Do you ever feel like you just can’t keep up with life? Like there’s too much information, too much stimulation, and too many demands coming at you all the time?

Episode Summary

In this episode, Jessica breaks down the second major contributor to anxiety: modern living. She explains why our brains and bodies are simply not designed for the pace, volume, and constant input of modern life...and how this mismatch keeps your survival system activated almost nonstop.

Using clear explanations, current real-world examples, and everyday scenarios, this episode helps you understand why anxiety feels constant and overwhelming, and why that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• Why modern life itself is anxiety-inducing
• How little of human history our current way of living actually represents
• Why your survival system isn’t built to handle constant stimulation and information
• How anxiety turns everyday situations into perceived survival threats
• Why news, social media, work, and daily interactions feel overwhelming
• The difference between immediate survival threats and long-term survival
• Why anxiety reactions often make modern problems harder to solve

Key Moments from the Episode

“Modern living makes us anxious.”

“Our brains and bodies are not meant for the way we’re living.”

“The survival system doesn’t sort through information — it just reacts.”

“Modern life makes everything feel immediate and threatening.”

“Anxiety and the survival system actually make it harder to do what we really need to do.”

Main Takeaway

Your anxiety isn’t a personal failing — it’s the result of a survival system doing its job in an environment it was never designed for.

Modern life floods your brain with information, stimulation, and perceived threats, keeping anxiety constantly activated. Real relief begins with understanding this mismatch, so you can stop blaming yourself and start shifting toward solutions.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for you if you:

• Feel overwhelmed by the pace and demands of modern life
• Feel anxious even when nothing specific is “wrong”
• Get overstimulated, mentally exhausted, or constantly on edge
• Feel activated by news, emails, social media, or daily interactions
• Want an explanation that actually makes sense

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Get My Book: "Hi, It's Anxiety! I'm Your Problem, It's Me!"

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this episode helped you feel understood or less alone, please follow the show and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more people find support that actually fits the world we’re living in.

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• Modern life and anxiety
• Overstimulation and anxiety
• Survival system explained
• Fight, flight, freeze in modern life
• Anxiety and the nervous system
• Information overload and mental health
• News, social media, and anxiety
• Why modern living is overwhelming
• Long-term vs immediate survival
• Understanding anxiety without shame

Learn how anxiety is caused by biology: How your survival system is designed to scan for threats, why it misfires, and how understanding the biology of anxiety can immediately reduce shame and self-blame.

This episode helps you understand what’s happening in your body so anxiety stops feeling mysterious, scary, or personal.

Episode Summary

In this episode, Jessica breaks down the first and most foundational cause of anxiety: your biology. She explains how your survival system is designed to constantly scan for threats, anticipate danger, and react — and how that normal biological function gets misapplied to everyday situations like social interactions, decision-making, and difficult conversations.

Through clear explanations and relatable real-life examples, this episode helps you understand what’s really happening in your body when anxiety takes over — and why knowing this alone can start to quiet anxiety.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• Why anxiety isn’t mysterious — and what’s actually happening in your brain and body
• How your survival system creates physical, mental, and emotional anxiety symptoms
• Why anxiety often shows up before anything actually happens
• How understanding your biology removes shame and self-blame
• Why awareness is the first step toward calming anxiety (before any tools or techniques)

Key Moments from the Episode (Quotes)

“Not understanding your anxiety actually makes you anxious about having anxiety.”

“This is your biology — it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.”

“Your survival system is meant for real, in-the-moment threats… not farmers markets and difficult conversations.”

“When you can name what’s happening, it removes a layer of anxiety.”

“You’re not stuck in this when you know what’s going on.”

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for you if you:

• Feel confused by how intense your anxiety reactions are
• Experience physical symptoms like racing heart, nausea, tension, or panic
• Get anxious anticipating things like conversations, decisions, or social situations
• Have been told to “just calm down” or “think differently” — and felt invalidated
• Want to understand anxiety without shame or self-criticism

Main Takeaway

Your anxiety feels intense because your survival system is doing exactly what it was designed to do — scan for threat and keep you safe. The problem isn’t you; it’s that this biological system is reacting to everyday situations as if they’re dangerous.

