find yourself in the middle of something and wonder, "WHAT am I doing?!"

Maybe it's a habit you can't break out of and you watch yourself spin through the same cycle day after day. Maybe it's a tempting dessert that you weren't planning on having, but then you find yourself asking for a second helping. Or maybe it shows up as a general sense of, "I can't handle this," and that thought churns through your mind all day at work...and then all night at home.

We're going to unravel this today: the underpinnings of our motivations and how those can also turn into traps.

And! Fun news!! We can text each other now! If you're interested in getting mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes directly to your phone + if you want to be able to text me directly and ask me questions about the show and what you've learned here, just text PODCAST to (816) 354-1279. See you there...

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Do you ever feel your attention being tugged all over the place? Social media, the to-do list, ads, the kids, work, the news...there's a lot out there vying for our attention.

Your attention is yours. But it's a consistent practice to cultivate the meta-skill of being able to reliably direct your attention to the most meaningful and impactful aspects of your life.

This week's episode covers:

The reality of the human mind
Meditation as a practice in cultivating attention
Inspiration from great thinkers, writers, and activists

Join me for this important episode all about the power of redirecting your attention...

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The breath is having a big moment right now: between a global pandemic centered around a virus that affects the lungs and our ability to breathe, and the protests centered in no small part around every human beings right to breathe, the breath is at the center of our attention.

So this week, we're going to slow things down and turn inward a bit. We're going to take a moment with the breath.

The breath is one of those things we don't have to pay conscious attention to; your breath will breathe your body on and on throughout your life, whether you ever stop and consider it or not.

But you can pull your breath under your conscious control...and create big changes in your body when you do.

On this week's episode we're going to talk about:

Unconscious vs. conscious breathing
How grief and sadness live in the lungs
The power of long, deep breathing
How breath relates to anxiety

Plus, I made a couple downloadable recordings for you. To grab your breath work + guided meditation recordings, click here or c'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/71.

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This week, I'm not teaching; I want to have a conversation with you instead.

Actually, it occurs to me we should have conversations like this more often. That I should share more about where I'm at, that we should get to know each other and connect in a more open way. I tend to shy away from giving you my opinion; this podcast, community, and my coaching has never really been about my opinion, after all.

Turns out, we need a deeper connection, opinions included. So this week is a heart-to-heart between you and me.

This week we're talking about:

Where we're putting our energy
Cultural appropriation
Honesty
Love (always love)

Let me know what you think. Let's make this a two-way street; send me an email or DM me on social and let me know where you're at. What's on your mind? On your heart? How does this conversation, and a deeper connection, land for you? I want to hear...

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you don't need me. You don't need a white, privileged woman talking to you. Things are too big, too scary, too heartbreaking, and too real for me to be the one talking.

What I need right now is to listen. I'm muting myself, and listening.

So, to that end, here are some people I'm listening to and learning from, with their Instagram handles in case you want to join me:

Rachel Cargle (@rachel.cargle)
No White Saviors (@nowhitesaviors)
Rachel Ricketts (@iamrachelricketts)
Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk)
The Conscious Kid (@theconsciouskid)
Austin Channing Brown (@austinchanning)
Nicole Cardoza (@nicoleacardoza)

This week we're doing 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence. I'd love to sit with you and be with you for this...and then go out there and learn some more.

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Everything I'm hearing, from clients to friends, family to neighbors, points to the idea that we all need to take it easy on ourselves. That we could use a few more permission slips to be gentle with our days. That we can't get enough reminders that we are absolutely enough, exactly as we are, and that we are allowed whatever support and assistance we require. Basically: that props are proving to be quite essential.

In this episode, we're going to talk about props from all angles. The props we use in yoga. The tools we use to make DIY jobs easier. Small kitchen appliances and how they make cooking a breeze.

But we're also going to consider additional props you need in your life right now. Things you can use to support yourself. Ways that you can love on yourself.

And I made a worksheet for you that goes along with this one. You can grab your downloadable copy by clicking here or visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/68

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What do rockstars have to do with coaching? What do managers have to do with mental health and managing your mind?

This week on the podcast, we're talking about one of the most fun tools I've created and something that I use with most of my clients: Rockstars & Managers.

We all have an inner rockstar. Y'know, that creative visionary who dreams big and lives wild and wants everything NOW?

And we all have an inner manager. The practical logical side that thinks rationally about long-term best interests.

How we tune in to and harness the rockstar and the manager in our own minds can be a really helpful way to get settled around all elements of our lives, from diet and exercise, to work and relationships.

For show notes, c'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/67

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You've seen the endless memes about decluttering, learning a foreign language, and reading Anna Karenina during quarantine, yes? It's like we're all supposed to be winning Coronavirus by being ultra-productive while we're stuck at home.

This week, we're going to explore the concept of Non-Productive Productivity. Meaning: instead of all of the doing we're going to sink in to simply being.

Sound good?

Also: I make a reference to Embodied Sounds during the episode. You can find out more about Joshua Miller and his offerings here: www.embodiedsounds.com

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The longer this whole pandemic goes on, the more we are all invited (forced?) to sit with and in our emotions. The emotions of this time, of our lives, are quarantining with us. Have you noticed?

I heard Dr. Susan Davis make such a simple and beautiful point about our heightened emotional experience during this time: our emotions are signals.

In this episode, we're going to talk about:

Values
Judging strangers at the grocery store
The quality of our actions
And, of course, emotions as signals

It's a good one...

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This week we're talking about Disassociating, which is an experience that ranges from daydreaming to pure survival skill (especially for those who have experienced trauma).

