Erica Vander Sande on her 14th anniversary, the anxiety of good seasons, grief that shows up sideways, and learning to talk yourself off the ledge.
Erica is coming off a great weekend. She and her husband just celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary, and their anniversary dinner turned into a walk down memory lane through every season of their marriage. Somewhere in that conversation, Erica caught herself saying something she didn't expect: she wanted to avoid any more hard seasons.
That comment sat with her for two days, and this episode is her working through it out loud. She talks about why we instinctively try to dodge hard things, why that instinct is actually a waste of energy, and what it looks like to prepare for hard seasons without living in fear of them.
From there, the conversation goes deep into anxiety that shows up even when life is going well, grief that resurfaces in unexpected moments, and a practice Erica uses to talk herself through spirals: picturing every past version of herself sitting around a conference table, reminding her what she has already survived.
Erica compares holding onto anxiety during good seasons to her daughter learning to swim, gripping the side of the pool out of habit even though she already knows how to let go and swim on her own.
Conversations in the Dark podcast, Erica Vander Sande, anxiety and grief podcast, avoiding hard conversations, marriage and business owners, motherhood and anxiety, grief after losing a parent, entrepreneur mental health, mama bear mentality, meditation and mindset podcast
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