Hey Tinnitus Friends and Family, From panic attacks and 24/7 masking to hiking in the mountains and sleeping in silence — this is Agi's tinnitus habituation story. Agi, a teacher from Austria, developed severe, intrusive tinnitus at 29 after already habituating once as a teenager. What followed was one of the hardest periods of her life: constant anxiety, weight loss, dependence on loud masking, and the feeling that her life was over. In this conversation, Agi shares how she moved from fear to acceptance — not by making her tinnitus quieter, but by changing her relationship with it. She talks about: • Realizing she had developed a phobia of her own tinnitus • Working with a therapist specializing in exposure therapy • The turning point when she stopped believing her catastrophic thoughts • How she learned to accept anxiety and annoyance — without needing them to disappear first • Why she now welcomes new tones instead of panicking about them • The difference between silence and peace (and why we confuse the two) This isn't a story about tinnitus going away. It's about someone who can now lie in bed in complete silence, hear her tinnitus clearly, and genuinely not care. If you're struggling right now, Agi's message is simple: believe that habituation is possible for you — even when your thoughts tell you otherwise. It takes time. It's not always fast. But it happens. If you want support on your habituation journey, visit **habituate.online** for free resources and my 4-day email introduction course. To join the same community Agi found helpful, check out **www.mytinnitus.club**. New episodes every Friday. See you next week. — Frieder

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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