Join me to understand more about disassociating (also: dissociating), how this may show up in your life, and the practice of reassociating, or coming back home to yourself.

I made a worksheet to go along with this episode; you can download your copy by clicking here or visiting me at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/64

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Happy Earth Day! Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to do something to honor sustainability, but from the perspective of you, your body, and your mind. We're talking about creating a sustainable life using the natural resources of YOU.

Think for a moment about the natural resources of the Earth: water, land, air, the biosphere (plants and animals), fossil fuels (coal and petroleum), rare earth metals, and ores (gold, silver, copper, iron, etc.).

Some of those resources are renewable: sunlight, air, wind, water.

Some of those resources are non-renewable: fossil fuels.

Now, let's think about human beings. What are our natural resources? And are they all renewable? (Spoiler alert: no, they're not!)

Join me for this episode as we consider the natural resources of y.o.u. and how to create a truly sustainable life.

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Have you noticed that in any group, there's a certain energy amongst the people? If someone gets excited, the group rallies around them with more excitement. If someone expresses fear, the group gloms on and generates more fear.

In this episode, we're going to explore how this all happens - emotions don't spread like viruses, so why are they so contagious? Join me to learn about emotional contagion and how you can be sure to stand in your own authority, taking control of your own emotional wellbeing.

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Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Whether you're currently overwhelmed or whether any part of your current overwhelm is Coronavirus-related, or not, overwhelm is something we're all pretty familiar with, amiright?

Today, on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to talk about 2 simple ways to get out of overwhelm.

See, overwhelm depends on being big and confusing. Overwhelm feeds on your getting distracted, trying to control things that aren't yours to control. Overwhelm loves all of this! But without these things? Well, overwhelm tends to dissipate into nothing without the fuel of confusion, distraction, and being too big to handle.

This podcast is the 3rd in a series on Mental Health During COVID-19. I'll keep bringing you topics and tools and tips to help support you and your mental health as long as we have to navigate this uncertain time. I've got you...

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We've all gotten good at social distancing over the past few weeks, but as the distance grows between you and the outside world, your inside world is likely feeling very, very close.

Your family. Your work. Your home. It's all zoomed IN right now. Big time.

In this episode we're going to talk about the concept of Mental Distancing. This is where we give ourselves some distance using our minds.

We used to get distance by going to work, sending the kids off to school, being free to run over to the local coffee shop whenever we wanted. But now that those natural reset buttons aren't available, it's important to practice Mental Distancing and give yourself the break and perspective you need.

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In the coming weeks, I'm going to be focusing the podcast on Mental Health During the Coronavirus Pandemic. And in this first episode, we're looking at things before the pandemic, after the pandemic, and where we are right now: the in-between.

Join me for this series as we continue to focus on our inner work and mental health in the face of these uncertain times.

And for more stuff like this, come join us over in The Fierce Calm Project. It's my monthly coaching program where we take lessons like this and apply them our lives to create real transformation...we need more calm and less panic right now and this program is how we do that. Find out more and get enrolled at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to The How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #7, we're doing a recap of the past week + looking at where we go from here. In all aspects of my life, I'm asking myself how I can help. And I have an offer for you...

I want you to join The Fierce Calm Project. Where we do work just like this every single day.

So I have a coupon code for you (click this link!) so that you can join for $7 right now. What do you say? $7 and I'm your coach. We need as many people creating calm, committing to their own health and wellbeing, and being mindful, kind, and compassionate. I want to help you do that and be that person. Welcome in...

(Coupon code is good until midnight CST on March 31, 2020.)

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to The How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #6, we're talking about The New Normal. We are in a liminal experience right now: we are no longer in the "before" of the Coronavirus pandemic, and we're not in the "after" part either. We're in the in-between. And this is a moment ripe for asking: what do we want the new normal to look like?

Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic6

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to The How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #5, we're talking about Routine & Time Management. Although we could talk about these things for days, I'm giving you a quick way to create a solid schedule, why you want to do it, and strategies for the obstacles you're bound to encounter during the Coronavirus quarantine.

I'll post my daily schedule to Instagram; you can find it @khanlinmccormick.

Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic5

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to the How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #4, we're looking at true self-care in 3 ways: your mind, your body, and your environment. This is the Coronavirus edition of self-care, short and sweet.

Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic4

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to the How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #3, I'm exploring the concept of The Pause. We have a really unique opportunity right now and it's important to honor both the bad AND the good that we have in front of us right now.

Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic3

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to the How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #2, I'm walking you through the 3 parts of the stress response cycle and showing you how you can help yourself move from the beginning through the middle to the end...where you get to breathe a sigh of relief and say, "I'm safe."

Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic2

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All week I'm doing a series of mini-episodes specifically designed to guide you through this moment in time.

Welcome to the How to Not Panic Sessions.

In episode #1, I'm sharing the concept of Thinking On Purpose. Get the full transcript of this mini-episode here: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/howtonotpanic1

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Unless you're living on the moon, Coronavirus is pretty much top of mind right now. And even on an ordinary day, health anxiety affects almost a quarter of the adult American population.

So I thought it was time to talk about health-related anxiety on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Because, folks: today we’re going to take our power back.

I'm teaching a really important concept on this week's podcast and I believe it'll be a game-changer for you if you're struggling with anxiety around Coronavirus, anxiety around cold and flu season, or any health-related anxiety that you're experiencing.

Plus, I made a super simple guide that illustrates this concept for you, too. You can grab your guide by clicking here or by visiting me at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/58.

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Didn't think we'd be talking about action figures, did ya?

