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What looks like responsibility isn’t always responsibility. Sometimes it’s avoidance with better language. In this episode, Josh walks through a familiar pattern: delaying action not because of laziness or confusion, but because starting would make something real. Using performance reviews as the entry point, he explores how intelligent, self-aware people get stuck negotiating with discomfort, mistaking preparation, reflection, and insight for progress. This is a quiet look at how avoidance hides behind good intentions — and why nothing actually changes until behavior does.

You’re listening to the Brain vs Me podcast - A show about the moments your brain gets ahead of you — usually before you’re ready.
Here’s your host, Joshua Ericson.

Thanks for listening to The Brain vs Me Podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to keep up, follow or subscribe to the show.
You can leave a comment, ask a question, or share the episode wherever you’re listening.
If you’d like to support the show, or explore Joshua Ericson’s books and writing, visit brain versus me.com.

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For months, I told myself I wasn’t avoiding the gym.
I was “preparing.”

Because preparation feels productive. Avoidance feels lazy.

In this episode of Brain vs. Me, I talk about why walking into the gym was harder than the workout itself — and how anxiety turns simple actions into psychological obstacle courses.

This isn’t a fitness episode. It’s a story about uncertainty, visibility, overthinking, and the fear of being new in public. About how our brains demand confidence before action, even though confidence only comes after repetition.

I break down what actually helped: shrinking the mission, normalizing awkwardness, stopping the meaning-making spiral, and letting “normal” be good enough.

If you’ve been emotionally preparing for something way longer than necessary, this episode is for you.

You’re listening to the Brain vs Me podcast - A show about the moments your brain gets ahead of you — usually before you’re ready.
Here’s your host, Joshua Ericson.

Thanks for listening to The Brain vs Me Podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to keep up, follow or subscribe to the show.
You can leave a comment, ask a question, or share the episode wherever you’re listening.
If you’d like to support the show, or explore Joshua Ericson’s books and writing, visit brain versus me.com.

Support the show

Send a text

For a long time, I thought changing therapists meant something went wrong.
That I failed. That therapy failed. That I was starting over.

It turns out, it meant I was paying attention.

In this episode of Brain vs. Me, I talk about changing therapists without turning it into a crisis — not quitting therapy, not rejecting the past, but evolving as your needs change.

I break down how DBT helped me survive emotional chaos, why that same structure eventually felt like maintenance instead of growth, and how moving toward CBT wasn’t erasing progress — it was building on it.

This isn’t about abandoning what helped you before.
It’s about recognizing when survival tools need to become growth tools.

If you’ve ever stayed with something out of loyalty instead of alignment, this episode is for you.

You’re listening to the Brain vs Me podcast - A show about the moments your brain gets ahead of you — usually before you’re ready.
Here’s your host, Joshua Ericson.

Thanks for listening to The Brain vs Me Podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to keep up, follow or subscribe to the show.
You can leave a comment, ask a question, or share the episode wherever you’re listening.
If you’d like to support the show, or explore Joshua Ericson’s books and writing, visit brain versus me.com.

Support the show