Episode 8: The Five Dances of Anxiety—and How to Step Into Something More Alive
What if your anxiety isn’t a problem to fix—but a pattern you’ve been dancing for years?
In this episode of The Midlife Ripening Podcast, Brooke explores how anxiety often shows up not as panic—but as over-responsibility, perfectionism, or disappearing into busyness. Especially for women who lead, care, and carry it all.
You’ll learn five common “dances” of anxiety—like overfunctioning, distancing, and blaming—and how each one began as a strategy for safety and belonging. The invitation isn’t to shame yourself out of them, but to recognize the muscle memory—and choose a new move.
This episode is a compassionate guide to recognizing what’s alive beneath the spin… and how to begin dancing toward something more grounded, honest, and free.
What You’ll Learn
How anxiety often hides inside leadership, caregiving, and people-pleasing
Five “anxious dances” women learn to perform—and how they show up in midlife
Why anxiety isn’t just internal—it’s relational and cultural
The difference between anxiety, instinct, and inner knowing
Gentle, practical prompts to shift your choreography—one honest moment at a time
🍒 Bookmarks
“Anxiety isn’t just a feeling—it’s a pattern. A choreography we’ve practiced until it feels like our personality.”
“Maybe what you’ve been calling anxiety… is actually grief. Or knowing. Or instinct.”
“We’re not here to solve problems. We’re here to notice patterns in motion—and that work is sacred.”
Seed to carry with you:
May you meet anxiety with love.
May you listen long enough to hear what it’s been trying to say.
May you thank the part of you that learned to give until empty,
to vanish,
to circle the truth until it felt safe enough to land.
May you notice the old choreography as it stirs—
the urge to fix, to flee, to spin.
And may you pause.
Just long enough to taste something different.
💌 Want to Go Deeper?
Explore 1:1 coaching, small group programs, and my weekly email series The Second Bite here.
Original theme music by Dustin Hofsess.
