UNDERSTANDING ANXIETY: Why It Isn't the Enemy

Perspective is one of the most useful tools we have in crisis – a way of taking pressure out of a difficult moment, stepping back and working out what really matters.In this special compilation episode of Crisis What Crisis, I share the story of the five most terrifying days of my own life and revisit four extraordinary guests whose lives have been shaped, and sometimes almost undone, by the pursuit of perspective.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.CHAPTERS:00:41 The worst experience of my life05:06 Timbaland – the bullet that's still inside him, and why he refuses to take it out06:05 Dame Stephanie Shirley – the Kindertransport and the neighbours who kept asking, "aren't you lucky to be saved?"12:48 James Landale – seeing death across a crowded room, and the tank of coloured poison he can still return to14:30 Rory Stewart – the frozen body in the snow, sitting down happy to die, and the dog that saved him19:29 The Belmarsh swear jar – how the words you use shape the size of the crisis21:50 Four things I take from all of thisLISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODES:Timbaland – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000634317774Dame Stephanie Shirley – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000680629888James Landale – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000642157416Rory Stewart – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000608962048FOLLOW THE GUESTS:Timbaland – https://www.instagram.com/timbaland/?hl=enRory Stewart – https://www.instagram.com/rorystewartuk/?hl=enFOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)

In this country, one in six of us will experience significant anxiety at some point in our lives. It's an epidemic that doesn't care about class, wealth, gender, age or race – and yet, as this episode argues, anxiety isn't the enemy. It's information. A signal to be read, not a fault to be removed.In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson draws on his own experience of anxiety attacks and revisits six past guests – a broadcaster, a journalist, a content creator, an adventurer, a designer and a cellist – who each faced anxiety in a very different form and found their own way to live alongside it. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEYI know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.FULL EPISODES:Steve Peters: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000547878428Christian O'Connell: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000659675816Bryony Gordon: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000650752366Alex Goldie: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000729186695Mark Beaumont: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000618838895Anya Hindmarch: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000768689727Julian Lloyd Webber: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000779874143FOLLOW THE GUESTS:Christian O'Connell: https://www.instagram.com/mrchristianoconnell/?hl=enBryony Gordon: https://www.instagram.com/bryonygordon/?hl=enAlex Goldie: https://www.instagram.com/goldiealexx/?hl=enMark Beaumont: https://www.instagram.com/mrmarkbeaumont/?hl=enAnya Hindmarch: https://www.instagram.com/anyahindmarch/?hl=enJulian Lloyd Webber: https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/?hl=enFOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)

Most guests give me their Crisis Compass looking back on a crisis they've survived. Erin Baker is different. Her partner died just 12 weeks before this recording, and she is, by her own account, exhausted by the demand to keep being strong.These four points aren't hard-won wisdom viewed from calmer shores — they're the things holding her up as we speak. That, I think, makes them rarer and more valuable than almost any compass I've been given.In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Erin to discuss her Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that she turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice. If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.CHAPTERS:00:52 A Person – Her Frant village church community, and the stability they've offered when everything else is in flux01:23 A Piece of Advice – A day at a time. The most hypocritical advice she could pass on — and the only one that works now01:57 A Comfort – Writing. It's her career because it was her comfort first02:09 A Habit – Paint by numbers. Half an hour of something absolutely mindlessFOLLOW ERIN'S WRITINGPostcards from Grief – https://erinbaker1001.substack.com/FOLLOW ERIN BAKERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/erinbakerauto/?hl=enLinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-baker-58901a48/FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

This is a very unusual episode. It is rare that we would choose to have someone join us on the podcast so close to their crisis – usually our guests come to these conversations with the clarity that a few years' distance can bring. Erin Baker is just weeks on from the death of her partner, James, and still very much living in it. What she offers instead of distance is something rarer: the raw, unfiltered honesty of someone grieving out loud, in real time. A warning – this conversation is powerful and at times very difficult, and some of the themes may be upsetting.Erin Baker is one of the most respected motoring journalists in the country – the youngest and only female motoring editor on Fleet Street in her day. But in the autumn of last year, her life came apart. Her partner of thirteen years, James, was diagnosed with an aggressive, terminal brain tumour, and the blows kept coming: her father died, one of her sons was rushed to hospital, the family dog was put down, and a car was written off in a collision with a deer. Wave after wave, all at once. Then, this year, James died. He was 53.Rather than retreat, Erin made the conscious decision to grieve in public, writing for The Times and keeping a diary on Substack called Postcards from Grief, documenting James's dying, the days since, and the unexpected things his death has taught her. She joins Andy for a conversation about resilience and its limits, about loss and control, about black humour and love, and about what actually carries us through the very worst of it. She is, without a shadow of a doubt, someone we can all learn from.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEYKingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.FOUR LESSONS FROM ERINBeing "strong" can be a trap. If people decide you're resilient, they assume you're coping – and leave you to it. Sometimes the bravest thing is to admit you're not fine, and to ask for the help you need.Honesty is what makes people feel less alone. It's not the tidy, theory-shaped version of grief that helps others but the messy, unguarded truth. Say the thing that feels too close to the bone; it's often the thing someone else desperately needs to hear.You can't control the future, because it doesn't exist yet. Make your plans, but hold them loosely, they're only ideas of what you'd like to happen. Learning to live a day at a time is the only way through.Find your release. For Erin it was writing, walking in nature, even paint-by-numbers – something meditative to pour the fear and grief into. When you can't carry it all in your head, give it somewhere to go.CHAPTERS03:37 – “I'm sick and tired of being resilient”: the exhaustion of always being the strong07:52 – Grieving out loud: the decision to write through it11:55 – The formidable mother, and a childhood that built the muscle13:55 – Keep buggering on15:20 – Fighting her way to Cambridge, and up a male-dominated newsroom20:23 – Meeting James23:05 – The life that looked perfect from the outside – and wasn't25:08 – The Amazon night shift: the proudest she ever was of him30:30 – The diagnosis39:49 – When the blows kept coming47:02 – Her son's seizure: the worst thing she's ever seen51:02 – Learning to hold your plans loosely53:22 – The last night, and a hug she'll never forget57:04 – The chaos of loss1:06:05 – The stranger by the roadside who knew exactly what to sayFOLLOW ERIN'S WRITINGPostcards from Grief – https://erinbaker1001.substack.com/FOLLOW ERIN BAKERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/erinbakerauto/?hl=enLinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-baker-58901a48/FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

