Dr. John Delony

I guess what I would say is this.

I think our framing, our discussion around anxiety is out of whack.

I look at anxiety as a good thing.

It's an alarm system in your kitchen and it's a smoke detector.

Your smoke detector is annoying.

It can ruin your evening when it's going off, but it also will save your life.

And so I think in our culture, we have a story that is if you're uncomfortable or if something is painful, then it must be eradicated.

We got to get rid of it.

And so the way I look at anxiety now when I start to feel anxious is what's my body trying to protect me from?

Because it's detected something in the world that's not safe.

And that's not a bad thing.

I don't like it.

It doesn't feel right.

But man, so if I did say that on stage, I probably spoke a little too boldly.

But I lived a very anxious existence.

Because I outsource my feelings to a paycheck.

I outsource my feelings and my health to business metrics and to achievement metrics and to performing with people instead of being with people, being over people instead of being with people.

I don't live that life anymore.

And underneath all that, I took a bunch of steps to create a non-anxious life so that when I do get anxious, that means something's on fire.

I'm gonna go deal with the fire.