Heat Anxiety (Episode 68)

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hi, Drew and Josh. Thank you both for all the amazing work you do. I was wondering if at some point you'd be able to talk about heat anxiety. It's something I've always struggled with since suffering from panic disorder, and I'm fairly certain it's because my first ever panic attack was on a really hot day. And looking back, I'm pretty sure it was all the physical symptoms of overheating that started my panic attack. The excessive sweating, feeling sick, feeling faint, and not being able to cool down, which just fed my panic attack. And ever since I've hated the hot weather, even though in the past I used to love it. I just can't enjoy the hot weather anymore. I always need a wet towel with me if I'm out of the house for a long period of time, a fan, and of course, my trusty bottle of water. Is there such a thing as heat anxiety or weather anxiety? Have either of you two ever struggled with the heat? And is there anything I do I can do to try to enjoy the nice weather again and not always struggle with this?

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Welcome to Disordered. This is episode 68 entitled Heat Anxiety. Uh my name is Joshua Fletcher, also known as Anxiety Josh on social media. And I'm a psychotherapist who specializes in the world of anxiety and anxiety disorders. I'm a previous sufferer and author of the book, and how does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_02 1:15

And I am Drew Linsolata. I am a therapist in training in the US, in New York, with a specialization in anxiety and anxiety disorders. Also a podcaster, clearly, because I'm here, also an author in this space, social media guy advocate, former sufferer of anxiety disorders, OCD depression for many years of my life on and off, but doing better now and happy to be here. What up, dude?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

I'm good. I'm good. Did you ever struggle with the heat and notice that the temperatures would affect your anxiety at all?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