Julian Lloyd Webber spent half a century as one of the world's great cellists — and then had to discover who he was without the instrument that had defined his existence. In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, Andy sits down with Julian to discuss his Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that he turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice. If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.CHAPTERS:00:58 A Person – His wife Jiaxin, and why he's not sure he'd have got through it without her01:20 A Habit – A couple of pints of lager every night 02:49 A Comfort – Leyton Orient03:25 A Piece of Advice – "Don't waste a second."BUY JULIAN'S BOOKBows & Arrows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bows-Arrows-Julian-Lloyd-Webber/dp/1837360588SEE JULIAN LIVEJulian's Irish tour with his wife, Jiaxin – https://julianlloydwebber.com/events/FOLLOW JULIAN LLOYD WEBBERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

Julian Lloyd Webber is undoubtedly one of the country's greatest living musicians – the man who, perhaps more than anyone of his generation, took classical music out of the concert hall and into the mainstream. But in October 2013, ten minutes into a recital in a Suffolk seaside town, the power drained from his right arm and he found he could barely draw the bow across his cello.Within six months, at 63, he was forced to retire – unemployed overnight and stripped of the thing that had defined him since he was a boy of thirteen.For half a century, the cello had been Julian's whole life. He toured the world, playing with everyone from Yehudi Menuhin to Elton John, took an Elgar recording to a Brit Award and his brother's Variations to number two in the pop charts. He was the first officially licensed busker on the London Underground and the only classical soloist at the London Olympics closing ceremony.Then, at 64, he sat the first job interview of his life and went on to lead the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire into a £57 million new home, winning it royal status along the way. On his 75th birthday – and while quietly managing a prostate cancer diagnosis – he walked back onto the Wigmore Hall stage and played again. And now, twelve years after the power drained from his arm, Julian is touring – a full run across Ireland this autumn with his cellist wife, Jiaxin.His memoir, Bows & Arrows, is out now, and this conversation is about the abuse he survived as a boy, the instrument he loved and lost, and how you rebuild an identity when the thing that made you who you are is taken away.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEYI know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing a crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley.Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.FOUR LESSONS FROM JULIANTalent and hard work aren't enough on their own – you need passion, because that's the only thing that gets you up to do it all again after a bad night.A second string to your bow can end up saving your life. When you lose the thing that defined you, throw yourself into whatever else genuinely moves you – even if it's nothing like what you did before. Find something that truly absorbs you, and the healing takes care of itself.When a setback knocks you down, picture the alternative. For Julian, the fear of ending up disappointed with his life was the fuel that kept him going.Healing is not forgetting; it's reaching the point where the trauma you carry doesn't drag you down.CHAPTERS04:01 – Growing up in a chaotic, bohemian home09:12 – The day on the Tube that took his childhood11:03 – Why some things you don't get over – and shouldn't have to15:21 – His father's warning that lit the fire17:39 – Fifty years at the top: how he kept the flame alive27:25 – The longest relationship of his life33:12 – A football bet, a number two record, and a gold disc35:01 – The night the power drained from his arm39:02 – Losing your job, your income and your identity overnight39:59 – The first job interview of his life, at 6444:22 – The daughter's remark that brought him back to the cello47:57 – Facing a cancer diagnosis51:32 – Why he refuses to slow down, even nowBUY JULIAN'S BOOKBows & Arrows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bows-Arrows-Julian-Lloyd-Webber/dp/1837360588SEE JULIAN LIVEJulian's Irish tour with his wife, Jiaxin – https://julianlloydwebber.com/events/FOLLOW JULIAN LLOYD WEBBERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

