As summer heat turns to falling leaves, everyone wants to snuggle up with that special someone... or settle for their situationship.

Despite our best efforts, some of us have a hard time being single... so this episode digs into what it really means to know yourself before you bring someone else into the picture.

We also explore why insane chemistry can still lead you straight into the wrong relationship, and how to tell the difference between attention and real intention.

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Six years ago I moved to Nashville a certified mess, searching for... something. What exactly? That was unclear.

Today, still a mess, but a self-aware one who's been through it. From functional depression to friendship breakups and lots of flight miles racked up, no one can say I haven't lived life in my 20s.

I may have lost my spark not once, but a few times... but each time I've found it again has taught me something new about who I am.

The girl who moved to Nashville is definitely not the woman in this episode, but I love them both equally.

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I took a 3-week hiatus and came back with thoughts.

This week I'm unpacking what it actually means to reconnect with your past self. Then we get into the men: guys I dated have resurfaced like clockwork, richer and hairier, but somehow still emotionally allergic to commitment

We'll talk about why certainty and clarity are not the same thing even though your anxious brain desperately wants them to be, featuring: my council of c*nts (my thoughts, not my friends).

All this & more this week on Not the Girl Next Door Podcast

Diva Down? Diva Disappeared? Diva a little depressed?

3 weeks since the last episode, and host Meg Reynolds is officially back from her unofficial hiatus.

This week, she opens up about everything that's happened since she stepped away- where she's been, what prompted the break, and how she's finding her footing again.

It's a candid, grounded update for not just herself, but for anyone listening who may be struggling with their mind body connection.

Everyone acts like being a lovergirl is a flaw: too soft, too much, too easy to hurt... I disagree.

In this episode I'm getting real about my own love story (the highs, the heartbreak, the lessons), what betrayal trauma actually did to me and how I'm healing from it, and why loving hard is a superpower, not a weakness.

If you've ever been told you love "too much," this one's for you.

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Half the year is already gone, and if you're spiraling about every resolution you've let slide, well me too.The good news is it's not too late, it's never too late.In this episode, we talk about why you are so much more than your worst moment, your biggest mistake, or the one thing you're most afraid defines you. We get into reframing how we measure time, discuss wanting a hundred different lives VS actually building one of them, and why your 5-year plan keeps blowing up every couple of years (mine has, three times now).So grab your journal, look in the mirror, and get ready for some more tough love.

Director and writer Ann Marie Allison turned the most painful, confusing relationship of her life into a film- You're Dating a Narcissist , and a companion book bringing the protagonist Dr. Judy Kaplan to life.

This isn't loosely inspired by her experience. It's fictionalized, yes, but it's hers. Every messy, disorienting, "wait was that actually abuse?" piece of it.

We talk about what it took to will something like that into existence while also reliving the very thing that almost broke her.

I came in to interview her about her work and left feeling like I'd been in a therapy session about my own past relationship. We talk about the slow drip of narcissistic abuse, how you don't see the cage until you're already in it, and she actually gave me real insight into my own experiences.

This episode is going to feel like it was made for you. Because in a way, it was.

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All things on "You're Dating a Narcissist"

So your friend is dating a loser... now what? You already thought of someone the second you read that. So let's talk about it.

In this episode, we're getting into one of the most uncomfortable dynamics in female friendship: watching someone you love choose a man who isn't choosing her back.

There's a whole spectrum here: from the harmless guy who never grew up, all the way to the man who's never laid a hand on her but has completely dismantled who she is. Knowing the difference matters, and so does how you show up for her.

We're also going somewhere a little more uncomfortable: what happens when your friend isn't the victim in her relationship story? What happens when she's the loser? (Yes, we're going there).

If you've ever lost a friend to a man, been that friend, or just need someone to tell you the truth about modern love, this one's for you.

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This week, we're talking about why we stay at the restaurant.

From the ghosts of situationships past to the very public unraveling happening on Summer House, this episode gets into the real reason we can't let certain people go... and spoiler alert!- it has nothing to do with how special they are. 

We break down why moving on is quieter than you think, why time alone doesn't heal anything, and what it actually looks like to finally leave. Plus, a letter-writing exercise that might be the closure you've been waiting for, because the check already came... you just haven't picked it up yet.

We're also getting into lessons I've learned after six years of being single and what it's actually taught me about connection, community, and finally stopping the waiting room mentality.

This one is for anyone who's still checking the menu of someone who's already changed.

You were taught that being good would keep you safe — that if you were kind enough, agreeable enough, and easy enough to love, nothing bad would come your way. But what if that belief is exactly what's been holding you back?

In this episode, we're unpacking the Good Girl Wound: the exhausting cycle of over-giving, people-pleasing, and abandoning yourself to keep everyone else comfortable.

We get into empathy burnout, fawning, why setting boundaries for the first time makes you feel like the villain, and the difference between healing and hardening.

If you've ever poured so much into others that you forgot to save anything for yourself, hit the play button.

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