This week, we're going to explore a concept from Yale's Dr. Laurie Santos, a concept that relates so well to what we're doing around here that it needed its very own episode.

If you grew up in the 80's, you maybe saw the cartoon, G.I. Joe. And either way, you're likely familiar with the belief system they sold kids in every episode: Now you know...and knowing is half the battle!

But what if knowing ISN'T half the battle? And the belief system that more knowledge is all we need actually keeps us stuck in inaction?

Join me today to learn about the G.I. Joe Fallacy, optical illusions, and belief systems...and how it all ties together.

Plus grab the downloadable guide that goes along with this episode by clicking here or going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/57.

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This week, I'm sharing with you a whole bunch of my favorite thoughts to think.

These are thoughts that I think on purpose. These are thoughts that I put into my mind intentionally. These are thoughts I like to practice...

Sometimes when I'm talking to a client and I challenge them to think about a certain situation or person differently, they feel completely blocked. They're sure they have come up with ALL of the thoughts they could possibly be thinking. They've told me everything they can find in their minds.

Yup. I've been there.

And that's why it's handy to have a list of ready-to-go thoughts that reframe things, give you perspective, and put you back in control. So I made a guide for you that lists ALL of the thoughts I suggest in this week's podcast episode.

You can grab your guide by clicking here or by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/56.

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You ready to choose your own adventure? That's what we're talking about today with a brand-new concept: Thought Webs.

A lot of my clients and students are familiar with the model. They totally understand how our thoughts create our feelings which drive our actions which ultimately net us the results we get in our lives. They appreciate how all of this works together...

...and they're ready for more.

In this episode, we're going to explore Thought Webs:

How one circumstance kicks off a whole network of thoughts and feelings
How you can map out all of your thought-feeling-action-result options in just a few simple steps
How pausing will give you great insight
And how you always get to choose your own adventure

I made a worksheet to go along with this one because it's helpful to see this all laid out. You can click here or go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/55 to grab your copy. I'll see you there...

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Do you ever struggle with judgment?

This is one of the most common things I hear from clients, friends, (ahem) myself...

I know I shouldn't say this, but did you SEE what she did?!
Ugh, I can't believe it's almost spring break and I'm going to have to put on a swimsuit...LOOK at my thighs.
They have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

And hey, judgment isn't all bad. We need to use our judgment (as discernment) to make decisions about what to eat, how to do our work, who to hang out with, and how to manage our lives. But, as you know, that's only one side of the judgment coin.

We're exploring judgment on this week's episode. We're going to look at judgment by considering:

Judging others
Judging yourself
Judging judgment

There's a lot to look at with this one. So much so that we're spending a whole month on it over in The Fierce Calm Project. If you've been curious about joining, this is a great month to dive in...

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"Self-care" is one of those terms that gets tossed around when a well-meaning someone encourages you to take a break, relax, and make some time for yourself. "Take a bubble bath! How about a mani-pedi? Go get a massage..." <-- They lovingly say.

But if these quick fixes actually did the trick, the bath bomb industry would be raking in the dough and the rest of us wouldn't be scratching our heads, wondering what the hell has gone wrong that we can't just unwind and relax in the tub already.

Self-care is much more than bubble baths. And that's what we're going to talk about this week on the podcast.

We're going to explore more meaningful self-care practices like:

Boundaries
Movement
Goals
Sleep
Unconditional love

...and many others.

Plus, I made a Self-Care Checklist for you. You can grab your copy by clicking here or visiting the show notes over at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/53.

Also - come join us in The Fierce Calm Project! My brand-new, monthly coaching program is the place to be to take information just like this and not only study it, but LIVE it. Click here or go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject to learn more and get enrolled. I'll see you there...

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I sorta kinda can't believe it...1 year of the podcast! That's a whole year of research, writing, and making heart-filled podcast episodes for you, all with the goal of helping you to completely transform your experience of anxiety.

I'm proud of this milestone. And I'm really grateful that you're here. Thank you... (Also, I'm just getting started. Promise.)

To celebrate, I'm doing a "best of" recap of the 1st year of the podcast. We're going to review what I think are the most key concepts we've covered up to this point. Things like:

The simplest and most effective coaching tool around
Habits - actions AND thoughts
Why exercise is so important (besides the obvious)
Buffering with anxiety
Doubling down with anxiety

I also made a Year 1 Podcast Guide that goes along with this episode. It's a one-stop-shop for the most impactful lessons so far. You can grab your guide by clicking here. Show notes are available at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/52.

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You've likely come across the term "mindfulness" on your search for relief from anxiety, stress, and overwhelm. But what is mindfulness? And can it help when you're struggling with anxiety?

Turns out, mindfulness is mighty handy as an outlook for healing, recovery, and transformation.

We're going to explore mindfulness by looking at:

Inhabiting your body
Noticing new things
Using your 5 senses

These are some of the simplest tools that I teach (read: easy to learn andgreat to use with kids), plus all 3 of three of them shift your experience of anxiety almost immediately. Yup, seriously.

Because you're gonna want to have these ready to use, I made a mindfulness guide that goes along with this episode. You can grab your mindfulness guide by clicking here. (Psst: if you're a member of The Fierce Calm Project, you can grab the worksheet directly by heading over to the "Resources" category and clicking on the "Podcast Vault!")

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If you've been in a struggle with anxiety, then it's likely crossed your mind at some point that surrender may be something to consider.

But: how would you surrender?

And: would that mean anxiety had won the battle?

We're going to talk about surrender today. The action of surrender. How your preferences may be getting in the way. And how not surrendering creates more anxiety in your life.

I created a worksheet for you; just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/50 to grab your copy.

