Jul 21, 2026 · 12 min · 6 segments
What anxiety actually is and what it is not and why is it that your brain isn't actually broken if you have anxiety. We get to the heart of all this.
Now, today, let's start with something that maybe feels a little uncomfortable.
Think about the last time that you sat down to learn something difficult, a new skill, complex idea, a piece of work that mattered to you, and think about what happened in the moments before you actually started.
There may have been a slight tightening in your chest, or maybe your mind drifted off immediately to everything that could go wrong.
What if you couldn't get it? What if It took too long.
What if you tried and found out that you weren't capable in the way that you thought or hoped? Maybe you did what so many people do.
You checked your phone, made coffee, found other things to do, something else that didn't need dealing with at the time, anything but the thing.
Now, some might say, well, you know, let's just be lazy.
That wasn't laziness.
It wasn't weakness.
Oftentimes, it was anxiety doing exactly what it's designed to do.
Here's the first thing we want you to really hear today.
Your brain, our brains, are not broken.
In fact, in many ways, it's working perfectly.
The problem isn't our anxiety.
The problem is a fundamental understanding, misunderstanding of what anxiety really is.
And that misunderstanding is costing us in ways that we may not even yet realize.
So let's fix that.
Now, today, let's start with something that maybe feels a little uncomfortable.
Think about the last time that you sat down to learn something difficult, a new skill, complex idea, a piece of work that mattered to you, and think about what happened in the moments before you actually started.
There may have been a slight tightening in your chest, or maybe your mind drifted off immediately to everything that could go wrong.
What if you couldn't get it? What if It took too long.
What if you tried and found out that you weren't capable in the way that you thought or hoped? Maybe you did what so many people do.
You checked your phone, made coffee, found other things to do, something else that didn't need dealing with at the time, anything but the thing.
Now, some might say, well, you know, let's just be lazy.
That wasn't laziness.
It wasn't weakness.
Oftentimes, it was anxiety doing exactly what it's designed to do.
Here's the first thing we want you to really hear today.
Your brain, our brains, are not broken.
In fact, in many ways, it's working perfectly.
The problem isn't our anxiety.
The problem is a fundamental understanding, misunderstanding of what anxiety really is.
And that misunderstanding is costing us in ways that we may not even yet realize.
So let's fix that.
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