In this solo episode, Lisa goes deep on something we all wrestle with: worry. When the world feels out of control—between the headlines, politics, money stress, and everything in between—it’s easy to fall into the loop of fear and overthinking. But Lisa’s here to remind us: you might not control what’s happening around you, but you always have a choice in how you respond.
This one’s part personal story, part tough love, and a whole lot of practical wisdom.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
Worry feels productive. It’s not. That hamster wheel of “what if” is just mental noise. Lisa breaks down why worry isn’t the same as taking action—and how it’s often just our brain trying to feel safe in unsafe times.
Worry is a habit—and habits can be broken. Lisa opens up about a time when she was drowning in debt and anxiety, and how she realized that worry had become her go-to emotional addiction. She shares what it took to finally stop feeding it.
Your focus = your reality. Whether it’s your bank account, your health, or the state of the world—what you pay attention to expands. Lisa talks about reclaiming your focus and using it to build possibility instead of more fear.
A 4-step practice to shift out of worry:
Catch the pattern: Notice when you’re looping or commiserating—and stop indulging it.
- Ask better questions: Is today actually any different than yesterday? Has something real happened, or is your brain spinning stories?
- Redirect your energy: Focus on what you do want or what brings you a sense of peace, even if it’s something small.
- Take aligned action—if it’s needed: If you can do something, do it. If not? Let it go.
Self-parenting through discomfort. Breaking the worry cycle means feeling some things you’ve probably been avoiding. Lisa explains how to ride the wave instead of letting it run your life.
You don’t have to do it alone. If your nervous system is fried and your thoughts are running the show, it might be time to get support. Lisa shares how coaching and mentorship can shift everything—fast.
You don’t have to wait for the chaos to stop to feel peace. Choose how you want to feel now. That’s where your power is.
Ready for deeper work?
Lisa is currently accepting private coaching applications. Learn more at lisacarpenter.ca/wwm
If this episode hit home, be sure to share it, subscribe, and leave a review. And thank you, as always, for being here.
Have a topic you want Lisa to explore?
Send your ideas or questions to lisa@lisacarpenter.ca
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:27:14
Lisa
Welcome to the Full Frontal Living Podcast. I'm Lisa Carpenter, master life Coach, two driven, ambitious humans who want more out of life without having to sacrifice themselves to achieve it. I'll share how it's possible to slow down, take better care of yourself, find more peace and ease, pressure to sustainable energy, stop procrastination and overwhelm and fall in love with your life, your business, and your body.
00:00:27:16 - 00:00:45:23
Lisa
This podcast is for you. If you're ready to learn what it takes to thrive as a high performer, do less but achieve more. Make you and your well-being a top priority and create your extraordinaire free life. I'm so glad you're here.
00:00:45:23 - 00:01:20:24
Lisa
Well, hey, hey. And thanks for joining me for another episode of the Full Frontal Living Podcast. I cannot believe that we are already feels like three quarters of the way through April. And just next week, I am going to have a 25 year old son. That is wild to me. Anyways, I digress. What I want to talk about today is the level of uncertainty in the world right now and I want to talk you through a strategy that I use specifically around managing worry.
00:01:20:26 - 00:01:48:10
Lisa
Because here's the thing about worry. Worry gives us the illusion that we're solving the problem, right? Like, if we worry about it, then it's like we're keeping it top of mind. But the truth is, worry gives us nothing. It does not give us a solution to the problem. We're just constantly like marinating in the problem. So you think about this as a parent, how often you worry about your kids, but does worrying about your kids actually keep them safe?
00:01:48:13 - 00:02:17:14
Lisa
Does worrying about your kids mean you love them more than a parent? That doesn't worry about their kids? No worry literally is holding your attention on what you don't want to have happen. Okay. So another proverb that I love is that says worrying is praying for shit you don't want. So nobody wants to be worrying. Not to mention the amount of time and energy that it takes from you on worry.
00:02:17:17 - 00:02:47:20
Lisa
So, so many of you come to me because you're feeling unfulfilled and you don't have the time in the energy to really prioritize yourself. Yet you're spending and absorbing the amount of time on worry. Yet you're not actually taking any action to combat the worry. Now it's 2025. I listen to a colleague's podcast and she was talking about the level of uncertainty in the world right now is at very, very high levels.
00:02:47:20 - 00:03:07:01
Lisa
Like the last time we saw this was during COVID and then the last time we saw it before that was, you know, well over a decade ago. I can't remember the exact stats, but the bottom line is this level of uncertainty doesn't happen in the world. All that often. And we just came off like that. The COVID years were highly uncertain.