Frank Gardner has lived, by his own description, two very different lives — and found a way to carry the best of the first into the second. Twenty years on from the attack in Riyadh that nearly killed him, the BBC Security Correspondent is still reporting from the places most of us wouldn't dare go.In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, Andy sits down with Frank to discuss his Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that he turns to in order to help survive a crisis.Frank is the BBC's Security Correspondent and the author of a series of best-selling thrillers — the latest, Ballistic, is out now. If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.CHAPTERS:00:53 A Person – Himself01:21 A Habit – Lifting his eyes to the horizon, the birdwatcher's discipline of really looking02:23 A Comfort – Driving. 03:40 A Piece of Advice – Grieve it, deal with it, but don't keep defining yourself by what happenedBUY FRANK'S BOOKBallistic – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178763549X?tag=prhmarketing2552-21FOLLOW FRANK GARDNERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/frank.gardner/?hl=enX – https://x.com/FrankRGardnerFOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

On June 6th 2004, Frank Gardner was in Riyadh filming what was meant to be a routine piece of background footage when an Al-Qaeda cell opened fire. His cameraman, Simon Cumbers, was killed. Frank was shot six times and left for dead. One surgeon later told him he'd arrived at hospital the colour of a lab coat, bleeding from every wound faster than they could pour the plasma in. It was, in the truest sense, the day Frank should have died.That day split his life in two. Before it, he was a restless Arabist who'd hitchhiked across the Middle East with nothing in his pocket, spent a decade in banking, turned down MI6, and talked his way into the BBC in his mid-30s to become its first ever security correspondent. After it, he was partially paralysed and in daily pain – yet back at work within ten months, and has spent the twenty years since reporting from the very places that nearly killed him. He describes crossing an invisible bridge to a new version of himself, this conversation is about what that crossing actually cost.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEYI know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing a crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.FOUR LESSONS FROM FRANKDon't waste your energy mourning what you can no longer change. Pour it into what you still can. When crisis hits, there's a fork in the road. One path is self-pity – and it's entirely justifiable. The other is deciding to make the most of what you've got left. Choosing the second is a daily struggle.Look outwards, not inwards. Fill your life with the things that make you feel useful and alive. Fixating on your own troubles is a trap – curiosity about the world around you is the way out.Volunteer for the work no one else wants – the weekends, the bank holidays, the night shifts. It's how you make yourself indispensable, and how you get your shot when it finally comes.CHAPTERS 05:18 – The daily indignities most people never see 08:57 – Why he refuses to let it define him 11:33 – Where his grit really came from: two extraordinary parents 14:19 – The bold early decisions that shaped a life 20:38 – Turning down MI6 – and the self-awareness to know why 27:45 – How to break into a career when there's no job at the end of it 30:27 – The attack: what actually happened that day 31:02 – Seven months in hospital, and living with the what-ifs 39:45 – The one thing he's still bitter about 42:15 – Losing Simon, and finding a way through the grief 44:37 – "You'll never walk again" – the second hammer blow 48:05 – The letter from the BBC that gave him something to aim for 50:42 – Going back to Saudi Arabia to face it down 53:52 – Why he doesn't spend his life grievingBUY FRANK'S BOOKBallistic – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178763549X?tag=prhmarketing2552-21FOLLOW FRANK GARDNERInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/frank.gardner/?hl=en X – https://x.com/FrankRGardnerFOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

Shock is a fundamental part of almost any crisis. It's a state of complete operating system override which, when left unacknowledged, can turn into something far more damaging.In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson revisits five past guests who each experienced shock in very different ways, and found very different routes through it.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEYI know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.FULL EPISODES:Johnny Mercer: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000482235919Rupert Soames: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000700198554Dr Richard Shepherd: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000533310865Jill Halfpenny: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000661591052Kate Bowler: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000762523544FOLLOW THE GUESTS:Johnny Mercer: https://www.instagram.com/johnnymercermp/?hl=enDr Richard Shepherd: https://www.instagram.com/drrichardshepherd/?hl=enJill Halfpenny: https://www.instagram.com/jillhalfpenny/?hl=enKate Bowler: https://www.instagram.com/katecbowler/?hl=en

Jeremy King is the legendary restaurateur behind Le Caprice, The Ivy, The Wolseley and Simpson's on the Strand. His is a story of extraordinary gambles, of rooms that became London institutions, and of losing the company that carried his own name — and choosing to build all over again in his 70s.In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Jeremy to discuss his Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that he turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice. If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.CHAPTERS:00:59 A Person – Himself. The only person he can absolutely trust in a crisis.02:43 A Habit – Up at 5am, every day, it's the ritual that stabilises him before the world wakes up03:44 A Comfort – His children, and the different perspective they bring04:26 A Piece of Advice – Why get inordinately upset about something you'll forget about in future?BUY JEREMY'S BOOKWithout Reservation: Lessons from a Life in Restaurants – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Without-Reservation-Lessons-Life-Restaurants/dp/0008599025FOLLOW JEREMY KINGInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/jeremyrbking/?hl=enFOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcastTikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispodThis was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)