Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast

Something I have yet to really dive into is the anxiety surrounding a break up, which is something so many of us, if not all of us, will probably experience at some point in our lives. Maybe it's a split from your first love, or maybe, as is the case for my guest, journalist and author Liadan Hynes, it's a separation from your husband or partner with whom you share children or someone with whom you've built a life that you expected to see continue forever. It's a very tangible anxiety: that realisation that you need to remove yourself from the relationship, or maybe you're perfectly happy but then face the anxiety of learning that your partner wants out, and suddenly your whole life, stretching out in front of you looks different and terrifying. Here Lia, who has written an incredible book called How to Fall Apart shares her story, how she coped with the anxiety that went along with the various stages of this major life change and how she's doing now. I don't doubt that this will resonate with a lot of you and I hope you find it comforting. Just a note to say you'll have to forgive me for a slight dip in audio quality here, we were in the depths of lockdown when recording, I had builders drilling throughout the house and you might here Lia's little girl in the background at points too, who was being homeschooled, but such is the beauty of our vulnerable lives! Thanks as always for tuning in, thanks for supporting me on www.patreon.com/carolineforan. The monthly price of a cup of coffee makes such a difference and is massively appreciated. Til next week! Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello dear listener and welcome to this expert led episode of owning it the anxiety podcast with your host, author Caroline Foran. This time we are delving into our endocrine system. What role do our hormones play when it comes to anxiety? What's the job of our pituitary gland - what even is that - and why is this so important if we want to bring down our anxious symptoms? Long story short, your hormones are EVERYTHING. And we so often overlook them or are completely unaware of how powerful they can be. It's not all in your head, it's all in your hormones. Here internationally renowned endocrinologist Dr Mary Ryan helps us to better understand our hormones, the key players involved with anxiety in particular, and advises us on precisely what our pituitary gland needs in order to function well, which, of course, leads us to feeling less anxious. Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At this point in the season, I want to explore anxiety in the gay community: particularly the anxiety surrounding coming out to family and friends, feeling 'othered' at school growing up gay. For this episode I am joined by Celebrity Masterchef winner 2020, LGBTQ+ activist, bestselling author and broadcaster Riyadh Khalaf who shares his experience with me from childhood right through to present times. We talk about the anxiety of feeling at odds with how you think you 'should' be. The fear of rejection. How he navigated telling his parents that he was gay - which was not the story of instant acceptance you'd hope for - and where he's at now with self-love and acceptance. He offers great insights and advice for anyone facing their own experience of coming out. I really loved having this chat with Riyadh and whether or not you as the listener are gay doesn't really matter, if you've ever felt a disconnect between how you feel inside and the person you put out to the world, this conversation will resonate with you.Thanks as always for supporting Owning It on Patreon or via the new Acast support feature.Buy Riyadh's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yay-Youre-Gay-Now-What/dp/1786031914Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode I am so excited to be joined by a guest that i have so long wanted to feature on this series. Her name is Dr Kelly McGonigal. Her Ted Talk has inspired so much of what I do and has informed so much of my mentality and approach towards managing anxiety. In this episode we talk about exercise for anxiety and let me tell you, having recently published a new book about the neuroscience of exercise called The Joy of Movement, her insights are mind blowing. I did not realise half of this stuff. I'm pretty sure I say 'wow' after every answer to every question! Then we talk about compassion too and I don't doubt that if you're enjoying the series so far, you will love this episode. Thanks to those of you supporting the podcast either on patreon.com/carolineforan or via the acast support app and thanks for tuning in.Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was so excited to get some time with Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella fame to chat about anxiety. We spoke over ZOOM as with most of season, it was recorded during lockdown when social distancing was key so unfortunately it'll never be as good quality as it would have been in studio. Ella is incredibly open in sharing her story of how her career came to be and how, when faced with all of this success, she began to experience crippling anxiety. She is a champion of owning one's vulnerability which you know is what I see as our superpower and she has come a long way in learning to embrace the anxiety that comes with her life and has reduced it massively with a compassionate approach as well as her love of yoga. I hope you enjoy hearing her story.Thanks for supporting me if you already have by tipping the series so that it can keep going via my Patreon page, patreon.com/carolineforan and don't forget the books (OWNING IT and The Confidence Kit - OWN IT and You Got This if you are in the US/Canada) are widely available around the globe on Amazon or local retailers.Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this expert led episode my guest is Dr Harry Barry. He has written ten books to help us manage our mental health and his latest is called Emotional Healing and it's widely available now. We have a really enlightening conversation about the difference between mental illness and emotional distress, the latter of which is what most of us are actually dealing with. Understanding the nature of emotional distress is so important and takes an awful lot of the fear away from anxiety. We also go into great detail on panic attacks and phobias, the three distinct types of anxiety we might experience and how they happen in the body as well as how we can intervene and get ourselves back to feeling at ease. Again, if I had listened to something like this a number of years ago, it would have made an enormously positive difference to me. I hope it does for you. Please support Owning It by tipping the series with the price of a coffee over on patreon.com/carolineforan or get hold of one of my two books - soon to be three: Owning It, The Confidence Kit or preorder NAKED: 10 Truths to Change Your Life.Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To kick off this new series, of which there will be 15 episodes that mix world class experts on anxiety in with everyday people's anxiety stories, I am joined by the incredible Brian Pennie. I don't need to give him much of an intro because his story of overcoming adversity speaks for itself. Brian is a recovered addict, he's the author of the phenomenal memoir Bonus Time and he's now undertaking a PHD, spending his time educating people on psychology and neuroscience. At the root of all of what Brian has been through, you'll find anxiety. I don't doubt that his story will resonate, he has a wonderfully realistic relationship with anxiety these days and he also has some wonderful resources available to others via his website brianpennie.com. Enjoy and welcome back. Any support of this series and my work is greatly appreciated, either by buying the books, sharing the podcast or financially supporting it either here via the 'support' option or over on patreon: patreon.com/carolineforan.Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the last episode of season 3 before season 4 launches in just a few short weeks. The topic? Just as we had to adapt into lockdown and deal with all of the anxiety that brought fore, so too will it take a little bit of time to adapt back to whatever our new normal will be. There might be some social anxiety, our bodies have been conditioned to be hyper vigilant to protect us from the virus so it could feel unnerving to be back in close proximity to others and in general we've all gotten used to living a much smaller life. Here's exactly what to be mindful of as you get back to normal. Plus 12 questions to always ask yourself whenever you feel panicky or anxious. Please support the series on www.patreon.com/carolineforan Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode of Owning It I introduce a skill that has massively helped my day to day anxiety, especially as I approach anxiety-inducing life events where my amygdala wants to say 'no!' and run for the hills but my prefrontal cortex knows that maybe, this is something I should do, maybe it would be good for me. It's something I wanted to talk about now as we start to emerge from lockdown and life gets back to normal and we'll be spending less time at home and have more chance of confronting the anxiety of decisions to be made. Indecision breeds fear, making a decision quells it. Thank you for listening and supporting. Please tip the series at patreon.com/carolineforan. For more skills like this one, pick up The Confidence Kit (You Got This is the title of the same book in the USA) or Owning It. You can also pre-order my third book NAKED online now. Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In another of my shorter solo episodes that make up season 3, I wanted to talk through some of the books that had the biggest impact on me when it came to my own management and understanding of anxiety, as well as changing my perspective on it and allowing me to get to a place where the idea of owning it was possible. Also within this episode I offer a simple breathing exercise utilising the Ujjayi breathing technique that is my absolute favourite when I need instant calmness in my body. I hope you find it helpful. Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok hereSubscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.