Happy New Year! We made it to 2025...and so far most of what we've accomplished in Kansas City is a massive snowstorm. ❄️ Kinda fun, even if we're all climbing the walls at this point. Late last year I did an episode about "mental load" and as soon as I recorded that one, I knew I wanted to do a related episode on the sister burden that we all carry every day: emotional load . Mental load is all of the logistics: the figuring and sorting and scheduling and planning and carpooling and spreads...
Jan 08, 2025•22 min•Ep. 278
I'm baaaack. Again. 🤦♀️ Turns out I have, and will, take sporadic breaks from the podcast. Not because I *want * to. But because sometimes I flirt with burnout and I need to. I missed you. Big time. And I'm so glad to be back with you right as we close out the year... And I'm bringing a real gentle re-entry 😜 to you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast; we're talking about hope vs. hopelessness , with a strong nod towards expectations. I've found myself caught up in hope, and not...
Dec 18, 2024•26 min•Ep. 277
Ohhhh, do I have a treat for you today. There are a few books that I recommend to clients, students, friends, family, people in line at the grocery store, you name it...and THIS guy has done it again. Oliver Burkeman is the author of the NYT Bestseller Four Thousand Weeks (that's the one I've been known to push into the hands of anyone who will listen) and he's back at it with the just-released Meditations for Mortals . And this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is an inte...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 276
The idea for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is something I've personally been practicing with for a while...noticing those little moments or places during the day where things aren't flowing smoothly. When there are hiccups that totally derail my focus. Times when I struggle with something that seems like it should be much easier than it is. Friction points . That's what we're talking about today. Sometimes this is something like: I'm carrying too many things and c...
Oct 16, 2024•18 min•Ep. 275
I recently got turned on to the idea of mental load ...and I HAD to bring this one to The Transforming Anxiety Podcast and talk about it with you. Have you heard of this concept? Basically, this is all of the behind-the-scenes, "invisible" work that goes on to get the show on the road. The grocery store runs and laundry and organization and calendar finagling that has to happen to get everyone where they need to go, with everything they need to have, in a somewhat timely and sane manner. I...
Oct 09, 2024•22 min•Ep. 274
It's been a while since we've had a guest on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast , but I have some GOOD ones lined up for you in the coming months. And we're starting back in with interviews by talking with THE Karla McLaren . I have been reading, leaning on, referencing, and using Karla's books since I first started down the path of this work. The Language of Emotions is one I don't even bother "putting away;" it just has its own spot on the edge of the bookshelf where I can easily grab it t...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 273
Let's go waaaay back to the basics today. I want to pause for a moment and consider what anxiety in your body looks like and feels like...and how you can approach it. We are taught to fight against, avoid, and try to route around most of our emotions. There's the relentless pursuit of happiness...and anything less is to be dodged at all costs... ... and it does cost us . For this conversation today, I invite you to lean towards anxiety a bit and consider how this emotion works FOR you an...
Sep 11, 2024•22 min•Ep. 272
Sometimes, we get a little lost in the rabbit holes of our minds and we wind up in the junk food aisle of thought. Y'know, stuff like: Gossip Complaining Quick fixes Self-doubt Things you've thought before... We're going to explore junk food self-talk on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast today . This is something I'm pretty sure, oh, 100% of us do. 🙃 The more we can pay attention to the quality and content of our thinking, the BETTER. Because when we clean up our thinking, there's a ripple...
Sep 04, 2024•24 min•Ep. 271
Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/269 Be sure to join my email list so you don't miss announcements, new classes, and podcast updates by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com Text PODCAST to +1 (816)354-1279 and I'll send mindfulness reminders, anxiety hacks, and little love notes your way from time to time......
Aug 28, 2024•26 min•Ep. 270
Back to school, time for fall, changes are coming...so let's talk about what sometimes happens which is: we get overwhelmed . 😬 There are a lot of emotional experiences out there and we flow through MANY of them in a day, an hour, a minute sometimes (know what I mean?). But overwhelm is something that doesn't dissipate quite like the others and it requires some special handling. We need to be extra careful with this one. Because: overwhelm can take you out. It can complete derail you and wi...
