Banish the Lies: Outsmart Your Inner Critic

 When your mind jumps to what’s wrong or what’s coming next, this simple out-loud practice can interrupt the anxiety spiral and bring you back to what’s right in front of you. 

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Have you ever overreacted and wondered why your reaction felt so strong?

In this episode, Tania shares a real parenting moment and explores what’s really happening beneath emotional triggers and overreactions.

If you’ve ever asked yourself “why do I overreact?” or noticed that certain situations bring out a stronger response than expected, this conversation will help you understand why.

You’ll explore how past experiences and early patterns can shape present-day reactions, and how to approach those moments with more self-awareness and compassion.

Whether your triggers show up in parenting...

Anxiety often shows up as a stream of questions:
What if this goes badly? What will people think? What if I mess up?

In this Monday Moment, Tania shares a simple shift that can interrupt the anxiety loop. Instead of trying to force positive thinking, try asking a curiosity question. Engaging the creative part of the brain can shift attention away from threat and toward possibility.

Sometimes one small question can change the direction your mind starts looking.

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Have you ever believed you needed to be fully healed before you were allowed to help anyone else?

In this deeply moving conversation, Tania sits down with somatic healing practitioner and former professional dancer Dawn Christensen to explore the belief that we must be fully healed, fully polished, fully “there” before we are worthy of showing up.

Dawn shares her journey from ballet and performance to surviving a near-fatal car accident at 19 and navigating decades of complex chronic illness, including Ehlers-Danlos and POTS. Through profound stillness, spiritual awakening, and creative expression, she came to understand some...

What if meaningful change didn’t come from fixing yourself, but from being just 5% kinder to yourself today?

In this Monday Moment, Tania reflects on how small shifts in self-compassion can soften the voice of the inner critic and change the tone of your day.

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Have you ever said something vulnerable… and then immediately started questioning it?

Was that too much?
Did I sound preachy?
Did I overstep?

In this episode, Tania shares a real moment that revealed what she now calls the strange addiction of self-criticism.

Why does the mind instantly start tearing us down after we say something honest or vulnerable? And why does that spiral of analysis feel so compelling, even when it doesn’t actually help?

If you’ve ever replayed a conversation in your head hours later, wondering how you mi...

In this Monday Moment, Tania explores the habit of mentally scanning for flaws, even after showing up with presence and care. A reflection on self-doubt, high standards, and the quiet shift from disqualifying your value to recognizing what actually works. 

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Ever catch yourself in an old pattern and think, how did I end up back here?

In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania shares a moment from a few years ago that caught her completely off guard. The night before speaking at a conference, she found herself slipping into a binge eating pattern she thought she had left behind nearly twenty years earlier.

At the time, it felt like proof that something was wrong.

Looking back, she sees that moment differently.

In this conversation, Tania talks about what can sit...

What if being the steady one doesn’t mean you have to be unshakable? In this Monday Moment, I share a shaky morning, the imposter voice that followed, and a gentle reminder that even the anchors need support. 

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In this deeply personal episode, Tania shares an emotional hospital visit with a teenager struggling with an eating disorder and reflects on how her own recovery shaped the conversation. On a day marked by anxiety and insomnia, showing up in service shifted everything. This episode explores eating disorder recovery, mental health, healing, and how our hardest seasons can become the very thing that equips us to support others. 

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In this Monday Moment, Tania explores how the real pain often comes not from what happens, but from the story we tell about it. After a small misstep triggered a spiral of self-criticism, she began questioning the narrative that followed.

From job loss to critical feedback to everyday frustrations, the story we layer on top can shape our stress response and our next move. What if there’s another interpretation available, one that’s honest but less punishing?

A brief reflection on self-talk, emotional resilience, and choosing a healthier narrative.

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In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania reflects on a moment many of us know well, realizing that a deadline, a push, or a sense of pressure is entirely self-imposed.

As the planned podcast launch date approached, old patterns surfaced. Insomnia, anxiety, and the familiar urge to push harder at all costs. What started as a logistical decision about timing quickly revealed something deeper: an identity shaped by productivity, discipline, and the belief that stopping means failing.

Tania explores the discomfort that arises when we loosen our grip on deadlines, adjust a plan, or...

In this Monday Moment, Tania reflects on the inner critic that often appears right after we follow inspiration. When we share something vulnerable or try something new, self-doubt can get loud. But what if the critic doesn’t get the final say? A short reflection on creativity, courage, and trusting the spark instead of letting fear and perfectionism run the show.

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In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania shares a quiet reflection recorded from bed while recovering from illness, a moment that forced her to stop when her body made the decision for her.

As she reflects on the days leading up to getting sick, Tania explores a powerful metaphor about “wattage” and how it’s often not the tasks themselves that exhaust us, but the stories we tell about them. Through a personal example involving stress, uncertainty, and the need for control, she reveals how fear-based narratives can quietly drain our energy and push us past what o...

In this Monday Moment, Tania explores limiting beliefs and the old inner voice that can resurface when we try something new. Even after doing inner work, those beliefs don’t always disappear. They often get louder when we step outside our comfort zone.

Tania reflects on self-doubt, emotional triggers, and how awareness held with compassion can begin to loosen the grip of old patterns. A gentle invitation to notice which belief might still think it’s in charge.

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Have you ever wondered why, even after doing so much inner work, the same patterns keep showing up? Why insight alone doesn’t seem to set you free?