When you understand what’s happening in your body, anxiety becomes less scary, less personal, and easier to work with. Awareness isn’t the final step — but it’s the foundation that makes real change possible.

Get My Book "Hi, It's Anxiety! I'm Your Problem It's Me"

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• What anxiety really is
• Survival system and anxiety
• Fight, flight, freeze response explained
• Anxiety symptoms in the body
• Why anxiety feels overwhelming
• Anticipatory anxiety and overthinking
• Biology of anxiety
• Nervous system and anxiety
• Why anxiety isn’t your fault
• Understanding anxiety instead of fearing it

In this powerful bonus episode, Jessica explores something most people have never been told: Anxiety quietly shapes how people make decisions, use power, and treat one another in the world. Changing your anxiety can change the world!

Episode Summary

Through a moving real-life story, you’ll hear how one woman working through her anxiety didn’t just change her own life — she protected healthcare for an entire community. This episode reveals how anxiety doesn't just live in individuals — it drives systems, institutions, and culture. So when you start to change anxiety, you start to change the world!

Healing your anxiety isn’t selfish… it’s one of the most meaningful ways you can make a difference. If we all quieted anxiety, the world would change.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• How anxiety’s threat-scanning doesn’t stop at individuals — it shapes entire systems
• Why fear-based thinking drives decisions about money, healthcare, power, and control
• Why healing anxiety makes you clearer, stronger, and more able to advocate for what matters
• How one person calming their nervous system can create ripple effects that help many others
• Why working on your anxiety is not self-centered — it’s deeply impactful and necessary for a better world

Key Moments from the Episode

“People are walking around anxious, trying to protect themselves — and that’s driving the world.”

“If we weren’t in anxiety, we could actually see what would really help ourselves and others.”

“It’s not just your life. It’s the ripple effect.”

Main Takeaway

When you understand and soften your anxiety, you don’t just feel better. You become more grounded, more courageous, and more able to stand up for yourself and others. Healing anxiety creates clarity — and clarity creates change.

Your healing matters far more than you’ve been told.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for you if:

• You care deeply about people and the world
• You’ve felt like your anxiety keeps you small, scared, or quiet
• You want to feel stronger, more confident, and want to help change the world
• You’ve always sensed your anxiety is connected to something bigger
• You see how anxiety plays out in the world around you

Connect with Jessica

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Learn When a New Episode Drops: Get On Board Here

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this episode made you feel hopeful, seen, or empowered, please follow the show and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more people find the support they deserve.

*Disclaimer*This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• How anxiety affects society
• Anxiety and power
• Healing anxiety
• Emotional regulation
• How therapy changes lives
• Anxiety and leadership
• Anxiety recovery
• Nervous system healing
• Anxiety and confidence
• Mental health and social change

In this episode, Jessica unpacks one of the most painful and misunderstood parts of anxiety: caring deeply — and worrying — about what other people think.

Episode Summary

You’ll learn why this isn’t insecurity, overreacting, vanity, or “people-pleasing gone wrong.” It’s actually one of the most common ways anxiety tries to protect you.

Using real-life examples (pumpkin spice lattes, doctors’ appointments, parenting, and everyday interactions), Jessica explains why your brain sees other people as a potential threat — and why your anxiety jumps in to keep you safe, liked, and connected. This episode is deeply validating and gives you a compassionate understanding of why this anxiety feels so intense and so constant.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Why worrying what people think is not a flaw — it’s an anxiety protection response
• How being dependent on people (emotionally, socially, and practically) makes your brain see social interactions as potential threats
• The role your values, empathy, and kindness play in this pattern
• Why anxiety tries to “help” by making you be perfect, pleasing, or the “right” way
• How understanding this pattern immediately reduces shame and self-blame
• A simple reflective practice to help you see through anxiety and feel more grounded

Key Moments from the Episode

“Of course it's natural to want people to like you… we all need people. Physically, transactionally, and emotionally.”