And have you joined The Fierce Calm Project yet? Founding member's pricing is good through the end of January. C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject to learn more and enroll. I'll see you inside...

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Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're talking about transforming anxiety...kinda meta. :)

We're going back to the basics with 3 mindset practices:

Thought inquiry
Allowing feelings
Challenging belief systems

But in a reboot kind of way. We're going to look at thoughts, feelings, and beliefs from a new angle.

How do these things help to transform anxiety? Why are we transforming anxiety anyway? Let's talk about it...

And there's a guide that goes along with this episode! Grab your copy over at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/49. See you there...

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This is a very special bonus episode of the podcast with my yoga teacher and founder of Adamantine® Yoga, James Miller.

You know that I talk a lot about how important it is to move your body, every single day, on the path to transforming anxiety. And I believe yoga to be the perfect form of movement, since it incorporates not only strength and flexibility, but breath, concentration, and meditation as well.

In this episode, James and I talk about:

The importance of movement to transform anxiety
The style of Adamantine® Yoga and how it differs from regular yoga classes
Why people show up to yoga...and what they actually get out of the practice

Plus, there is a very special offer in this episode! James is launching Adamantine® Yoga to the world via a brand-new online platform.

Because you're a listener of the podcast and are committed to transforming your experience of anxiety, I'm thrilled to share an incredible discount on the Basic Training program. Click here to learn more and use code KELLYMC to save $400 (!) on this incredible program. Or go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/bonusyoga for more info.

See you there...

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BIG, fun stuff on this week's episode...I'm announcing my brand-new membership program: The Fierce Calm Project.

If you've been interested in coaching but haven't quite felt ready to go for it yet...

If you've wanted to hire your own personal coach, but were looking for a more economical option...

If you had / have a private coach and want MORE coaching...

...then this is the place for you.

As a group, we're going to transform anxiety and transform our LIVES. This membership program is the best thing I've ever created and I'm thrilled to be welcoming you in as we start the new year.

To join with your Founding Member's discount (40% off the regular monthly rate...for LIFE!), just click here or go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/fiercecalmproject. See you inside the program...

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On this episode, we're going back to the basics a bit. What is anxiety? Why is anxiety a "feature" that humans have evolved into not only having, but keeping?

We're going to look at anxiety through the concept of survival of the fittest today. We're going to zoom in (mouse view) and zoom out (eagle view) on the role anxiety plays in your life. And ultimately reframe anxiety as the feature that it is.

Join me for this episode and use it to transform your experience of anxiety...

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The end of the year is known to be plenty festive; lots of celebrations, top-10 lists, and great food. But it's also a time that's rife with stress, overwhelm, worry...and anxiety.

We're going to look at end-of-year anxiety using these 4 concepts:

Goals & Expectations
Busy Schedules
Petty Tyrants
Wondering

That's a fun slew of topics, right?? I promise it'll all make sense and it'll support you in getting through the end of 2019, starting 2020 off strong, and, well, turns out these are things we can use pretty much all year long. So there's no expiration date on the lessons in this episode.

Plus, I made an end-of-year anxiety worksheet for you...grab your copy over at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/46.

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When you consider investing in yourself, what comes to mind? Your education? A fancy spa vacation? Your house or car?

We tend to think of investing as a financial undertaking, but this week we're going to talk about investing from the perspective of putting your time, energy, and effort towards a worthwhile result.

Specifically, we're going to look at the return you're getting in some of the investments you're currently making in your life. Things like:

Sleep
Food
Movement
Media
Relationships

We're going to consider what you're putting in, and what you're getting in return.

Plus! I made a worksheet for you. C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/45 for your free downloadable worksheet + all of the show notes and studies that I reference in this episode. See you there...

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Have you noticed that we collectively boil down the entire emotional experience of being alive on the planet to things like: fine, busy, and anxious?

How are you? Fine.

How are you? Busy.

How are you? (If you're really being honest...) Anxious.

This week we're going to explore the superficial answers of "fine" and "busy" and reconsider how we're talking to ourselves when we constantly tell the story of anxiety.

And there's a challenge to go along with this episode! Grab your downloadable copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/44.

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We're all dealt a certain hand in life. These cards are our life's circumstances. And we can throw a fit about it, or we can choose to double down. We can choose to go all in. We can choose to bet on ourselves. No matter the circumstances...

Many of my clients are looking at a hand full of anxious cards. They've been dealt difficult people, a stressful job, or even a really scary diagnosis. And they're looking at that hand, thinking, "no way." They're telling themselves it's hard, it's too much, they're complaining because: why THEM?!

Today, we're talking about Doubling Down with Anxiety. We're talking about holding up that hand chock-full of anxious cards and we're saying, "bring it."

This is a short-and-sweet episode and I'm talking to you in less of a step-by-step process way and more in a heart-to-heart way. You're not going to want to miss this one...

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We have covered some solid ground in the past few weeks re: relationships, have you noticed? Control freaks, difficult people, and now, well, you know where we're going now?

Boundaries. Anxiety around setting boundaries. Anxiety around notsetting boundaries. Anxious boundaries.

I'm introducing the topic of boundaries by looking at them this way:

Boundaries are for you, not against them
Boundaries are not idle threats, ultimatums, or control freak tactics
Boundaries come from a grounded place
Not setting boundaries breeds anxiety

Plus, I made a Guide for Setting Boundaries for you. You can download your copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/42.

Here's to strong and loving boundaries.

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Oh boy, difficult people. That's the topic of this week's podcast episode. I felt this was apropos heading into the holiday season, looking at the end of the year, and well, just in general. Am I right?

