How to Transform Anxiety into Your Secret Weapon

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Hey there, my overthinking, caffeine addicted, sleep deprived champions of stress.

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This is Zach.

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This is the Fit Mess.

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It's a solo episode today and I wanna talk about anxiety.

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We're gonna do a little bit of a deep dive into the fun, unpredictable, and utterly
exhausting world that is anxiety.

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So buckle up.

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I know right now that voice in your head, it won't shut up and you're having heart
palpitations.

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You think you're having a heart attack.

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You're replaying embarrassing moments from 10 years ago at two o'clock in the morning for
no particular reason.

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Any of sound familiar?

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Anyone who listens to the show knows that I run hot on the anxiety scale.

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So I'm just going to go into some general overviews here.

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Look back in the caveman days, anxiety was a survival tool.

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Imagine you're a prehistoric dude chilling out in a cave and suddenly boom, a saber tooth
tiger shows up.

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Your brain immediately floods your system with adrenaline, your heart races, your muscles
tense, and you decide, I got to fight, flight, or freeze.

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Right?

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That is anxiety.

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So fast forward to today, guess what?

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No more saber-toothed But instead of shutting up, your brain decided, hey, what if we
reacted like we're being chased like a wild animal, but instead of a tiger, it's just a

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mildly awkward social interaction or an email or literally nothing at all.

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And bam, now you're out here sweating through your shirt because you sent a text with a
period instead of an exclamation point.

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I mean, come on.

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Alright, well let's talk about the symptoms or as I like to say how your brain gaslights
you for Anxiety doesn't just live in your head.

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No, this little gremlin is an all systems operation.

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Racing thoughts?

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Check.

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Heart pounding like a drum solo?

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Yup.

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Feeling like you forgot something important even though you didn't?

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Yeah, yeah, of course.

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Overanalyzing everything you said in a meeting three weeks ago?

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Welcome to the club.

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Panic attacks, fun surprise feature, like an Apple update no one asked for.

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And let's not forget about the best part.

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Sometimes anxiety doesn't need a reason at all.

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You could be laying in bed perfectly relaxed and your brain just goes, hey, what if you
forgot how to breathe?

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Seriously, we've all been there.

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And suddenly you're hyperventilating over a bodily function that you've been doing
literally since birth.

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So let's talk about anxiety's greatest hits because there's a couple of different flavors
here.

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Not all anxiety is created equal, folks.

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no.

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comes in many fun varieties.

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Generalized anxiety disorder.

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Everyday life feels like a nerve-ending exam you forgot to study for.

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Social anxiety.

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The is secretly judging you even though they're probably thinking about what's for dinner.

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Panic attack, when your body decides to throw in a full blown meltdown at completely
random moments.

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health anxiety, Googling a headache and concluding that you have five minutes left to
live.

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OCD, when your brain makes you do the same thing over and over just to make sure reality
isn't crumbling.

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It's like a toxic little relationship, except the toxic one is your own nervous system.

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So I learned to make friends with my anxiety a long time ago.

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So I actually root for it for the most part, but I do tell it to calm down.

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But if anxiety had an Olympic event, it would definitely be overthinking.

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And my friends, we are all gold medalists at it.

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That anxiety friend does so good.

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Tell me if any of this sounds familiar.

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You text someone, they don't reply.

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Your brain goes, they hate you.

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Reality is they're just busy.

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Or maybe...

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You say something slightly awkward in a conversation.

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Your brain goes, congratulations, you've ruined your entire reputation forever.

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Reality, no one even noticed.

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The problem is, is our brain is really bad at telling the difference between real threats
and imaginary ones.

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We treat, no, I forgot to send an email, the same way as we treat being on fire.

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So how do we stop?

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Well, I wish I had a magic fix, but here's what actually helps.

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Number one, question your thoughts.

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Not everything your brain tells you is true.

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Number two, ground yourself in reality.

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Take note of five things that you see, four things that you feel, three things that you
hear, and distract that brain of yours.

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Number three, breathe.

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It sounds dumb, works wonders, box breathing.

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We talk about it all the time.

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Number four, move your body.

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Exercise, dance, go outside, flail around like a muppet, whatever works.

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five, stop doom scrolling.

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Your phone is a panic attack.

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in a little tiny rectangular package.

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So we got a couple of tips and tricks on how to manage your anxiety.

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Obviously it's much easier said than done.

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I've spent the better part of 20 years managing mine.

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And while I still have it under control, I have it under control for the most part and I'm
able to manage it, I was at the hospital the other day thinking I was having a heart

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attack and it was just a full blown panic attack.

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So no matter how good you think you get at managing your anxiety, it's still gonna be
there.

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So remember to become friends with that little devil.

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and make sure that you know how to talk to it.

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So, let's ask a bigger question.

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You ever wonder why anxiety seems to be at an all time high?

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Anyone have a guess?

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Anyone?

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Well, I can't hear you, so even if you are guessing, it doesn't matter.

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Look, we've got things in our world that no other generation has seen.

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We've got social media.

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Nothing like consistently comparing your real life to someone else's heavily edited
highlight reel.

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Work culture, right?

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It's so crazy.

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If you're not hustling 24-7, you're failing.

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Spoiler alert though, you're not failing.

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You're doing great.

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The news cycle, breaking.

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Everything is on fire, always and forever.

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Sleep deprivation.

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Fun fact, anxiety is way worse when you're running on three hours of sleep in a latte.

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Basically our brains were not built for this much input.

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We're cavemen living in a world with notifications, deadlines, and And an algorithm that
knows what we're afraid of better than we do.

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Alright, so we've established anxiety is a total buzzkill, but what can we do about it?

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Here's some actually useful tips.

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Talk to someone, a therapist, a friend, your dog, just get out of your head.

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Try and limit your caffeine.

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I know, I'm sorry, but jitter juice does not help.

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I've had three cups today and I'm a little wired right now and things are going crazy.

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Sleep, your brain needs rest.

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You are not a smartphone, you can't function on 1%.

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Try meditating, sounds woo woo.

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actually rewires your brain.

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Takes time, but it will help.

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Laugh.

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Anxiety hates laughter.

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Watch a stupid movie.

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Make a dumb joke.

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Be ridiculous.

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There is a reason why most of the things that come out of my mouth is from a 12 year old
boy's perspective because I just want to have fun.

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I just want to laugh.

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And most importantly, be kind to yourself.

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Look, anxiety sucks, but beating yourself up over it just makes it worse.

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So anyway, my anxious amigos, let's recap.

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Anxiety is your brain trying to keep you alive, but being really bad at it.

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Overthinking's a sport, and we're all champions.

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Just because you think something bad will happen doesn't mean it will.

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Social media, caffeine, and sleep deprivation are not helping, and you're not alone in
this.

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And remember, your thoughts are not you.

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You are not your anxiety.

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You're a badass human who sometimes gets stuck in a thought.

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tornado and that's okay.

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Now, go drink some water, stretch your legs, and if all else fails, distract yourself with
cat videos.

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Science says it works, so I mean, can't argue with science.