Anxiety doesn’t always show up when something goes wrong. Sometimes it hits hardest when nothing’s happening at all. Sitting in the bunk at Ravensworth (Hunter Valley) with the UHF crackling and a two-hour wait ahead of me, my brain starts running wild, replaying mistakes that haven’t happened, imagining consequences, and convincing me they’re inevitable.

In this episode I talk about catastrophising—that classic anxiety trap where your mind treats imagined disasters as reality. I explain why logic and CBT can help me realise there’s no evidence for what I’m fearing, but often don’t switch off the physical anxiety. When the situation is a one out of ten but your anxiety is sitting at a nine, that mismatch can make an ordinary workday feel unbearable.

I also share one coping strategy that genuinely helps me: borrowing confidence from people I admire. Whether it’s listening to someone like Stone Cold Steve Austin or reminding myself how they'd approach the situation, it can be enough to interrupt the spiral and keep moving forward.

If you're living with anxiety, depression, or both, I hope this episode reminds you that you're not alone. If it resonates, I'd really appreciate you subscribing, leaving a rating, and sharing it with someone who might need to hear it.

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Created by Elliot Waters — Inspired by lived experience.
Mental health insights, real stories, real conversations.