I separated this episode into 4 sections:

There are no difficult people
There are always difficult people
Difficult people are thoughts, not circumstances
Believing someone is difficult affects you, not them

Plus, I made a guide for you to really walk you through the 4 lessons and apply them to your life and the difficult people around you. Grab your free downloadable worksheet by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/41.

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Do you know a control freak? Are you a control freak??

Whether you're dealing with a control freak or you, ahem, can see some control freak nature in yourself, this episode is a good one.

We're going to look at control like this:

Other people being other people is not an invitation to step in and control them
No one gets the results from an interrupted model
Controlling other people is just a distraction from your own work

Plus, I made a Control Freak Worksheet for you. This will help you any time you notice yourself veering into someone else's lane. Use this, practice with it, and start making this a habit. Any temptation to control someone else is ultimately a reminder to turn your finger back towards yourself and go to work cleaning up your own mind.

Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/40 to grab your free downloadable copy now.

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Truth is: life gets kinda life-y. Sometimes the things that are happening around us seem as if they're taking over, affecting us more than we can keep up with. The people in our lives are doing things that impact us. Our jobs, politics, the weather...it's all influencing our lives. Big time.

In other words: the circumstances of our lives can get really LOUD.

If you've been listening along to The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, if you get The Model and have been using it in your life, you may have come across a situation where you think to yourself, "yeah, Kelly, but what about THIS?!"

I'm talking about an ex who seems to revel in making your life hell. Or a kid that seems determined to flunk out of school. Or a family member who seems completely blind to the destruction their drinking has on everyone around them.

These are loud circumstances indeed.

But loud circumstances are still circumstances.

Today we're going to take a look at loud circumstances, how they affect us, and where we go from there. Join me...

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Coaching, like life, is sometimes contradictory and this episode is a good example of using complementary but opposite practices in an effort to get to know yourself better.

This week we're talking about WORRY and I'm introducing you to 2 practices:

Worry Time
Worry Vacations

Intentional worry time is where you schedule worrying ahead of time in a deliberate, planned way. You let yourself go all in during worry time, let your mind go wild. Get it all down and out on paper.

Worry vacations are when you take a break from worrying. You kindly and gently redirect your mind whenever you find it gravitating towards worry. Unmanaged minds like to worry, so this has to be a consistent practice.

Find your free, downloadable Worry Worksheet at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/38.

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Last week we started talking about Emotional Decluttering. And I told you all about minimalism and how this is all great and fine for our physical spaces, but I started thinking...what about our mental and emotional spaces?

And we talked about a few feelings and actions that are worth challenging and, most likely, decluttering from our lives. Things like worry, overwhelm, boredom, confusion, exhaustion, complaining, and busy-ness.

This week on the podcast, we're going to take a look at truly optimizing the interior space of our minds. It's one thing to know what we need to get rid of, but I find it's super helpful to crowd those things out by being proactive in other areas. So we're going to look at:

Setting boundaries

Taking responsibility

Moving your body

Wanting what you want

Allowing negative emotion

Doing what you say you're going to do

Join me for this episode as we look at each of these actions individually and consider how you can put these into action in your own life.

And you know I made a guide for you for this one as well! Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/37 to download your free guide.

Onwards with tidying up!

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Have you gotten caught up in the minimalism trend sweeping us all into a box destined for Goodwill? I have. And ever since I did the episode on minimalism and anxiety, I've been contemplating tidying up, getting rid of things, decluttering.

Ok, yes, I still like the whole playing house thing, sure.

But what about that emotional space inside of us? The rooms of our mind that need a good airing out? The thoughts we need to tidy up or purge altogether?

What about: emotional decluttering?

This week on the podcast, we're talking about emotional decluttering. And we're going to start off with experiences we need to take a hard look at...things like:

Worry

Overwhelm

Boredom

Confusion

Exhaustion

Complaining

Busy-ness

And this is just part 1! Next week, in part 2 of the series on emotional decluttering, we're going to talk about things we want to purposely cultivate more of; basically, the opposite of this list. ;)

And you know I made a guide for you. This stuff was too good to not compile into a worksheet. Go too www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/36 to download your free guide for emotional decluttering.

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We're kinda conditioned to think of "relaxation" as something spa-related. Something luxurious. Something we gift ourselves with, but only on rare occasion.

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to bring the experience of relaxation down from the stratosphere of "oh so special" and reconsider it as a practical, daily practice that counteracts stress. This isn't something you deserve on your birthday or when you've hit a wall; this is a habit to cultivate and prioritize.

But, before you think we're talking mani-pedi here, this is FAR more pragmatic than that. This episode walks through the history and science of a little thing called the relaxation response and how you can make this (and not stress) your reaction to all of life's circumstances.

Plus, I made a guide for you so that you can start applying this work right away. C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/35 to grab your copy...

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Right and wrong thinking is a trap we all fall into from time to time. In this week's episode, we're going to tackle this mindset problem from 3 different angles:

Labeling feelings, actions, and results as "wrong"
Confirmation bias
One-up and one-down dynamics

Join me this week to challenge the extremes in your mindset and start finding the midpoint so that you can bring authenticity, transparency, and honesty to everything from your relationships and work to your parenting and health.

And join the conversation over on Instagram, too! I'd love to hear how this helps you, or any questions that you have. Find me @khanlinmccormick and send me a DM...let's chat!

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Ever feel uncertain?

Yeah, me too. And my clients? They face uncertainty as well. Seems to be part of this whole human experience deal.

I've also seen how uncertainty can freak people out. Things like:

What will they think?
How's this going to go down?
Am I going to have a meltdown?
What if I'm anxious?

spin around in our minds and create, yup, MORE uncertainty.

