“I Thought I Was Having a Heart Attack” The Truth About Anxiety

Описание: Feelings don’t knock. They break in. They flip on the lights, tighten your chest, steal your breath—and swear danger is real even when the room is empty. If you’ve ever laid awake while your mind wrote worst-case futures… this episode is for you.
Tonight on The Suffering Podcast, Kevin Donaldson and Mike Felice sit down with Karl Ross (40+ year coach, former fire chief, lifelong leader) to talk about the suffering too many strong people hide: anxiety—the kind that convinces you you’re dying, the kind that shows up right when life is “going great,” the kind that makes a grown man pull over on the side of the road just to survive the next few minutes.
Karl’s story isn’t just “I got anxious.”
It’s pressure stacked on pressure: leadership, family, the weight of being the guy everyone depends on… and then a moment that changed his nervous system forever—a boat fire where everything went sideways, fast. From there, the quiet hours turned violent. Sweats. Dry heaves. Sleepless nights. The battle to keep functioning while your body screams RUN.
And then life kept testing him—loss after loss, diagnosis after diagnosis. Kidney cancer. Prostate cancer. CLL. Loved ones fighting and dying. And still, the real enemy wasn’t always the disease… it was the voice in his head saying: This is who you are now. You’re weak. You’re stuck. You’re next.
This episode is raw and painfully relatable—especially for first responders, coaches, veterans, and anyone raised to “tough it out.” We talk about:
Why anxiety feels like a heart attack
How ego and image keep people silent
The coping strategies that actually helped (movement, awareness, support)
The truth nobody says out loud: you don’t “cure” anxiety—you learn to face it
And the shift that changes everything: acknowledge it, accept it, and fight back
Karl doesn’t sell a miracle. He offers something rarer: truth with a path forward.
Because anxiety can stalk you… but it doesn’t get to own you.
If this hits home, do three things:
Subscribe to The Suffering Podcast (we tell the stories people need to hear).
Comment: “I’M STILL FIGHTING” if you’ve battled anxiety or panic.
Watch to the end—Karl’s final advice is the kind of line that can pull someone back from the edge.
And if you’re struggling in silence: you’re not crazy, you’re not weak, and you’re not alone.
Stay with us. We’ll walk it out together.

#TheSufferingPodcast #AnxietyRecovery #PanicAttacks #MentalHealthMatters #FirstResponderWellness #PoliceWellness #FirefighterLife #TraumaHealing #MensMentalHealth #CancerSurvivor #overcomingadversity

TimeStamps

00:00:07 The Suffering Podcast: Overcoming Anxiety
00:02:40 The Meaning of Pain and Suffering
00:06:32 A Life Story: From Carlstadt to Policing
00:13:39 The Purpose of Playing Sports
00:20:09 Life's Milestones and the Onset of Anxiety
00:26:27 Boat Explosion and Firefighter Rescue
00:28:00 Heart Attacks and Panic Attacks
00:30:46 Finding Peace and Support
00:32:28 Coping with Panic Attacks and Addiction
00:36:42 Overcoming Anxiety Through Therapy and Coaching
00:40:00 A Sister's Battle and a Brother's Promise
00:43:13 Coping with Loss and Re-emerging Anxiety
00:46:24 Battling Cancer and Anxiety

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