Episode 98: Anxiety is Normal

06/14/20 • 46 min

We are so thankful to be able to welcome Dr. Ray Branton back to the podcast this week. If you missed it - we talked about marriage and relationships in Episode 97. You are definitely going to want to listen to that one as well!

This week we are talking about ANXIETY. Does that give you anxiety to just see the word? Well, something that you need to know is that anxiety is NORMAL. And it's beneficial. As long as it doesn't paralyze you and cause you to not be able to function properly. But we have overpathologized fear and worry, and that's why it seems like everyone is struggling with anxiety.

What many of us need is more balance in our lives. We don't need to be lawnmower parents - paving the way for our kids to have no trials or tribulation. We also shouldn't spend all of our time on social media, since that has been proven to cause users to feel less satisfied with their lives due to comparison analysis.

Instead, Dr. Branton encourages us to replace the word 'anxiety' with 'curiosity'. You may be anxious about the future, or you are curious about it. You may feel anxious about a relationship, or you are curious as to how you can improve it. Curiosity has many more positive connotations, and anxiety is negative, but the sentiments are similar.

Dr. Branton also sees anxiety as the beast we try to cage up, but that we keep on feeding. If we can find people that we trust - even if it's a licensed counselor - we will be able to keep anxiety at bay. In fact, the #1 change agent is RELATIONSHIP. This is true when someone who needs help goes to a counselor, and they trust their counselor, and the advice they are receiving. It's not the advice. It's the relationship. And so when we are in community with people that we love, trust, and are able to be vulnerable with - we will grow, we will change, we will thrive!

The Good Word of the Day

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

Proverbs 15:22

So find your community! You may have to be the person who reaches out and starts to build it! And that's great. You can hand pick the people you want to have in your inner circle. We are so thankful that people have let us into their worlds, and we are thankful for the people that we have in ours.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, we would love for you to leave us a 5 star review on iTunes, and to subscribe! You can reach us at [email protected] or on Instagram.

Have a great week and join us again next week for episode 99!

The Good Word of the Day

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

Proverbs 15:22

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, we would love for you to leave us a 5 star review on iTunes, and to subscribe! You can reach us at [email protected] or on Instagram.

Have a great week and join us again next week for episode 99!

Previous Episode

Episode 97: Marriage Advice from a Clinical Psychologist

This week we are so thankful to be able to welcome our friend, Ray Branton to the podcast! He shares practical ways to have successful, and meaningful relationships - with your friends, but especially with your spouse!

Things that are important to remember in relationship is to empathize and listen. Feel what the other is feeling, and hear their hearts. Another major key is to remember that you are both on the same team! This is crucial to remembering that your spouse has good intentions, even if they may have done or said something negative. Empathy is the glue of good relationships.

Some signs of a healthy marriage is whether or not you can move through conflict quickly. Not in 10 minutes, but also not in 10 days. Or 10 months. Actually talking through your conflict, and both parties feeling like they have been heard and seen.

Another sign of a healthy marriage is that you have fun and you laugh together! But this can only be done when you create a safe place for everyone in the relationship to feel valued. You cannot live your lives in pursuit of fun, and high highs, cause the daily grind is difficult - but you can still make that fun. It just takes work and intentionality. Make time for daily deep connectedness.

And conflict and stress are not signs of a bad marriage. In fact, stress and pressure create meaning, growth, and depth in your relationship - and life!

And also make sure that you surround yourself with likeminded individuals, and couples who are striving for the same things as you! If you want to make an impact on this world, you have to surround yourself with others who are making an impact in this world. You need support, you need community. And then make sure you are being a support to those who want to be where you are! Find a mentor, be a mentor!

You can find out more about Ray and his practice, PCA Counselors at their website.

And feel free to connect with us as well via email or social media!

Next Episode

Episode 99: How to Start and Maintain a Podcast

If you want to start a podcast, this is the episode for you! We sat down for over an hour with Davey Jones, of Davey and Krista , The Brands that Book Podcast, and the Till Agency.

As you can see, we are on Episode 99, and the Brands that Book Podcast is at 96 episodes at the time of this episode going live. So, we definitely know a thing or two about starting a podcast, and maintaining it. The only thing that isn't amazing on this episode is that the audio isn't the best when Chris or I are speaking... This is admittedly the first remote interview that we are airing, and so we are still learning and expanding our podcast as well! But Davey sounds great! And this podcast is also available on YouTube in case you like to watch people talk about podcasts.

So, some advice:

Don't get stuck on all the things you think you should do - and just do what you can do. If you have Wifi, a good phone, and a great idea for a podcast - you are basically ready to start podcasting!

Think about your audience, and who they are, what they want to hear, when they want to hear it, and make a battle plan through that lens. Davey releases episodes every Wednesday, and we release episodes every Sunday, for 20 weeks straight. Then we take a 6-8 week break! Your audience will come to learn your schedule, and then come to expect episodes from you on those days! Even if it's once a month!

Davey recommends having a website as the second thing to invest in when starting your podcast! Your podcast will live on a hosting platform (ours is Libsyn, Davey's is Fireside), and people will listen to it on iTunes, Spotify, and other places where you can listen to podcasts. BUT, if you don't have a website for yourself/your podcast, you don't really 'own' your podcast. If Libsyn disappeared tomorrow - we would still have our website, and our episodes on their own posts. If you need a website - you should check out Showit.co - our fantastic podcast sponsor!

Davey and Krista are also website designers who design on Showit. They also have a design template specifically for podcasters, and it is AMAZING! We are about to re-release our website using their new template!

Equipment

A cell phone if you want to go very basic - but still good! on iPhones, there is an app called 'Voice Memo', and the quality of that mic is actually really great! And the mic that comes in your airpods, and even the ear buds that come with your phone are really great. A Kristen Friend, who was on episode 68, records and uploads her podcast completely from her phone. You can find out more at Anchor.

Blue Yeti. This is the most popular, and easy-to-use mic. You just plug it right into your computer via the USB port. It's about $129 so it won't set you back very much at all.

We use this mic. Well, 4 of them. But keep in mind that we are 3 years into our podcast, and we primarily do in-person, group interviews. And we have this mixer for the 4 mics, and headphones.

Davey uses the Shure SM7B. This is the same kind of mic that Michael Jackson used to record Thriller. You're welcome for that piece of trivia.

Davey mentioned the lavalier mic that plugs into your phone. We haven't used this before, but this appears to be a very affordable way to get a mic for your phone.

Services

We mentioned earlier that you will need to find a podcasting host. Others include