“Doesn’t it make perfect sense that anxiety would see people not liking you as a threat?”

“Anxiety makes me care what people think of me so I can stay in good graces with them and get my needs met.”

“Caring what people think is enough, all by itself, to justify anxiety.”

“Your anxiety makes sense. Your anxiety around people makes sense.”

Main Takeaway

Caring what people think isn’t a character flaw — it’s anxiety trying to protect your safety, relationships, belonging, and values.

When you understand this, you stop blaming yourself, stop feeling confused by your reactions, and start seeing your anxiety for what it really is: a protection response that can be softened and changed with compassion.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is especially for you if:

• You constantly worry about others’ opinions
• You try to be the “right” way, perfect, or endlessly pleasing
• You replay conversations or interactions
• You’re sensitive, empathetic, and deeply caring
• You’ve felt ashamed or confused about why this feels so intense
• You want a kinder, more grounded understanding of this pattern

Connect with Jessica

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Learn When a New Episode Drops: Get On Board Here

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this episode helped you feel seen and understood, please follow the show and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more anxious humans find support that actually makes sense.

*Disclaimer*This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why you care what people think
• Anxiety and people-pleasing
• Social anxiety
• Overthinking social situations
• How empathy affects anxiety
• Why anxiety feels so intense around people
• Anxiety and perfectionism

If you live with anxiety, chances are you feel guilty all the time.

Guilty for disappointing people. Guilty for saying no. Guilty for wanting something different. Guilty for existing.

Episode Summary

In this episode, Jessica breaks down the truth about guilt — and it’s not what you think.

You’ll learn how guilt is another way anxiety tries to protect you, why it shows up in situations where you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, and how to start seeing guilt for what it really is: a safety strategy, not a moral failing.

Jessica shares real-life examples (holiday plans, food waste, posting a selfie, and even existential guilt) to help you understand how anxiety uses guilt to push you toward the “safe,” “right,” or “expected” thing — even when that thing hurts you.
When you understand what guilt is actually doing, everything changes.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why anxious people feel guilty all the time
• How guilt functions as a protection strategy, not a moral failing
• How anxiety scans your life for threats and misinterprets normal choices as dangerous
• Why guilt feels like absolute proof that you're doing something wrong
• The difference between real guilt and anxiety-driven guilt
• What existential guilt is — and why it’s so common for anxious people
• How guilt tries to push you toward “safe,” expected, socially approved choices

Key Quotes

“I haven't met a person with anxiety who doesn't experience guilt pretty much all the time.”

“Anxiety uses guilt to make you feel bad so that you'll supposedly be the way you need to be to stay safe.”

“Anxiety is a threat detector. It is not a good-outcome detector.”

“Sometimes the guilt gets so deep it feels like guilt for existing.”

“Guilt is one of the things that can really get us stuck because it’s so convincing.”

“Guilt is a way that anxiety is showing up to protect you. It's not you — it's anxiety.”

Main Takeaway

Overthinking isn’t a character flaw or bad habit — it’s anxiety reacting to a perceived threat in an attempt to keep you safe. Understanding why it happens immediately reduces shame, increases clarity, and gives you the power to begin shifting out of spiraling into calmer, clearer thinking.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for anyone who:

• Feels guilty constantly, even when nothing bad happened
• Overthinks decisions because they fear disappointing others
• Experiences deep or existential guilt
• Struggles to trust themselves
• Wants a grounded, compassionate explanation for their guilt
• Wants to stop guilt from controlling their choices and self-worth

Connect with Jessica

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Get My Weekly Emails: Get On Board Here

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this episode helped you see guilt differently, please share the show, leave a rating, or reach out. Everyone deserves clarity and compassion.