00:03:07:02 - 00:03:26:11
Lisa
I mean, you know, when it started out, we didn't all know if we were all going to drop dead or what was going on. Lots of different ways. Different countries handled it Like it was just it was just crazy parts. We've come out the other side of that. Most people, I don't believe, are operating from a level of a regulated nervous system.
00:03:26:12 - 00:03:51:01
Lisa
I don't think people really, truly understand the impact that that level of uncertainty had on their bodies had on them emotionally, because so many people do not have that emotional fluency. They just kind of numb out and move their way through it and, you know, white their hands. It's over. Now we're moving on, not recognizing the impact that that level of fear and uncertainty had on them.
00:03:51:04 - 00:04:16:20
Lisa
So now here we are in 2025. We've got crazy things happening around the globe. We've got global warming, we've got politically, I don't think we've ever been in a more, more polarized time. And something I posted on my Instagram today was about how we've gone from spending time with family and friends predominantly to now. The time we spend online has trumped that.
00:04:16:23 - 00:04:47:10
Lisa
And it just got me thinking around, Well, no wonder there's so much polarity in the world because we're not actually spending as much time 1 to 1 in person. We're spending a lot more time behind our screens and communicate in that way. And I can tell you that when you are in contact with person, with a person and you are having a conversation, it is so much easier to have conversations about like, help me understand that, you know, share with me your perspective and what caused you to come to that perspective.
00:04:47:17 - 00:05:09:09
Lisa
Like listening to understand and be curious, because behind screens, nobody wants to be curious. We just want to force our perspective down somebody else's throat. So again, even that that fear of like opening your mouth and starting a conversation because you don't know how it's going to be received, that creates a level of uncertainty in us. Like, am I going to be safe?
00:05:09:10 - 00:05:30:12
Lisa
Am I am I going to be pushed out of the tribe, so to speak, if I have a voice around this issue or if I believe this and they believe that. So here we are, this heightened level of uncertainty, which means many of you are in this incessant worry. Worry about the environment. Worry about politics. Worry about your kids.
00:05:30:14 - 00:06:03:25
Lisa
Well, we have a planet for our kids when they're older. There's so many things that we can worry about money. The stock markets, like there we are not at a shortage of things to worry about right now. So I want to give you the strategy that I've used in my life to navigate, worry and this is a strategy like I'm drinking my own medicine, I am drinking my own medicine because I have found myself back in these habit thoughts, these worry thoughts that are not serving me.
00:06:03:28 - 00:06:23:27
Lisa
And like any good habit, it like shows up and you don't even realize is like, Wow, I'm doing that thing again. And I've really noticed that in myself, so it's time to nip this in the bud. So I'm going to take you back in time in the Wayback Time Machine, when it was a time in my life where I was very, very deep in debt.
00:06:23:27 - 00:06:48:15
Lisa
So we're talking like hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. My business was had not taken off yet. So from the outside it looked like I was successful in doing really amazing. But on the inside I was not feeling fulfilled. I was not feeling successful. I was struggling and I was trapped in constant worry and anxiety. This was my life.
00:06:48:18 - 00:07:11:28
Lisa
And then I started to realize, Oh my gosh, I'm addicted to my worry. I'm addicted to the struggle. I'm a. I was just so attached to these stories. Right. And I've talked about this in previous episodes about we have to watch when we're attached to the identity of being the survivor or the identity of someone who struggles because we will create that in our lives.
00:07:12:00 - 00:07:42:29
Lisa
So I realized, okay, if I want to shift my relationship with money, how specifically is worrying about it doing anything? Again, worry does not fix the problem. Worry actually perpetuates the problem because now you're just marinating in it all the time. So the strategy had to do with saying, okay, Lisa, we got to break this habit. So just like any other habit, habits are formed by repetition.
00:07:43:01 - 00:08:10:13
Lisa
So worry I had been repeating for decades, I was very this habit was solid. The worry habit was solid. And this is why I am having to bring this strategy back because those neural pathways had been laid down and they're like firing up again. So the worry habit had been there for years. So I needed to come up with a strategy to break that habit so we can talk about like, how do you build habits towards what you want.
00:08:10:16 - 00:08:32:14
Lisa
But first to have what you to, to create what it is you want. You have to let go of what you don't want. So it was about taking responsibility for the worry habits that I didn't want for what I was creating in my life, because that's where I was holding my attention. And you've probably heard me say before, whatever you're putting your attention on is what you get more of.
