Notes on Quotes #15: Anxiety Expert Kathleen Smith
Welcome to Notes on Quotes, an interview series in which Stephen Harrison chats with interesting people about a quote that’s meaningful to them.
Dr. Kathleen Smith, Ph.D., LPC is a therapist and the author of the book Everything Isn’t Terrible: Conquer Your Insecurities, Interrupt Your Anxieties, and Finally Calm Down. Her mental health writing provides smart, practical tools to help in these anxiety-ridden times. Smith writes a free anxiety newsletter, The Anxious Overachiever, which Slate’s Shannon Palus described as “hanging out with a friend who cares about your problems too.”
This print interview has been condensed and edited. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.
Stephen Harrison: So what quote are we chatting about today?
Kathleen Smith: My quote is from Viktor Frankl, who was a psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor. He wrote a book that is still very popular today called Man’s Search for Meaning. And the quote is:
