Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast

Join me on Substack HERE. Do you struggle with perfectionism? Do you understand the science around it? Are you more of a socially prescribed perfectionist or a self oriented perfectionist? What does that even mean? In this episode with Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics and Ted Talker Tom Curran, we get really granular on the subject of perfectionism. The latest research, whether it differs across genders and crucially, how we can manage our tendency towards perfectionism which of course can result in higher levels of daily anxiety. Tom is the leading authority on perfectionism and has a brand new book that explores all that features in our chat and it's called The Perfectionist Trap, available now.

Subscribe to my substack HERE. Sign up to Owning It: Real Time to help with your travel anxiety while en route HERE. Brought to you in partnership with British Airways Holidays, this solo episode explores my experience of travel anxiety. It's something that held me back from getting on a flight for such a long time and it meant I missed out on a huge amount of formative experiences. Eventually, I worked through it with some mindset shifts laid out in this episode and other coping mechanisms, leading to once-in-a-lifetime trips to Thailand and Japan. Part of managing travel anxiety, be it the kind I experienced or the general stresses that surround travel, for example when holidaying with children, is booking with the right provider. British Airways Holidays are making it so much easier to enjoy your holidays without the stress. All their holidays are ATOL protected, they offer a 24hr helpline should you need them when you’re away and allow you to book with a low deposit. You can enjoy flexible payments until you fly*, and can even use Avios points towards your holiday too! Plus, all their holidays include a 23kg baggage allowance per person, so no surprises when you book. If this episode inspires you to take your holidays more seriously you can head to Ba.com/holidays. * Full balance due four weeks before departure for short haul or seven weeks for all other holiday bookings.

Sign up to Owning It: Real Time HERE. Subscribe to my brand new Substack HERE. This week I am joined by Claire Walsh, bestselling author and free diver. Having watched The Deepest Breath on Netflix, I realised how much we can differ when it comes to finding the thing that helps to downregulate our stress response. For many people, the idea of plunging down into the darkest depths of the sea, in one single breath, without all the breathing paraphernalia would be enough to send them into a state of panic. It is certainly not for everyone and it requires major training and experience and it's high risk but for those who describe themselves as free divers, this activity can be how they manage their stress and anxiety. Here, Irish free diver Claire tells her story and what she's learned from holding her breath in the water which she can apply to her life on dry land. PS: I've recently launched a substack where I'm sharing a weekly column. Anxiety will be a regular theme but there'll also be discussions about parenting and work and relationships, such as how I've managed to build a reliable revenue stream from podcasting. You can sign up at carolineforan.substack.com Some content is free to read but you can pay the price of a fancy coffee per month to read the juicier stuff. For now, enjoy this episode. Buy Claire's book HERE.

Sign up to Owning It Real Time HERE. For this episode I am joined by the most incredibly inspiring woman, I was just hanging on her every word. her name is Gladys McGarey, she is 102 years old, she recently published a book called The Well Lived Life and she has quite the story to tell. We talk about anxiety today versus what she knew of it when she was starting out as a physician, her own experience of anxiety through her separation (after 46 years of marriage and six kids!), carving out a space for herself in a male dominated profession, being judged by other women and being taken seriously as a doctor. She shares a lot of sage advice about getting older and she's just a wonderful storyteller. The story about Mahatma Gandhi is one of my favourites from our chat. I hope you'll enjoy this chat and take something from it, I know I did.

I can't write a title long enough to capture all that's in this episode but it is a banger. It is probably one of the most helpful ones I've ever recorded. It's practical, it's back to basics to some degrees and while I set out to talk with an expert about the physical manifestations about anxiety and how to manage those, such as understanding depersonalisation for example, the conversation really wound up being a very essential grounding for understanding the anxiety we experience and then, of course, it's jam packed with really smart and sensible ways to get on top of that anxiety. It's with Dr Harry Barry who I've had on twice before. He's always one of my most listened to guests. He has a new book out, The Power of Connection, which he'll discuss. He also shares what he believes is a surefire way to cure yourself of all social anxiety. The first 15 minutes are dedicated to social anxiety. As an essential add on to this episode, and for a real time way to practice the flooding technique he discusses, I really advise you sign up to my limited library of real time audio guides to help you with anxiety and panic, which I've called Owning It Real Time. Sign up here. I don't often promote my episodes as much as I should but for this one, well if I'd heard it when I was in the throes of anxiety myself, it would have saved me a huge amount of suffering. Bookmark it and come back to it as often as you need. Thanks for listening. 

Sign up to Owning It Real Time HEREJoin Dr Soph (her new book UNSTUCK is out now) and I as we do a deep dive into what's described as 'Highly Functioning Anxiety'.

Sign up to Owning It: Real Time HERE. I decided it was time to share some of the key learnings/takeaways that have most stuck with me across all series of Owning It. From the 4 components of an emotion such as anxiety to knowing when to push and when not to, these are coping mechanisms, mindset frameworks and simple points to remember to help you own your anxiety day to day. If I was writing my first book all over again, these would have to feature.

Sign up to Owning It Real Time HERE. This episode's guest is an Irish entrepreneur and founder/owner/barista of the very successful Two Boys Brew and Milos in Dublin. Taurean Coughlan did what so many of us dream of: he quit the corporate life, where panic attacks were becoming too regular an occurrence, and decided to set up his own business with his partner. Now with two cafe/restaurants thriving, how did he do it? What did that corporate anxiety look like? Time to hear another first person experience.

Sign up to Owning It Real Time HERE. Join me and Dr Brian McLean to unpack phobias. What are they, what do all phobias have in common? How do they differ from regular anxiety? Are they something we can overcome?