Stop Worrying and Start Living! Strategies to Move Past Worry & Self-Sabotage, and Reclaim Your Freedom & Happiness with Victoria Jackson (RR)

The Jamie Kern Lima Show

Victoria Jackson shares her journey with anxiety, self-sabotage, and resilience while discussing her new book 'We All Worry Now What?'. She offers practical strategies to overcome worry and reclaim joy.

Key takeaways

• Worry is a universal experience that can be managed with awareness

Transcript preview

Do you feel like worry and anxiety cost you your happiness and freedom? Do you wish that you could stop or slow that spiral of negative thoughts and rise above rumination? We all worry now what? In today's episode my amazing friend Victoria Jackson is here to give you powerful answers including stories, blessings, and a roadmap to awakening courage and connection in your life. an episode you're going to want to share with everyone you know today. Do you ever feel like worry and anxiety cost you your happiness and freedom? Do you wish that you could stop or slow that spiral of negative thoughts and rise above rumination? We all worry now what? My guest today is here to give you powerful answers, including stories, lessons, and a roadmap to awakening, courage and connection. your life. Today it's time to start rising above Worry for good. Victoria Jackson is a legend, an icon, a trailblazer in the beauty world. She's also a medical pioneer who's been honored by the Pope. In 2017, Victoria was inducted by Gloria Steinem into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Victoria Jackson, welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lema show. the seed that gets watered that turns into the stress, the anxiety, the panic. I mean I've had a life you know well lived and through all of the different milestones turning points you know just moments in my life anxiety stress panic has always sort of sat right on my shoulder. It is you know something that almost every one of us deals with and so I think you so courageously talking about it is so powerful. People go, gosh, with all that you've done you still deal with, you know, stress and panic disorder and I go, yeah, I do. I would picture sitting, you know, across from Oprah and I would be telling her my story. And then one day I get the call to go to Chicago where at the time I wasn't flying and I was like, I can't go, I can't get there, I'm too afraid. There's so much that people know. you for and this other part of you has co-existed and I think there's so many people that are listening and watching this that maybe feel alone in worrying or in anxiety how do you navigate worry and panic and anxiety and also not let it rob you of your freedom and not let it rob you of your joy and not let it rob you of like the life that you want to lead. If it's not happening. If it's not happening now, it's not happening now, it's not really powerful. It's been many years just really not forgiving myself for not being able to do something. So we have to look at and give ourselves some grace sometimes that even with all these books that we read and these tips and the things we listen to, sometimes you're just going to fall short of the mark for yourself and for some reason you're not going to do it. There's people listening right now too that think like oh I've blown it. My time, my ship has sailed, I miss that opportunity. It's like, oh no, no, no, your whole life ahead of you. Exactly. And you just have to give yourself some space and some grace to navigate it, but not give up. How have you navigated all of that while also then deciding I'm going to, you know, become a makeup artist and I'm going to start building this career. You became one of the most successful women of all time, pioneer in television, sold a billion dollars in product on television. You've done so much while also having this. piece of you. Victoria Jackson, you are such a badass. I just think is so powerful about when you got that call, which a call no parent ever wants to get. You say in place of a diploma, I had what mattered most, a mother's unstoppable determination. Through the success of my company and my husband's, we spent 80 million dollars of our own money. We don't have any deals kickbacks with pharmaceutical companies nothing we've spent 80 million dollars that's just out there in the universe to help catalyze what has been now for therapies that are out in the market that serve the world worldwide When you do something you do something. You had a life altering incident happen I did and it was life altering but I knew during that out of body kind of time for me that my life was here for a reason that this was not going to be how I died. Before we jump into this episode I'd love to invite you to join this community to hear more interviews and one-on-one conversations with me and you to help you truly believe in yourself and trust yourself and know that you are enough so that you can become unstoppable and All I want you to do is click on the follow or subscribe button on the app that you're listening or watching this episode on. I love your support. It's incredible to see your comments and how many people you're sharing these episodes with and I am so grateful to be here for you and I'm excited to go on this journey with you. So thank you for following and subscribing to the Jamie Cur and Leimache. It means so much to me. energy is contagious and so is self-belief and I love to hang out with you even more especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter to you delivered straight to your inbox each and every Tuesday morning from me. If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each week just go to Jamie Curlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you're get your one-on-one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you. If you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy and love hitting your inbox, I'm your girl. Subscribe at Jamie Kern Lima.com or in the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lema show. Her show is unlike any I've ever done. A revelation. When you listen, it feels like a hug, but your brain and your spirit and your heart was like, wow. Melinda French Gates. When I look into Jamie's eyes, I feel like I am on some other cosmic level with her. I could see the light around her. She's infused with light. Imagine overcoming self-doubt. and know you are enough. Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima show. Jamie Kern Lima is her name. Everybody needs Jamie from Lima in their life. Jamie Kern Lima. Jamie, you're so inspiring. Jamie Kern Lima. topic with sensitivity and respect, but viewer, listener, discretion is advised. Do you ever feel like worry and anxiety cost you your happiness and freedom? Do you wish that you could stop or slow that spiral of negative thoughts and rise above rumination? We all worry. Now what? My guest today is here to give you powerful answers, including stories, lessons, and a road map to awakening, courage, and connection in your life. Today it's time to start rising above worry for good. Victoria Jackson is a legend, an icon, a trailblazer in the beauty world where her trademark, no makeup makeup, revolutionized the beauty industry and catapulted her to one of the greatest American success stories of our time. She's also a medical pioneer who's been honored by the Pope for her visionary approach and impact and advancing and understanding and funding for M.O. and auto-immune-related diseases. In 2017, Victoria was inducted by Gloria Steinem into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She has and continues to do incredible things in her life, yet, like so many of us, she also has more than enough reasons for worry, anxiety, and crippling fear to show up daily. From surviving sexual assault to a phone call no parent ever wants to receive. Victoria has spent her life on a true warrior walk of learning to slow anxiety spiral and not let worry steal her freedom. She's written four amazing books. Her brand new book is out officially now and it's called We All Worry Now What? She's also my dear friend Victoria Jackson. Welcome to the Jamie Curran Leymah Show. Thank you. Come that was beautiful. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate it. I guess I've been kind of busy. You like you. And thank you for having me. I'm really grateful to be here and you know just filled with a life of gratitude a lot been going on and it's it's wonderful to be able to just be able to talk about it and share with you. So thank you. Well, congratulations on your new book and so many other things by the way. I was saying that we have the longest intro, I could have written it longer. Godmother's books, shop opening so many things that you are doing out in the world. You know, with we all worry, now what, the title of your brand new book that is so beautiful and just connects. It's going to connect to so many people and help so many people. And I'm just really excited about it because so many of us we lose so much of our life to worry, to anxiety, to rumination, of thoughts, and I'm excited to dive into to some of the lessons and stories in the book but first just wanted to ask you you know in your own journey in your own journey what has led you to writing such a powerful book? You know it's as I say I mean I've had a life you know well lived and through all of the different milestones turning points you know just moments in my life, anxiety, stress, panic has always sort of sat right on my shoulder. And so I've always navigated even people, gosh with all that you've done, you still deal with stress and panic disorder and I go, yeah I do. And so this book was really, everything for me is about if I've done all this, you can too, you can, you know, whatever it is that you want to do and here's how. So it was important to me, especially in a time where we live in a world in a world that just so riddled with instability, like stress, worry. And worry, I always say is the seed that gets watered that turns into the stress, the anxiety, the panic. And I just thought, you know, this is how I've had a lot of things that have gone on in my life that have really created a lot of worry. I have my black belt in worry, but I also have my black belt in being a warrior. And I wanted to just share. some of the tips that have helped me get through and knowing that it's not like oh I've figured it all out here's all the answers no I gotta work my program all the time as I'm still living my life and dealing with the challenges as we all have them has this been part of your life since childhood or when did you really start to be aware of worry and you've been through a lot I've been through a lot I've always say I was born premature so I was born I always say I think it was to get a little head start on Worry because I you know lived in the hospital for three months before I could even come home and when I did finally come home I had a mom that was a little bit overwhelmed and sort of said but I never really got to bond with you and you know I had a lot of medical issues so I think worry seemed to start kind of really early on and I was always trying to whether I was get approval or deal with whatever medical, you know, Malady I was dealing with at the time, it was a challenge. It was a challenge. So I think it's been something that I was aware of, that anxiety and my view of the world was probably going to be a little bit more challenging. Mm-hmm. What were some of the things that sort of happened along your journey that