I'm not sure that I suffered to the extent that the question send her in her because she didn't say that we could use her name, didn't thank you for the question, by the way. But yeah, the temperature would have an impact because the temperature would the heat mainly, not cold, um, heat would change the way I felt. And we can't be having that when we're in the grips of things like panic disorder.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Yeah, because it can remind you, can't it? Can remind you. I get this a lot of a lot of clients that have had this. Uh comments, I did a post on my social media the other day about how the heat um it's not the heat itself, but that reminds you of sometimes of the symptoms that you don't like, or at times when you felt anxious and rock bottom, maybe you've uh struggled with OCD at some point and you felt rock bottom. And because that fireflight response often makes us feel hot, our temperature goes up, um, you know, we start sweating, uh, along with palpitations, things like that. The association with being hot then fuses with our fear, a misinterpretation of anxiety. And so we try to avoid doing um things well, well, do we just avoid being hot?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, it was. I just remember because a lot of the bulk of my heavy recovery work started in the winter. We had a brutal winter, but then of course it gives way to spring and summer, and then I had to face the heat. And I just remember that was another challenge for me. And at that point, I would literally just sit there and let myself just sweat, you know, like that gross, it's very humid on Long Island. So for me, it was like no heat, I'm uncomfortable in the heat, and I'm afraid of discomfort. That was a that was a problem for me. So I never had a specific, like, oh, I think I'm gonna suffocate or pass out, but it was just this is uncomfortable and I cannot allow discomfort.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yeah, but that's still the heat anxiety, though. Because you get you get people that are like, oh, what if I pass out from dehydration or get lightheaded and faint? Yeah, but then you've got the people like like you, it's just just I just don't like being hot because it reminds me of the discomfort associated with my anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah, yeah. I can't exist in a I, you know, I had myself convinced for a long time that I could only exist in a very narrow range of conditions. Like I had to be, I had to feel good to be okay. And you know, I just kind of forgot that in the summer sometimes it's hot and miserable and you sweat and it's gross, but that's okay, it's not dangerous. I to me, I had equated that with danger. I can't allow this.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yeah, it's the weird kind of sensory stuff as well. Like me as someone who's a high functioning autistic, when there's things on my skin like sweat and things like that, and sand's the worst for me. Put me on a beach, and I'll karate kick every happy family around me because I can't handle the the sensation of sand on my breath. I I can't I can willfully tolerate it if I want to, yeah, but I'd rather not. Um, but yeah, I mean it's um it's it's a big one, and it's some people don't like it for various reasons. Maybe they perspire quite a lot and they're quite afraid of you know, maybe sweating through their clothes, maybe they're embarrassed to be seen to be sweating, maybe they flush. Um, you know, the heat anxiety is a is a real thing, and we'll talk about kind of um ways that we can work through that. Um, and what's really nice is that Drew has already shared that he struggles with being hot. So he compulsively removed all the mirrors in his house. Put them back up, mate. And exposure therapy is to look in the mirror and really, really take in how hot you are.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Just see that hotness coming out. Yeah, it was uncomfortable, and I developed all kinds of rituals around that. Like always, you know, I mean, honestly, I might you could have hung meat in my house because I would turn the air conditioning down so low, stand in front of the air conditioner, like let it blast on my face, always have a fan. I think at one point I even had a fan outside. I I plugged a fan in. How ridiculous is a fan outdoors, like in your garden. Why why did you do that? Because it, you know, the the water, the air blowing on my face would make me feel better. And instead of just sitting in the discomfort, it's like, no, I gotta have air blowing on my face. So it was this weird, but I'm telling you, it was really weird. I'd like to come inside and I'd be sweating, and I would stand in front of one of the air conditioners, like and just it's 55 degree air at high velocity blowing on me. I was like, ah, and it would, I would feel better.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Thing is that that does feel nice as well. Like every time I go to London or something like that, yeah, and they put me up in a hotel, like it could be minus four outside with snow, but I there's something with me in the air con button. I set it to Reykjavik, and I just sit there, and I'm just like, oh, there we go. Reykjavik. And I just I love it. It's not because I'm avoiding being anxious, I just like being cold, but I can but I remember back in the midst of panic, particularly when I used to scan, compulsively scan for ectopic heartbeats, skip beats, hated the feeling of sensation in my chest. Um, and I'd also get air hunger and the bloaty thing when I felt hot. So, one of my exposures, and I recommend this to anyone who struggles with panic disorder or doesn't like the discomfort, maybe the heat triggers your OCD is go sit in a sauna or a steam room. And I did that enough times to the point where actually I really enjoy a sauna and a steam room. Oh, do you? Oh, I love them now. Yeah, I used to used to terrify me, could feel like my heart like thumping in my throat, and and then I used to stand up in the sauna and steam room because a lot of my anxiety would be like, what if you faint and pass out? Don't get me wrong, I made sure I was well hydrated, uh, and I've don't have a history of fainting or passing out. And I used to stand up and then to ram rank up that um interoceptive exposure. I used to spin on the spot in the sauna flash steam room to uh teach my brain, look, you throw it at me, and and it was scary. And sometimes when I started, I did kind of walk out for a little breather, and then I went back in and uh and I even did it once uh to challenge social anxiety. I was going through four different exposures at once. Some poor guy, elderly guy, sat there in his towel, and it's just me stood in the middle of the sauna going, we that guy is still in therapy now, right now.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

He's in therapy, right this minute. It gave him some anxiety to sort of exactly right. I cannot see it, man. Um, wow. Oh, yeah, but you know what? That really is a good exposure. It's one of my favorites that I've done. Yeah, yeah, that's uh like the heat thing. Well, here we don't even have to find a sauna because long it's just hot. I think we get it's hotter here than it is there. Um, it's okay because it's what you're used to, of course. So we'll get to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit here, which I don't know what the conversion is. Fahrenheit. What's the bloody eagle? Oh, it's gone. What the kilometer? I love that one, but um yeah, because it gets super hot here and very humid. So exposure here can literally be just go sit outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you just gotta sit there. You know, you can't you gotta resist the whole like I'm gonna fidget, I'm gonna fan myself, I'm gonna have an ice pack. Like, no, no, no, just you know, you don't have to sit out for two hours to the verge of heat stroke. But you know, it is safe to sit for 10 minutes in the heat. It really is. Your body knows how to cool itself down.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Yeah, yeah. Uh um with that in mind, what are the some of the most common avoidance safety behaviors and compulsions to do with heat anxiety? You mentioned a couple then.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, I think, well, our question sender inner that started the the episode. She, you know, she walks around with a wet towel and the bottle of water. You know, always got to have a wet towel and a bottle of water. And of course, this is the one we return to so often the ice packs. I know I have clients right now that walk around with ice packs. So especially now we're getting into the summer here. And by the way, if you're listening in Australia or New Zealand, we're sorry. Like, come back and listen to this in six months when you're in your summer. But uh they're freezing down there right now. Um, but yeah, so yeah, we're getting into the summer. And I have people there walking around with ice packs. They like they're you know, the things you put in the freezer and they freeze and you put them in your cooler. Walking around.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

But surely that's okay if you're hot. Why can't I take an ice pack around?

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Well, you know, that's that thing where like if sure, if you're just hot and super uncomfortable and you're going in in an interview and you don't want to sweat, going in, okay, use it. But if it's because you think I can't be hot because otherwise my anxiety will go through the roof, then you gotta leave the ice bag. So you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

I was playing devil's advocate there, of course. It's the relationship with your magic objects. Um is the heat special?

SPEAKER_02 10:46

No, no, the heat is not special. Last year I did a reel on Instagram where it was about a hundred degrees, and I went down to the port where I live in the town that I live in, and I stood on the dock and I talked about how hot it was. I was baking on that pier, standing by the pier. But human beings have evolved to live in such a wide range of environment. We are incredible, we are the most adaptable species walking the planet. So, like, by way of psychoeducation and channel channel challenging those irrational beliefs about the heat. No, like, unless you get to Kalahari Desert for four days, you're okay in the extreme cold and the extreme heat. We adapt, our bodies know what to do with that. It's okay, it's not special.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

My friend Matt did the uh what's that world's hardest marathon where you run through the Sahara. Oh, geez. Oh, definitely. They don't have a panic disorder. Yeah, the problems are deeper rooted than that.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Um do that, humans can do that. We've spread it to all corners of the globe with all the climates, all of them. We live in all of them.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Yeah, and it's but the the reason I said that is that, yeah, look, I mean, he's literally running through the Sahara, yeah, you know, and he's all right, you know, and then obviously everyone's bodies are different, etc. But your anxiety will convince you that that's where the danger is, the threat is. Look, see, now you're getting a bit lightheaded. Oh, see, now what if you get sunstroke? Oh, see, what if your heart starts beating again and you can't handle it? Sure. And and and what if you just and for a lot of people it's what if you just start panicking because this reminds you so much of a feeling that you hate?

SPEAKER_02 12:31

But it's so interesting because when you look at the reality, if if you go with you know crazy UK temperature numbers, like the difference between 22 and 24 is okay, you feel it, but a person that has that heat anxiety thing would be like, oh no, that's now we're in the dangerous zone. You know, do you have air conditioning in your house? We do. I mean, I think the US is definitely more like air conditioning-centric, but we also have higher temperatures here. There's no doubt in my mind.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

That's really interesting as well, because the this does apply to people. So if you're in the UK, your house is not going to be air conditioned. And if it is, all right, money bags.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