Whether you experience uncertainty about something out there or if you feel uncertain about something going on inside of you, this episode is going to help you navigate that and find your way back to certainty.

Also, grab your free downloadable guide: Thoughts that Create Certainty, by going to: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/33

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This week we're talking about a really trendy topic: minimalism. I've been thinking about minimalism for a while and got curious recently about how decluttering could support those of us looking to transform out of anxiety and towards freedom.

And it occurred to me: minimalism isn't only for physical spaces, like our homes, offices, and cars. It's also for our mental and emotional spaces, like our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

In this episode we're going to explore 3 minimalist mindsets to help transform anxiety:

Busy-ness
Constraint
Allowing other people to be who they are

And I made a minimalist mindset guide that goes along with this show. C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/32 to grab your free, downloadable copy now.

Also! My Freedom from Anxiety webinar is coming up on September 18th. I will be sending out a replay, but you have to be on the list to get it, so go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/freedom-from-anxiety-webinar-reg to get registered for that! See you there...

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We are kind of obsessed with the idea of "normal."

We want to look normal, seem normal, feel normal.

But, what is normal, anyway?

I looked up the definition and normal is: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. Ok. Here's my question: compared to what?

In this episode, we're exploring what normal is, defining normal for yourself, and finding your own normal.

If you're ready to start applying this work to your life, grab your free downloadable worksheet that goes along with this episode by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/31.

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Buffering is what we do when we're resisting, avoiding, or generally trying to escape from the current moment. Maybe we don't like how we're feeling, or maybe the emotion seems so big and intense and scary that we don't know how to process it. Whatever the case, we buffer against it so that we don't have to feel it.

Common buffers: food, alcohol, tv, social media, work...

Less obvious, but all too real buffer: anxiety.

Does that surprise you? Have you ever considered the idea that you're using the emotion of anxiety as a buffer against other emotions?

That's what we're talking about today. If you can relate to this, let's talk about it! Schedule a consult call with me by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/coaching. Let's do this...

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When I say relationship what comes to your mind?

Your partner? Your kids? Your family and friends? Your co-workers, maybe, or the people that you volunteer with?

These relationships are all wonderful and important additions to our lives, but today, we're focusing on the most important relationship of all.

The relationship you have with yourself.

And I made a worksheet to start you down the path of cultivating the kind of relationship you want to have with yourself. You can grab your copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/29.

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We live in a very power-hungry time, where expectations run high, pressure is on, and we believe we have to do things the "right way" at all times.

Running our minds through the lens of worst-case scenarios with all of this at stake is a ripe breeding ground for chronic overthinking. Have you noticed?

But there's another way. This week, we're exploring overthinking and one simple, pragmatic tool to undo this cycle...

Plus, grab your free cheatsheet by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/28. See you next week!

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One of the first things I'm looking for with my new clients is how reactive vs. proactive they are - not only with anxiety, but with other emotions, with life in general.

Today, I'm going to show you how to check in and see if you're being reactive...and the 4 steps you need to practice in order to be proactive instead.

And I made a worksheet for you to help you along with this work (because: I love you). C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/27 to grab your free downloadable copy.

p.s. If you're listening to this in real-time (aka, before August 14, 2019), click HERE to get registered for my free Freedom from Anxiety webinar. You won't wanna miss it...

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Do you ever feel as if you're going to going to explode at any moment? That you're living your life at the very top of a volcano, and that you're going to spew lava and ash everywhere?

You're not alone there.

This week, we're going to go a bit deeper with the physical aspects of anxiety and I'm going to introduce you to a practice that you can do every single day to help bring yourself off the edge of that volcano and away from the risk of eruption.

And I made a little something for you, per usual. Grab your free downloadable worksheet that walks through completing the stress response by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/26. See you there...

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There are 2 sides to the experience of anxiety: the physical sensation of it and the emotional feeling of it. Today, we're going to explore the differences between sensations and feelings and play with how anxiety fits into all of this by using 2 other experiences that have strong physical and emotional characteristics...

Hunger. And fatigue.

I always find that it's helpful to cross-pollinate whatever feels easy over to the places that feel more difficult. Chances are, you feel more grounded around food or rest and it'll help to look at anxiety in light of those natural strengths.

And! There's a free downloadable worksheet that goes along with this episode. Come grab your copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/25. See you there...

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Sometimes, we look at a change we want or need to make in our lives, and we think, well, I'll work on that someday. I'll get around to it later. Maybe next week / month / year.

We keep kicking the can further down the road and we don't make the changes that we want or need to make.

Transforming your experience of anxiety may be one of those "someday" things for you. But today, we're going to talk about the effects of anxiety on your body...and you're going to want to listen up and make those changes sooner than later.

We're going to talk about major systems of the body today and how anxiety (the emotion and the physical aspects of anxiety) affects the respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, and immune systems of your body. This is one you don't want to miss...

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There are lots of things we want to change in our lives. How we're feeling, how we're acting, or maybe an end result that we're seeing for ourselves. Whatever it is we want to change, ultimately it comes down to this: we have to change our minds.

Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings drive our actions, our actions create our results...so wherever we want to create change, it all begins with how we're thinking. What we're thinking. It all begins with our minds.

In this episode, I talk about the willingness to change our minds about anxiety and walk you through my 3-step process for changing your mind. This works for anxiety, but the good news is: this works for EVERYTHING.

Grab your free downloadable worksheet at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/23. See you there...

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We've been fed this idea that the "pursuit of happiness" is where it's at. That we need to be happy all of the time. That if we're not happy, something has gone wrong.