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• why guilt feels so intense
• anxiety and guilt connection
• why anxious people feel guilty
• guilt as a safety response
• understanding chronic guilt
• anxious guilt vs true guilt

If you struggle with overthinking, obsessing, or spiraling, this episode will help you understand why it happens — and why it’s not your fault.

Episode Summary

Jessica explains that overthinking isn’t a random symptom of anxiety; it’s one of the primary ways anxiety tries to protect you from something it believes could go wrong.

Using relatable examples — replaying conversations, stressing over work, worrying about climate change, and even baking muffins for a neighbor — Jessica shows how anxiety mistakes discomfort, uncertainty, or possible mistakes as “threats.” From there, it launches into overthinking as its attempt to prepare you, keep you safe, or prevent you from being surprised.

By the end of this episode, you’ll begin to see your overthinking differently: not as a personal flaw, but as a misguided safety response. And you’ll learn a powerful practice for gently stepping outside of the spiral and getting clarity.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Why overthinking is one of anxiety’s primary “protection strategies”
• How overthinking turns into obsessing and full-body spiraling
• Why anxiety sees even small things as potential “threats”
• How your brain tries to prevent mistakes, discomfort, or surprises
• Why overthinking feels automatic or uncontrollable
• A simple practice to create space between you and your anxious thoughts
• How understanding anxiety’s motives helps you calm it more quickly
• How this practice sets you up for deeper healing in future episode

Key Moments From the Episode

“Overthinking, obsessing, and spiraling are ways anxiety tries to protect you.”

“Even when part of you knows the overthinking isn’t helping, another part feels like it’s necessary.”

“Anxiety sees threats everywhere — even in things like baking muffins for a neighbor.”

“Overthinking protects you from making a mistake, missing something, or being surprised.”

“Just naming what’s happening gives you distance from it.”

“This sets you up to eventually shift from anxiety-driven reactions to calm, grounded thinking.”

Who This Episode Is For

• This episode is perfect for anyone who:
• Gets stuck in overthinking or rumination
• Spirals quickly into worst-case scenarios
• Feels overwhelmed by obsessive or looping thoughts
• Wants to understand why their brain reacts this way
• Feels frustrated, ashamed, or confused about their anxiety
• Craves a kinder explanation for patterns they can’t seem to control

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why am I like this?” — this episode offers clarity and compassion.

Connect with Jessica

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Get My Weekly Emails: Get On Board Here

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you’re struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• why we overthink
• anxiety and overthinking
• anxiety spiraling
• obsessive thoughts and anxiety
• threat response and anxiety
• why anxiety sees danger everywhere
• nervous system and overthinking
• rumination vs. protection
• how to stop spiraling
• compassionate anxiety tools
• understanding anxious thoughts
• how to reduce overthinking
• trauma-informed anxiety education

Why does your anxiety feel so strong, so persistent, and so much bigger than the things happening in your life?

In today’s episode, Jessica breaks down the real reason anxiety feels overwhelming — and it’s not because you’re dramatic, broken, or “overreacting.”

Episode Summary

You’ll learn how anxiety’s one job — protecting you from supposed threats — explains overthinking, spiraling, tension, and those moments where your mind jumps to the worst-case scenario instantly.

Jessica shares personal examples straight from her week (“spending too much money,” “looking stupid,” “forgetting to pay my bills,” “hitting a pedestrian in the dark,” and more) to show how anxiety reacts to anything it perceives as dangerous, whether it’s logical or not.

This episode will help you understand your anxiety more clearly, reduce the shame and self-blame you’ve been carrying, and start relating to your anxiety with compassion instead of fear.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Why anxiety feels so intense and persistent for so many people
• What anxiety thinks its “job” is — and why that makes it react so strongly
• How your biology, modern life, and learned messages shape your anxiety
• Why anxious threats don’t have to be real to feel real in your body
• How to start identifying what your anxiety is trying to protect you from
• The key mindset shift that immediately softens self-blame and confusion

Key Quotes

“There is a perfectly good reason anxiety is doing this — and it makes complete sense. Anxiety thinks it’s protecting you.”

