Breaking the Anxiety Loop: From Bracing for Disaster to Expecting the Best

Episode Summary: Join Lisa for a powerful live coaching session with client "Sarah" as they tackle one of the most common patterns Lisa sees in high-achievers: internally generating stress and anxiety before anything bad has even happened. In this intimate behind-the-scenes look at coaching in action, you'll witness a complete transformation from catastrophic thinking to anticipating the best.

What You'll Learn:

The Anxiety Trap That's Keeping You Stuck

• Why we catastrophize as a protection mechanism (and why it backfires)

• How anticipating disaster actually robs you of energy and joy

• The difference between trying to control outcomes vs. trusting yourself to handle whatever comes

The Body-Mind Connection

• Why your brain might say "I'm fine" while your body stays in fight-or-flight

• Simple nervous system regulation techniques you can use anywhere

• The power of breath work to signal safety to your body

From Survival to Thriving: A Step-by-Step Approach

• Sarah's personalized action plan for overcoming anxiety patterns

• The HALT check-in: Managing Hungry, Angry/Anxious, Lonely, Tired

• How to shift from "I'll be okay" to "I can anticipate the best"

The Paradox of High-Achievers:

Lisa reveals why her most successful clients often struggle with this pattern: "My clients are all survivors. They've always landed on their feet... Yet they're the same people that fundamentally are afraid they're not going to be okay if something happens."

Practical Tools You Can Use Today:

The Pre-Event Reset:

• Take 2 minutes before challenging situations

• Practice visualization of your ideal outcome

• Use grounding techniques (feet on floor, name 5 things you can see)

Daily Evidence Collection:

• Journal about good things that happened each day

• Notice how many catastrophized scenarios never occurred

• Build a mental database of "everything working out for me"

Breath Work Basics:

• Box breathing patterns

• Slow exhales to activate the parasympathetic nervous system

• Use breath awareness to return to presence

The Worthiness Component:

Sarah's breakthrough moment: "It's okay for me to anticipate the best... because I'm worthy of it as opposed to I need to earn it."

If this episode resonated with you, you might be ready for the kind of deep, transformational work Lisa does with her clients. Many successful people find themselves stuck in patterns of internal stress generation despite having "everything figured out" on the outside.

Ready to explore coaching? Lisa has openings this summer and fall for both individual sessions and her Reclamation program. Links to connect are in the episode description.

Remember: You don't have to earn your worthiness. You were born worthy of anticipating the best.