But uh, but uh but like most of Europe, I think Central and Northern Europe, you guys are not air conditioning people. No, we're we're not because it's pointless to be really.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yeah, I mean, there is in like supermarkets and big corporate buildings, etc. Like you'll find air conditioning in in the shopping cent, you know, centers and places like that, but in homes, no. So for the three days a year in the UK where it's hot, you know, it's really hot. We struggle. Like, I I hardly slept last night. Yeah, I spent an hour this morning on sticking myself from myself, it was just grim. Um, but yeah, and then with the heat anxieties, particularly when it's hot, that can often snowboards weather worries. So people who struggle with sleep anxiety, well, oh, what if I'm so hot and then I can't sleep and then whatnot? And it all ends up at one place, which is what if this gets to the point where I can't handle it and I lose control.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Yeah. Well, it's sometimes even here, summer is more likely to have big social gatherings, outdoor events, then it gets connected to that. Oh, it's my family barbecue, or now it's graduation season, like, oh, we're having my my cousin's having a graduation party, and I'm terrified because the you know it's supposed to be like 85 degrees or 90 degrees, and I can't stand the heat. It makes my anxiety go through the roof. So it bleeds into so many different places if you live in a warm climate. And here in the US, we literally live in deserts, like it's that kind of hubris, like cue the eagle for shark. Like, hey, here's a desert. Let's block an entire river, irrigate it, and live in that desert. That's what we do, man. Welcome to America.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

That wasn't even like ironically played. That was like I was picturing the desert and then the eagle, it kind of legit, like we legit go and live in places like Phoenix, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

And then you're like, oh, it's 114 degrees today, but it's a dry 114. Like, that's still pizza ovens, guys. Um, you know, but we think we live in these places.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

So it's the old the old comedy of that guy who is um uh is albino, and he's like, Do you know what it's like to be an albino living in Phoenix?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Bill Barrett's red-headed roofer in the summer, hardest job in the world being a red-headed roofer in the summer. Oh wow, yeah. But yeah, so if you live in these climates, you have no choice but to face the temperatures here. I think there's a place in the US that doesn't experience that in the summertime, so can't get away from it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

Uh and what happens, let's say, people like who do have the safety objects, the water, things like that. Something that we often speak about on this podcast is that you need to be the person who gets the credit. So if you are going out and taking your bottle of water, your ice packs, and things like that, your brain is only learning that oh yeah, you can't cope. And yet the evidence suggests that you've never not coped, right? You know. Um, I did want to talk a bit more about the social impact though of it. So for people who are afraid to become hot because as in hot temperate-wise, not you, not you in the in the mirror every morning, flexing. Still afraid to be. Um, what are there some of the so potential social impacts?

SPEAKER_02 16:20

The I I mean, I could tell you the ones that I experienced for sure, which was like birthday parties. So my one daughter's birthday is in May, my other daughter's in August. So, like, it's not super hot in May, but it is hot in August here. So, like, I was going through the worst of it when they were young, and we'd have birthday parties, and like the kids want to be outside, and that was such a struggle for me. I'm at my own kids' birthday party, and I am much more worried about how I feel than their birthday party. That's not a good feeling. Like, that's that whole parental guilt, and you feel like a failure because all I want to do is like monitor how I feel because it's 95 degrees outside, and the sun is making it so humid, and I can't handle that. So that was a definite social and family impact there. Hated those events.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Uh anyone who lives in London, um, I remember I had an interview in London many years ago, and I was at a good place with my anxiety. Um, don't get me wrong, the getting on the tube in London when it's hot is is an experience. It's not a nice experience of anxiety disorder or not. Great exposure for people with anxiety and panic disorder. But for me, the social impact was like getting on, and then I had an interview, and it was like I got in this cycle of worrying about getting too hot, turning up really sweaty, and all that. And of course, when you worry about sweating and being too hot, you know, it's gonna happen anyway. Uh if if not sometimes more. Like I was I was sitting there going, if I hadn't have worried about this, I wonder if I would have sweated as much. And I'm pretty confident I probably wouldn't have. Yeah. Um, and but there's just little impact. I remember looking back, like I would like tiptoe slowly through London, holding my arms out like an eagle, so I don't get pits of destiny as I'm walking through. I don't want to turn up with two swimming pools under my arm. And I must have looked like an absolute moron. But I remember this heat anxiety. This I was afraid of the heat, I was afraid of what it would do to my body and the social implications of turning up to the uh to the job interview. Uh, and I remember I remember getting there, and I had to walk up all these stairs, and I walked in, and um the three interviewers sat behind a desk and they were like, Wow, you look hot. And then I was like, look hot. I am hot, baby. No, that no, you're literally hot. Have some water, please.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

