Caroline Foran

I would say I'm more like sea dipping.

I didn't really swim very much, but like it was so interesting to me that something so uncomfortable in the moment could feel so good after.

And I actually I do include this in the book as well.

This idea of like we have this plain pain, pleasure balance.

And like pain could maybe refer to discomfort or anxiety.

And often when we press on the pain side of it, this is from Dr. Anna Lembke, who's her book, The Dopamine Nation is amazing.

It actually on like the brain chemistry level, when you press a little bit on the discomfort side, on the pain side, so you go and you do like a plunge pool or things that like I would have to be paid to do.

Your brain then overcorrects back to the pleasure side.

So it's and it's the same way when you scroll on your phone and you're looking for that dopamine hit.

Your brain then pulls you back to feeling low because it's trying to get that balance all the time.

Your brain just wants balance.

So if you push it towards the slightly tough sometimes like the swim or the hike and then it balances back to a set point of calm and happiness.

That's why that stuff works.

and that's why things like scrolling and constantly looking for that hit and like not being satisfied and like adding more shit to basket that's why you then have that low because your brain is like whoa there was too much of that we were never meant for that and then it goes in the other way yeah you're so right as well and like what tell us more about the book now that's out on the 16th before we head off because like what is different in this book than the other ones

So there's 10 years of learning, lived experience and expertise in this book.

I had only started the podcast after I wrote my first book, so I hadn't connected with all the world renowned experts who have helped me tease out and understand and help people better manage anxiety and like really get into like, you can probably tell I'm quite interested in like the research and the neuroscience and all that stuff.

And so there's an awful lot that I didn't know yet.

There's so much there was we hadn't had COVID.

We didn't have like this drip feed of constantly live streaming genocide on our phones like it was the level of pressure we're under.

I became a parent and that, you know, experience taught me learning about him as a child helped me reframe and understand my own anxiety as a kid so much more.