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One shaky flight turned a routine family trip into a minefield of “what ifs.” We dig into how a single turbulent experience can snowball into fear, why reassurance doesn’t always land, and how to shift from endless rumination to real coping. The surprising pivot: it’s rarely the "event" that scares us most—it’s the memory of the feeling we had when we felt helpless.

We walk through practical, repeatable tools you can use the next time anxiety hijacks a moment. You’ll hear how to identify the core emotion using a feelings wheel and creative drawing, then map the thoughts that keep it alive. We explore a counterintuitive favorite—time-boxed worry—so anxious thoughts stop interrupting every hour of the day. We add body-first resets like quick movement breaks and simple yoga inversions that change brain state fast, plus short grounding mantras that keep you afloat during spikes. Along the way, we separate facts from fiction to stop story-building and show how an ABC review (before, during, after) helps kids and adults see their progress in real time.

Parents will appreciate the honest talk about not becoming the solution to someone else’s anxiety and the risks of over-padding stressful situations. By naming the true fear and meeting it directly, we help build confidenc. If you’ve ever spiraled at 2 a.m., second-guessed a conversation, or watched a child brace for the worst, this conversation offers a clear path back to calm, grounded, and capable.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who overthinks, and leave a quick review—what tool will you try first?

Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com

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What if the kindest thing you can do for yourself and the people you love is a clear, respectful no? We open Season Six with a candid look at boundaries, burnout, and the deeper relief that comes when you stop trying to be everywhere for everyone. One of us walks through a surprising decision to turn down a fully funded academic program—an offer that looked ideal on paper but conflicted with our family’s golden years and the energy we want to protect. That story becomes the springboard for reframing no as how you protect your most meaningful yes.

Across the conversation, we share the tools that make boundary setting less scary and far more practical. You’ll learn body-first cues that flag overcommitment before your calendar does, the pause phrases that buy you time (“I need to check my calendar”), and simple scripts for a no-yes response that keeps relationships warm without sacrificing your bandwidth. We dig into people pleasing, social pressure, and the myth that good parents sign kids up for everything. Instead, we offer a values-based approach that helps families pick fewer, better commitments so weekends feel like living, not logistics.

To build confidence, we recommend micro no’s—those everyday moments at checkout counters and casual asks where you can practice declining kindly. We also explore focused generosity: choosing where to give and serve on purpose, so your yes remains meaningful. With the new year ahead, we talk about using clear goals to streamline decisions, aligning choices with what matters most, and letting go of perfection in favor of steady practice. If your life feels stretched thin, this conversation is your permission slip to set boundaries, protect your peace, and show up fully where it counts.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a boundary boost, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Your support keeps the conversation going.

Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com

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What if most of your stress isn’t from your schedule, but from the stories your mind keeps telling? We celebrate 100 episodes by building a season-long survival guide that turns mental traps into practical tools you can actually use. Two friends with mental health training get honest about the habits that trip us up—then show how to get unstuck with simple steps that fit a real life.

We start by dismantling all-or-nothing thinking with a pen-and-paper exercise that creates space between extremes and points you toward what’s reasonable and effective. Then we take on catastrophizing, shifting from scary possibilities to likely outcomes while using movement, environment resets, and calming statements to cool a spiraling nervous system. Self-criticism gets a double hit of compassion and structure: kinder self-talk, plus a calendar audit that adds people, places, and activities that refill your energy instead of draining it.

Communication sits at the center of better days. We tackle mind reading by swapping assumptions for clear asks, and we curb overcommitment with the “polite no” and the “yes-no” technique that protects time without burning bridges. We explore how gratitude weakens the comparison trap, how naming feelings—beyond “fine”—undoes emotional numbing, and how nostalgia loops can make the present feel smaller than it is. Finally, we trade perfection for progress, embracing good enough as the engine of growth and the antidote to procrastination.

If you’ve ever felt stretched thin, stuck in your head, or trapped by your own expectations, this conversation offers permission and a plan: find the middle, say what you need, and make space for what matters. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review telling us which tool you’ll try first.

Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com