What If People Think You're Stupid? | The Hidden Anxiety Behind Being Wrong

Do you hate being wrong?

Not because you need to win every argument...

But because somewhere deep down, being wrong feels unsafe.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat explore the hidden anxiety behind looking foolish, making mistakes, receiving feedback, and feeling like you should already know the answer.

From avoiding asking questions in meetings to over-explaining, defending ourselves, or feeling crushed by criticism, many of us carry an unspoken fear:

"What if people realise I don't know what I'm doing?"

Together, they unpack:

🧭 Why criticism can feel so personal

🧭 The connection between anxiety, perfectionism and needing to be right

🧭 How childhood experiences shape our relationship with mistakes

🧭 Why smart people often struggle to admit they don't know something

🧭 The fear of looking incompetent, foolish or not good enough

🧭 How shame keeps us stuck in defensive patterns

🧭 The difference between being wrong and being unworthy

🧭 Why curiosity is often more powerful than certainty

This conversation isn't about lowering your standards or pretending mistakes don't matter. It's about recognising that growth requires us to be learners.

And learners, by definition, don't know everything.

Because sometimes finding your True North means being brave enough to say:

"I don't know."

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey, it's Amy and Natalie here, and welcome to the Anxiety Compass. Where anxiety isn't the enemy, it's our tour guide. We'll swap stories, share tools, and have a laugh while we find our way back to True North. Come along. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode. Uh how are you, Matt? Thanks for joining us on Matheus. I'm Martin Love. We'll change over in the next one. And um, yeah, I'm I'm actually really enjoying the change of seasons. It's been we've had some spectacular days for in Bruce last week. Oh, doctors. Yeah. What should we do? But then you know, as the as the months go on, you kind of want the summer back and you're like, it's too cold. I don't want it all up. I'm in my prime now. I love the winter. Ah, I see. I'm more about it's been a perfect first first week of winter. Anyway, we are talking about the previous episode we've just done on vitamin D, talking about the seasons. Uh, but today we're gonna be talking about and something if you listen to the episode we did talking about words and spells. Um, Nat was mentioning a monologue that goes in our head about I'm not stupid, I'm stupid. I was about to say, I'm not stupid. I'm stupid. Um, and it's funny, when you were sharing what goes on in your head, I had a mini reflection on my own journey with anxiety and all of the things that have happened in my life. And being stupid and feeling stupid was something that definitely um it paralyzed me for a long time, particularly as I was starting out in business. Um, there's this anxiety behind always needing to be right. And and if you don't know, it's like you feel silly and you you kind of have to, oh no, I know that. Oh no, you know, it's I don't know if you've ever done that where someone's called you out on being wrong and you feel really silly and you have to kind of justify the reason why you've said something. Yeah. Interesting. Um yeah, I noticed that the other day. I had a woman who gave me some feedback, and it was completely harmless feedback on how I was parenting my children, and it felt like a personal attack at me. Like, even though what she was saying was out of the kindness of her heart, being a teacher, and giving me advice on a way that I was uh talking to my child, because she works with kids all the time. It was like there was an internal thing inside me to say, Wow, she thinks I'm a bad person and I'm stupid and I don't know how to parent my kids. And all of a sudden I my body naturally went into attack mode. Like, don't tell me what to do. I'm not stupid. Have you ever had that before? Yeah, like your ego takes over, if that's a thing. Yes, yep. Or maybe someone like I I'm a Leo as well. So me too.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So that our ego can get bruised quite easily. It's something that we we're constantly working on.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yes, yes, yep. Uh, I also find like when someone points out a mistake, you you tend to over-explain yourself, defending yourself, justifying your answers, which is what I was just saying. Even though there's a part of you deep down that knows that they're right, but you you can't allow that to to cross over. What is that about? And if you're listening and you're like, oh my gosh, I do that, what is that about? Well, we're gonna unravel that today um on this podcast. It's gonna be an interesting one. Um we're only gonna be unraveling it based on our own professional um experience in clinic, what we see in new uh as nutritionists, um, as well as our own um personal experience that we've seen with friends and ourselves. Um looking at the compass, this is this is gonna, I'm gonna say it's gonna be touching on an emotional part of the compass, our nervous system, the way it re responds, um, as well as there's some chemical going on in there. What's going on? Um, because once shame enters the room, the nervous system often reacts as though we're under threat. And so the body releases all these chemicals in our body to protect us because that's what it's about, right? Controlling and protecting. So why does being wrong feel so dangerous, Nat? Did you find before I um go any further? Did you find when you first started in clinic that you didn't know enough? Like you had to keep researching and learning all the time so that you felt like you had enough information, you didn't feel stupid when you were seeing clients?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh, definitely, like you know, there's definitely imposter syndrome when you first start practicing. Um because you feel like the comparison. You can't you can't keep everything every single bit of information in your head. Like you just can't. But I felt embarrassed if I had to go, oh, hang on, um, and look through my notes, or you know, look something up. And then I realized that I'm human. My clients respected me more if I said uh yeah, oh, I'm not sure about that. Let me go and research it. So then they knew that I wasn't just coming from an ego place or pulling something out of my hands. Trying to pretend I know this.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, I know this complicated disease.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I worked with yeah, but they knew that I was gonna go and do a deep dive into the research because also research changes as well. Like absolutely uh research, not research changes, but research shows that things change and move all the time. That's the one of the things I love about science, that nothing is ever, you know, static and concrete and and set in stone. It's constantly changing as we learn more about the body. Yeah, absolutely. I was terrified of being found out that I would be that I was imposter, you're not good enough to be there. You are stupid. Um I'm I embrace the fact that I don't know at all.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, um, it means that I'm constantly learning. Yeah, that's exactly it. And I found like years ago I used to run um a Pracky meetup, and it was nutritionists and naturopaths and herbalists around Brisbane, and there would be so many that would say to me, I don't really know that much. I'm gonna feel stupid if I come because you guys will be talking about case studies and that, and I have no idea, and I feel like I'm not at that level yet. And I'd be like, What? Like everybody knows something different. And when I first started, I used to put people on a pedestal and I'd be like, they know so much more than me, and they they talk about things and topics with such ease, and I have no idea what they're talking about, and so I felt like I could never be there, and then one day someone said to me at one of these Pracky groups, is oh, you got you know so much more than me. I have no idea, you know, about the topics or anything, and you know, you've been doing this for years, and she had me on a pedestal, and I was like, Oh my god, I know nothing, like honestly, like it comes down to confidence, really. It really does. Absolutely, and of course, we do know a lot, yeah, you know, yeah, we're unraveling things, and we learn as we grow, and we don't know, so we keep going and we go down little rabbit holes. Doesn't mean you read the whole textbook, have to know in and out before you can actually do anything.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

