Pushkin.
Over the past few weeks, we've been exploring how to better navigate our negative emotions.
So far we've seen that even though it's uncomfortable to sit with our messy feelings,
committing to getting curious about these sensations and facing them head-on might be an unexpected key to a happier life.
In this episode, we're going to tackle a nasty feeling, one that I suffer from a lot.
Today, we're in the company of anxiety.
Well, I sort of feel like I was born bracing for impact.
I came out what I call a sensitive breed,
and many people who struggle with anxiety can relate to that.
Just always felt more fragile than certainly my siblings and most of my friends.
And that level of sensitivity led to a lot of anxiety.
This is psychotherapist, author, and meditation teacher Andrea Wachter.
Nobody decides I'm going to wake up at two in the morning and worry.
Nobody decides I'm going to have a pit in my stomach all afternoon and feel shaky.
It's just it's these takeover mechanisms that happen automatically and unconsciously.
And that's why I think we need so many tools to help us out.
Andrea knows how awful anxiety feels because she's experienced it a lot herself.
But she's also developed a suite of tools we can all use to face this emotion head on and to feel better.
I'm Dr.
Laurie Santos, and this is the Happiness Lab.