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Your anxiety, Your Panic Attacks, Your Fear....It started with one moment nobody helped you understand, and it is not too late to go back and give it a new ending.

EPISODE SUMMARY

This week I'm telling you about the night my 10 year old daughter had her first panic attack, and what I watched happen over the next four nights taught me more about how anxiety actually forms than almost anything else has.

One new, unfamiliar sensation in her body. That's all it took. Her brain didn't know what it was, so it flagged it as danger. And by night three, the fear wasn't even about the original thing anymore, it was about the fear of the fear. That's how fast one experience becomes a prediction, and a prediction becomes an identity.

If you've ever wondered why you still overthink, still brace, still control, even after doing "the work," this episode walks you through the exact mechanism, and the exact thing that actually rewires it. Not more analyzing. Evidence. And I'll show you how to go back and give your own nervous system that evidence now, as an adult, even if nobody did it for you then.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

• Why one unfamiliar sensation in the body gets flagged as danger, and how fast that turns into a full blown panic response
• The exact 4-7-8 breathing technique I used to bring my daughter's nervous system out of fight or flight, step by step
• Why the second and third time you feel a fear is actually scarier than the first, even though nothing new is actually happening
• How one experience becomes a prediction, and how a prediction becomes your identity, in as little as three days
• Why "evidence" is what actually rewires the brain, not more analyzing, more worrying, or more willpower
• What it actually looks like to reparent yourself, starting with the very first scary moment you can remember
• Why you can start giving your nervous system new evidence today, even if nobody did it for you back then

REFLECTION

• What was the first scary moment that became a lifetime pattern for you?
• If you could sit with that version of you right now, what would you want her to know?

WORK WITH SARI

If you're ready to stop collecting insights and actually feel the shift land in your body, this is your next step.

Join The Self Love Chamber October 3rd & 4th A Live Hot Seat Event, Where Real Change Manifests!

Grab the Free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset →

Book Your Freedom Roadmap Session →

You made it here, and that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

00:01 — Welcome back, and the story Sari wants to share about her 10 year old daughter

00:23 — The question underneath the whole episode: the first time fear took over your body, and who was there to help you through it

02:31 — Setting the scene: her daughter's first panic attack, waking up in the night convinced she needed to throw up

04:45 — How Sari and her husband stayed calm and told her, "your body is intelligent"

07:06 — Teaching her daughter the 4-7-8 breath, step by step, including the straw trick to slow the exhale

09:12 — Night four: the fear returns each night until real, lived evidence finally lands

11:14 — Breaking it down: her body did something new, and her brain called it dangerous

12:52 — What her daughter actually learned that night: I'm safe, my body knows what to do, someone is here

13:27 — How one experience becomes a prediction, and a prediction becomes an identity, in three nights

15:16 — Sari's own childhood story: the fear of choking, the glass of milk, and why she couldn't swallow pills for years

17:12 — Living inside a story that started with one moment nobody helped you understand

19:22 — We can't protect our kids from everything, but we can equip them with tools

20:14 — It's not too late to reparent yourself: going back to your own first scary moment and giving it a new story

20:46 — What reparenting actually looks like, and the invitation to book a Freedom Roadmap Session

23:16 — Reflection: what would change if you stopped predicting danger based on old experiences

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If something small goes wrong and you're already contracted, and stressed out, this episode is for you. Your brain isn't broken. It's just been trained to believe every doubt without question, and never question your hope.

EPISODE SUMMARY This episode starts with Sari's microphone breaking, a week's worth of pre-recorded episodes ruined, and nothing ready to release. The old version of her would have spiraled straight into worst-case scenario thinking. Instead she caught it. That's the whole episode: why our brains jump from "something went wrong" to full disaster mode, even over small things, and why we question our hope, our faith, our dreams constantly, but almost never question our doubt. We just believe it. Sari breaks down two real examples, her own mic crisis and her husband losing his job last summer, to show how the same circumstance can be met with trust or with fear, and why unaddressed fear just keeps looping. She also gets honest about how addicted we've become to the drama of disaster, using a celebration of life she recently attended as proof. If you've caught yourself catastrophizing before you even have the facts, or you're realizing how rarely you question the doubt itself, this one's going to shift something.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why your brain jumps to worst-case scenario the moment something goes wrong, big or small
• Why we constantly question our hope and our dreams, but almost never question our doubt
• The real difference between the same hard circumstance met with trust versus met with fear
• Why unresolved fear just keeps looping until you deal with it at the root
• How addicted we've become to the drama of disaster, and why that's not a personal failure
• Why control is actually a sign you're trusting yourself instead of something bigger than you
• How to start questioning a doubt the same way you'd question a dream

REFLECTION Think of the last time something went wrong. Did you go straight to worst-case scenario? What did that sound like in your head? And what's one doubt you're carrying right now that you've never actually challenged?