00:08:32:15 - 00:09:02:12
Lisa
So if you're if you're focused like let's use Instagram as a as an example, right? The more you look at it, one specific topic. So let's say it's politics. The more you look at politics, the more the algorithm will push politics into your into your reality, so to speak. Right. That's what you're going to see more of. And when I was traveling the world, what I found so interesting, you know, when I was sitting on a beach in the middle of nowhere, Zanzibar, nobody had a clue what was going on in North America.
00:09:02:14 - 00:09:25:27
Lisa
Like, it just it wasn't even a thing. So it was a real eye opening experience to go like, oh, this like ecosystem that I'm in actually doesn't exist in other places because they're just not looking at it. So that doesn't mean it doesn't exist at all. But it really was this perfect example of whatever you're holding your attention on, you're going to get more of.
00:09:25:29 - 00:09:48:12
Lisa
So if you are holding your attention on worry, you're just manifesting or creating more of what you don't want. So let's talk about how to unwind this, right, Because our habits create our outcomes and I don't want you to have the outcome from the worry. Like that's not what we want. So again, praying for shit you don't want.
00:09:48:14 - 00:10:13:14
Lisa
So it started with and this was one of the most powerful decisions that I could have made, and it was no longer indulging the part of me that wanted to indulge the habit around commiserating about what was going on with my money. So I'm sure you have that friend that you call that you know, you spill the tea with on all the things.
00:10:13:14 - 00:10:38:03
Lisa
And I don't want us to not feel our feelings or not be honest about how we're feeling. It it wasn't about that. It wasn't about bypassing how I was feeling. It was no longer indulging the story. It was no longer feeding that wolf, so to speak, because every time I would go to my friend and talk about how I was feeling again, I was putting my focus on what I didn't want.
00:10:38:03 - 00:10:59:06
Lisa
I wanted to be living a rich, abundant life. I didn't want to be talking about my lack and scarcity and my worry. And what if this happens and what if that happens? So I put myself on a diet no longer to indulge in sharing how I was feeling around this specific topic, around worrying about my money. So that was the first thing.
00:10:59:06 - 00:11:19:16
Lisa
No longer commiserating. I was going to break that habit. And what was so fascinating is I was so attached to that habit I had to stop myself. Like I was like an itch. I wanted to scratch every day to just, like, get in there and like, I want to talk about this. I want to marinate in the crap that I don't like.
00:11:19:18 - 00:11:44:02
Lisa
I had to really take a step back and say, like, Lisa, we're not doing this and be in the discomfort of not indulging that habit. So it's no different than if you're like craving a cigaret and your brain's like, Let's go get a cigaret. And you're like, I'm not smoking anymore. There's going to be discomfort. And if you can weather that discomfort and keep shifting your attention on to something else, you'll release that habit.
00:11:44:04 - 00:12:07:02
Lisa
But there's no releasing of habits that you don't want without discomfort. It can be fast, but initially you are going to notice it because the reason that we get into habits our body wants, our brain wants to automate things to make our life easier. And if you've told it year after year after year, month after month, day after day, this is what we do.
00:12:07:09 - 00:12:22:23
Lisa
Your brain's like, Well, what? What do you mean? We're not doing that anymore? I didn't get the memo, so it's going to keep prompting you. That habit voice is going to keep coming up for you. Right? That thought loop is going to it. Going to keep being there that crave thing is going to be there. It's your job to override it.
00:12:22:23 - 00:12:40:17
Lisa
Be with the discomfort, understand why you're feeling the discomfort and move through it. So I'm going to give you the strategies that happened after this. So the first was, Lisa, we're not indulging this worry anymore, and this is where I'm at in my life. Again, there are certain things that have been coming up for me and I'm like, Lisa, we need to stop this.
00:12:40:17 - 00:12:59:00
Lisa
Like, you want this train to go a different direction than be the conductor of your train. Be responsible for shifting this. Stop indulging this. Right. So I'm really having to parent myself. I laugh about it because it is it's like, Oh, stop my feet. I'm like, I don't want to be the adult. I just want to, like, commiserate over this stuff.
00:12:59:03 - 00:13:17:03
Lisa
But I know that that is not an effective strategy. It's not going to give me what I want or what I need. It's not going to create more of what I want. So first thing, not indulging. The second thing when the thought would come up for me, right. The worry about money. Oh, my God. Oh my God. Right.
