How to Have a (Good) Life Crisis: Authenticity, Healthy Discontent, and the Anxiety of Choice

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Rick and Forrest explore how to use a life crisis productively, drawing on developmental stage theories, existential philosophy, literature, personal experience, and Rick’s clinical work. They examine the anxieties of death, freedom, responsibility, and choice that often underlie these crises, and discuss how we can not only cope with these anxieties but also harness them to build a more authentic life. Throughout, they simplify, summarize, and invite you to focus on not just the next 10 years, but the next 10 minutes. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 5:26: Life Stages: Erickson and Levinson 15:34: Healthy vs. Unhealthy Discontent 17:18: Inner Conflict and the Anxiety of Choice 24:18: Guidelines for Having a “Good Life Crisis” 29:36: Seizing Each Day 33:00: Coping with the Anxiety of Choice 35:17: Authenticity, Values, and Living True to Yourself 44:17: Roles and Life Transitions 46:28: Clarifying Your Values 52:09: Taking Action 57:28: Recap Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors If you are exploring whether you might be neurodivergent, check out Hyperfocus with Rae Jacobson. Level up your bedding with Quince. Go to Quince.com/BEINGWELL for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns. Join hundreds of thousands of people who are taking charge of their health. Learn more and join Function at functionhealth.com/BEINGWELL. Listen now to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. Go to Zocdoc.com/BEING to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/beingwell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to being well. I'm Forrest Hanson. If you're new to the show,
0:10.9	thanks for listening today. And if you've listened before, welcome back. We all have moments in life,
0:16.0	where we look around and start asking some big questions. Is this really the career I want? Am I in the right relationship?
0:23.8	Is this the life I pictured for myself?
0:26.4	Depending on when they land in life, we often label these either quarter life or midlife crises.
0:32.1	And this is one of those topics that people often do not take very seriously.
0:36.7	It's really easy to make the cheap joke about moving to Europe and living out of your van
0:41.2	in your late 20s or buying a flashy sports car for your 50th birthday.
0:47.1	But these are moments in life that really matter.
0:49.2	These crises happen to most people eventually, and they usually include a lot of anxiety,
0:53.8	uncertainty, overwhelm,
0:55.4	and even some existential angst along the way. But they've also got a lot of opportunity. How we
1:01.2	navigate them can have an enormous impact on the rest of our lives. This is when we're making
1:05.6	some of our highest stakes decisions about what we want to do, who we want to be with, and maybe most importantly,
1:12.9	what do we want to care about in life? So today we're going to be talking about how to have a
1:16.6	good life crisis. To help me do that, I'm joined by clinical psychologist Rick Hansen. Dad, how are you
1:21.7	doing today? I'm doing great, and I'm really excited that we're never going to waste a good crisis.
1:26.8	We're never going to waste a good crisis here. And if you take nothing else from this episode, let it be that a life crisis could actually be like a good and useful and productive thing. And we're going to talk a little bit about that and some more detail. So before we get going, I wanted to remind you about Rick's self-worth workshop. It's an online program that's starting
1:44.6	on October 4th. It includes about six hours of teaching material. And you can earn some continuing
1:50.0	education credits if you're a mental health professional. You can learn more at rickhansen.com
1:55.1	slash worthy and use coupon code being well 25 to receive a 25% off discount.
2:02.6	So what are we talking about today?
	...

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