WORK WITH SARI

If you're already bracing for the worst before you even have the facts, start here tonight.

Grab the Free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset →

Book Your Freedom Roadmap Session →

TIMESTAMPS

00:02 — Sari's microphone breaks and a week of pre-recorded episodes turn out unusable, and what almost happened next

02:07 — The pattern underneath it: we question our hope and our faith constantly, but we never question our doubt

02:55 — What if the story you're telling yourself about how bad this is going to be isn't even true

05:07 — The real timeline, recording this three days before it airs, and choosing not to panic about it

05:46 — Reframing the new microphone as an overdue upgrade instead of a disaster

06:35 — What the brain actually does the moment something goes wrong: it jumps straight to worst-case scenario

08:08 — Why we're almost addicted to the drama of disaster, and two real examples: the podcast crisis and her husband losing his job

10:24 — Same circumstance, two different lenses: trust versus fear, and why unaddressed fear keeps looping

11:46 — The real question: do you actually want to feel worried, or do you want to feel trust and peace

13:30 — The celebration of life story: choosing to talk about the drama instead of the beauty of it

17:03 — Why our conversations and relationships get built around complaint, and how that's conditioning, not truth

18:55 — Her friend Nikki Dean's line: we doubt our faith, but we never doubt our doubts

19:58 — Your doubts are not facts, they're stories, and fear creates illusions to try to protect you

21:12 — What thirteen years of panic attacks taught her: the worst case scenario she feared never actually happened

22:55 — Announcing the Self-Love Chamber, a live hot-seat event October 3rd and 4th

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If you feel like you've built a good life, but you can't remember the last time something actually excited you, this episode is for you. And if someone asked you right now what you want for your own birthday and you genuinely couldn't answer, that's exactly who this is for too. You're not broken. You've just been trading away little pieces of yourself for so long you stopped noticing.

EPISODE SUMMARY

This episode starts with one line Sari couldn't shake: "I do what I do because I like doing it." A quote from Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic that stopped her mid-thought and made her ask, of every single thing in her life, do I actually like this, or am I just doing what I'm supposed to do? For high-functioning women, moms, wives, business owners, that question can feel foreign. Somewhere between the roles and the responsibilities, excitement quietly got replaced with obligation, one "should" at a time. This isn't about something being clinically wrong with you. Sari unpacks why that matters for anxiety specifically: anxiety thrives in a life with no room for joy, for desire, for play. She shares her own moment of realizing she wasn't excited about anything, the story of turning down a day she genuinely wanted (and needing someone to basically convince her she deserved it), and why not knowing what lights you up isn't a dead end. It's feedback. If you've done the healing work, feel calmer than you used to, and still feel like something's missing, this one's going to name it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why "I do what I do because I like doing it" feels foreign to most high-achieving women
• How overthinking and control can quietly replace your own excitement with obligation
• Why anxiety is fertile in a life with no room for joy, desire, or play
• The difference between being productive and actually being excited
• How you lose yourself one "should" at a time, not all at once
• Why not knowing what you like anymore is information, not a failure
• What a hypnotherapy discovery journey uncovers when you don't know what you want

REFLECTION

How much of your day is built around what you're supposed to do versus what you actually want to do? If someone asked you right now, not as a mom, not as a wife, not as the one who holds it all together, but just as you, what do you actually want, could you answer?

WORK WITH SARI

If you've done the work, know the tools, and something is still pulling you back into a life that isn't fully yours, this is exactly where we start.

