Most people who struggle with perfectionism don’t think of themselves as anxious, they think of themselves as driven. But perfectionism isn’t about high standards, it’s about the fear that anything short of the unreachable is proof that you’re not enough. That’s a phobia, and it has a treatment plan.

In this episode, Roxy and Stephanie dig into the anxiety types that don’t always announce themselves: perfectionism, social anxiety, health anxiety, existential anxiety, and performance anxiety. Each one has its own shape, its own traps, and its own version of the same core problem. The approach-versus-avoidance framework from last week applies here too, but some of these will push you toward a therapist’s office faster than others. Especially the existential one. Go now, they say. Seriously.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

You’ve probably heard that the antidote to anxiety is facing your fears. What you probably haven’t heard is exactly why avoiding them makes everything worse, and how the brain gets quietly tricked into staying stuck even when you think you’re doing the work. Checking on your kid who’s driving? Seeking reassurance from someone you trust? Even reaching for your phone mid-exposure? All of it counts as avoidance, and all of it resets the clock.

In this episode, Roxy and Stephanie walk through the full anxiety treatment toolkit: graduated exposure hierarchies you can actually build yourself, the difference between courage and bravery (they are not the same word), why benzos might be working against you, what beta blockers do to the brain-body feedback loop, and grounding techniques that range from the clinical to the genuinely surprising. One of them involves your butt. It works.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Anxiety is just energy. The problem is when your body keeps liberating that energy for threats that aren't there, or at levels the situation doesn't actually call for. This episode gets into the biology behind that: the types of anxiety disorders and what actually distinguishes them, the role of catecholamines and cortisol, how genetics and early environment both shape the system, and why things like your thyroid, your caffeine habit, or coming off a substance can produce anxiety symptoms that have nothing to do with your mental health at all.

Send your questions about anxiety to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe as the series continues.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net