But you know, it's funny because uh in those situations, but that that's the nature of that social, all of the stuff we talk about here. Like the gut reaction would be like, Oh, they understand they're hot too. It's fine, they're not judging, it doesn't matter. Like, you know, it's for the person in that situation. Like, you could tell me all day long that they love me and don't care. I care, I'm terrified.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

So I I don't anymore, I don't mind sweating. I really I dealt a lot with it. I will turn up to places sweating, armpits, whatever, and and then I'll bring attention to it and I'll just be like, sorry, sweating a lot, you know, caught caught myself in the mirror, ha ha ha. You know, like just making a light joke of it so you've brought attention to it, you've owned it. Yep, and that really helps. Honestly, I'm just like, yeah, I'm sweating. I'll I'll I'll I'll stop sweating in it. So when we start to hide it, yeah, you know, we try to stop the heat-induced symptoms. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're gonna make yourself hotter, you know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I'm sorry, I'm sweating like this. Is my reality right now, and I I'm not gonna try and resist it or run away from it. I have to be in it best I can. Wish I wasn't sweating, but I am. So hang in there with me, guys.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Yeah, I just accidentally caught no, I'm not gonna make that joke. I was gonna take I was gonna take a swipe at another anxiety podcast, but I'm not because I'm better than that.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

We're better than that here. We speak Latin on this podcast, and we have very important people on. So just saying. And we could distinguish between eagles and white-tailed hawks. Uh no, we can't, clearly. And some of us can't handle our avocados, so we can have problems on disorder. There's no doubt about it. Anyway, uh, but the the whole like the rituals of the ice packs, the water, ice to carry water everywhere. Let's talk about like water as a response for heat anxiety. The magic water when water becomes magic. That's exactly right. And for me, I knew it was a problem. And like, yeah, listen, I leave the house, I always have water with me anyway, now. But you know what? If I'm only going to be out for like 15 minutes, I do not bring a bottle of water. I I don't need to drink every eight minutes to be okay. It's fine. But back in those days, I would simply not leave the house, especially in the summer, and the water had to come right out of the fridge or the freezer. Like, yes, I needed to make sure that water, because if I put it in the freezer, anxiety logic, then I'm gonna drive it down to just below the freezing mark, or it will be frozen and then it's gonna thaw because it's a hundred degrees outside. But it'll I'm starting it at such a low temperature that it'll stay colder longer because I need that cold water. I mean anxiety logic.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Yeah, I mean it's common. I I didn't necessarily have that. I remember the magic water, it wasn't necessarily to cool me down, but it was the the fear was passing out from dehydration, even though I was well hydrated. And if you're one of these anxious people, you know, whose urine has never been another color other than glass, you know, because all you do is just drink all day, yeah. You know, like yeah, that's like you're actually over hydrated there, by the way. So, like that's always a that's always a good litmus test. Uh is that you know, you constantly it is just clear, you you're overhydrated, man. It's okay. Yeah, there's a good time to go and do an exposure. It's like, well, I know I'm hydrated, right? So let's go do it. And even though you've got the dry mouth and you can feel things and you feel lightheaded, it's nothing to do with your hydration, you know. You're hydrated. Right. Now, unl unless you've obviously got a medical condition or something like that. Well, you need to have it, but practice without it. Um let's talk about some good exposures for heat anxiety. One of my favorite ones that uh that I suggest that clients do, and one I did myself was um getting under my blanket fully clothed and just getting really hot under my blanket. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sweat. It's good for the air hunger as well, because you're like, there's plenty of oxygen in here. You know, it doesn't matter, you know. Just yeah, uh, that was a good one. I really and just sat there 10-20 minutes, sweating, feeling really uncomfortable, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah, you could because you can even work on that in the winter months. Yeah, you can make yourself really hot in the winter. That's fine. Um, I actually had a client the other day that we were doing an interreceptor of exposure, and part of it was he's a big heat problem. So got a pillowcase, yep, put the pillowcase over your head, and now we've got replaced. It's ridiculous. It makes us like kidnapping your yes, like to see that it's like this is insane, but it actually served the purpose because he got even more hot. Yeah. Like, okay, well, you know, timer's up, sit down. And it was very uncomfortable to just feel hot in that pillowcase. Gotta work through that, you know. And in the summer months, for me, my exposure was I would literally just sit outside. I would only for a couple of minutes and then a little longer and then longer and longer. And then I discovered, like, oh, I I hate this, but I can handle this.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