No, no, yeah, constant constantly researching, constantly diligent in reading and learning more all the time so that you do build your confidence.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, exactly. So being wrong can feel dangerous. Why is that? Well, uh, we've grown up with things like criticism and teasing, and I I used to be called stupid a lot when I was younger because I was quiet, um, and I never spoke up for myself. Uh, I actually wrote about that in my book, and uh, so I just created this label in my head that I was stupid and I wouldn't amount to anything because everybody else thought I was stupid. Uh, so I lived that life. I lived the life of being stupid, and it was a label that I had throughout my family. I was the quiet one who couldn't do anything. Um, we become our labels, don't we? It's it's silly.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Um I was the same. I was on my journey, like I had to repeat kindergarten. Gosh, what it was well, the reality was I was so keen to go to school, and I lived in Goulburn, so a little country town, and the the primary school was literally kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. So there were three classes, it was very small, but I really wanted to go and play with the big kids. So mum and dad let me go, and the school allowed me to go and start kindergarten when I was four rather than five. But I was too young to then be advanced to year one. So I was held back because of my age, not you know, and look, the teacher, I will never forget it. She sat me on her lap on the last day of school and she said, You've been such a big help this year. Do you want to stay back and help me next year? Oh, that's a good way to do it. With the new kids, of course. So back then I didn't I didn't think, but then when I got into my teenage years, when I was being called stupid and I felt stupid, and you know, I was you know, a bit left of center, I was a bit weird, got teased. Um, those sort of stories. Okay, so I come back going, oh my god, I'm so stupid. Like I actually had to repeat kindergarten. Yeah, I was you know, because I was blonde and fun loving and look quite gregarious. Um I was known, I was known that way. I oh the blonde, you know, she's fine. Damn blonde, and I took that, and as you said, you take it on. So I never went to university, I finished U12 um and didn't go to university because I didn't think I was smart enough. Like I looked up to all my friends who went to the you know ANU and all these amazing universities, and I was just like, I'm I'm not smart enough for uni.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

