How many times have you said something like this to yourself, or heard someone else say: "I'm just an anxious person by nature, it's all I know", "I've always been anxious about everything in life, I can't ever just relax", or "I was born this way and that's all there is to it".

Anxiety can take over your life, and can define how you see yourself if you let it. That's the key right there my friend, "if you let it". Anxiety only has the power that you allow it to have. The sooner we realize and embrace that, the sooner we start to see anxiety for what it is...a liar!

My guest on this episode of the Beyond Your Past Podcast is someone who's dedicated their life to helping everyone see anxiety for what it truly is, and overcome it. To empower them with the knowledge that not only is anxiety a liar, but also to equip them with skills to take their life back and live free from the grip of overwhelming anxiety.

In her work as a Psychotherapist, Jodi Aman has helped people in the areas of: Anxiety, depression, divorce, chronic pain, illness, eating disorders, abuse trauma, gender identity, relationship issues, as well as military/war trauma. She's also an author of, "You 1 Anxiety 0, Win Your Life Back From Fear and Panic". This incredible resource has helped countless people all over the world realize that there is hope in the fight against anxiety.

The main topic of our chat centers around the question of, "is anxiety curable?"...and the short answer is a resounding, YES!

I pose that exact question to Jodi and we discuss the 3 reasons why anxiety is indeed curable, and why so many feel that it isn't. We discuss why anxiety keeps us stuck and how we can overcome it. By the way, that's precisely what it wants you to believe, that there is no cure for anxiety and that it's a life sentence of misery, isolation, depression, and living in fear. 

So why exactly do so many think that there is no cure? Well, one reason is because someone told you that it wasn't, so therefore you believe it. There are some mental health professionals and coaches that believe there is no cure; that you can only work to manage it, but not completely overcome it. If that's your mindset then it becomes exponentially more difficult to try to make any type of positive change. If you feel like there's no hope, no end goal of healing and feeling better, it's very easy to not work as hard or just give up completely. You eventually begin to define yourself in every negative way possible, so therefore trying to embrace any hope of healing is darn near impossible. Then you emotionally beat yourself up because your stuck, miserable, broken and alone. It's a vicious cycle to say the least.

Another reason is that it's just so easy to stay still and not even try. We stay isolated and alone at home, seemingly safe from the outside world. We don't go out with friends, we don't embrace and enjoy what life has to offer. We have such a negative view of our ability to cope, that we figure we're better off alone so we don't set ourselves up for more failure.

The third reason is that you've tried everything to cure your anxiety and you still don't like yourself. You still don't feel like you've made any progress, like this whole idea of beating anxiety is a pipe dream and you simply aren't capable enough to pull it off. The key here friends is...

We cover these 3 reasons more in-depth on the podcast, so you'll definitely want to give it a listen! Plus, we discuss some strategies that you can put in place to help embrace a positive mindset of completely healing from anxiety. 

Fore more info on this topic and to see the full post, head over to BeyondYourPast.com

-Matt Pappas, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Specializing in Overcoming Anxiety and 
Working with Trauma Survivors. 

Twitter: @BeyondYourPast
Instagram: @BeyondYourPast
Facebook: BeyondYourPastLifeCoaching

Beyond Your Past Podcast

Podcast - Ep. 56 - Why Anxiety Keeps You Stuck, and How to Overcome It

For my guest on this episode of the podcast, Laura shares some of her story about one woman’s struggle to overcome a childhood of abuse at the hands of her cruel, bullying brother. Laura is an author and survivor,  currently living in Ontario, Canada with her husband of twenty-two years, her twenty-year old son and two rescued dogs. She is a successful entrepreneur, and passionate about her business and an avid animal lover. 

When I was first contacted by Laura about coming on the show, I checked out her website, MyCourageToTell.com, and was immediately interested in learning more about this amazing survivor and her book, My Courage to Tell, Facing My Childhood Bully and Reclaiming My Inner Child. Her story is exactly what the podcast is all about, talking with people who've overcome incredibly difficult circumstances and are now using their story to help inspire others.

Laura shares with us her inspiration for deciding to end her silence and write about her personal story; memories of this abuse remain deeply buried until an aunt dies in Manhattan, leaving an estate that Laura must settle with her estranged brother. As she tries to administer the estate, she is plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Suppressed memories start to rise to the surface as Laura begins to remember, and she now realizes that she has to face a childhood of psychological and physical abuse.

Laura and I cover topics including:

Can you share what kind of bullying you had as a child?
Where were your parents when all this was going on?
Can you talk about psychological and emotional abuse and how harmful it is?
What is psychological abuse?
What will a child experience who has been abused psychologically?
How did you work out your PTSD symptoms? 

Check out the full post over on Beyond http://beyondyourpast.com/coaching-blog/

If you enjoy these podcasts, I hope you'll consider rating my show in itunes or your favorite podcasting app and leaving a review.  That would be so awesome!

-Matthew Pappas, CLC
BeyondYourPast.com

Podcast - Ep. 57 - Laura Corbeth - Psychological Abuse - My Courage to Tell

In this episode, I take on a topic that has never been discussed before here on the podcast. I'm not even sure there's been much said about it on podcasts at all, period. 

Today i'll be sharing with you an experience that has recently changed my life, one that took me from the status quo, going about my business to a complete pause. This recent health concern, and really scare if we're being honest here, took everything that I had been doing in life, and all of the plans that I'd been working on for the last few years and made me reassess a great many things about my life. 

As you'll hear, what I thought was nothing more than a chest virus or some kind of flu like symptoms, turned into a possible stroke diagnosis, then possible Bells Palsy, finally winding up with a week long hospital stay and a diagnosis of Guillain Barre Syndrome. 

In the midst of all the things that were going on in life at the time:
Life Coach working with clients
Working on a new book
Blogging
Podcasting
Working a full time day job
Being a parent
and many other things that occupied my time, the events of the last 6 weeks have made me realize a great many things. 

Join me on the podcast as I talk about the events leading up to the diagnosis, what life was like then and what it's like now. The fire, the passion, the desire for all of those things is still there, and will always be, but the importance of taking better care of myself in the process, and drawing closer to my creator has been monumental. 

It's my hope that this podcast will reach you with a message of hope and encouragement, and validation that you are not alone, in your struggles in life. 

Thanks so much for listening and please consider leaving a review and a rating on itunes, soundcloud, or whatever podcast platform you enjoy listening on :)

Matthew Pappas, CLC
BeyondYourPast.com

Podcast - Ep. 58 - My experience with Guillain Barre Syndrome, When daily life, completely changed.

Beyond Your Past - Podcast with your host, Matt Pappas, CLC. Join me each week as I talk with guests who have overcome their past and are using their powers for the greater good! Clinicians, Life Coaches, Advocates, Bloggers, and others will be here to help inspire and encourage you that no matter what you have been through, You can make a difference. 

You'll also continue to have past episodes available from Surviving My Podcast,  which exists to validate, encourage, support, and inspire all who have survived the trauma of abuse. Topics include Mental Health awareness, and living with challenges such as Dissociation, Anxiety, PTSD, Bipolar, Trauma Recovery, Dissociative Disorders, and other Mental Health Challenges.  

If you've ever considered working with a life coach, or have questions about what a life coach is and if one is right for you, contact me anytime over at BeyondYourPast.com. 

If you'd like to be a guest on a future show, I'd love to chat with you!

Beyond Your Past

Popular tracks