Aug 21, 2024•25 min•Ep. 269
Sooo, I'm thinking we all want to cope better with, well, all the things: work, kids, our own thoughts + feelings, how wild the world feels...y'know, LIFE. And in this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I'm going to break all of it down into: Stress Stressors Maladaptive coping strategies Adapative coping strategies so that we have a practical way to figure out where we are and how to cope better . If you've felt a bit lost with how to get through a tricky situation or ju...
Aug 07, 2024•23 min•Ep. 268
Well, I've tried to do this episode a couple of times and I guess this one is tricky to pinpoint and talk directly about...but we're gonna try it anyway this week. We're talking about your magic on this episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . What do I mean by " your magic ?" I mean: the things that make you YOU. The daily stuff that brings you closer to yourself. The vibe you have when you walk into a room. The little (and big) things that you do, say, create, think up, and offer si...
Jul 31, 2024•22 min•Ep. 267
So, it's time for another feelings episode on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast BUT! This week we're going to explore how we can feel things without having those feelings ooze into our words and actions... Have you ever totally lost your mind with your kid because you were feeling impatient? Or slammed a door out of frustration at work because your boss is so demanding? Yeah... Turns out: we can FEEL things and not get quite so reactive to those feelings. We can allow our emotions to be there,...
Jul 17, 2024•21 min•Ep. 266
Welp, we've reached mid-summer and I thought it was time to take a pause...breathe...and ground ourselves with a few go-to, tried-and-true ideas. I wanted to share a few thoughts to live by that have supported me through good times and really tough times. These are quotes, poems, and lessons I have been practicing with for *years*. These are all straight from my own personal work; reminders and teachings that I continue to lean on, contemplate, and keep close. No matter what's going on in my...
Jul 10, 2024•22 min•Ep. 265
I just got back from a week hiking in Colorado and I got to thinking (while I was out of breath on the side of a 14,000+ foot mountain): why do we do these silly hard things ? Over and over again, humans seek ease, comfort, simplicity, and relaxation in life. We'll adjust the thermostat by *one* degree to get more comfortable. We fall back on old habits and patterns (good and bad) because the exertion required to change things can seem insurmountable. We are drawn to familiarity and what's w...
Jul 03, 2024•23 min•Ep. 264
Oh goody, we have a fun one today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast ...we're talking about resentment . Yes. I know . But this is an important conversation for us to have. Let's be honest: we're already feeling resentful about SOMETHING with SOMEONE. We all do. It's part of the underbelly of relationships. Resentment isn't one of those things a relationship can withstand much of. There's really no such thing as "a little bit of resentment is ok" in a relationship. So, we might as well ta...
Jun 26, 2024•22 min•Ep. 263
Hi again...I've missed you. And I have a GOOD one for you today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . Y'know when you have those days where everything just clicks? Things are going your way and you feel like some luck or magic or your benevolent angels must have a hand in ushering good things to you. Aaaand then there's the days where it feels almost comically stupid how awful things are going. You look around wondering if you're being punked because: how? How on earth can it all go so horribl...
Jun 19, 2024•27 min•Ep. 262
Something we haven't talked about for a while, but need to return to every so often, is self-compassion . On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast , I'm sharing a talk from a mindfulness class I taught a while back. The foundation for growth, change, and transformation HAS TO BE self-compassion. Otherwise, it'll never stick. And as we gear up for the summer (here in the northern hemisphere) and those longer, brighter, hotter days with all the different kinds of busy and r...
May 22, 2024•16 min•Ep. 261
Something *super* simple (but of course these things are never all that easy) for you this week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast ...3 little words that can change relationships AND anxiety. In a good way. I. Believe. You. When we are willing to say this, I believe you , it creates space for understanding and compassion. When we offer this, I believe you , it has the potential to connect, instead of separating us from the people in our lives. When we can pause and get out of the way, I belie...
May 15, 2024•19 min•Ep. 260
Happy Wednesday. 😊 I had this interesting epiphany a few weeks ago in a conversation with a friend of mine and thought, yup, we need to talk about that on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . I think most of us can find ourselves somewhere on the spectrum of *people pleasers*. It's pretty ingrained in us from a young age that making the people around us happy means: we get attention, we get approval, we get love. And through a variety of reasons, we make this mean different things: If I live my...
