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Your Brain Is Lying to You
This issue shares the story of how an unexpected tip helped me finally interrupt my anxiety loop—and stop believing everything I think.
Recently, I posted a meme that struck a chord with a lot of you.
📲 Watch the post here
Watching the video, we all think we are about to witness a disaster.
A truck drives toward what looks like a gaping hole in the road—and our brains jump straight to: wreck incoming!
But as the truck drives past the point we believe disaster would strike, our perspective shifts—and suddenly, we realize it’s not a hole at all.
It’s the head of a broom, planted in the ground.
This is such a powerful reminder:
Anxiety isn’t truth. It’s a survival response.
Anxiety convinces us the worst will happen.
That we’re stuck.
That we forgot something important.
That something terrible is just about to happen.
It loops us in fear about a future we can’t predict.
More often than not, our anxiety never becomes reality.
Why This Matters To Me
Our brains are wired for pattern recognition and survival.
When we’re anxious, we expect danger—and our minds fill in the blanks accordingly.
What we “see” isn’t what’s real, it’s a combination of what we expect + reality.
Anxiety shows our mind the worst-case scenario before anything has even happened.
This meme got me thinking about a time in my life when anxiety had a tight grip on me— so intense, it often ended in tears.
And surprise, the horrible things my anxiety told me would happen….rarely happened.
I want to share that chapter with you and more importantly, tell you about the simple (and surprisingly effective) practice that helped me stop ruminating, catastrophizing, overthinking every conversation, and living like disaster was always one step ahead of me.
The Day's Anxiety Took Over
It wasn’t just one bad day.
It was a few days a week.
Sometimes more.
I’d wake up with a heaviness I couldn’t shake—
a sense of gloom before my feet even hit the floor.
I couldn’t be alone with my thoughts.
They’d spiral fast, making everything seem worse than it was.
Despite doing everything “right”—
therapy, medication, reflection—I couldn’t find relief.
I felt stuck. Crying.
Asking myself, “What am I doing wrong?”
The Moment of Desperation
I reached out to a friend, hoping for support,
thinking that talking it out could help me,
but honestly, I just felt worse.
The anxiety kept building.
I felt trapped in my head with the worst nightmares imaginable…that I created.
Eventually, I called a relative who had struggled with anxiety too.
Her advice surprised me and ended up forever changing how I cope with anxiety.
Cold Therapy to the Rescue
She told me to try something unexpected: cold therapy.
Here’s what she suggested:
Fill a bucket or a large bowl with cold water and ice.
Dip a rag in the water and drape it around your neck.
Submerge your face in the ice water for 5 seconds.
Repeat a few times.
I remember thinking:
“This isn’t going to fix anything.”
But I was desperate—so I tried it.
And after a few rounds… a feeling inside me changed.
The anxiety gripping me started to loosen its hold.
All of a sudden,
I could separate what my mind created
from what was likely to happen.
And that was a RELIEF!
A Walk in the Sun
She also suggested I go outside.
Feel the sun on my face.
Take a short walk.
That combination—cold water and fresh air—
gave me more relief than anything else I’d tried.
Taking It to the Next Level
After seeing how effective cold therapy was,
I started going to a local cold plunge spot regularly.
Now I try to go before the anxiety is at its worst, as soon as I feel it coming on.
Since my first panic attack happened while driving, I also keep an instant cold pack in the car.
When I need it, I activate it and place it on my chest to calm my nervous system and stay grounded.
Why Cold Therapy Helps Anxiety
Physiological reset: Activates the body’s “fight or flight” and then helps it settle.
Endorphin release: Cold exposure triggers feel-good chemicals in the brain.
Grounding effect: The intense sensation pulls your focus into the present—
easing fear about the future.
A Simple Takeaway
If anxiety has been getting the best of you,
try cold therapy.
It can be as small as:
🧊 A cold compress
🚿 A quick cold shower
🏔️ Stepping outside on a chilly day
🥣 Dunking your face in a bowl of ice water
Sometimes the shift you need…
is the one that reconnects you to your body.
📬 Mental Health Mail
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