Grab the Free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset →

Book Your Freedom Roadmap Session →

You made it here, and that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

01:48 — Sari's own confession: recently saying out loud, "I'm not excited about anything," and what a life of ease was hiding

03:33 — The gut-check: evaluating everything in her life against "am I doing this because I like doing it"

04:07 — Why she does this podcast, and the difference between liking journaling and liking what journaling gives her

05:16 — The agreement she and her husband made about not becoming slaves to their kids' activities, and the gymnastics years that broke it

07:42 — Reframing parenting: loving your kids and still getting to love your own life, and what that models for them

08:36 — The radically honest question: how much of your day is actually chosen versus obligated

09:22 — How we lose ourselves one "should" at a time, not in one dramatic moment

10:49 — Who actually decided what you're "supposed to" do, and where that script came from

11:37 — The wake surfing story: turning down a day she wanted, out of guilt she didn't examine

13:31 — Anxiety as fertile ground in a life with no room for joy, desire, or play

15:06 — Why not being able to answer "what excites you" is feedback, not a dead end

17:06 — Permission doesn't require it to be big, profitable, or impressive, plus what a discovery journey is and how hypnosis helps you find what you actually want

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If you've been to every doctor, gotten every test, and still no one has connected the dots between what you're eating and the panic attacks you're having, this episode is for you. You're not broken, your blood sugar might be driving the bus.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Sari gets real about the daily pattern that was quietly feeding her panic attacks for years: no breakfast, a punishing workout on empty, hours without eating, then whatever was easiest to grab. After being diagnosed with PCOS and learning she was insulin resistant, she started connecting symptoms she'd always chalked up to anxiety. The lightheaded, dizzy, shaky, heart racing, and so much more. Something no doctor had ever mentioned before: blood sugar.

This episode breaks down how blood sugar symptoms and anxiety symptoms can look nearly identical, why that overlap kept her stuck in a cycle no doctor was catching, and the one shift that reduced her panic attacks by roughly 30%, without medication.

If you've done the doctors, the tests, the medications, and you're still wondering why nothing's changing, this might be the missing piece nobody handed you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why blood sugar symptoms and anxiety or panic attack symptoms can look almost identical
• How skipping meals and running on caffeine can quietly trigger panic attacks that feel like they come out of nowhere
• Why insulin resistance and PCOS make blood sugar regulation even harder, and how that connects to anxiety
• The one food habit that helped reduce Sari's panic attacks by about 30%, without medication
• Why doctors so often medicate the symptom instead of asking what you're eating
• How self-research and self-advocacy became the real turning point, not another prescription
• What it means to take your power back from anxiety, one small, doable choice at a time

REFLECTION

What did you eat today? When was your last meal, and how long did you go without eating in between?

Have you ever noticed your anxiety or panic attacks get worse when you haven't eaten?

If changing what you eat could reduce your panic attacks by even 20 or 30 percent, would you be willing to try it?

Work With Sari

If anxiety feels like it comes out of nowhere and you're exhausted from bracing for the next crash, grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset. Something that actually helps tonight.

And if you're the woman who's already done the research, tried the things, and is ready to put the full picture together, not just the food, everything, book a free Freedom Roadmap Session. Let's map it out together.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00: Running out the door on coffee, no breakfast, and wondering why your body falls apart by 2 or 3pm

00:53: The reveal: one change reduced her panic attacks by roughly 30%, no medication involved

02:43: Diagnosed with PCOS, and what insulin resistance actually means for her body

04:02: Thinking it was "just anxiety," and the cycle no doctor ever connected for her

04:55: Why doctors don't ask about diet, and finding a functional doctor who finally did

05:24: Blood sugar symptoms versus anxiety and panic attack symptoms, and how identical they look

06:38: The real trigger behind her panic attacks: blood sugar dropping, not random danger

07:31: The blood sugar rollercoaster: spikes, crashes, and why every crash felt like a panic attack

08:58: Feeling like "a fucking lunatic," and why the metformin her doctor prescribed made it worse

09:49: Finding the book that connected the dots when no doctor would

11:40: Wanting control back, and why food became the tangible thing she could actually touch

13:34: The non-negotiable rule: protein with every meal and snack

14:58: Cutting the sugary coffee, fueling before and after workouts, and the 30% drop in panic attacks

16:24: Comparing that 30% to how effective most FDA-approved drug studies actually are

19:00: Anxiety as a subconscious operating system, the same way eating patterns are

20:16: Why blood sugar was just the first thing she took back, and where it led her next

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If you walk into a room feeling fine and walk out anxious, heavy, or off with no idea why, this episode is for you. What you've been calling your anxiety might actually be empath anxiety, and it might not even be yours.