maybe, you mentioned your mom and not bonding? What were some of the things? Because I think a lot of people are in the infancy of their own journey. of realizing, oh wow, here's what worry or anxiety looks like in my life and maybe here's where it stemmed from and then just kind of starting on that journey of wanting to sort of change their relationship if they can with worry and anxiety and panic and all that. I think that one of the most beautiful parts of this moment in time is thankfully, it and they're not hiding as much and thinking that they're alone in it. It is you know something that almost every one of us deals with and so I think you so courageously talking about it is so powerful but has it been something that has built and gotten like to a point in your life or then you're like oh I have to do something about this? Well I think people are talking about it now more so because they're feeling it you know people have been feeling worry for so long. And you know, it's just like with mental illness, mental health, you know, like people are now talking about things more that maybe they were silently struggling with. And for me I've always been talking about it, you know, it's hard to when you're living it, you don't really know, especially with anxiety. It's can be free floating, you know, people could go as they always would go, well what are you afraid of or everything's going great right now or why are you stressed out? And we can't always put, you're you know a face to it, a name to it, a rationale to it. It's just something that we walk with. And I think for me it was early on that mine manifested in feeling like somebody was always going to get me. That sort of unsettling feeling, never feeling quite peaceful, you know, restful. There was always just something that was under the surface that was a little bit more in turmoil. And I think it more manifested for me. personal safety, not feeling safe or that something was coming down the road for me. And that was a big part of worry for me. And a lot of that was being in a, you know, a family dynamic where the mom and dad were young, they probably were two people not meant to be with each other. And as a kid, you're picking up all that energy. So that instability feeds into that worry, which then feeds into that stress, anxiety and a lot of panic. How old are you and it started? You know I just remember being by like I was five six years old and I remember my mom at the time going if you don't calm down They're gonna come in you know she and I feel bad because I don't want to just my mom is a great woman and I think she was just really at wit's end at time but it was more her way of saying is like if you don't calm down they're gonna put you in the hospital and you're like oh my gosh Oh my gosh calm down and you sort of take all that inward and so you're not really sure how to navigate it and what to do with that. So I think that was a lot of it is so much of it becomes this internal struggle that you don't really know where to turn to it, especially when you're young. So it can manifest in acting out, not staying in school, which for me, you know, I didn't stay in school. I was always finding my way out of like, I know, like I know in those early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early early parent conferences was like she doesn't stay in the reading circle she wanders away you know I was so it's just that always a little bit of that that stress trying to figure it out for yourself mhm and then you had you talk about personal safety you had a life altering incident happen I did and it was life altering and you know it's I don't know whether it's a premonition or a sense of that foreboding of being at home in in our apartment and it wasn't a house it was our apartment and coming home one night and going in my room and you know it's that really classic like horror scene where you're in your bedroom late at night and you're you know watching TV and you look up in the mirror and there's somebody standing behind you and you're like what you know with a ski mask and a look like an item with a dish rag hanging over it and I thought it was my brother because my family did I was so vulnerable and always afraid of somebody and come get me that I thought, oh, it was my brother playing a joke. And I turned around like, Mark, and he's like, don't move. And when you hear a voice that you know is clearly not your brother and one that's saying don't move, you sort of know, wow, this is it. And because at that point I thought, well, I'm the last victim, my bedroom was off the back of the house. And so I figured everybody else was gone and I was it and that was a very you know you sort of go wow I'm 17 I'm in my last year of high school is this really it like you know am I going out like this and I don't really want to go into all the details of all the bad things that happened to me in my body but clearly enough to know that I learned about going out of body when something really bad is happening to you that sense of diss is so and being also the fact that I kept thinking about was what's happened to my family are they all gone and so there were so many things that were happening and he was known as the pillowcase rapist it was notorious in California and at the time when I was kept in this really small space hence I still am claustrophobic but I was kept in this small space and when I saw him reach over to grab a pillowcase I thought I still am claustrophobic but I was kept in this small space and when I saw him reach over to grab a well maybe he's going to be you know putting jewelry and things not that I had anything but whatever I have in this pillowcase but when I realized very quickly that he was about to put it over my head and started I said