Chris Magleby didn't see it coming. One ordinary evening in 2017, a small piece of a pot brownie triggered a full psychotic episode that left him zip-tied in his front yard and questioning whether he'd ever trust his own mind again. What followed was two and a half years of recovery, and then something unexpected: a mental health startup built for people who know what it feels like to be lost inside their own heads. That conversation is out now.
Listen here: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/s5e239 | Watch on YouTube.
Chris spent years building a life that worked, and developing a sense of control that felt like strength until it didn't. His story is about what happens when the very thing holding you together is also the thing keeping you from actually living. Here are the ideas from our conversation that I keep coming back to.
THREE things to think about:
The locus of control isn't a fixed point. Chris grew up feeling like life happened to him, and then spent his adult years swinging hard in the other direction, trying to control everything. The healthy place, he says, is somewhere in the middle. Some things are yours to shape. Some things just happen. Learning to hold both is a lifelong practice.
The exit from anxiety is almost never through the labyrinth. When Chris was in the deepest part of his recovery, he kept trying to think his way out of his own fear. What he eventually learned is that the exit is presence. The present moment is almost always the door out of the maze your mind has built.
Feeling your feelings isn't weakness. It's the work. Chris didn't process a lot of what he'd been carrying until his mind made him. The things we don't feel don't disappear. They just wait.
TWO things to ask yourself:
Where in your life are you trying to control something that might actually be asking you to let go?
Is there something you're still carrying that you never gave yourself permission to fully feel?
ONE thing to try this week:
The next time you catch your mind rehearsing an old argument or spinning on a fear, just name what's happening. You don't have to fix it. Just say, "I notice my mind is doing that thing." That one moment of awareness is what Chris describes as the victory in meditation. Try it once this week and see what it opens up.
If this is the kind of conversation you're looking for, listen to the full episode here: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/s5e239. And hit reply and tell me what part of Chris's story stayed with you.
I created a short-form podcast, “It’s Okay If…” Each episode is under three minutes long and provides a permission slip to be human. I’d be honored if you subscribed to the show. New episodes are released every Wednesday at noon ET.
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