How to Be Okay When Life Feels Overwhelming with Liz Fosslien

The One You Feed

Eric Zimmer, The One You Feed

Buddhism, Education, Self-improvement, Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.6 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Liz Fosslien discusses how to be okay when life feels overwhelming. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by emotions like anger, envy, or uncertainty—and then feel guilty for feeling that way? Liz challenges some of the biggest myths about emotions. She also dives into why negative emotions aren’t actually bad, how perfectionism holds us back, and why uncertainty feels so unbearable. She shares research-backed insights and actionable strategies to help us navigate difficult feelings in a more constructive and self-compassionate way. Key Takeaways: 00:00 – Introduction to Big Feelings and Emotional Myths 05:55 – The Illusion of Certainty and Why We Overestimate Risk 14:37 – The Cycle of Anxiety, Thought Filtering, and Anxious Fixing 22:53 – Perfectionism as Fear of Failure and How to Break the Pattern 32:35 – The Power of Language: How “Always” and “Never” Reinforce Negative Thinking 38:39 – Comparison Isn’t the Problem—How to Use It for Growth 48:54 – Time Chunking: A Survival Strategy for Emotional Overwhelm 54:49 – Closing Thoughts: Accepting Big Feelings as Part of the Human Experience For full show notes, click here! If you enjoyed this episode with Liz Fosslien, check out these other episodes: Embracing Emotions at Work with Liz Fosslien (2019) Befriending Difficult Feelings with Adreanna Limbach Connect with the show: Follow us on YouTube: @TheOneYouFeedPod Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Follow us on Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sometimes it's not even that we have thoughts that are helpful.
0:03.7	It's like the thought becomes, I just want to run away from this.
0:06.9	What can I do?
0:07.6	What can I do?
0:08.7	And what our brain generates is like what I can do next often isn't actually what we need to do to address that underlying emotion.
0:24.3	Welcome to the one you feed.
0:29.0	Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have.
0:34.4	Quotes like, garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think, ring true.
0:39.3	And yet, for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear.
0:44.0	We see what we don't have instead of what we do.
0:46.9	We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit.
0:50.4	But it's not just about thinking.
0:52.4	Our actions matter.
0:53.8	It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living.
0:58.6	This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction, how they feed their good wolf.
1:07.6	Have you ever had a day where you just feel off?
1:29.4	Not sad exactly. Not mad either, but just a swirling mess of feelings that won't sit still? I certainly have. And as it turns out, that is completely normal. In fact, my guest today, Liz Fossiline, has spent years studying why we feel the way we feel and why we often believe we shouldn't feel that way.
1:32.0	She's here to bust some of the biggest myths about emotions, like why anger isn't actually
1:36.9	the enemy, where envy can be useful, and why it's not just you feeling like everyone
1:42.8	else has it figured out.
1:44.6	By the end of this episode, you'll walk away with a whole new way to think about your emotions,
1:50.0	one that just might make your life a little lighter, a little easier, and a little more
	...

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