An Interview with CBC’s Fresh Air on “I’m Anxious About”

There’s a certain hilarity to being asked to come on CBC to talk about the anxiety podcast you co-host, and then proceeding to be incredibly anxious about it in the days leading up to it. But, of course, that’s precisely what I did.

Mary Ito, a legend at CBC who was hosting Fresh Air yesterday, must have guessed that would be the case, as she started off in a way that completely put me at ease for the interview.

Mary Ito: I hope you’re not anxious about this interview…

Me: Only a little bit!

Mary Ito: Okay, we’ll try to make it easy on you!

Of course, it’s in my nature to pick apart the things that I didn’t do well enough or communicate well enough in an interview like this on a stage like this (anxiety is a barrel of fun, my friends), but I’m happy with how things went overall, and much of the success of the interview is because of the tone that Mary Ito set from question one.

The whole experience was surreal for me.

Allison and I started I’m Anxious About as little more than an public outlet for our collective anxieties during a tough period, and so to get featured in Forbes, and then be interviewed on CBC in such short order barely seems like reality to me.

And yet here we are.

I’ve spent an untold amount of hours in the car listening to CBC with my parents, with Bri, with friends, and on my own. I’ve heard so many voices come through the radio on CBC, but for some reason assumed that mine would never be one of them. Thus, this was a big moment for me. A hugely validating moment, in fact, when I consider just what it was I was being asked to come on the show to talk about.

I’m hard on myself, there’s no question. I often fail to give myself credit for the successes I’m having, or I’ll celebrate them for a handful of hours, then quickly move on to the next thing I’ve yet to accomplish. But I’m going to actively combat that in this case, both for myself and for Allison.

The project that we’ve started together, I’m Anxious About, is quickly blossoming into something. I don’t think either of us quite know just what yet, but it sure is exciting to see things grow at the rate they are, largely because of the real potential we have to help others through their own struggles.

We’re just at the start of an exciting journey here, and the future prospects of what we can do together are awfully exciting.

We both thank you for the kindness and support. We’re nothing without our community and listeners, and we promise to always keep that in the forefront of our minds.

Feel free to click on the image below, which will open up a window to the interview, or use this link.

Thanks.