So good one. Another one, good one is um, because it takes many boxes. Uh, spicy food. Oh, that's good. Because spicy food not only it challenges so many things. It's like, well, what if there's something in there that makes me feel sick? Yeah, if you've got emetophobia, you might be like, Oh, I don't know, you're gonna get hot, you might sweat, you might feel a bit uncomfortable. Oh, spicy food ones are great exposure for heat anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Spicy is a good distress tolerance exercise anyway. Yeah. Because if your mouth is you got that burning thing going on, yeah. I mean, you're gonna run for the milk and all the stuff to try to fit. Nope. No, just wash it down with some of your magic water. Yeah, just oh god, it makes it worse. I know it does. I made mistakes. But okay, well, that will dissipate if you let it. And it's we're not talking about doing dangerous things, of course, but that's very uncomfortable. Like, all right, just let it let it dissipate on its own, it's gonna go away. No, no, I have to fix it right away. No, you don't.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Nice spicy curry, honestly. It's a good exposure, also, it's delicious. Um, and for me, uh particularly with the uh I'm annoyed we didn't bring up on the Dr. Sewler episode, but like an exposure for me, particularly as someone who's someone who's obsessively, compulsively trying to manage my digestion and eating the dullest foods ever and all those kind of things. Another reason why spiced food is a good exposure is just like this might wreak havoc with my gut because I'm anxious. And actually, interestingly, when I was willingly going in to do this as an exposure, guess what happened? Nothing, nothing weird. Yeah, yeah. I I had a Greek salad the day after, suddenly my stomach's going crazy because I'm anxious and stressed. I had a hot curry as an exposure, and this uh people often find this. It's like, ah, it's really interesting, you know, like the what your body does and when you allow certain things and when you don't, when you resist, but yeah, so that's uh another suggestion for heat anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

I we did um I did a person with her thing was to go out on her driving exposures in the summer where she lives even harder, and so wear your Ug boots. I was telling you that before we started recording. Yeah, she has the Ug boots that she wears in the winter, and like, no, put wear your Uggs.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

And they're really fluffy inside as well. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

They're like, you know, suede and the fluffy stuff. They're meant to keep your feet warm. And here, her mistake was telling me that she freaks out when her feet start to get really hot. Oh, yeah, you blew it. You should have told me that. What do you wear in the winter? Put your Ug boots on and go driving.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Uh yeah, these are all so ridiculous, but that's a good one, though. Turn the air con off when you're in the car. That we did, and particularly if you're a driving anxiety one as well. It's like, yeah, we did that too. Okay, being hot, drive what's being hot. Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Now, you know, again, we're always trying to be safe and a caveat here. You don't sit in the hot car for two hours because it's 140, it's an oven in your car. But five or ten minutes where that temperature will rise up into the 90s or 100 degrees, yeah, you can tolerate that. And then turn on the aircon and drive away. You're okay. But that's don't sit for two hours. Dude, that's not a two-hour, like uh somebody smash the window to rescue you thing. Don't do that. Well, it's just a sauna again, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 26:47

It's true, true. So turning a car literally into a sauna, and then it's like, and then the aircon. But yeah, it's uh thing little and often as well is is helpful.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