I had that same story. I never went to uni um when I left school like everyone else because I just assumed I wasn't smart enough. Um, it's funny, and I did a lot of comparison, like I always felt like everyone was better than me at things, and so there was this humiliation, internal humiliation of if I put my hand up or I do something or I speak up and it's wrong, everyone's gonna laugh at me. Yeah, I'm gonna be teased. Yeah, but then as I got older, I'm gonna be fitting created high expectations for myself to know everything so that I didn't look stupid, and then that was turned into something else completely. But let's say but my mistakes that I made when I was younger weren't seen as learning, they were seen as evidence that I was lazy, that I was dumb, that I was failing, that I wasn't good enough, um, and I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. They were never in my head considered that I'm learning something. It was evidence that I was stupid. It's amazing how quickly you can flip that as you start to do a bit of personal growth work on yourself. Yeah, absolutely. Mmm. Interesting. Um, there were so many kids at my school that were obsessed with getting A's. Like they were, they would like because I went to a private school. Um, but my mom was a single mom raising me on my own. She had her own things going on that grades wasn't really a huge thing for our family. We never really talked about you have to get your A's, you have to do this. I was just surviving school because I had panic disorder at school. And so when I finished, I did I wasn't very smart on paper. I um was smart in my head, but I was in my head, I wasn't actually concentrating on the work that was given at school. And um here we are today reflecting on that and yeah, wanting to blend in, not asking questions, quiet observer. Yeah, absolutely. Those those are the ones that end up being the the bright, bright sparks, I find. Have you ever pretended to understand stuff? Oh gosh, yes. I just think of that episode with Joey and the the dick from friends, and he rocks up with the dictionaries and he ends up getting the V and he starts talking about volcanoes and everything, just so he doesn't look stupid. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's so funny that episode. But I've definitely pretended to understand things, and it made me look more silly because um I they catch you out, like you don't actually know what you're talking about. It's like, no, no, I don't. Yep, yeah. Uh you know what? Asking for help can feel more uncomfortable than than the struggling to understand it, I find. Not anymore, but back.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Absolutely. But you would sit in the pain rather than go, I have no idea what you're saying. And I find like even my son will say that, like, he gets a bit lost in class, but he's too afraid to put his hand out, hand up sometimes because he doesn't want to look stupid.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yeah, I'm always so grateful. Yeah, when I was at school, and you know, teacher, has anyone gonna get any questions?

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And I'd be sitting there and literally almost bursting because I had questions, but I would just stay silent, but you know, yeah, but I didn't look stupid, drowning in and in fear of offense.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And then I'd be so grateful if somebody else asked the question, yeah. And of course, no one thought they were stupid. I didn't think they were stupid for us. I was like, Oh, thank god they've asked the question. I can learn now.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yes, what are they called? They call the the expert mask. I find there's a lot of experts out there that have no idea what they're talking about, but they are so confident in the way that they talk. I mean, I probably sound confident in what I'm talking about half the bloody time, and I don't know what I'm bloody talking about sometimes. Most of the time I do these days, guys, most of the time I do. Um, but it's like this anxiety mask that says, I've got this, I know what I'm talking about. I'm not stupid, I I gotta do this. And meanwhile, you're secretly think secretly thinking, please don't know. See, please don't find out that I don't know what I'm doing right now. Yeah, it's more what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing, but I do it anyway, and rather than what I'm saying. And people think you're an expert because you're doing, and it's like I'm learning as I go here, people. I don't need I don't want to be caught out while I'm doing it though. Yeah, yes, but the signs of that are over-preparing, over-researching. When I first started podcasting with my previous podcast, I over-prepared like massively. It wasn't conversational like this, like it was quite scripted. Um, I over-researched everything. Um, I yeah, it was it was it was full on. And there was one guy that came on um as a guest, he was all over the news, he was a quite a highly respected nutritionist, um, nutrition expert, and he'd been on huge broadcasting broadcasting channels in America. And at the end of our podcast, because I was so nervous about interviewing this guy, he said to me after I stopped recording, How did I go? Did I do okay? And I was like, Oh my gosh, he was just a smart view. And I was like, I'm gonna stop putting people on pedestals here, you know, all these people I think are smarter than me are just as smart as me. Um, they're just yeah, doing the doing the the thing, doing the actually means that he cares.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yes, the information he's relaying is actually accurate, you know, because we have a responsibility as health practitioners and also in the podcast space, we do have a responsibility.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

