4.8 • 621 Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Have you ever felt completely stuck when facing a difficult situation? Like you're drowning in endless possibilities and can't find your way forward? You're not alone. Most of us get trapped in decision paralysis, overthinking every angle until we're more anxious than when we started.
In this powerful episode, Duane and Eric Osterlind break down a life-changing framework that can transform how you handle any problematic situation. Based on Marshall Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy work, they reveal that no matter how complex your challenge feels, you actually only have four choices available to you.
Download The Worksheet
Whether you're struggling with addiction recovery, facing a major life transition, or simply feeling overwhelmed by daily stressors, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence to move forward. The hosts share practical examples of how to apply each choice, including how to reframe withdrawal symptoms as signs of healing and how to use acceptance as a tool for reducing suffering rather than avoiding it.
You'll discover why "staying miserable" is sometimes the right choice and how recognizing this can actually empower you. More importantly, you'll learn how to break free from the endless cycle of "what-ifs" and take meaningful action in your life.
This isn't just theory – it's a practical roadmap that puts you back in the driver's seat of your own life. By the end of this episode, you'll have a simple but powerful tool that can help you navigate any challenge with greater confidence and less overwhelm.
Supporting Resources:
If you live in California, Idaho, Vermont, or Florida and are looking for counseling or therapy, please visit Novus Mindful Life Counseling and Recovery Center.
NovusMindfulLife.com
We want to hear from you. Please leave us a message or ask us a question: https://www.speakpipe.com/addictedmind
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | Welcome to the Addicted Mind Plus, the podcast where recovery, mental health, and wellness take the front seat. |
0:07.3 | I'm Dwayne Austerland, and joining me is my co-host, Eric Osterland, known for his insightful work on the Stuck Brain podcast. |
0:14.8 | In each episode, we'll dive into actionable, small steps to help those in recovery journey further along the path to wellness. |
0:22.3 | Our conversations are designed to be concise, typically around 15 minutes, though we may |
0:27.0 | occasionally delve deeper when the topic demands it. Our goal to provide you with practical |
0:32.0 | advice grounded in real experiences and expert insights to empower your recovery journey. So whether you're on a |
0:39.3 | break, on a walk, or just taking a moment for yourself, join us as we explore the many |
0:44.1 | facets of recovery and mental health, one small step at a time. This is The Addicted Mind Plus, |
0:50.3 | where your journey to wellness gets an extra boost. So let's get started. Welcome to today's |
0:55.7 | episode where we are going to dive deep into a concept that can transform your approach to life's |
1:02.5 | challenges. Today we're discussing the only four choices you really have in any problematic |
1:07.8 | situation. And this insight isn't just about facing adversity. It's really about |
1:13.8 | understanding the power you hold within to navigate through life's complexities. So I have a |
1:20.1 | question to ask, how often have you found yourself at a crossroads feeling utterly stuck? You feel |
1:26.1 | a paralysis. And that's not uncommon. Many of us overthink the situation. |
1:30.8 | We drown in all the possibilities. We become more distressed with each passing moment as you're |
1:35.9 | trying to figure this out. You just get more and more overwhelmed. And you have a quest to find the |
1:42.2 | flawless solution that only adds more to your turmoil and leaves you |
1:47.0 | feeling anxious and unsettled. But how do you find the right answer? How do you know what the right |
1:53.4 | thing to do is? And that comes back to our topic today, that there really are only four |
1:59.5 | choices you can make. |
2:01.0 | Yeah, it is hard to find the right answer. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Duane Osterlind, LMFT, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Duane Osterlind, LMFT and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.