Your Anxiety Toolkit - Practical Skills for Anxiety, Panic & Depression
Jun 17, 2026 · 25 min · 12 segments
In this episode, I sit down with Drew Linsalata to explore the "Exception Clause," the sneaky anxiety trick that convinces us our fears are the one exception to everything we've learned about…
[gentle music] You've done the work, you've read the books, maybe done some therapy, watched the videos.
You know that engaging with them makes them worse, and you know the goal is not to take the bait.
This one feels like all those rules you learn about let it go, don't engage, it's just anxiety, doesn't apply here because this situation is different, because the stakes are too high.
Because what if this one time the fear is actually right? And before you know it, you are three hours deep in your own head doing the very thing you promised yourself that you would no longer do.
This is a very specific trick that anxiety plays on people who are already in recovery, and is one of the most common reasons people stall.
He's an author, and he is someone who has spent years helping people recognize exactly this pattern.
Today, we're going to get into it, what this trick is, why anxiety deploys it specifically when you're doing the work, and what you actually can do when your brain is screaming at you that this one is different.
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[gentle music] You've done the work, you've read the books, maybe done some therapy, watched the videos.
You know that engaging with them makes them worse, and you know the goal is not to take the bait.
This one feels like all those rules you learn about let it go, don't engage, it's just anxiety, doesn't apply here because this situation is different, because the stakes are too high.
Because what if this one time the fear is actually right? And before you know it, you are three hours deep in your own head doing the very thing you promised yourself that you would no longer do.
This is a very specific trick that anxiety plays on people who are already in recovery, and is one of the most common reasons people stall.
He's an author, and he is someone who has spent years helping people recognize exactly this pattern.
Today, we're going to get into it, what this trick is, why anxiety deploys it specifically when you're doing the work, and what you actually can do when your brain is screaming at you that this one is different.
