There was a moment during my conversation with Bianca Riemer on The Route to Success where I stopped thinking like a podcast host and started thinking like a student.
Not because the conversation was complicated.
Because it felt true.
Bianca is an executive coach, energy practitioner, and former top-ranked equity analyst who spent years working in one of the most analytical environments imaginable: investment banking. She built her career on numbers, data, forecasting, and logic. Yet after years of stress, burnout, and personal loss, she began exploring something many professionals still struggle to discuss openly: the connection between thoughts, energy, stress, and healing.
What followed was one of the most practical conversations I have ever had about mental clarity, emotional overload, and how small shifts in our thinking can dramatically impact our lives.
The truth is many of us are exhausted.
We wake up already overwhelmed.
We consume nonstop negativity.
We move from task to task without ever slowing down enough to process what we are carrying.
And over time, that stress settles somewhere.
For some people, it shows up as anxiety.
For others, digestive issues.
Sleep problems.
Brain fog.
Burnout.
Short tempers.
Isolation.
Constant mental noise.
Bianca explained something during our conversation that immediately resonated with me:
“Most adults never actually calm their nervous system.”
That hit hard.
Because many leaders, caregivers, entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, and professionals are functioning in survival mode while calling it productivity.
Bianca shared that during her years working in finance, she constantly dealt with physical symptoms from stress. Digestive problems. Pain. Exhaustion. Insomnia. Doctors repeatedly told her nothing was physically wrong, she was simply stressed.
So she began exploring alternative approaches:
• yoga
• meditation
• coaching
• breathwork
• energy healing
• mindfulness practices
What fascinated me most was how practical her perspective remained.
This was not about avoiding reality.
It was about changing how the body and mind respond to reality.
One of the strongest ideas from our conversation was this:
Your thoughts affect your performance.
Bianca shared a story from her time in banking about a high-performing employee who received negative feedback and immediately spiraled emotionally. The employee became so overwhelmed internally that even simple tasks became difficult.
That example matters because most of us have experienced this ourselves.
You walk into a meeting already discouraged.
You start your day anxious.
You replay criticism repeatedly.
You convince yourself you are failing.
And suddenly your focus, motivation, and confidence disappear.
Research supports this connection.
Studies from the American Psychological Association show chronic stress affects:
• memory
• decision-making
• concentration
• emotional regulation
• physical health
• workplace performance
Stress is not “just stress.”
It impacts the entire system.
Watch Your Internal Narrative:
For one day, pay attention to how you speak to yourself.
Notice phrases like:
• “I’m behind.”
• “I can’t handle this.”
• “Nothing is working.”
• “I always mess this up.”
Then interrupt the pattern.
Replace it with:
• “One step at a time.”
• “I can solve this.”
• “This is difficult, not impossible.”
• “I’m learning.”
This is not toxic positivity.
It is mental conditioning.
Your brain listens to the language you repeat most.
Another powerful part of the conversation centered around consumption.
Bianca said something simple but incredibly important:
“You are what you consume.”
Not just food.
Information.
Media.
Conversations.
Music.
Environment.
Social media.
Relationships.
That immediately connected to changes I have made in my own life.
I stopped constantly watching the news.
I intentionally changed my social media feeds.
I filled them with animals, books, education, aquariums, rescues, nature, and things that brought peace instead of chaos.
And honestly?
I felt lighter.
Many people underestimate how much negativity they absorb daily.
If you spend hours consuming:
• outrage
• fear
• conflict
• criticism
• panic
• hostility
your nervous system never fully settles.
Audit Your Inputs:
Take 15 minutes and ask:
• What content makes me anxious?
• What conversations drain me?
• What accounts leave me angry or discouraged?
• What environments make me feel heavy?
• What helps me feel calmer and clearer?
Then make one small change immediately.
Unfollow one account.
Turn off notifications.
Replace one podcast.
Take a walk without your phone.
Create one quiet space in your home.
Small changes matter more than dramatic overhauls.
One of the most practical techniques Bianca shared was deep abdominal breathing.
Simple.
Free.
Immediate.
She explained that most adults breathe incorrectly because stress causes tension in the body. Instead of breathing deeply into the abdomen, many people take shallow breaths into the upper chest.
This keeps the nervous system activated.
Her recommendation:
• Place one hand on your abdomen
• Slowly inhale so the stomach expands
• Slowly exhale
• Repeat six times
That’s it.
Research from Harvard Medical School shows slow diaphragmatic breathing can:
• lower cortisol
• reduce heart rate
• calm the nervous system
• improve focus
• decrease anxiety symptoms
Use the “Six Breath Reset”:
Before:
• difficult meetings
• stressful conversations
• presentations
• conflict
• decision-making
pause and take six deep abdominal breaths.
Not while multitasking.
Not while scrolling.
Just breathe.
Your body cannot stay in high-alert stress mode forever if you intentionally interrupt the cycle.
One of the most emotional parts of our conversation focused on forgiveness.
Not performative forgiveness.
Not excusing harmful behavior.
Internal forgiveness.
Bianca described forgiveness as releasing yourself from carrying anger that continues harming you long after the event has ended.
That resonated deeply with me.
Many people are carrying:
• resentment
• shame
• anger
• betrayal
• abandonment
• grief
And even when the situation is over, the body still carries the emotional weight.
Research increasingly supports this connection. Studies from Johns Hopkins Medicine suggest forgiveness practices may reduce:
• chronic stress
• anxiety
• depression
• blood pressure
• emotional distress
Write a Release Letter:
Write a private letter to someone who hurt you.
Include:
• what happened
• how it affected you
• what you wish had been different
• what you are choosing to release
Do not send it.
This is not for them.
It is for your nervous system.
Sometimes healing begins when the body finally stops carrying the same emotional story every day.
One of the most hopeful moments in our conversation happened when Bianca introduced me to Twin Hearts Meditation, a guided meditation practice focused on clearing emotional overwhelm and generating positive emotional energy.
As she described it, I noticed something happening in real time.
I was calming down.
And that realization mattered because so many people have forgotten what calm actually feels like.
We have normalized:
• overstimulation
• exhaustion
• constant noise
• emotional overload
• reactive living
Calm now feels unfamiliar.
Build a 20-Minute Reset Ritual:
Not a perfect routine.
Not an influencer routine.
A realistic one.
Examples:
• meditation
• stretching
• journaling
• walking outside
• reading
• breathwork
• prayer
• silence
• affirmations
• music without screens
The goal is not productivity.
The goal is regulation.
That distinction matters.
Toward the end of the conversation, Bianca said something I have continued thinking about:
“People don’t realize how much better they can feel.”
I think that is true.
Many people have lived in survival mode so long they think exhaustion is normal.
Stress is normal.
Mental chaos is normal.
Constant anxiety is normal.
It does not have to stay that way.
Healing is rarely one dramatic moment.
It is often a series of small choices repeated consistently:
• breathing differently
• thinking differently
• consuming differently
• speaking differently
• resting differently
• forgiving differently
• slowing down enough to hear yourself again
That is what I took away from this conversation.
Not perfection.
Not magical thinking.
Not avoiding reality.
Awareness.
And the understanding that small shifts inside us can create enormous shifts around us.
If you are overwhelmed right now, start smaller than you think.
Take one breath.
Turn off one source of negativity.
Speak kindly to yourself once.
Go outside.
Pause before reacting.
Choose one calming practice.
Give your nervous system a chance to recover.
You deserve peace, too.
Listen to part one of my conversation with Bianca Riemer on The Route to Success podcast. The episodes explore thoughts, energy, leadership, stress, forgiveness, meditation, and practical tools for emotional resilience and healing.
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