May 08, 2024•21 min•Ep. 259
Let's be honest with each other first thing today: we like to be in control. We like to have control. We like to have things under control. We are kinda control freaks. I want to talk about something *really* subtle re: control today so that we don't wind up thinking we have control where we do NOT have control and then find ourselves in a trap of trying to exert control over the outside world thinking, "wait, I've done this before and it worked" when it most decidedly did NOT and does NOT w...
May 01, 2024•20 min•Ep. 258
So this week we are talking about birthdays on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast ...mainly, honestly, because my birthday was Monday the 22nd and because every year, I get all in a tizzy about it... ... and I've found I'm not alone with this . For *years* I've wanted to create something to support us around birthdays so that we can enjoy them. Which is why I want to hear from YOU. In fact, I made a Google form so that you can tell me all the things re: birthdays and you. I know this can...
Apr 24, 2024•19 min•Ep. 257
Over and over again, I talk with students who describe feeling as if they can't turn the volume down on the thoughts in their minds. That incessant chatter gets relentless. The stories and ideas just swirl around until it all becomes a tornado. *exhausting* Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I want to talk about how to get out of your head so that you can find some breathing room up there in your mind. You don't have to get lost in the cavern of your mind, going down rabbit hole aft...
Apr 17, 2024•27 min•Ep. 256
Good morning, happy Wednesday! This week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast is a discussion about something pretty simple, but a powerful addition to the toolbox that we're all using to take care of ourselves around anxiety. And that is: the inevitable lapses in logic that occur in our minds. Our brains are shameless; they'll think absolutely *anything*. But this concept gives us a solid reminder that just because we think it, doesn't mean it's true. It's like there's a glitch in ...
Apr 10, 2024•21 min•Ep. 255
Well, this may be (as close as we're gonna get to) the piece de resistance of the podcast: today, we're talking about living well . Pretty much everything we do around here points to this: how can you feel okay in your skin? How can you move around the world being alright with who you are? How can you live well? We got pretty caught up in the daily stuff and I think we lose sight of what's most vital. I know I have. And this is something I'm staying really close to right now: living well...
Apr 04, 2024•28 min•Ep. 254
Ok, *today* we are going to focus on something that I know brings a lot of confusion, guilt, and pressure (aka anxiety) into our lives...and that is: what community looks like . I have experienced this myself and I talk to students every week about it. The people in our lives. Get-togethers and social gatherings. Family and holidays and vacations. Friend groups, acquaintances, colleagues. How are we supposed to interact with all of these people? How many people should we have in our lives? ...
Mar 27, 2024•20 min•Ep. 253
Good morning. ☀️ I hope this finds you well. That you're doing ok so far this week. That you're hanging in, finding some flow, letting yourself breathe, and being kind with yourself. On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I wanted to explore how we can move through *all the things* without having quite such a death grip on life. Because, I mean, I think we DO. I've noticed we're holding on to it all pretty tightly...hoping that we can make it, that we can push through, that...
Mar 20, 2024•20 min•Ep. 252
Ahhhhh, it's good to be back... back to transforming anxiety . I missed you. In this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast I'm sharing a bit with you about why I took a(n unplanned) break, how I personally struggle a bit, and what we have to look forward to together: work that I want to do, practices I want to steep myself in, teachings I want to stay close to. With you... I want you to know that I don’t take the fact that you're here lightly. I don’t for a second take it for grante...
Mar 13, 2024•23 min•Ep. 251
This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we’re going to talk about that inner pileup of garbage that happens after days, weeks, months, YEARS of conversations, work, get-togethers, parenting, and activities. Alllll the garbage that starts gumming up the works, internally. The residue that happens when we ignore ourselves a little bit, when we bite our tongues, when we hold back, when we make ourselves small… And, more importantly, we’re going to talk about a few specific ways you can take o...
Feb 07, 2024•19 min•Ep. 250
I don't know about you, but I looooove to put my nose into other people's business. (Except I do know about you...I'm guessing you do this, too. Only about 100% of my students and friends and family do it. 🙃) I mean, from our vantage point, we can so clearly see what they should be doing, right? If they would just behave, if they would just cooperate, if they would just do it the right way then all our lives will be easier. * sigh * The cost of taking your eyes off your paper and nosing around ...
Jan 24, 2024•22 min•Ep. 249
