Holding Onto Hope Amidst Depression, Anxiety, and Uncertainty: Tanner Olson on Getting Through What You're Going Through

“Hope does not know how to leave. It just stays and quietly whispers, 'everything’s going to be okay. I know everything isn’t okay right now. Everything’s going be okay.'”

That's from Tanner Olson, an absolutely incredible poet who has a lot to say about the things that plunge us into addiction in the first place. His poetry isn't unreachable, though. It's poetry that meets you where you are at. Especially in your struggles. And that's why I'm talking to him today. 

Tanner understands hopelessness—that thing so many of us try to escape and drink away. He's struggled through infertility, depression, and working jobs you know you weren't meant to work. Now he's written a new book all about the antidote to hopelessness called Getting Through What You’re Going Through. It’s a collection of poems and reflections written through hard seasons when the life he wanted felt far out of reach. He doesn’t offer clichés. Instead, he offers beauty.

In this episode, we talk about what led to the new book: working at Chick-fil-A at 25 while dreaming of becoming a writer, winters in northern Wisconsin that felt isolating, and depression that wrapped him like a wet bathing suit. But more importantly, we talk about hope—not as a slogan, not as a trite verse thrown at pain—but as something that remains.

If you’ve ever felt stuck…
If you’ve ever wondered whether you have the faith to sit with yourself instead of escaping…
If you’ve ever questioned whether God is still present in what you’re walking through…

This conversation is an invitation to slow down and go through it, not around it. Because in those places is where God meets us. 

Looking for a one-stop recovery resource? Learn more about the Tyndale Life Recovery Bible by visiting https://hubs.la/Q041HjWm0.

We Explore:

— Hope as “the full assurance that God is with me in this and will get me through this”
— The lie of feeling like a burden and not being good enough
— Depression, loneliness, and winters in northern Wisconsin
— Working at Chick-fil-A at 25 while pursuing a writing calling
— The courage required to leave a season that is no longer life-giving
— Why spiritual clichés often deepen wounds instead of healing them
— How to sit with someone who feels hopeless without trying to fix them
— The quiet, steady nature of real hope
— The difference between escapism and endurance
— Developing the faith to sit with yourself instead of reaching for escape

Get Tanner's new book: Getting Through What You're Going Through: Notes and Poems for Hoping and Becoming
Follow Tanner on Instagram and Substack
Tanner's website: writtentospeak.com
Follow me: @jonseidl
Order my new book, Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic
Get the Tyndale Life Recovery Bible: https://hubs.la/Q041HjWm0

Support the Show: https://www.jonseidl.com/

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