Oct 23, 2026 · 40 min · 11 segments
Send a question or comment via text message "Yeah, but it feels so bad." We hear it constantly, and this week we answer it directly. When panic…
I got married this past weekend and over the past year I've struggled with panic disorder that started to look like social anxiety, but not because I'm afraid of socializing, more so because I'm afraid of how I might feel around other people and in front of them.
So as you can imagine, that made the idea of my wedding day pretty nerve wracking.
But I didn't have any drinks.
I even had some as-needed prescribed medications that I could have taken, but I chose not to.
Because I told myself that feeling anxious on my wedding day is actually quite normal.
And having any adrenaline or heart pounding sensations is not a disordered thing.
It's an excited thing.
So I let my body feel how it was going to feel, focused on just experiencing my wedding day and whatever came along with it.
And it turns out I spent months predicting how I was going to feel and all my predictions were wrong anyways.
I actually felt the least anxious I felt in a long time.
And I think a big reason for that is with so much going on, so many things captivating my attention, I didn't even have a chance to compulse N-word and do the N-word checking.
So the number one event that I thought would bring backsliding actually reminded me how much our attention and focus directly affects anxiety.
Y'all's podcast is so unbelievably helpful.
Please keep doing what you're doing.
And as a fellow therapist, I cannot recommend y'all's work enough.
I got married this past weekend and over the past year I've struggled with panic disorder that started to look like social anxiety, but not because I'm afraid of socializing, more so because I'm afraid of how I might feel around other people and in front of them.
So as you can imagine, that made the idea of my wedding day pretty nerve wracking.
But I didn't have any drinks.
I even had some as-needed prescribed medications that I could have taken, but I chose not to.
Because I told myself that feeling anxious on my wedding day is actually quite normal.
And having any adrenaline or heart pounding sensations is not a disordered thing.
It's an excited thing.
So I let my body feel how it was going to feel, focused on just experiencing my wedding day and whatever came along with it.
And it turns out I spent months predicting how I was going to feel and all my predictions were wrong anyways.
I actually felt the least anxious I felt in a long time.
And I think a big reason for that is with so much going on, so many things captivating my attention, I didn't even have a chance to compulse N-word and do the N-word checking.
So the number one event that I thought would bring backsliding actually reminded me how much our attention and focus directly affects anxiety.
Y'all's podcast is so unbelievably helpful.
Please keep doing what you're doing.
And as a fellow therapist, I cannot recommend y'all's work enough.
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