Ep 10 - Habits That Keep You Stuck in the Anxiety Loop (+ Racing Thoughts Q&A)
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Could your own habits be keeping you stuck in the anxiety loop? This week we kick off a new series — Habits That Keep Us Stuck — with one of the most common traps in anxiety recovery: turning your symptom into your identity. Then we open up your questions from the comments, including a great one about racing thoughts that don't stop for a second — and why trying to "deal with" them is exactly what keeps the loop running.
It starts with a T-shirt that stopped host Bryan Mareau mid-scroll: "Dizzy Warrior — nobody knows how hard we're fighting." Made with good intentions, and exactly the kind of thing that keeps us stuck. We break down why attaching a symptom to your identity feeds the loop, why some "support" spaces become what Dan Buglio calls bad neighborhoods, and how you really punch back at symptoms (hint: it's not a T-shirt).
In this episode:
• Why calling yourself a "dizzy warrior" or "anxiety fighter" attaches the symptom to your personality
• The lonely-road trap: why symptom communities feel good in the moment and keep us stuck long term
• "Bad neighborhoods" (Dan Buglio): spotting the groups that feed your subconscious bad data
• The AA lesson: nobody at a meeting calls themselves a "vodka warrior"
• Q&A: racing thoughts that don't even stop for a second — and why you don't have to deal with them at all
• Your brain produces thousands of thoughts a day — anxious ones are noise, not messages
• Rewriting your "contract" with anxiety so allowing actually becomes possible
• The in-and-out principle: anxiety isn't something coming at you — it's energy leaving the body
FREE BOOK — Anxiety and Panic: A Bad Day Survival Guide. How to make peace with your worst days and turn them into your most powerful tools in anxiety recovery. Download it free → https://www.theanxietyrecoverymindset.com/survival
(We're not doctors. This is our experience and our opinion — make your decisions with a qualified professional you trust.)
Mentioned in this episode: Dan Buglio · Dr. Claire Weekes
Ask a question for the show: leave a comment on any of our YouTube videos or write to us → https://www.theanxietyrecoverymindset.com/contact
Who this is for: anyone dealing with anxiety, panic attacks, racing or intrusive thoughts, health anxiety or dizziness (PPPD) who feels stuck in the loop — doing everything "right," hanging on to symptom communities, and wondering why it isn't getting better.
Chapters:
0:00 Does anxiety advice have you "dealing with" your thoughts?
0:30 Habits that keep us stuck (new series)
1:46 The post that started this: a "Dizzy Warrior" T-shirt
3:28 Why I had to pause
4:51 Why these groups feel good (a lonely road)
6:42 The problem: attaching a symptom to your identity
7:32 Nobody understands — and why proving it doesn't help
9:00 How you really punch back at symptoms
12:02 "Bad neighborhoods" — groups that keep you stuck
13:18 You are not your symptom (the AA lesson)
15:06 Your questions from the comments
15:54 Q: racing thoughts that don't stop for a second
17:01 A: you don't have to deal with them
18:02 Thoughts are noise — thousands a day
21:48 Rewriting your contract with anxiety
22:34 The in-and-out principle: energy leaving the body
24:54 Wrap-up & where to find us
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The Anxiety Recovery Mindset cuts through the noise of conventional anxiety advice and gets to what actually works. Hosted by Bryan Mareau — author of The Anxiety Recovery Mindset. New episodes weekly.
Free book: https://www.theanxietyrecoverymindset.com/survival
Website: https://www.theanxietyrecoverymindset.com/
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