Olympian Anicka Newell on Anxiety: “The Butterflies Fly in Formation” #resilient #podcastclips

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]And I'm a I'm a big believer in you know, nerves are essentially energy. So, I'll let myself feel the nerves, you know, the butterflies and let them kind of go wild for a little bit and then when it comes time, my butterflies are ready to fly in formation.

[00:00:15]Ready to go. That's a good analogy. I like that, flying formation. But you're actually absolutely right. Um that is the nervous system. You know, people try to suppress these things and actually come out later sometimes. They come out as anxiety or panic attacks when people are just like least expecting it because they're not allowing their nervous system to do its natural thing. That is just regular energy and instead of being afraid of it, you're just like allowing yourself to feel it, which is exactly like what people should be doing even sometimes when it's uncomfortable.

[00:00:48]Even when it's uncomfortable. Yeah, and I I do the same thing with like fear, for example, because I'm in a very dangerous sport and you know, I I love I love feeling fear because I know that I I just get to challenge myself to overcome it. But I let myself feel the fear and let it fill me up and I just know that like I can feel it.