 Welcome to the anxious morning. Every weekday morning will take a few minutes to go over some important lessons that you can use in your anxiety recovery journey. Away from the endless noisy scroll of social media, the anxious morning brings you support, education, inspiration, encouragement, and empowerment. For more, visit us at theanxiousmorning.com. One of my favorite movies of all times is the Big Lebowski. The late 90s Coen Brothers cult classic is jam packed with great dialogue and quirky characters that I just love. Fun fact, I am an ordained minister in the church of the latter day dude. I have a certificate in everything, cost me like $10 a few years back, and it still cracks me up. Anyway, my favorite character in the movie is Walter Solbchak, played by John Goodman. I'll just say that Walter is an interesting guy. He's generally really hotheaded in comparison to the even killed dude, the Jeff Bridges character. But when the shit hits the fan at several points in the movie, it's Walter that winds up being the voice of reason, even if he is the one responsible for said shit hitting said fan. When the dude is beside himself because he is convinced that he and Walter have just guaranteed the death of Bunny Lebowski, he kind of loses it. The normally chilled out dude who doesn't really seem to get excited about much of anything comes a bit unglued. He's clearly agitated and exasperated by his prediction of Bunny's demise. In his mind, he is playing out a scenario in which Bunny is killed by the kidnappers, and it will be all his fault. He is gesturing wildly and yelling at Walter. Walter's response to the dude's imagined disaster. Walter doesn't see the same future that dude is constructing in his mind. Walter knows that Bunny is not dead right now and that they still have a plan to execute at the moment. He is calm and confident in the knowledge that while the dude thinks that everything is fucked, it really isn't. At least not yet and maybe not ever. Walter remains grounded in reality while the dude is highly entangled with what if thoughts. Can you relate to a situation where you think that everything is a disaster but it really isn't? Have you been in a position where you are trying to predict the future in your head? How often have you gotten worked up like the dude was, turning what if thoughts into certain catastrophes in your mind? When this happens, what can you do? Sometimes we find guides in the strangest places, sometimes even in silly movies about stoners, nihilists and other unusual characters. Once in a while, we can extract recovery wisdom from sources that were never meant to be wise. What would Walter say to your anxiety? Better yet, what would Walter tell you to do? Hey, if you're enjoying the podcast and you'd like to get a copy of it delivered every morning into your email inbox, including a full text transcription, head on over to the anxious morning dot email and sign up for the newsletter. And if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or someplace where you can leave us a rating or a review, take a moment and rate the podcast and maybe write a small review. It really helps us out or just tell a friend about us. Thanks a lot.