EPISODE SUMMARY For most of her life, Sari thought her anxiety was entirely her own. Turns out a huge piece of it wasn't. This episode is about empath anxiety: being highly sensitive and absorbing the moods, grief, and stress of the people around you so completely that you lose track of where they end and you begin.

Sari walks through her own realization, including a raw, recent moment sitting with grief that wasn't hers to carry, and breaks down why this isn't weakness or drama, it's how some nervous systems are actually wired. She gives you the exact question to ask when a feeling shows up out of nowhere, plus real tools to let go of what was never yours.

If you've spent years managing anxiety that never quite made sense given your actual life, this might be the missing piece.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why some anxiety, sadness, or anger isn't actually yours, and how to start telling the difference
• The one question to ask the moment a feeling arrives out of nowhere
• Why being highly sensitive or empathic is a nervous system wiring, not a personality flaw
• Simple tools to release energy that isn't yours: grounding, water, and a spoken release
• Why the people closest to you (partners, kids, roommates) can quietly become your biggest source of absorbed anxiety
• How to hold space for someone without absorbing their pain

REFLECTION Think back to your childhood. Were you always the one who felt everything deeply?

What if some of what you've been calling your anxiety wasn't yours at all? What would that give you?

If anxiety shows up out of nowhere and you don't know why, grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset. It's the exact tool Sari points to in this episode for releasing what isn't yours, something that actually helps tonight.

And if this episode made something click, that "wait, is that why" feeling, book a free Freedom Roadmap Session. Let's figure out what's actually yours to carry, and what you're finally ready to put down.

TIMESTAMPS

02:27: Realizing absorbed energy isn't yours, and the moment with her daughter's mood at home

04:52: Sitting with her best friend after losing her mom, and almost spiraling into everyone else's grief

06:50: Learning to discern: is this mine? The awareness step, without turning it into a label

08:48: Feelings don't come with a name tag. How absorbed anxiety gets mistaken for your own story

10:39: The key question: how to know if a feeling is actually yours

11:58: Why this has been happening since childhood, and why no one taught you the tools

13:39: What it felt like to finally realize so much of it was never hers, and the tools to release it

16:08: Grounding, hugging a tree, and letting the earth take what isn't yours

18:34: The "gold suit" visualization, and why this sensitivity is also a gift

20:30: Why so much client work is really about untangling carried energy from your own story

22:34: Journaling questions to sit with

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You're craving more. More freedom. More passion. More life than the one you're currently living. But your mind and body keep gripping onto what's known, even when known means small and anxious. The only way to the more you're craving is through letting go of what you already know.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Sari gets honest about what it took to go from 15 panic attacks a day to trusting something bigger than herself. She breaks down why control and surrender can't coexist: they're two separate operating systems, and you can only run one at a time. She talks about the moment she realized her anxiety wasn't a mood or a bad day, it was an identity she'd built for decades. And she gets into why meditation alone doesn't fix it if you walk out and pick control right back up.

This week we're talking about surrender, and not the version where you say the word and hope it fixes something. The real version, the one that requires the anxious, controlling personality you've been running for years to actually die so a new one can take its place.

If you've done the reading, tried the apps, and still feel like nothing's actually landing in your body, this one's going to hit different.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why control and surrender can't exist in you at the same time
• What it actually means when people talk about "ego death," and why it's not as scary as it sounds, or actually dying.
• Why your anxiety and control isn't a mood, it's an operating system you installed years ago
• The difference between surrendering and just taking a vacation from your anxiety
• Why daily practice matters more than one big breakthrough
• How to know what you're really trying to control right now
• Why the days you don't want to do the work are the most important ones

REFLECTION

Who is the personality you're waking up as every day, and does she actually believe what she's carrying is hers to carry?

What are you trying to control right now that you could actually let unfold?

WORK WITH ME

If you're ready to stop collecting insights about your anxiety and actually feel it shift, book your free Freedom Roadmap session at thegrowthgoddess.net. It's just a conversation. Let's look at what you're carrying and what it would feel like to put it down.

And if you want somewhere to start tonight, grab the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset at thegrowthgoddess.net/reset.

