If you struggle with anxiety, Caroline Foran is the best friend you never knew you had……until now.

Caroline is the best selling author of “Owning It: Your Bulls*t Free Guide To Living With Anxiety” and “The Confidence Kit, Your Bullsh*t Free guide to Owning Your Fear”. She is super honest, and provides practical tools to live with anxiety, worry and self-doubt, and she is also living proof that you can struggle with anxiety and still be successful. She was a hit when she spoke last year at RISE, our first TY conference.

Now, Caroline has decided to launch her own podcast, in order to share her story and her life hacks with everyone. To date, she has released 5 episodes, and has covered some really important topics such as; understanding anxiety, managing panic attacks, supporting a friend through a panic attacks and fear of public speaking.

We had a quick chat with her earlier this week….

Hi Caroline, what made you decide to do this podcast?

I decided to do the podcast for a few reasons. One – the nature of the content lends itself well to the format as I know from my really anxious days, it was soothing to listen to something positive and reassuring. Secondly, more and more people are consuming podcasts and it opened me up to a whole world of people who hadn’t even heard of the books. And thirdly because I wanted to have the flexibility and freedom to do a deep dive into some really important topics, answering some questions I’ve had from readers and fans since the books came out and even tackle topics that have come to the fore since the books came out. It also gives me the opportunity to chat to different experts and other guests who’ve experienced anxiety in different ways from me. 

What would you like Shona Readers to know about Anxiety?

I want Shona readers to know that anxiety is completely normal and you don’t have to have gone through something terrible to justify it. It can very simply happen as a result of a build up of stress in your body – from worry about exams, social pressure – that kind of thing. You have every right to feel the way you do because it is relative to you. Don’t listen to someone who says ‘well you could be so much worse off’ – that won’t really help with managing your own anxiety. I also want readers to know that anxiety is something that we all experience and it’s about understanding it, recognising it and managing it as it comes and goes rather than trying to cure it or run away from ever feeling anxious in life. 

What piece of advice do you wish your teenage self had been given?

I wish I could go back to my teenage years and have more awareness and understanding about stress and anxiety and be able to recognise it and say ‘it’s okay’. I was afraid to ever admit that I was scared or not quite ready to do things other people my age were doing – like travelling – and that made my anxiety worse. I suppose my key advice would be to be really true to myself and honour my feelings instead of trying to force other feelings onto myself. 

Check out Caroline’s podcast on Itunes, Google Podcasts or where ever you get your podcasts x