Today we’re exploring how to cope with the natural fears that arise during challenging times, the difference between useful and harmful anxiety, and how we can grow the inner strengths we need to thrive when things get tough.
We haven’t generally done episodes related to current events, but all of the fear in the time of coronavirus has made things challenging to ignore. The coronavirus pandemic has already placed a heavy toll on society – over a hundred thousand people have already been sick, thousands dying, businesses, schools, and recreational events closing, and markets crashing.
But whether we’ve been directly affected by the virus or not, there’s been this other cost: the weight of fear and anxiety that it has placed on all of us. How is this going to change our lives moving forward? How at risk am I? Should I stop seeing people I love? Is someone that I know going to die? Is my job going to go back to normal? What if nothing’s the same after this?
Today we’re exploring how to cope with the natural fears that arise during challenging times, the difference between useful and harmful anxiety, and how we can grow the inner strengths we need to thrive when things get tough.
Listen
Key Topics:
- 4:50: Rick’s approach to this moment.
- 6:00: Claiming your agency.
- 10:40: Useful anxiety vs. harmful anxiety.
- 13:45: What makes something uniquely scary.
- 18:15: Finding, sometimes not particularly useful, ways to express agency.
- 22:30: How to start determining which form of anxiety you’re experiencing.
- 25:00: Three ways to work with excessive negative rumination.
- 28:30: Tools for managing needless anxiety.
- 33:00: Recognizing privilege while working through survivor’s guilt.
- 36:30: Anger and the sadness underneath it.