It is as often as you can. And it's interesting because if you're listening to you have heat anxiety, you got all kinds of heat combating rituals. The interesting thing is where you screw up in therapy with people like Josh and I is you want to say what you fear, and then you messed up because that's exactly what we're gonna try and make you do. Like, so if you want to know how do I overcome heat anxiety, don't tell me that you you must have water with you, because I'm gonna I'm gonna make you like or suggest that one of your exposures is go out for 20 minutes without your water. So, like the rituals themselves are the targets. So if you could tell if you could tell us what your rituals are, then that's how you overcome your heat anxiety. That you just told us.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

And like we said before, particularly in the earlier episodes, you overcome heat anxiety when you get the credit um for getting through the discomfort. Yeah, if you sit there for 20 minutes and you get through the discomfort because but you've got one eye on the on the on the ice pack or the or the bottle of water, your brain, or if you're from East London, bottle of water, if you're your brain's going, well, we only survived because of that magic object. And so therefore, you don't really do any wiring, rewiring it, and the fear states.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

If you sit with it, you sweat, you get the air hunger, maybe it triggers derealization, maybe you've got the uh you can't quite get full breath, you can feel your heart thumping in your throat. Yeah, well, however, it presents, you can tolerate that. It's okay, it's healthy, it's normal, it's uncomfortable. Um, and then yeah, realize that you can handle being hot.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

You guys are all hot, clearly. If you listen to disordered, you are automatically hot. We know this to be a fact. That's our I've heard that.

SPEAKER_03 28:43

I've heard that.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Yeah, only the sexy people listen to us. But here's a bit of good news, and then we'll listens to Dennis Simsek, sorry. Not nobody with that sax, although I'll tell you right now. Um, here's a bit of good news before we get on to like some community wins because we're short on time today. But if you can work on your heat anxiety and you also have, oh, I also get triggered by the supermarket or staying home alone, congratulations, you're also working on those things at the same time. So if you can tolerate feeling really uncomfortable in the heat, take that with you into your other challenging situations. So it's not, you're not only working on heat anxiety, you're working on the core belief that such a thing as sensations or thoughts that are too much.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

So can you give yourself a round of applause for that? That was nice.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

I really do deserve that, don't I? Thank you, everybody. Studio audience, always so kind. So since we're short on the aisle, should we do some did it anyways? We got some community wins to share.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

Yeah, sounds good. Uh, have we got any audio? I've got a nice written did it anyway. Uh um and we've got some audio ones, haven't we? Yeah, you want to read the uh the written one first? Yeah, cool. So they didn't give me uh permission to use their name, but um I really like this one. I freaking did it! Hi, Josh and Drew. I've been listening to you guys, including The Anxious Truth, for a while now, and even though I've been collecting little bits of did it anyways, I was so proud of the latest one. I struggled for as long as I can remember with social anxiety, particularly when it comes to big groups of people on my own, not knowing anyone else. Well, after weeks of prepping internally, yesterday I went to a local running club meet all alone. I talked myself out of it a few times before, thinking they wouldn't accept me into their cool club. I can dispute running clubs being cool, sorry. Or I might embarrass myself, but I finally did it anyway. The few people I talked to were so nice and welcoming, and they appreciated my jokes. Woo-hoo! Well done for cracking the jokes. Love it. As a double bonus, I stayed for a beer afterwards, and I'm going back next week. Thank you for offering a judgment-free safe zone for people like me to listen to real life milestones as well as relatable content. So good. I'm just laughing to myself when it's just a judgment-free safe zone, and I took a pop at a running club for being cool, not being cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah, just that irony myself. I'm like, really? Did you just hear it?

