What to Do When Your Worst Fears Come True: Mailbag

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Rick and Forrest open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners, many of which focused on anxiety experiences. They start by discussing “dreaded experiences,” and how we can respond when our worst fears come true. Rick then shares how we can respond effectively to feedback, before answering a short question about taking in the good. Forrest and Rick then answer three questions related to different kinds of anxiety: social anxiety, managing different levels of concern in a relationship, and anxiety brought on by slowing down. You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 1:00: How do you handle situations where you really fear something, and then it actually happens? 10:45: How can I become more receptive to feedback, and respond with less defensiveness? 19:00: How long do I need to “take in the good” for? 22:55: How can I work with my anxious parts when navigating social anxiety? 29:20: How can I support a partner who experiences a lot of anxiety? 40:40: Why am I struggling so hard with mindfulness meditation? 48:00: Recap I am now writing on Substack, check out my work there. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors Field of Greens from Brickhouse Nutrition is a superfood powder packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Use the code BEINGWELL at fieldofgreens.com for 20% off your first order. Head to acorns.com/beingwell or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future Zocdoc helps you find expert doctors and medical professionals that specialize in the care you need. Head to zocdoc.com/being and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Use promo code hanson at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual plan at incogni.com/hanson. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/beingwell. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code BEINGWELL at https://www.oneskin.co/ Transform your health with the ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to being well. I'm Forrest Hansen. If you're new to the podcast,
0:11.0	thanks for joining us today. And if you've listened before, welcome back. I'm joined today, as
0:15.5	usual by Dr. Rick Hansen. Rick is a clinical psychologist. He's a best-selling author and he's also
0:20.2	my dad. So dad,
0:21.4	how are you doing today? Mellow. Mellow. We love Mello. So today we're going to be answering
0:27.1	some questions from our listeners. We always love the mailbag episodes. People ask great questions.
0:33.2	This week was no exception. If you would like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode of the podcast,
0:39.1	you can find us on Patreon.
0:40.3	It's patreon.com slash being well podcast.
0:43.4	You can also write a comment down below if you're watching on YouTube.
0:47.4	You can leave a rating and a positive review on iTunes that has a question in it.
0:51.3	Hey, you could even send us an email if you're still using that old-fashioned
0:54.4	technology as contact at being well podcast.com. Okay, our first question today, what do you do
1:00.8	if you finally get yourself to stop avoiding something and risk a dreaded experience? This is
1:05.8	something we talk about on the podcast sometimes. And then some form of the dreaded experience happens. For example,
1:12.6	if you show some vulnerable emotion and feel like people pull away, or you ask somebody out,
1:17.9	and you get rejected. I know you talk a lot about facing dreaded experiences in managed ways and
1:22.9	doing small exposures, but even in those small contexts, experiencing whatever it is that you dread
1:28.5	can be very painful. What do you think? Completely true. And even outside the frame of a dreaded
1:35.1	experience that constrains our lives, just in life, we stumble into pain. Things happen. What do you do
1:43.4	then?
1:45.0	Three fundamental ways to practice with your mind.
	...

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