This 3-Minute Script Can Shift How You Face Your Anxiety Today | Ep. 438
In this episode, Kimberley Quinlan shares a compassionate 3-minute morning script designed to help you gently shift your mindset, speak to yourself with kindness, and take brave steps forward—even when anxiety feels overwhelming.
What to Expect from This Episode:
- Why mornings can feel extra hard when you have anxiety (and what to do about it)
- The power of self-talk and how it shapes your day
- A soothing, step-by-step morning script you can use daily
- How to take brave steps forward—even when you don’t feel ready
- Tips for recording or customizing the script in your own voice
- A sneak peek into the Meditation Vault with 30+ anxiety-specific meditations
A Morning Script for Anxiety: Start Your Day with Courage and Compassion
If mornings feel heavy and anxiety shows up before your feet even hit the floor, this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit is here to meet you with kindness and strength. In just a few short minutes, Kimberley Quinlan offers a powerful script you can use each morning to shift your mindset, speak to yourself with compassion, and face the day with bravery—even when it feels hard.
Whether you’re dealing with health anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, panic disorder, or depression, this morning routine is designed to gently guide you into action without judgment or pressure.
Content
Why Mornings Can Feel Extra Hard
Kimberley starts by acknowledging something many of us don’t talk about enough: mornings are biologically tougher for anxious brains. That’s because cortisol (the stress hormone) is naturally higher in the morning. It’s a biological fact that can make everything feel more intense—your heart might race, your chest might feel tight, and it might feel nearly impossible to get moving.
But that’s exactly why how you talk to yourself in those first moments matters so much.
The Most Powerful Tool: Your Self-Talk
According to Kimberley, self-compassion and compassionate self-talk is more powerful than most people realize—even more powerful than some of the therapeutic tools we often focus on.
She invites you to reflect on the way you speak to yourself in moments of fear:
- Is your voice kind or critical?
- Do you encourage yourself gently, or do you pressure yourself to “just get over it”?
- Can you shift into a tone of courage, kindness, and willingness?
This morning script is built on the belief that the way you show up to fear matters—and showing up, even shakily, is an act of strength.
The 3-Minute Morning Script for Anxiety
Here are the key messages from the script you can use every morning (or any time of day you need it):
1. Name What You’re Feeling—And Let It Be Okay
“You might feel afraid. You might feel the buzzing under your skin. You might be experiencing ‘what if’ thoughts. All of this is okay.”
Naming your experience, without trying to fix it, is a powerful first step.
2. Breathe—Even If It’s Shallow
“Even if your chest feels tight, you’re breathing. This is brave.”
No breath has to be perfect. What matters is the willingness to try.
3. Remind Yourself: You Can Do Hard Things
“You don’t have to feel ready. You just need a willingness to take the next brave step.”
Kimberley repeats this message with heart: strength is not about calm or perfection—it’s about showing up imperfectly and continuing forward.
- Do It Scared
“You don’t have to take a giant leap today. Maybe just a baby brave step.”
Whether that means brushing your teeth, going to work, or resisting a compulsion, every small act in the face of fear builds confidence.
- Imperfection Is Welcome
“You don’t have to get this right. Let it be awkward. Laugh if you can. Just keep moving.”
This isn’t about achieving calm—it’s about building courage through action, even when it’s messy.
Why This Practice Works
Kimberley gently reminds us that this script isn’t about eliminating anxiety. It’s about choosing how you respond when anxiety shows up. Every time you speak to yourself with kindness and take action anyway, you’re training your brain to trust in you.
Confidence isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you build—one brave step at a time.
Make It Yours
You can:
- Listen to Kimberley read the script each morning
- Download the script and record it in your own voice
- Rewrite it in your own words with the same compassionate tone
Whatever way you choose to use it, the goal is the same: to create a voice that supports and guides you through the storm of anxiety.
Explore More Resources for Anxiety
If this script was helpful, Kimberley invites you to explore the Meditation Vault at CBTschool.com, which includes:
- 30+ meditations for anxiety, OCD, intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, social anxiety, and more
- Specialized recordings for when you feel unmotivated or stuck
- Compassionate guidance to support you in your recovery journey
You don’t have to do this alone—and you don’t have to wait until you “feel better” to start.
A Final Note from Kimberley
“You don’t have to feel brave to be brave. Today is a beautiful day to do hard things.”
This script is your daily reminder that you’re not weak for feeling afraid—and you’re not alone in learning how to show up with courage.
Come back to these words anytime you need them. Kimberley believes in you. Let this be your gentle nudge to take the next brave step—whatever it may be.
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans, and if they currently take your insurance, head over to https://learn.nocd.com/youranxietytoolkit
Transcription: This 3-Minute Script Can Shift How You Face Your Anxiety Today
If you’ve got anxiety, you’re in the right place today. I’m bringing you a three minute script that you can use to help you manage your anxiety today. Hello, my name is Kimberly Quinlan. Welcome to your anxiety toolkit where we bring you virtual hugs and hopeful strategic skills to help you manage your anxiety.
I’m so thrilled you’re here with me today. I am going to give you a specific three minute script. You can either listen to it from me every morning if you choose, or you can download the script. Um, use the script the, or you can download the script by using the script below. Put it in your own voice.
Record it, listen back to it. Whatever serves you best. My goal is to give you a script that can get you up in the morning, get you going with your day so that anxiety does not take over and take control. So let’s do this together. I am so excited to be with you here today.
Now, before we get started, I wanted to talk to you about the ways in which anxiety can take over your day. Maybe you have health anxiety and your anxiety is telling you to keep checking. Maybe you have social anxiety. Your anxiety’s telling you to avoid that event or that interaction. Today, maybe you have depression.
