The 18 Minutes
18 minutes was all I needed to start reclaiming my life from fear. The aim of this resource is to help you move from fear to freedom, too, and to discover your true identity without the burden of constant worry. My hope in sharing my story (and the practices I learned along the way) is to grow a community that helps each of us step into the world with more courage, more clarity, and more authenticity, becoming the kind of presence that inspires growth in others, too.
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Episodes
44 episodes
Overcoming Agoraphobia
Do you feel anxious every time you're in a situation you can't easily get out of? You might have agoraphobia! I suffered with this fear for YEARS, and learned some really effective techniques for overcoming it and getting to live the life I had...
Maintaining Anxiety Progress with Marc Musselman
Episode #2 with my dad! In episode 42, I sat down with my dad and we had a fun conversation about his recent anxiety wins, and what he did to get there. We also talk about maintaining the progress we've already made, and how to live healthy, fu...
How I Built A Tolerance For Anxiety
I worked myself into disordered anxiety by avoiding discomfort and the feelings of anxiety at all costs. Real, lasting change started happening for me when I learned how to build up my tolerance for discomfort around anxiousness again. Today's ...
High-Functioning Anxiety
Today we're talking all about high-functioning fear and anxiety. What's behind the choices we're making, and how do we live a more free and open life? Living with high-functioning anxiety can hide some of our motives from even ourselves, and to...
How I Overcame Health Anxiety
Today's episode is an overview of my experience with health anxiety. I went from being agoraphobic and stuck in my house to traveling the world, and you can do it, too! I'll talk about what my experience with severe health anxiety was like, and...
Exercise and Anxiety
You've heard that exercise is good for stress a hundred times, but did you know that exercise and fear feel almost identical in our bodies?? In this episode I get into how movement is beneficial for anxious people, how I started with the tinies...
Using AI When You're Feeling Anxious
We've all done it. Waking up anxious at 2am and pulling up ChatGPT to ask it our burning questions. Are we ok? What can we do to calm down? How do we keep this from happening again? Today I'm talking about my own AI use and what I lear...
The Fear of Dizziness
If you struggle with the fear of dizziness, this episode is for you! Today I talk about why it's such a common fear among sufferers of disordered anxiety, what the causes are, and what we can do to overcome it. Enjoy! SOU...
How Avoidance Keeps Us Stuck
Today's episode is all about my favorite fear trap: avoidance. It feels like coping, but isn't actually helping us the way we think it is. In this episode I walk through six ways avoidance can be keeping you stuck (often without your realizing ...
Fear Is Good For You
This week we're flipping the script on fear. Fear is not just the enemy we've been treating it as for years. In this episode of The 18 Minutes podcast I walk through the reframes that helped me come to love this work, including how fear builds ...
Moving From Fear to Freedom
This episode is the heart of everything I talk about on the show: the path from fear to freedom. I share some of my own story and then walk you through the four shifts that made all the difference for me: learning that we can actually change, t...
Why Facing Your Fears Isn't Working
If you're doing the work and feel like your exposure practice isn't paying off, this one's for you! I walk through what I think are some of the most reasons facing your fears might not be moving you forward. Plus a couple of reminders most of u...
Healthy Anxiety Habits Gone Wrong
Some of the most common "healthy" habits in the wellness and anxiety recovery world (breathing exercises, grounding techniques, meditation) can actually be the thing keeping you stuck. In this episode I walk through five of them, the genuine pr...
Who Are You Without The Anxiety?
What's left when the anxiety finally subsides? In this episode I talk about a part of recovery I LOVE: when anxiety has been part of you for years, you get to actually rediscover who you are without it. I share how anxiety became the center of ...
What To Do When Anxiety Comes Back
What do you actually do when anxiety comes back after you thought you'd put it behind you? In this episode I talk about why recovery was never a straight line to zero, and why I measured my own recovery by "widening the gaps" between panic atta...
What Partners of Anxious People Need to Know
If you love someone with disordered anxiety, your most loving instincts are often what's keeping their disordered anxiety alive. I unpack the research on family accommodation, why reassurance is a long-term harm even when it feels kind in the m...
Agoraphobia 101: What It Is and How To Recover
Has your world been gradually getting smaller? Fewer places you'll go, more cancellations, a mental map of where it feels safe and where it doesn't? You might be dealing with agoraphobia. In this episode I unpack the real definition (it's not "...
Overpreparing Is Making You Anxious
Overpreparing might be the most socially acceptable safety behavior there is. It doesn't always look like anxiety, it looks like being responsible! In this episode I unpack what overpreparing actually is, why our brains love it so much, and the...
How To Prepare For a Panic Attack
You're probably going to have another panic attack. Sorry!! But what if you could prepare for it in a way that actually moves your recovery forward? In this episode, I walk through the mindset shift that changed my own recovery, the neuroscienc...
Why Anxiety Feels Worse at Night (and what to do about it!)
Ever wake up at 2am in panic mode? This episode is for you! Today I'm talking all about nighttime anxiety. How to recognize it, why it happens, and practical steps to move past it. Thanks for listening! FREE Recover...
Why Can't I Calm Down?!
On this episode of The 18 Minutes I get into the science behind why it feels IMPOSSIBLE to calm down during an episode of intense anxiety or panic, and what we can do about it. Enjoy!
What Not To Do During Panic
Today's episode is a list of things that you might be doing that are keeping you stuck with disordered anxiety. Enjoy!
Travel Anxiety Tips
Today's episode is all about travel anxiety. I'm a nervous traveler, and in this episode I lay out my best tips for making travel fun! I cover how to manage anticipatory anxiety, feeling stuck, social anxiety, the fear of flying, and separation...
Anxiety & The Illusion of Control
As overly anxious people, we CLING to anything we can control, often to our own detriment. In this quick chat-style podcast I cover the topic of control, and why reaching for it could be hindering our recovery. Enjoy!
Disordered Anxiety: Mindfulness vs. Avoidance
Mindfulness! You may have used this practice as a means of escaping your anxious feelings, but it can be used more effectively to help you overcome disordered anxiety altogether. In today's episode I share my experience using mindfulness while ...