00:13:17:03 - 00:13:47:06
Lisa
Like I could feel it in my body. The anxiety would rise. I would say, Lisa, stop it. The first thing I would ask myself is, is anything different today from yesterday? The answer was either yes or no. Maybe I got a new bill, but more often than not, it was. No. Today is no different than yesterday. If there was something different and I could take action on it, the next step was like, okay, if something is different, can I take action on it?
00:13:47:07 - 00:14:12:19
Lisa
If that the answer is yes, then go take that action. But stop worrying and thinking about it. Just go do the thing to eliminate the worry. Right? So get out of thinking and get into action because action moves you out of your head If and 99.9% of the time nothing was different. Is anything different today from yesterday? Lisa No.
00:14:12:22 - 00:14:50:24
Lisa
Then I would ask myself, did anything bad happen yesterday? Did anything bad happen yesterday? And 100% of the time it was no, no. Bill collectors showed up at my house. My kids didn't run away from home. My car didn't get repossessed. My house didn't burn down like nothing bad happened. So if nothing bad happened yesterday and today is no different than yesterday, why would I want to continue to worry?
00:14:50:27 - 00:15:09:05
Lisa
So in that moment I would then say, okay, we've acknowledged the worries here. We understand why it's here, because this is a habit. And now, Lisa, what do you want to put your attention on here? And then I would shift it into, okay, what do I want to think about? I want to think about the life I'm creating.
00:15:09:05 - 00:15:30:04
Lisa
I want to think about the clients I'm going to serve. I want to be thinking about the beautiful, beautiful day. There's cherry blossoms out, it's blue sky, whatever it is. But moving my attention into something that was more productive, that supported the energy I wanted to be with, that supported the creation of the things I wanted to create.
00:15:30:04 - 00:15:52:16
Lisa
Right. Because habits, remember, create your outcome. So this was my way of going through the steps. So I wasn't bypassing anything. I wasn't telling myself I shouldn't or couldn't feel this way. I allowed myself to acknowledge the worries there. And I also showed up like an adult to myself and parented myself through it. What's what's the worst here, Lisa?
00:15:52:16 - 00:16:22:21
Lisa
Like, if nothing bad happened yesterday, then chances are everything today is going to be fine. And that's the thing, right? Like where you want you to believe that things aren't going to be okay, whereas most of the time we have no evidence that things are not going to be okay. Most of the time things will work out. Maybe not in the way you want it to, but for all the years I spent and all the energy and time I spent on worry, nothing bad ever really happened.
00:16:22:24 - 00:16:42:25
Lisa
Sometimes I had more credit card debt. Sometimes I was paying a lot more interest than maybe I could have. But at the end of the day, everything was fine. Everything was fine. And here I am years later. And because I was able to use this strategy, that's not a huge worry for me now. And the world is different.
00:16:42:25 - 00:17:05:26
Lisa
In 2025 and business is different in 2025. And like I said, I'm having to drink my own medicine because I've had these threads of worry come back in and I've really had to catch myself and say, Lisa, like, is this the energy that you want to be moving forward with? Because worry is actually not going to help you taking action on the things you can be responsible will But worry for the sake of worry helps.
00:17:05:26 - 00:17:27:11
Lisa
Nothing just perpetuates the problem and actually makes it grow and grow and grow and who wants to be spending more time and energy worrying? So that is how I started to release the habit of worry. Now you can apply this to anything. You can apply this to your children. You can apply this to your relationship, to your business.
00:17:27:17 - 00:17:49:01
Lisa
You can apply it to what's going on in the world. Right? So climate change, okay. But did anything like did we have an apocalypse yesterday? Nope. Nope. Everything is still okay. Okay, well, what can I take action on today? And then you can choose something that would support the planet. Or you can choose to do nothing and release your worry.
00:17:49:01 - 00:18:14:09
Lisa
But worrying about climate change is not going to fix climate change. Taking action on something that supports you feeling better, will worrying about it will not. And like I said, look at the cost it comes with. Look at the cost worry comes with. So let's be effective at managing our energy, managing our time so that we can create more of what we want.
00:18:14:10 - 00:18:35:02
Lisa
Let's start holding our attention on what we want to have happen in the world and the possibilities that are in front of us. We are in an age where so much more is possible now than ever before. We could find a solution to this in the next month, in the next year, who knows? We literally do not know.