Friends, we're going to debunk the myth of the "pursuit of happiness" today and, instead, we're going to pursue reality. Starting with: emotional balance.

Embracing the belief that we are going to feel amazing some of the time and, well, we're going to feel like crap some of the time = pursuing reality. It's the truth of the human experience. Unless you're Pollyanna, HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY is exhausting, silly, and completely inappropriate for real life.

Also! Since I have found that we sometimes struggle to find the exact right word to describe how we're feeling and the majority of us default to something like "fine" or "busy" when asked how we're doing, I made something super cool...The Inventory of Emotions. You can get a free copy of the IoE by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/22.

Let's do this...

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Folks, we talk about where we are right now, doing the same ol' same ol', as being in our "comfort zone." And yet, we're not comfortable! We crave change and transformation, we have big goals and plans, we dream of our fantasy future when everything will be "better."

I think we need to reframe our current position as a familiarity zone and plan how we're going to create our zone of comfort by being willing to go through the discomfort of feeling our feelings, finding new thoughts, challenging our belief systems, failing, doing new things, allowing other people to have negative opinions about us...you get the drill.

Because here's the deal: we're already uncomfortable. We wouldn't crave change and transformation or dream wild dreams if we didn't have that itch of discomfort where we are right now.

Let's use discomfort to get us where we want to go, whaddya say?

And, go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/21 for a free downloadable worksheet that helps explain WHY we get trapped in familiarity in the first place. See you there...

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This week I'm answering some of the most commonly coached problems I hear around anxiety...this is the first Anxiety FAQ episode!

Today, I'm answering 3 problems I hear a lot from new clients:

1 - I don't want to feel anxious anymore

2 - I feel completely out of control when I'm anxious

3 - I can't handle it

Tune in for my coaching on these 3 topics and, hey, if you want one-on-one help with your own anxiety questions, you can get a free private introductory coaching session with me by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/coaching. I'll see you there...

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Does money stress you out? Do you get anxious thinking about money? This week, I wanna help you get ALL of your power back re: money so that you feel fully in control where money is concerned. Money is no small part of the world, so this is a pretty big piece of adulting to clean up.

After this episode, you'll see how money can no longer make you anxious.

And I made something for you! Grab your free Money Beliefs worksheet by going to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/19. See you there...

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All of us experience all kinds of relationships: romantic, friendly, working, neighborly, family, & more. Relationships are all around us. Sure, some of our relationships are a wonderful source of support, love, fun, & kindness. But what about the relationship dynamics that leaving us feeling drained...more anxious & stressed than we showed up?

That's the topic of today's episode. We all want healthy, strong relationships that nourish us & that fulfill both sides. Buuuut getting there can be another story altogether.

Join me as we (start) exploring relationships & anxiety. How can we experience our relationships without adding more stress? How can we show up in our relationships with complete balance? This is how.

C'mon over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/18 to grab your free relationships cheatsheet. It's a handy guide to have around. See ya there...

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How many times have you heard the advice to, "just meditate" when you're feeling anxious?

How many times has that worked...?

This week, we're talking about meditation, when and how to use this tool, plus breath work, which may be new to you but I have found to be far more impactful when you're feeling actively anxious.

Plus! I made 2 audio recordings for you that go along with this podcast: a guided meditation + a recording that walks you through 3 different breath techniques to help you find relief from anxiety immediately. You can grab your recordings at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/17.

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Movement! We're talking about exercise and anxiety today. And of course, we all know that exercise is a good idea. We all know that we need to be exercising pretty much on the daily. But: how does exercise affect our mental and emotional health? How does exercise affect anxiety in particular?

That's what we're digging into in this episode. Exercise goes far more than supporting your physical health, fitness, strength, and flexibility.

This week's free download is an Exercise Protocol Worksheet. This guide will prompt you to start creating movement practices that support you no matter what. You can grab a copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/16. Enjoy!

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Today is all about alcohol and anxiety...as we move through the Lifestyle elements of my system for Freedom from Anxiety, we're digging in on specific topics to understand how they interact with and affect your experience of stress and anxiety.

Maybe alcohol isn't something you've considered as a trouble spot. Maybe you've never really thought about HOW you think about alcohol. Maybe you're not excited about this episode at all and you're starting to wonder what the heck I'm talking about...

In this show, we go through some statistics (alcohol and anxiety numbers), we talk about the reality of alcohol and what drinking does to our bodies, and then we dig in to where alcohol and anxiety intersect.

This week's free download is a worksheet that will prompt you to start better understanding your relationship with alcohol...and how (or if!) you're using alcohol to avoid feeling anxious. You can grab a copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/15. Cheers to health, clarity, and clean minds, my friends!

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We are diving into the Lifestyle elements of my system for Freedom from Anxiety and we're starting with FOOD!

Nutrition is one of the most obvious and immediate ways you can deeply impact your physical, mental, and emotional health. Knowing what to avoid (we'll talk about that), what to eat and drink instead (we'll also talk about that), and how you can figure out what the heck YOUR body needs are all in this episode.

This week's free download is a guide to eating for stress and anxiety! Plus I've included some journaling prompts for you as well as some of my favorite go-to recipes. You can grab a copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/14. Bon appetit!

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The Lifestyle pillar is the 3rd pillar of my system to Freedom from Anxiety. And when I say "Lifestyle," I don't mean cars and vacations and yachts. I mean: how do you live your life every single day?

There are 8 elements to the Lifestyle pillar and I go through them in this (kinda long) episode plus I made a cheatsheet for you! Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/13.