So that just meant that he he cares, he does, and I find many high achievers live here. Like if you're sitting there thinking, oh, I'm constantly telling myself I'm stupid and not good enough. People who you do put on a pedestal, pedestal, pedestal, um, who are high in whatever they're doing, like maybe you see them as you know at the top of their game, they have the same thoughts. I'm not good enough to do this, I'm stupid, but they do it anyway. They do it anyway because we all sort of feel like an imposter at some point in our lives, right? Absolutely. So this feedback that you're getting can make you feel so nauseous and sick, like it feels like really painful. It's actually painful when you're on your especially when you're calling yourself stupid all the time. Um you know saying to themselves, I'm steward, um steward, I'm stupid. Listen to me, I'm always making mistakes. Um, your brain's hearing that you're incompetent, uh, that you're stupid, that you failed. Like we we need to flip you're not good enough. Yeah, we need to flip the switch there and know that I don't think anyone knows what they're doing, Nat. I think most people have an idea and they kind of just run with it in the hopes that no one knows that they actually don't know what they're really doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Exactly. That's literally the human experience. We don't we're not born with a manual of how to navigate life, we're all literally just winging it.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All of us. Mistakes are meant to be made. And you know, if you've ever read my book, um, if you're listening, or maybe you know, um, as I was reading it out loud, the script to do my audiobook recording, we picked up so many mistakes. And do you know what? I uh would normally that would play on me like, oh, there's so many mistakes in this book. But just because there's a couple of typos, does it mean the whole book is worthless? No, it doesn't, not at all. No, it's but it's how we treat ourselves about it. One mistake in a whole book could come, I am the mistake. It could say that I should never have published this book if it's not good, like you know, because of a couple of typos, a couple of typos. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yep. We were talking about, I think we were talking about this briefly in another podcast, the Dunning Kruger twist. Have you heard of that before? I have, yeah. Yes, it's um yeah, it's often the people who worry about stupid the most are actually the most highly self-aware. So often people who are quite anxious and and and sensitive to their environment are the ones that are picking up on all the mistakes, um, and you know, or even if they haven't made the mistake, not doing the thing, like not creating their podcast, not writing a book, not progressing in their business because they're looking at all the things that they're not up to scratch with and they can 100% do wrong. Yep. Yeah, you gotta make a mistake, people. You have to make a mistake, and it doesn't mean you're stupid. Get that out of your head.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

100% that's where the growth happens. You know, you don't grow from being perfect, never making a mistake. If you just cruise through every single day with literally nothing ever going wrong, and you never make a mistake, you don't learn, you don't grow as a human.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Yeah, I've boring people who's like a static, boring person. I've I've got people who are friends um and family that are always right, they won't listen to anything else because they are right, and they cannot open their mind to the fact that they could possibly be wrong. And it's quite that there is an alternative answer. Like you can both be right. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Different different different variables, different perspectives, experience. That's the word I was thinking of. Um yeah, curiosity beats un um curiosity beats certainty. I find um you can be really stuck and not move forward. I I was my ego took a massive beating as I started to progress in my business because I realized that there were a lot of things that I wasn't that knowledgeable on. And in order to move forward, I had to kind of learn and grow and and admit that I didn't know things. Um, that was hard. It and my ego took a hit because I got to a point where I I wanted to believe that I knew everything. Because I refused to believe that I was stupid at one point.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

I because if I believed that I was stupid, I would feel like a failure. So I kind of flipped it. I went from thinking I was a failure to thinking, okay, nah, I'm the opposite. Like you can be, you could be on either end, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah. In my mind, I know everything, therefore I'm not a failure, I'm successful.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah. Wow. Our brains. Honestly. I know. Anxiety loves certainty. So being right gives us control. It gives us safety. It gives us predictability. Uh, and being wrong creates uncertainty. And uncertainty is anxiety's favorite playground. So sometimes the goal isn't being right, the goal is learning how to be wrong safely. How can I say I don't know this? Or can you explain that? Do you find that hard to still say those words, Nat? Not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

