Thyroid Basics

Why do some comments roll right off of us, and others stick around for days? Why do some of us just... take things personally?? I used to think it came down to being thick-skinned versus being sensitive. After years of coaching, I don't believe that anymore. I think it comes down to the story we tell ourselves in the moment something happens, and most of us are telling that story so fast we don't even realize we're doing it. A short email, a certain look during a meeting, a friend who takes a little too long to text back, blah blah blah. None of these things are inherently bad, and yet our minds fill in the blanks almost instantly (and usually with a story that isn't true). There's a reason for us wanting to cling to the negative: Our brains are wired to hold onto potential threats far more tightly than they hold onto good moments, and it helped keep our ancestors safe. However, it’s a bit less useful when the "threat" is a two-word text message or a weird look across the conference room table. In this week's episode of Beyond The Type, I share a simple practice for catching that story before you mistake it for fact, along with how this shows up differently depending on your personality type. If you've ever spent an afternoon spiraling over something small, I invite you to give this one a listen. Link in bio, or find Beyond The Type wherever you listen to podcasts. #takingthingspersonally #sensitive #overlysensitive #podcast #swansoncoaching #lifeskills

Our brains evolved to notice danger before it became fatal. And that wiring was a good thing, as it kept our ancestors alive. Unfortunately, it hasn't updated much since then, even though most of what we're facing today isn't exactly life-threatening. An email that gets us spinning, a conversation we replay for the tenth time, a to-do list that follows us into the shower or keeps us awake until 2am. None of these are saber-toothed tigers, and yet that same ancient, protective machinery treats them like one anyway. So the mind reaches for the only tool it really trusts in a moment like that: control. It says: If I think about it enough, prepare for every angle, understand it completely, I can keep myself safe. The good part is that nothing is wrong with you - that's your brain doing exactly what it was built to do! /hat tip to the brain The hard part is that it’s still using that outdated hardware in a world that doesn't quite match the one it was designed for. I go deeper into this in the newest episode of Beyond the Type. I talk about: - why we overthink - what's actually running the show underneath it - what I believe is the real antidote (hint: it's not more thinking). Link in bio if you want the full conversation.

Do you find yourself overthinking or spiraling in your head? Whether a colleague was annoyed with you in a meeting, whether an email landed exactly the way you meant it, whether a decision that's already out of your hands goes the way you're hoping. None of that is solvable with more thinking. It's the professional equivalent of gravity. You can’t argue or fix gravity. I heard about this framing of problems as gravity from Dave Evans, co-author of Designing Your Life; he offered that rocket scientists working on the Apollo missions never tried to fix gravity. They asked a better question: Given gravity, exactly as it is, how much thrust do we need to get off the ground? The next time you catch yourself replaying a conversation or spiraling on something you can't control, try asking the same thing. Is this a problem I can act on? Or is this gravity? I just released two new episodes of Beyond the Type, all about WHY we overthink, and what to do about it. Link in bio, or find Beyond the Type wherever you listen to podcasts. #overthinking #overthinker #spiral #headcenter #swansoncoaching #lifeskills

It's rarely the big betrayal; it's this: It's the phone that gets glanced at mid-sentence. It's the plan that gets cancelled. Again. It's the explanation that never came. It's the "I'll take care of it" that somehow didn't happen. It's the yes that really meant no, and everyone kind of knew it. None of these feel like a big deal in the moment. But over time, they add up to something that is a very big deal: A relationship where something feels off, and neither person can quite put their finger on why. Here's what I know from years of coaching conversations: most trust issues aren't dramatic. They're accumulations. Little deposits that never got made, small gaps between what was said and what actually happened, moments where someone needed to feel seen... but felt invisible instead. And the hardest part? The thing that's eroding trust is usually someone's blind spot. They're not trying to break anything. They just can't see it from the inside. Which is exactly why this stuff is worth paying attention to BEFORE things feel broken. This week on the Beyond the Type podcast, I'm talking about: - what trust actually requires (spoiler alert: it's three very specific things) - where it tends to break down depending on how you're wired, and - how to start noticing your own patterns before the people around you feel them first. Link in bio, or find Beyond the Type wherever you listen to podcasts. 🎙️

Think about a relationship in your life right now where trust feels a little... off. Not broken, necessarily. Just wobbly. Here's what I've learned: there are really only three reasons trust wobbles, and they are *not* all the same problem. Ask yourself: Is it that you don't feel truly CARED FOR? Is it that something doesn't add up LOGICALLY? Or is it that someone keeps saying one thing and doing another? (That's the follow-through, or INTEGRITY piece) Those are three completely different problems when it comes to trusting others, *and* when it comes to having others trust YOU. And each problem needs a completely different solution And here's the part that gets interesting: the wobble you create for other people? It's probably your blind spot. You can't see it from where you're standing. This week's episode of Beyond the Type is about exactly this: Trust, what builds it, what breaks it, and what to do when you feel a "wobble". Link in bio, or find it wherever you listen to podcasts. #trust #respect #empathy #logic #integrity

You are not "starting over". I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions we have about life's transitions. When someone gets laid off, they often feel like they're back at square one. When a marriage ends, it can feel like all those years were somehow "wasted." When we retire, move across the country, or watch our youngest child leave for college, it's easy to wonder who we are now. But here's what I believe: You're not leaving with empty hands. You're bringing every lesson you've learned, every mistake you've survived, every skill you've developed, every boundary you've practiced, every relationship that shaped you, and every ounce of resilience you've earned along the way. You're bringing wisdom, experience, and courage. You're bringing a version of yourself that knows things your younger self couldn't possibly have known. That's not starting over. That's starting from experience. In this week's episode of Beyond the Type, I share seven questions I often ask coaching clients who are navigating life's biggest transitions, whether that's a career change, divorce, retirement, becoming an empty nester, grief, or simply wondering what comes next. One of my favorites is this: What do you want to take with you? Sometimes the answer changes everything. 🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Beyond the Type. Link in bio. #lifetransitions #changes #startingover #motivationalquotesoftheday