It is telling you that you cannot get outta bed, that it’s not even worth it. Maybe you have OCD and it’s wanting you to do compulsions. Maybe it’s panic disorder, and it’s telling you to do everything you can to avoid that panic attack no matter what you are struggling with. Today, I want to. Encourage you to change the mindset you have.
Now, that doesn’t mean like you just click your fingers and you feel like, oh, I’ve got a great mindset now. No, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking specifically about the way in which you talk to yourself. That matters. In fact, it matters more than most of the skills we teach here at your anxiety toolkit.
Now, while we need all of those skills, absolutely, the thing to remember here is how you talk to yourself, how you coach yourself through those difficult moments can determine whether you. Get up, do the things you need to do or whether you avoid, um, or beat yourself up. So I really want to encourage you to think about the way in which you talk to yourself, the words you say, the tone in which you use, and you’re gonna need to think about those things as you use this script day in and day out.
Now, one thing to remember here is. The reason that this can be so powerful is that cortisol levels are higher in the morning. Cortisol is a hormone that’s, you know, make. Again, it makes us feel very anxious. It makes our heart race that will be higher in the morning, which often explains why. You feel so anxious in the morning and why it feels a little harder to get going and move into the day.
That is another reason why this kind, compassionate voice and these kind compassionate tone that you’re gonna be using and the words that you’re gonna use are so important because we do have an increase in cortisol and that can help slow down the nervous system. Slow down. Your parasympathetic nervous system can come into play and help you feel like you can actually get the things done that you need to get done.
I okay. So here we go. Let’s get to the work. I am now gonna give you the specific three-ish minute script. It depends on how slow and nourishing you want to record this. I’m gonna do my, my best just to record it in my most natural voice. Um, but again, if you wanna put it in your voice, you wanna put it with your own tone, with your own language.
Please feel free to just take this script and run with it. Do whatever feels most beneficial for you. I’m gonna read this. I hope you find it beneficial, and let’s get to it.
Okay, here we go. Today you might feel afraid. You might already feel the buzzing under your skin. You might be experiencing those. What if thoughts? Well, maybe it’s the heaviness on your chest. All of this is okay. This moment is not about eliminating fear, it’s about choosing how you want to meet it. So first I want you to take a breath, even if it’s shallow, even if your chest feels tight,
okay? You’re breathing. This is brave. Now I want you to hear this. Let it soak in, not just into your mind, but deep down into your bones. You can do hard things.
You can do hard things, even when it feels super uncomfortable. You can show up anxious, shaky, and imperfect. The strength is in the showing up. When your fear says you can’t handle this, you get to answer. Actually, I can. Maybe not perfectly, maybe not calmly, but I can do this. I can handle it with courage, I can handle it with kindness, I can handle it with my heart.
Open to imperfection. Please let this be a reminder for you. You do not have to wait to be confident. You do not have to wait to be certain. You don’t even have to feel ready. All you need is a willingness to take the next step, that brave step. Even if it’s a wobbly one, this step might ask you to do it scared and take the step anyway.
You don’t have to take a giant leap today. Maybe just a small baby brave step may,
maybe that step is getting outta bed. Maybe it’s brushing your teeth while your heart races, maybe it’s going to work, making that phone call that you’ve been avoiding, or maybe it’s eating the breakfast that you don’t feel like you deserve. It might be pausing before you Google for reassurance. It might be resisting the urge to do that compulsion, to ask for reassurance, even if it’s just once.
Maybe it’s just gently saying no to all the fear and the fear driven rituals that anxiety makes you feel like you have to engage in.
Now, you don’t have to get this right or perfect. You don’t have to do this in any beautiful, perfect way. You just have to be willing to try. Let it be awkward. Maybe even laugh if you can give yourself permission to take yourself a little less seriously and keep moving anyway, every time you take action.
In the presence of fear, you are training yourself. To trust in you. Every step forward, you grow confidence. That is where confidence is grown, and you will learn that you can actually do hard things. One step at a time, one moment at a time. One win at a time. So my love. Please come back to this script as often as your heart needs it.
Please remember that I believe in you wholeheartedly. You don’t have to feel brave to be brave. And today, today is a beautiful day to do hard things. So let’s go.
So my dear friend, I hope that was helpful. Please remember, this is not done in effort to make anxiety go away quite the opposite. These actions are done to have a voice. That encourages you, motivates you, inspires you, stands by you as you take these steps with fear while experiencing fear and bringing it along with you, or walking beside it.
As you move into the things that you value, that you want for your life, that you deserve for your life now, if you enjoyed this meditation script, please know that you can go to cbt score.com. We have an entire meditation vault for you, for people who have anxiety specifically. Um, and what it does is it gives you over 30 different meditations for intrusive thoughts, depression, OCD, health, anxiety, social anxiety.
Generalized anxiety, sleep motivation. We’ve got scripts and meditation recordings for you. When you don’t wanna meditate, when you don’t feel motivated, um, it is a complete meditation vault that is there for you. If that’s something that’s beneficial for you, again, please take today’s script, use it. In whatever capacity serves you.
Again, there is no one way that fits all. Use it in a way that nourishes you, encourages you, supports you, motivates you. I am here cheering you along every step of the way. We are in this together, we are taking brave, beautiful steps together. Please know that you’re not alone in this. Struggle and challenge that you’re in.
We’ve all been there, especially me. I know what it’s like. The days that were the hardest for me were the days I had to use this kind compassionate voice, and I hope that it helps you in every single way that you need today. All right, I look forward to seeing you in the next episode, and I’ll talk to you then.