00:18:35:05 - 00:19:02:13
Lisa
But what I do know is no amount of worrying will fix the problem. So on that note, enjoy this strategy. It is a very practical, pragmatic way of approaching worry. I truly hope it serves you. It has been so powerful in my life on numerous occasions for numerous things, so I am so happy to share that with you so that you can apply it in your own life.
00:19:02:16 - 00:19:22:04
Lisa
So thank you for tuning into this episode and I will be back next week. I've got a couple topics planned out and by all means, if there is a topic or a question that you want me to answer or cover. Just send me an email to Lisa at Lisa Carpenter dot s.a and I'm happy to work it into the podcast schedule.
00:19:22:04 - 00:19:51:07
Lisa
I am here to serve my community, so if you tell me what you want and I'm here to serve, if you are really struggling to deal with these uncertain times, there is no better time ever than to have coaches, mentors, whatever it is you need in your corner, Having a coach right now is more valuable than ever because we are not meant to go through periods of uncertainty on our own.
00:19:51:10 - 00:20:23:15
Lisa
And when you have a trusted advisor that you can go back and forth with to help you shift your perspective. Imagine how much more peace and joy you could find in times of uncertainty versus being stuck in worry, anxiety and fear because those come at a massive cost and usually it's to your physical and your emotional well-being. And I don't know about you guys, but I want to be on this planet for as long as possible so I can enjoy this beautiful planet, so I can enjoy my beautiful kids, maybe even one day grandkids.
00:20:23:15 - 00:20:48:21
Lisa
I mean, I am going to have a 25 year old. Not soon, no grandbabies soon, but I am here to play the game that supports me coming out on top, that supports me winning. So it's it's managing my emotional well-being so that I can show up as my best and fear, anxiety and worry. Actually rob you of your wellness.
00:20:48:24 - 00:21:11:13
Lisa
So if you are struggling to through these times apply to work with me. Lisa Carpenter Okay, forward slash WW M there's an application in there. We can have a conversation about what coaching container might be best for you, and it might just be doing a single transformational coaching call and starting there. But there are options for you. You don't have to do this alone.
00:21:11:13 - 00:21:33:11
Lisa
So if my message is resonating with you, you're like, I need to work more closely with her. You know, as my girlfriend said, you know, do you need a signing or sign? Here it is for you. So we will put all of this in the show notes for you. I would love to connect with you. I am easy to find whether it's Instagram, email, reach out and I'm here to support you.
00:21:33:13 - 00:22:03:11
Lisa
So on that note, have a beautiful, beautiful day. Enjoy wherever you are in the world. Have gratitude for your life. Because I guarantee you, if you're listening to this podcast, you probably have more than most. So let's get out of worry and let's get into possibility. Let's reclaim your energy and your time so we can focus them on things that really matter because the truth is we need to be showing up in a way that is more meaningful and impactful.
00:22:03:17 - 00:22:14:18
Lisa
That's how we're going to make change in the world, not from a place of fear and anxiety. So until next time, I will catch you on the next episode. Thanks so much for tuning in.
00:22:14:18 - 00:22:35:21
Lisa
Hey. Hey. Before you go, I'd like to ask you something. How much longer are you willing to put yourself last to keep pushing through, hoping things will magically change while feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and disconnected from the life you truly want. Tell me if this sounds like you. From the outside. Most people think you have it all figured out.
00:22:35:26 - 00:22:56:19
Lisa
But the truth is that on most days you feel like you're barely holding it together. Your life is full of responsibilities and there's a high demand on your time and energy. You know you can't drop the ball yet. You're terrified it's going to happen. And worst of all, you're already taking the hit because you often end up at the bottom of your to do list.
00:22:56:21 - 00:23:29:26
Lisa
You've achieved so much, yet deep down, what you want most is more ease, more fulfillment, more joy, more you. And that is exactly what reclamation is all about. This isn't just another program. It's your opportunity to finally break free from the patterns that are keeping you stuck and step into a life that feels aligned, intentional and fulfilling. It's a safe space to have conversations that matter with women who get you and share your complicated relationship with vulnerability.
00:23:29:28 - 00:23:56:15
Lisa
Imagine having the support, the tools and the accountability to create real, lasting change where you're no longer just surviving, but thriving. So if you're done with feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and constantly running on empty, it's time to take that first step. Head to Lisa Carpenter, dot K forward slash reclamation and say yes to yourself, yes to the life you know you're meant for.
00:23:56:15 - 00:24:04:05
Lisa
Because if nothing changes, nothing changes. As I'll see you on the inside.
