Season 2 Episode 02 Show Notes: What it's Really Like Living with Anxiety

In this episode, we dive deep into what it’s really like to live with anxiety, from my perspective and personal experiences. We chat about what anxiety feels like and the ways we can combat the presence of it in our daily lives.

Defining Anxiety

For me, anxiety can hit anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t matter if I’m comfortably at home or at work scrambling under an intense deadline. Sometimes I just wake up with a tight chest and I can’t even identify what might be causing it.

anxiety.org states that an anxiety disorder results when the fight or flight response becomes triggered too easily and too frequently. The human brain responds identically to both real and unreal danger using our fight or flight response, which causes a surge of adrenaline to assist with either fighting or fleeing. While we experience physical reactions to the surge of adrenaline (like heart rate and blood pressure increases and senses becoming hyper-alert, it is also up to our brains to determine whether the trigger is real or the trigger is unreal. Both anxiety and fear produce virtually identical physiologic responses, so our mind is in charge of making sense of it all to react appropriately (which it doesn’t always do perfectly).

When our fight or flight response is triggered too frequently, the brain starts to perceive the world as more dangerous than it actually is and the body overreacts to stressors that are not life-threatening, like traffic jams, work pressure, and family difficulties.

That has been my experience — that my body and mind overreact to both existing and perceived stressors. And I believe this stems from my need for perfection. I’m constantly trying to do the very best I possibly can, even at a detriment to my relationships and mental and physical wellbeing. And I think that’s the key — I don’t think doing my best is inherently negative; it’s when it becomes obsessive and wreaks havoc on other aspects of my life that it becomes a problem.

Anxiety is Not One-Size-Fits-All

The symptoms I’ve experienced living with anxiety have run the gamut — sometimes I can easily tame them and other times all I want to do is veg out in bed or on the couch. But that’s the reality of living with anxiety — I just take it day-by-day.

And I think that’s the misunderstanding of people who live with anxiety. We can’t generalize that everyone feels and experiences it in the same way, and we also can’t assume that anxiety is debilitating for everyone who experiences it. Affecting nearly 40 million American adults, it’s the most common mental health condition in the country — you may not even realize you know people dealing with anxiety.

A Few Things That Have Helped Me Cope

While I go into more detail about each of these on the podcast, none of the below are earth-shattering. But I think that’s the point. Sometimes it’s the smallest daily habits that are the most impactful — at least in my experience.

1. Working out on a regular basis.

2. Leaning on my person.

3. Eating real food.

4. Practicing self care and yoga.

5. Switching from coffee to Matcha Tea.

Tune into the podcast for more about my struggle with anxiety, and more tips for coping with it from a few great resources. And remember, let’s not generalize the experience of living with anxiety, but rather, let’s offer help and love to each other the best way we know how.

Join me on this Capsule Life journey!

• Subscribe to the Capsule Life podcast on iTunes

  • Like what you hear? I’d love it if you left a review! It helps me out more than you know!

• This Capsule Life Community

• This Capsule Life on Instagram

• This Capsule Life on Pinterest

Until next time Capsule Lifers — keep finding joy through intentional living.

Season 2 Episode 01 Show Notes: How to Live Intentionally

In this episode, we explore how to define our purpose and live intentionally by bringing our deeply-rooted values and beliefs to the forefront of everyday life — from decision-making to action. This week’s challenge? Start your intentional living journey by writing down and speaking aloud your daily intentions.

Defining Intentional Living

The actual definition of intentional living is “any lifestyle based on an individual or group’s conscious attempts to live according to their values and beliefs. These can include lifestyles based on religious or ethical values, as well as coaching, personal transformation, and leadership training.”

Thrive Global says intentional living is “living the kind of life that makes you feel like you matter. A life that fulfills and enriches you every day.”

Capsule Life Podcast Re-Focus

So why did I want to focus on intentional living for this episode? Well, if you haven’t noticed yet, I recently did a rebrand and re-focus of my podcast. I launched it with the intention — pun intended — of finding joy through minimal living.