Tune in to find out how elements like nutrition, movement, sleep, and more affect your experience of anxiety and stress. See you there.

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Habits are the glue that set the Mindset and Lifestyle elements in place. Habits send your routines and practices from your conscious mind into your unconscious mind...and this is what makes them more automatic for you, freeing up your energy and effort. It's a beautiful thing.

In this episode we talk about the gateway into habits with The Four Tendencies from Gretchen Rubin's work and then we get into The Four Laws of Behavior Change, based on James Clear's brilliant work in the book, Atomic Habits.

And there's a cheatsheet for you! Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/12 to download you free cheatsheet that goes along with this episode. See you on the pod...

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Cleaning up your mind is an ongoing, daily practice, just like cleaning up your home. And just like you need some basic tools to keep your home clean, you need some tools and techniques to keep your mind clean.

Today, we are talking about the 1st pillar in my system for Freedom from Anxiety and we are focusing on the 5 tools and techniques that help keep your mind clean. Here they are:

Thought Work
The Model
Belief Systems
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
Conscious vs. Unconscious Thinking

This episode goes into each of the 5 tools and how you can use them in your everyday life to maintain a clean mind. I also made a reference guide for you and you can get your copy at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/11. See you there...

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In my personal experience (and I share a little of my story in this episode!) and in the work that I've done for years with my clients, I have found a system for creating true freedom from anxiety.

This 3-pillar system is the basis for all of my work.

There are 3 integral parts, the pillars, to creating freedom. They are:

Mindset
Habits
Lifestyle

This episode is an overview of the 3-pillar system and there's a cheatsheet that gives more details waiting for you at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/10. See you there...

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Stop calling yourself anxious. It isn't nice...

If you get strep throat, do you start calling yourself strep throat? If you break your toe, do you start calling yourself broken toe?

Nope.

So, why do we do this with anxiety? Why do we do this with mental health? And what are the ramifications of continuously talking about yourself this way?

Let's discuss. And don't forget your free worksheet! Just go to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/9.

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If you've ever wondered why you're still feeling anxious even when you're actively wanting to NOT feel anxious, this is the episode for you.

See, there are two sides to our thinking: the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious part is responsible for a lot and is where our awareness lives. But the unconscious part is a doozy...and it's often hard at work without the authority of the conscious mind.

How do you create change in your unconscious thinking? Join me and we'll dig in. And get your free downloadable cheatsheet to go along with this episode at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/8.

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This week is about all the feels! I know, does that make you wanna run & hide? I promise this isn't a fluffy episode (are they ever?!), but instead, is a practical approach to emotions & why you'll want to start practicing feeling your feelings.

(Hint: your feelings are the fuel in the gas tank of your action, so you gotta get clear on the feelings part before you can create the actions & results you want in your life. #worthit)

There's a worksheet! Go over to www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/7 to grab the worksheet that goes along with this episode. It's a great supplement to today's work and step-by-step approach to feelings.

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Building on last week's episode where I introduced The Model, we are diving into Thoughts today. Where does your mind go when it's unchaperoned? And how do you create the life you want? On purpose? This is how...let's get to it.

Don't forget to grab this week's worksheets over on my website: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/6. You'll want to have those handy right after you listen to today's episode so you can get to WORK! :)

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Oh boy, this week is a biggie. Episode #5 is all about The Power of Mindset - and believe me, this is not to be missed. This knowledge has changed my life. It has changed the lives of my clients. It works whether we're paying attention or not...

...so we need to pay attention.

The worksheets that go along with this episode are at www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/5. C'mon over to the website and get those to support you through this work.

No more wondering where the emotion of anxiety comes from. This episode will answer that question and put you back in the driver's seat of your emotions.

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Today we are wrapping up the introductory 4-part series under the theme, "What is Anxiety?" with an important topic. Now that we know we cannot escape from anxiety (see episode #3!), we are left with this question: What is the Goal with Anxiety?

We are going to talk through a goal we can all set around anxiety and this week's downloadable worksheet is going to help you take that work even further and really integrate it into your life.

No more letting anxiety run the show. Today, we are going to set a clear goal together around this emotion. Let's do this...

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This is part 3 of a 4-part series under the theme, "What is Anxiety?" and today we're talking about ESCAPE. Most of us don't like feeling negative emotions, so we try to resist them. And when anxiety flares up? We try to completely escape from it.

Why would escape be a problem? And what do you use to escape from anxiety? Join me and let's explore. And grab the free worksheet that goes along with today's episode so that you can take this work even further and get more out of it. Here we go...

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In this episode, part 2 of a 4-part series, we're talking about what anxiety is like for you. A lot of the tools that we are going to go into in upcoming episodes are general tools that we can all use, but in order to be effective, it's important to get clear on what your specific experience of anxiety is like, so that you can take that into the work we'll do together in future episodes.

Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode. You cannot begin to transform what you don't fully understand, and this worksheet will help support you in that work.

Thanks for being here. Let's do this...

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Welcome to the Transforming Anxiety Podcast! This is the inaugural episode of a week-by-week show where I'll be sharing all of my best tools and resources to completely transform your relationship with anxiety. If you're feeling frustrated, stuck, and disappointed by the fluffy suggestions and tips you've heard from well-meaning friends and experts, this is the podcast for you.

We are going to start things out this week with 3 ways to think about anxiety (because it's important to get clear on what anxiety is in the first place). Then I'm going to share 3 ways that you can begin to transform anxiety TODAY.

Get your free downloadable e-book that goes along with this episode - because free goodies are always fun!

The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: Recent Episodes

Kelly McCormick