TMB66 - Dr. Gary Sprouse - Planning Without Panic: The Side Effects of Being Human

After nearly four decades in primary care, Dr. Gary Sprouse didn’t walk away from healing—he just changed the direction. In this conversation, we explore what happens when we stop treating stress like an enemy and start seeing it as the natural side effect of our most human gifts.

Gary's book Highway to Your Happy Place offers tools like the Worry Organizer and models like Stratosphere to help rewire fear, reclaim calm, and reframe how we understand our struggles. We dig deep into the idea that skills like envisioning the future and forming identities come with powerful side effects—worry, regret, overwhelm—and how we can keep the gift while shedding the weight.

We talk about aging, self-worth, Buddhism, Confucianism, parenting, and the ultimate future we all face—death. I also share a bit about my own project, “How to Live for the Death You Hope to Have,” and how imagining an ideal death can become a surprisingly powerful way to live fully in the present.

If stress has ever made you question your purpose, your potential, or your peace of mind, this episode is a hand reaching back from solid ground.