No. Purely because I had to practice it. I had to swallow my pride, swallow my fear and anxiety, and start saying that. And realizing that the first time I said it, they didn't look at me and go, oh my God, you're so stupid. You don't know this. Though people love to help.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah, people love to help to show their own expertise. Give that space. Well, that's what I was saying as I teach kids and in primary schools and high schools. When I'm on the stage and they ask me questions, um, sometimes I don't know the answer. And they get to explain and they get to talk to me about something. And I'm like, that is so cool. I didn't know that. And you just taught me that. And I'm gonna tell people that. That's a great story. Like that lights their soul up, giving people the space.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

So you've just boosted them to educate.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Yeah. Let them have that space. And you know, I met up with a friend not long ago. He's a business coach. He coaches men in business. And he was saying to me, because I said to him, Do you find, do you get annoyed when someone who, for example, let's say someone who isn't a nutritionist is trying to educate you on a topic that you're very um read up on and professional on, and they're trying to tell you about it? Do you quickly let your ego take over and go, I already know that? I'm a nutritionist, or do you sit there and nod along and go, Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Like, do you find sometimes that your ego wants to show others that you're not stupid and you already know about that? Why are you telling me something I already know?

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Of course, but being more mindful, I do I do exactly what you said, the latter. I let them you just nod your head and smile and nod and smile and and let them talk. And then, you know, I then might, after they're finished talking, I might say, that's really, really interesting information. La la la, thank you. I then might, if there's some critical things, I might then say, you know, gently say, Oh, look, you know, this is what I do for a living. Um, have you thought of this? You know, or or recent reason, you know, more recent research suggests this. But yeah, I let if if if someone's like a know-it-all and they they just want to they're just wanting to show how much they know of something, and even if they have no idea, I'll just I don't, you know, I've I don't have that my ego doesn't get in the way anymore. I just I just let it go. And I just smile and and nod and go, thank you, thank you, and then walk off and let it go.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

And you know, this has happened where I've been at the other end of the stick. I went to uh a business event and everyone had to get up on the microphone and introduce themselves and talk a bit about themselves. And the guy sitting next to me, he was a guest to the event and he was sort of shuffling around in his seat. And I said to him, because I could pick up on a on a nervous energy, and sometimes we pick up on the wrong energy, right? And I totally picked up on the wrong energy. And I said to him, You don't have to get up the front, you can just stand here and talk on the mic. And he's like, Yeah, no, I'm okay. And I was like, Oh, I was just like, if you if you're uncomfortable going up in front of everyone, and he's like, That's all good. I was like, Oh, okay. You know, I was trying to, you know, down regulate. He gets up on the mic and talks about his business. He is a voice coach and helps people talk on microphones, and he was very good, and I felt like the biggest doofus. But you know what? I didn't know. I picked up on the the wrong and he came back and he smiled at me, and I could sell tell his ego was a little bit like told you I was fine. And I had a bit of a chuckle, and I'm like, wow, you were really great. And so, yeah, sometimes we give people advice and they clearly don't need it, but um, you know, it's the intention behind it that that counts. Absolutely. We mean well, but sometimes you know, you kind of stick your foot in it um and look like a goober. But you know, you're meant to look like a goober. I find if I do something that makes me feel like a goober, I point out the fact that I feel like a goober, and then that person laughs at me and goes, yeah, it's fine, and then we have a chuckle and we move on. Yeah. Because sometimes you do say silly, silly things, um, and we reflect on that. But yeah, we're all normal, we're all human. Absolutely. Yes. So I feel like we've kind of gotten to the end of this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Yeah, we have.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I mean, we could talk about being stupid forever, really. Oh, I know. We have many examples. Do you know? I've got one example for you here. This will make you laugh. When I was younger, um, I was reading a book out loud to someone, and it was talking about fatigue. And I'd never seen the physical word fatigue before. I was calling it fatigue.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

And I did the same the word, um, you know, depot, like a depot, like a bus depot. I added the T on the end. A dep depot. Depot. Depot. I did that. And people would laugh and then they go, Oh, no, no, no, the word is this, and you'd go red in the face, and you'd be like, Oh my god, I feel like a goose. I've said the wrong word. But then you have a chuckle and everyone moves on.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

So and you learnt, you actually then learnt how to pronounce it correctly by saying it out loud incorrectly. Otherwise, if you had never said that out loud, to this day, you could in your mind be going deep hot. Yes. I always wondered what Vadigue was. Like, I love that one. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