In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania explores the idea that what we often call “being stuck” may actually be loyalty, loyalty to an old identity that once helped us feel safe, accepted, or worthy. She unpacks how identities formed around achievement, caretaking, pleasing, or staying invisible can quietly continue running the show, even when we consciously want something different.

Tania shares how these identities often begin...

When fear shows up as “what if” thinking, it often sounds like realism. But more often, it’s just worry on repeat.

In this Monday Moment, Tania reflects on how constantly rehearsing worst-case scenarios shapes expectations, keeps the nervous system on high alert, and quietly drains mental energy. She invites listeners to notice their own “what if” patterns and experiment with more generous, hopeful expectations instead.

This episode offers a simple, compassionate reminder that we don’t have to rehearse fear to stay prepared, and that imagining kinder outcomes can change how we move through the day.

A pair of sneakers becomes an unexpected window into perfectionism, overthinking, and the quiet ways people drain their own energy trying to get things “just right.”

In this episode, Tania shares a real, slightly humorous moment of noticing herself slip back into old perfectionistic habits, from second-guessing small purchases to replaying decisions long after they no longer matter. She reflects on how perfectionism often begins as a way to stay safe, how it can show up in both big life choices and everyday decisions, and why waiting for the “perfect” answer rarely brings peace.

This conversa...

Perfectionism often looks like having high standards, but more often it’s a way of trying to stay in control. And that quiet need for control can keep people stuck longer than they realize.

In this Monday Moment, Tania shares a simple idea that’s helped her break free from overthinking and waiting for certainty. She reflects on why motivation and confidence don’t come from having the full plan, but from taking action, even when the step feels messy or incomplete. This episode is a gentle nudge for anyone who’s been delaying something meaningful while waiting...

What if “I’m not athletic” isn’t a fact, but a story you picked up early and never questioned again?

In this episode, I’m joined by Sue Skelly, founder of Women Who Walk the World, where she leads women on long-distance pilgrimages like the Camino de Santiago. Sue grew up believing she wasn’t athletic, the kid who dreaded gym class and got picked last. And yet she later walked 500 miles across Spain, and now guides other women to do the same.

We talk about how identity gets formed, how it quiet...

In today’s Monday Moment, Tania does something a little different.

She shares a children’s story that made this adult pause and reflect.

When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left by Marc Colagiovanni, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, tells a simple, playful story about setting down worries, doubts, fears, and frustrations — and choosing a different direction when the inner voice insists the “responsible” thing to do is brace, worry, or stay alert.

As Tania reads this story, she reflects on how often the inner critic convinces us that focusing on what could go wro...

The day her podcast launched, Tania expected to feel something big. Pride. Relief. Excitement.
Instead, she moved right past it and went straight to her to-do list.

In this episode, Tania explores a pattern many of us fall into without realizing it: postponing celebration, satisfaction, and presence until some future moment that keeps moving further away.

Through a very real launch-day story, a slammed car door, and a surprisingly revealing question from her sister, she looks at how the inner critic often disguises itself as being practical, humble, or disciplined, and how...

A Monday Moment is a short pause at the start of the week.
In this episode, Tania reflects on the difference between gratitude and appreciation, and how moving beyond mental checklists into sensory awareness can shift how your day unfolds. It’s a reminder to slow down, notice what's already present, and anchor into the day before momentum takes over.

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In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania shares a candid moment where a simple conversation triggers an old pattern of self-doubt, perfectionism, and the urge to hand her truth over to others.

What begins as feedback about a podcast name unfolds into a deeper reflection on how easily people abandon themselves when approval feels safer than trust. Tania explores the subtle ways self-doubt shows up, why crowdsourcing decisions can feel comforting in the short term, and the hidden cost of constantly seeking validation.

The episode looks at how perfectionism and people-pleasing quietly erode self-trust...

When you decide to step into something new, a new role, a new level of visibility, a more expansive version of yourself, the inner critic often gets louder, not quieter.

In this episode of Banish the Lies, Tania explores why those familiar doubts tend to surface precisely when you’re growing. She shares personal reflections on launching the podcast, the resurgence of old fears, and why the return of self-doubt isn’t a sign of failure, but a sign that you’re stretching beyond your comfort zone.

You’ll learn how many of the beliefs that hol...

In this short, unfiltered episode, Tania reflects on what happened after recording the first episode of Banish the Lies.

What began as excitement and pride quickly gave way to self-doubt when feedback started rolling in, even thoughtful, well-intended feedback. This episode explores the emotional whiplash that can follow creative vulnerability, what Tania calls a “vulnerability hangover.”

She shares how easily the inner critic can steal joy, pull focus toward fixing and pleasing, and tempt us to define our worth by other people’s opinions. Through real-time reflection, Tania names the fragile edge between trusting joy and sp...

In the first episode of Banish the Lies, Tania Cervoni shares the story behind the podcast and the moment she realized how much “playing it safe” was quietly shrinking her life.

What begins as a reflection on perfectionism and self-criticism unfolds into a deeper exploration of how the inner critic disguises itself as protection, productivity, and ambition. Tania traces the roots of these patterns, from early childhood moments to years of striving, burnout, and self-betrayal that looked like success from the outside.

This episode is for anyone who feels stuck on the hamster wheel of doin...

Welcome to Banish the Lies.

This short trailer introduces the heart of the podcast and what you can expect in upcoming episodes.

New episodes begin January 11.

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