“What is the threat anxiety sees? What is this anxiety trying to protect me from?”

“This isn’t you. This isn’t who you are as a person. It’s not your fault. You’re not making this happen — this is a process happening in you.”

Main Takeaway

Your anxiety feels so intense because it’s doing the only job it knows how to do: spot potential threats and keep you safe.

The problem is that anxiety reacts to imagined, exaggerated, or future-based threats just as strongly as real ones.

When you understand this, anxiety becomes less mysterious, less shame-inducing, and less overwhelming — and you can finally work with it instead of fighting yourself.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for anyone who:

• Feels like their anxiety is “too much” or “doesn’t match the situation”
• Blames themselves for not being “logical” enough when anxious
• Wants to understand why their anxiety feels big and persistent
• Has been searching for answers that feel validating instead of dismissive
• Wants a grounded, compassionate explanation for what’s happening inside them

Connect with Jessica Richards

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Get My Weekly Emails: Get On Board Here

Enjoyed the Episode?

If this episode helped you feel seen, understood, or less alone, it would mean so much if you followed the show and left a review. It helps others who struggle with anxiety find this kind of support too.

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.

Topics Covered in This Episode

• why anxiety is so intense
• anxiety protection response
• anxious overthinking
• threat response system
• nervous system anxiety
• chronic anxiety patterns
• why anxiety spirals
• anxiety feels disproportionate

"You should have known better."

"You screwed it up."

"You're going to make a mistake again."

These are the nasty things anxiety can say to keep you from trusting yourself.

When you live with anxiety, trusting yourself can feel impossible. In this episode, Jessica explores how anxiety makes you doubt your judgement and convinces you that you can't make good decisions about your life — and how to start rebuilding trust in yourself through compassion, reflection, and learning from the past.

Episode Overview

Anxiety and self-trust can feel like opposites. When you’ve made choices that didn’t turn out the way you hoped, it’s easy to believe you can’t trust yourself — and anxiety is more than happy to take over from there.

In this episode, Jessica explains why anxiety steps in when you start doubting your decisions, how it convinces you that worry equals control, and why that cycle keeps you stuck. Through gentle reflection, she guides you toward seeing your past choices with more understanding and less judgment — and reminds you that your current self has more wisdom, experience, and agency than you think.

What You’ll Learn

• How anxiety convinces you that you “can’t be trusted”
• Why anxiety believes it’s protecting you — and how it actually blocks clarity
• The difference between learning from the past and living in the past
• How to release old evidence that keeps you from trusting yourself
• Steps to rebuild confidence and decision-making, even when you still feel anxious

Key Quotes

“Anxiety jumps in and says, ‘You can’t trust yourself — I’ve got this.’ But anxiety doesn’t actually help you make better choices.”

“You were just making the best choice you could with what you knew at the time.”

“You can be trusted. You can sit down and make decisions about your life without anxiety running the show.”

Main Takeaway

Anxiety tries to protect you from making mistakes — but it ends up keeping you stuck in fear. You can trust yourself again. The key is compassion: recognizing that you’ve grown, learned, and changed, and that you’re capable of making thoughtful choices in the present moment.

Connect with Jessica

Instagram: @jessica_richards_counseling

Get My Free Guide: 3 Keys for Quieting Anxiety Now

Emails When a New Episode Drops: Get On Board Here

If You Liked This Episode

If this conversation helped you see yourself more clearly, please follow the show and leave a review. It helps others discover that it’s possible to stop listening to anxiety and build self-trust — even in a wild world.

*Disclaimer* This show is for information and inspiration. It is not professional mental health counseling or medical advice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a mental health or medical professional.