But I realize now that the minimal living focus was a bit too restrictive for my vision for this podcast and the content I want to create. So I broadened it to be finding joy through intentional living. Because I believe we can be our best selves when we’re living with intention, and I’m on a journey to learn how to live each day with intention, and reach down deep to pull from my values and beliefs in everything I do.

How Do We Live with Intention?

1. Define our purpose

2. Practice mindfulness and meditation

3. Get centered with gratitude

4. Recognize the power of the pause (or the sacred pause as Tara Brach puts it)

5. Ask yourself what brings you joy — and then do it

Tune into the podcast for more information and tips for how to live with intention and how to work intention setting into your normal routine.

Join me on this Capsule Life journey!

• Subscribe to the Capsule Life podcast on iTunes

  • Like what you hear? I’d love it if you left a review! It helps me out more than you know!

• This Capsule Life Community

• This Capsule Life on Instagram

• This Capsule Life on Pinterest

Until next time Capsule Lifers — keep finding joy through intentional living.

Coronavirus, Anxiety, and Self-Quarantine

I’m writing to you from our apartment, where we’ve been self-quarantining for the last 4 days. We had planned a trip to see my family in Northern CA for my mom’s birthday and were going to fly out on Thursday morning. Given how much and how quickly things were escalating, we ultimately decided to cancel our trip at 9 p.m. the night before. I was a mess trying to make this decision. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8 a.m. the next morning. We were in the middle of prepping our pup’s stuff to take her to boarding and decided we needed to take a moment to stop and talk through all of it.

We were worried about unknowingly contributing to the spread of the virus.

We were worried about unknowingly passing on the virus to at-risk people.

We were worried about potential domestic travel restrictions and not being able to get home.

We were also sad, mad, and frustrated because it sucks not being close to family and having to cancel a trip we were so looking forward to. But we knew the decision not to go was for the greater good.

This virus is absolutely scary and freaky, but so is the panic surrounding it. Especially for someone like myself who deals with anxiety on a regular basis, how quickly everything escalated over the last few days has made it tough to be able to sort through my emotions.

It’s crazy times when cities are shutting down completely. It’s crazy times when people are buying out all the toilet paper (??!!) and there’s no fresh produce to purchase. It’s crazy times when we haven’t been able to find hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes for the last several weeks — even before all of the escalations. It’s crazy times when people are fighting over the last of this or the last of that at the supermarket. It’s crazy times when there’s so much uncertainty.

But I’m also recognizing the power of everyone coming together to fight this dang thing. While social media can often feel suffocating seeing everyone’s highlight reels, it’s been a refreshing way to feel connected in this time of social distancing and self-quarantining. It’s been refreshing to see how everyone is coming together to support each other, small businesses, and to fight hunger for those in need. It’s been refreshing to see that we’re not alone in our concern and anxiety.

More than anything, I think we’ve really recognized how blessed and privileged we are to be able to comfortably hunker down and do our part to help flatten the curve.

I’m thankful for my husband and pup who help keep me grounded.

I’m thankful for a healthy body that allows me to exercise, helping my mind and soul just as much as my physical health.

I’m thankful that we have stable jobs and supportive companies and managers that allow us to work from home and not miss a paycheck.

I’m thankful that we were able to buy what we needed to limit our outings and help slow the spread.

I’m thankful that we live in a corner of our city with beautiful running and walking paths so we can get outdoors and get some fresh air.

I’m thankful that we have a balcony to get some fresh air even if we can’t get outside for a walk.

I’m thankful that people are recognizing the need to self-quarantine and that they’re doing it.

I’m thankful for those on the front lines of this thing — healthcare professionals, pharmacists and pharmacy workers, grocery and supermarket workers. Be kind to them.

I’m thankful for people like my brother who are helping to draft policy, answer questions, and deploying employees to respond.

While we are all apart, this is an unprecedented time to come together and support each other. Be kind to one another. Be patient with one another. Don’t hoard groceries — you don’t know who might be in more need than you and hasn’t had a chance to get to the store yet. Turn off the media and unfollow accounts if they’re making you anxious. You can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.

Most of all — if you can self-quarantine, please do. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. And spread love, not the virus.

Best wishes to you all — stay healthy and check in on one another. 🤍