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Uh well done. That's brilliant. I love that. You went on your own, you got the credit. Yep. Uh you started popping jokes, so you're being your congruent authentic self. Yeah. Really well done.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

And I hope you enjoyed the beer afterwards. I love the part, that part. Like it went so well that I was even like kind of souped up and I stayed for a beer afterwards. Love it. Take advantage of the uh the momentum when you get it. Let's do an audio. We have two audio data anyway, so let's play this one. It's a good one. Come on, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Hi guys, my name is Steve Curtis. Um just wanted to share a quick success story. I've been uh struggling with panic disorder and agoraphobia for about the last five years and was on a work trip uh two days ago. Um, and basically feeling anxious about being away from home, anxious uh driving alone, but uh mostly anxious about the work event that I was attending the next day. I, you know, decided I was gonna do things differently this time. And so, you know, the next morning when I was on my way, you know, I felt pretty good, but I must have been looking nervous because the guy in the hotel elevator said, you know, you got this, you know, don't worry, you'll do great. And he must have thought I was doing a presentation or something and had no idea what I was actually nervous about, but his kindness, you know, really helped kind of you know give me confidence that I was gonna be successful. So at the event, I was sweating, I was heart was racing, I was feeling sick to my stomach, and I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy, which is always a major trigger for me. Um I stuck with it. I just accepted it as best I could. Uh, I think at one point I got up, walked to the washroom, uh, shook it off, and then uh went back to my seat and uh ended up uh feeling much better the rest of the way and even stayed at the end for um uh a QA with one of the guys. So thanks for all that you do.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Huge round of applause for Steve Hotel Elevator guy, too. Nice job.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Well done. And if that isn't proof enough that compassion is really important to help you go through and do difficult things, then hotel elevator guy shows that. You know, you can do it. And even he didn't even get it. He didn't even know you had an anxiety disorder. He was like just showing kindness and compassion, and then you went the whole way, Steve, and you nailed it. So well done, man.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

I love it. You know, sometimes it's just a reminder that, like, hey, you know what? If this person can believe in me, maybe I'll try to believe in me too.

SPEAKER_03 33:49

Love it. Absolutely. Oh, that's another that's that's a nice one. Another gem, right? You got one more to play.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Yeah, yeah, you got one more to play, it's about a minute long, and this this guy needs to be on because he's just been around for a long time, and this is a good one.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Hey, Josh and Drew. It's Eric from Massachusetts, USA. You can use my name. I just wanted to say, as you probably know, I've been a longtime listener. Um, I have all your books, audiobooks, everything. Just want to share a victory. Um for the past few months, I've actually cut down my medication. I've cut it in half, which is amazing. I'm actually feeling great. Um, when I used to have my bad anxiety panic attacks, I used to have to throw on a podcast or an audiobook, kind of like as a safety net. And now I'm sorry to say that I don't listen to you guys as often because I don't need to. Uh I mean it's I don't know if that's bad or if that's good, but every once in a while I tune in because I miss you guys. And uh to me, you're like family. You guys have helped me more than anybody's ever helped me. You made me feel not so alone uh in all of this, and I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you do for everybody. Uh you guys are a blessing and take care.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

How nice is that you're a little in the fields in that moment, Eric.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Yeah, going in the fields. This is the perfect message. I do know what I love about that is that I don't need to listen to you guys anymore, but I check in just to see what to hear to hear you talking and stuff. I love that. Well done, Eric. And um that yeah, that's superb. So hitting us in the fields so much.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

100%. Thanks for including us in your dysfunctional podcast family. But we do put the fun in dysfunction, uh, not disordered for sure, but cool, man. Eric's been around a long time. And dude, if you're listening, you deserve all of that. I know how hard you've worked. So yeah, well done, man. Well done. We're good, man. We gotta get out the door, yes?

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Yeah, I'm gonna go out the door um and do a radio interview. It's not as interesting, interesting or as fun as this. Um, if you've got a did it anyway to share or a question, tune in to disordered.fm. Uh follow us on social media, the the.anxious.truth or anxiety josh. And we're here every Friday doing the things that we want to do to talk to you guys about the stuff that we love to talk about and stuff that you request.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

100%. Thanks for all the support, all the lovely reviews on Spotify and Apple and all that stuff. And uh we'll be back next week. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Yeah, go and be hot. Absolutely.