TIMESTAMPS

02:34: The anxious, controlling personality can't coexist with the free, trusting version of you

03:13: Surrender as the leap off the cliff; two operating systems, only one can run at a time

05:15: Ego death explained; panic attacks as stored energy; pruning the identity that validates the old self

07:02: Who are you waking up as? The 15-panic-attacks-a-day question, choosing who you want to be instead

09:13: What surrender really means; the mom-life control example with her daughters

11:18: The elephant-sized weight of carrying everything alone for 23 years

11:45: The body caving inward under the weight, and how crumbling led her to meditation

13:48: Finding a loving, universal consciousness in meditation; true surrender vs. taking a "vacation" from anxiety

15:53: The moment the personality actually dies; why daily journaling and returning to it matters

17:38: Why the days you don't want to show up are the most important; custom hypnosis recordings explained

18:41: Uninstalling one operating system to install another; the old ego bucking back before it dies

20:25: Why this work is life-changing over time;

22:13: Journaling question: who is the personality you're waking up as? 22:36: Journaling question: who do you want to wake up as?

22:49: Journaling questions: what's your operating system running on, what have you been carrying alone?

You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

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Do you ever wonder why nothing seems to be working out for you, or why it feels like everything's working out for everyone but you? This episode is for you. It's not bad luck, and by the end you'll see the pattern you didn't even know you were building, or have had deep in your subconscious your whole life.

EPISODE SUMMARY

This week I'm telling on myself. After moving to Austin and building new community from scratch, I kept asking myself why the same things kept happening to me, why it felt like everyone else, even my own family, was thriving while I wasn't. Turns out I was doing something I thought I'd already healed: building an entire identity around being EXCLUDED. Not just feeling left out one time, but scanning for proof of it everywhere, calling friends I knew would take my side, and slowly turning a single emotion into a full blown personality. In this episode I break down the difference between feeling an emotion and identifying with it, why the victim role feels so hard to release even when it's costing you everything, and the exact journaling process I used to unwire it, the same one I walk clients through one on one. If overthinking, control, and the same painful situations keep finding you, this episode will show you the subconscious pattern actually running the show, and how nervous system regulation starts with just noticing it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why certain painful situations keep repeating themselves, and how you might be unknowingly reinforcing the pattern
• The real difference between feeling an emotion and building an entire identity around it
• Why the victim identity can feel so hard to release, and exactly what it's protecting you from
• How to spot a "bandwagon friend," and why venting can quietly turn into gossip
• Why an already healed pattern can come back "in costume" to test whether you really learned the lesson
• A full journaling practice to find the subconscious belief actually running the show
• How just 120 seconds can move stress chemicals like cortisol out of your body

REFLECTION

• What is the story you keep telling about yourself, or about your life, right now?
• Who are you presenting to the world when this identity is running?
• What would you have to feel, and who would you have to become, to get what you actually want?

If you've done the work but something keeps pulling you back into an old identity and you can't figure out why, book a free Freedom Roadmap Session. It's just a conversation, no pressure, just clarity on what's keeping you stuck. Link in the show notes.

And if you need something tonight, the free 5-Minute Nervous System Reset can move the stress chemicals of that victim spiral out of your body in about 120 seconds. Link in the show notes.

You're not broken. You're not behind. And you're not alone. If you made it here, that means something.

TIMESTAMPS

02:17 — The identity shift that started with her move to Austin, and feeling like everyone else was thriving but her

03:00 — The 40th birthday retreat story in Mexico, and spiraling into "poor me"

04:41 — The difference between feeling an emotion and building an identity around it

06:29 — Why this isn't a character flaw, it's the mind in survival mode

08:04 — The real payoff of staying the victim: not having to be responsible for changing anything

09:17 — Bandwagon friends, venting versus gossip, and misery loving company

10:27 — How an old wound can come back "in costume" without you recognizing it

12:07 — Recognition as the first step, and why victim energy tanks your power

13:02 — The journaling practice begins: naming the story and the core emotion underneath it

14:43 — What you actually want to feel instead, and who you have to become to get there

15:44 — Noticing the thought loop and the inner voice running it 15:57 — Locating the feeling in the body

17:14 — Who you're presenting to the world when this identity is running

19:33 — Closing encouragement to come back to the journaling questions with radical honesty

21:05 — Reminder about the free 5-minute Nervous System Reset and closing out