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Holding Both: How to Feel Anxious and Still Enjoy Life

With Byron McCaughey · 17 July 2025

Many entrepreneurs believe they need to eliminate anxiety before they can enjoy life's meaningful moments. In this short video, psychologist Byron McCaughey explores the powerful concept of holding both - learning to accept anxiety while still showing up for the things that matter, like family, connection, and joy. Discover how shifting your mindset can help you live a values-aligned life, even when uncomfortable emotions are present.

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Transcript

Today I want to talk about this idea of holding both. So what do I mean by that?

Well, a client came in the other day, a business owner, and they said that unless they got rid of their anxiety, they didn't feel like they were able to derive any benefit from spending time with family. We talked about approaching it a different way, which is that in accepting and recognising and acknowledging that we're feeling anxious in a given moment, we can then show up fully to the moment with family - by being present, by being there, by engaging fully in that experience.

Through experimentation, this person realised that actually they could still get the benefit of being with family, which for them was things like connection, love, laughter.

So this is the idea of holding both. And it's a really powerful one when we think about our relationship with unpleasant experiences like anxiety and mood - that in spite of those things, we can still get benefit from living a life that's aligned with our values and doing the things that are important to us, and getting all of the good things that come with that.

We don't need to get rid of those unpleasant experiences to get those benefits. And that can be a really powerful thing to be thinking about when we're considering our own lives and the actions that we take.

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