What is Vatigue? I mean, this was this was this wasn't yesterday, this was a while ago. I mean, it could have been yesterday, but you know. Um, but yeah, I found that interesting that these words.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

The word facetious, the word facetious. Yes, because reading it would be like facetious, like what is that? Facetious. And then when I realized someone, you know, because I said it out loud and someone corrected me and said, Oh, that's facetious. And I went, oh, because I knew the word facetious, because my mum used that word all the time. Yeah. But I'd never I didn't put the two together, that was the same word. I was like, oh, okay. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Do you ever find like before we wrap up, there's one more thought that I had. When you go to like a party or a gathering and everyone's talking about something and they're all in thought, and then they ask you a question, and you have to announce to the group that you don't know what this particular word or person is that they're talking about, and they all kind of look at you like they have actually have here's one more share, which all of the Queenslanders and New South Wales will laugh at me here. I'm actually from uh Adelaide, and I grew up in Queensland, but my whole family are Adelaide people, so keep that in mind when I tell you this story. We were on the bus, and um, all of the girls and the boys from my high school were going to the state of origin, and they're like, Oh, which team are you gonna support, Sam? And I said, Who's playing? And they all laughed at me. And I went red in the face, and I'm like, I don't follow the state of origin, that's not a thing in my family. I asked the exact same question. I'm like, who's playing? And they all laughed, and they're like, It's Queensland and New South Wales. What do you mean who's playing? And I'm like, oh my gosh. I just like kind of sunk into myself on the bus, and they're all cracking up laughing at my, you know, my stupidity, but yeah, it's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

I asked exactly the same question, Sammy, years ago. Who's playing?

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Yeah, sorry. Because it's not a thing in South Australia, unless you're from Queensland and New South Wheels, you've got no idea. Yeah, yeah. Doesn't mean that. All of that story is we don't follow footy. Yeah, well, there you go. I don't really too do that. Um, I used to play it, but I never really followed it that much. Anyway, uh, the smartest people in the room aren't usually the ones talking the most. Interesting. I talk a lot in rooms, so I I do you do you agree with that statement? I I think maybe, maybe not. Depends on what you gotta say. Because I enjoy talking to people.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Um what do you what do you think of that statement? I mean, I've read that statement before. I do tend to believe, um, agree with it. Yeah. Um, it's different to, and I think it comes back to it's more relating to uh like not just chatty chatty, you know, when you're in a group of people, but if you're in a learning environment or something, it's the people uh what is actually what we were saying before. The people that are listening are usually the smartest people there. And the question And they also know smarter people know that you know words carry weight. Yes, I've got to expend my energy on wasteless words.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yes. Oh, someone once sent to me, said to me, You have two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly. I was like, What? There's a reason for that, and then I realized oh, that's interesting. All right, well, um, do you want to throw a reflective question in that so we can wrap up? Or okay. You're taking it in turn.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

I know how lovely is this. Um, so where in your life are you working harder to look competent? To look more competent than you are to stay curious, and what might happen if you gave yourself permission to not know everything?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

That was a stupid question. No, I'm joking.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

No, that was great. Where in your life are you working harder to look more competent? Yeah. Interesting. I mean, we don't really do that on this podcast, do we? I'm not trying to look competent, am I? No, I hope we don't.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

We make mistakes, and you know, even when the editing is being done, we we keep in a lot that people would normally chop chop out.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yeah, exactly. Keep it real because we're human.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Exactly. So maybe anxiety isn't making you need to be right, maybe anxiety is trying to protect a younger version of you who once felt stupid, embarrassed, or not enough. And perhaps true north isn't proving yourself, it's learning that your worth was never dependent on having all the answers. And on that note, Nat, I think it's time we wrap up and say goodbye. I think so too. Goodbye. Have a great day, Lila. And we will see you today.

unknown 33:29

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Thanks for joining us on the Anxiety Compass. If you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little laugh and a low calm. We'll see you in the next one. Keep following your true norm. Disclaimer time. Sammy and Natalie may be clinical nutritionists, but we're not your personal doctors. What you hear is for learning and laughing, not diagnosing or prescribing. If things feel bigger than you, call your doctor or a local support line or reach out to a qualified health professional and your back to the city.