Cultivating Resilience With Dan Ariely
From The Anxious Achiever by Morra Aarons-Mele
May 14, 2026 · 43 min · Episode 320
About this episode
Morra Aarons-Mele discusses resilience and anxiety with behavioral economist Dan Ariely, exploring the impact of stress and uncertainty on mental health.
What happens when stress, uncertainty, and lack of control start to take over your brain? In this episode, I sit down with renowned behavioral economist Dan Ariely to talk about resilience, learned helplessness, anxiety, and why so many people feel overwhelmed right now. Dan shares how surviving severe burns, years in the hospital, and later facing conspiracy theories and death threats shaped his understanding of stress, resilience, and human behavior. We also dive into why uncertainty at work feels so psychologically destabilizing, how scarcity and anxiety reduce our mental capacity, why humans look for villains during stressful times, and what actually helps us build resilience. Tune in to learn ways to regain agency when life feels chaotic. Check out our sponsors: Shopify - Sign up for a $1 per month trial, just go to shopify.com/anxiousachiever Chime - Head to chime.com/achiever to sign up Quince - Head to quince.com/ACHIEVER for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns Monarch - Use code ACHIEVER at monarch.com to get 50% off your first year Physician’s Choice - Use code PCPODCAST10 at physicianschoice.com to get 10% off your entire order In this Episode, You Will…
People in this episode
Host: Morra Aarons-Mele
Guest: Dan Ariely
Topics covered
- resilience
- anxiety
- mental health
- behavioral economics
- workplace uncertainty
- learned helplessness
Keywords
- resilience
- anxiety
- stress
- mental health
- behavioral economics
- learned helplessness
- workplace uncertainty
Sponsors
Shopify, Chime, Quince, Monarch, Physician’s Choice
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