Anxiety can make us seek connection in ways that actually make connection harder.

Sometimes it looks like needing reassurance over and over. Sometimes it looks like hiding in the bathroom at a party, staying busy so you don’t have to mingle, performing so everyone likes you, comparing yourself to everyone in the room, or explaining yourself because you’re afraid someone will misunderstand you.

In Part 2 of this Simply 1% conversation, Meredith and Wendolyn continue exploring the different “costumes” anxiety can wear.

They talk about:

-reassurance-seeking and the fear of disconnection

-avoidance and the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing

-staying busy or helpful so you don’t have to feel awkward

-performing and trying to be “on” all the time

-comparison and wondering whether you really belong

-over-explaining because you want to control how someone sees you

-why the same person can move between several of these patterns in one situation

The point isn’t to label these behaviors as good or bad.

It’s to notice what may be happening underneath them.

Anxiety does not always look like panic.

Sometimes it looks like criticism. Sometimes it looks like people-pleasing, control, over-explaining, shutting down, avoidance, or trying to manage how other people see you.

In this episode of Simply 1%, Meredith and Wendolyn continue their anxiety series by exploring the less obvious ways anxiety shows up in everyday life and relationships.

Using the idea of a very dysfunctional “costume party,” they look at what might be underneath the critic, the people-pleaser, the controller, and the over-explainer.

Why do some people criticize before they can be judged? Why do people-pleasers work so hard to prevent disconnection? Why does over-explaining sometimes come from the fear of being misunderstood, disliked, or seen the wrong way? And what happens when an old voice from your past is still narrating how you behave today?

This week’s 1% shift:

Notice the costume before you judge the behavior.

Ask yourself:

What am I doing?
What am I afraid of underneath it?
What am I trying to protect?
Is this response actually helping me connect?

Sometimes anxiety does not look nervous.

Sometimes it walks into the room dressed as something else

Control is often fear trying to create safety.

Have you ever needed someone to respond right now, say it the right way, text back correctly, calm down quickly, make a decision, or do something your way so you could finally feel okay?

In this episode of Simply 1%, Meredith and Wendolyn continue the anxiety series by talking about how anxiety can show up as control in relationships.

Sometimes control looks like micromanaging. Sometimes it looks like needing the conversation now. Sometimes it looks like reading into someone’s tone, spiraling over a text, assuming “if they loved me, they would know,” or trying to manage the outcome so you do not have to sit in uncertainty.

But control is not always about power. Sometimes it is fear trying to create safety.

Meredith and Wendolyn talk about micromanaging, timing, emotional safety, anxious and avoidant patterns, text-message spirals, “we need to talk,” resentment, repair, and how to tell the difference between a reasonable request and anxiety trying to run the relationship.

This week’s 1% shift: before you try to control the moment, ask yourself:

Is this moving us toward connection or away from it?

Have you ever reacted to something and later thought, “Why did that feel so big?”

In this episode of Simply 1%, Meredith and Wendolyn talk about activation — what happens in your body after anxiety’s alarm goes off. Through stories about a wooden spoon that looked like a snake, cockroaches, embarrassment, car accidents, guilt, and safe people, they explore how old fear can show up in a new moment.

Sometimes your body is not just reacting to what happened — it is reacting to what the moment reminds you of.

This week’s 1% shift: assess it before you obey it.

Why do some couples still genuinely like each other after years together?

In this episode of Simply 1%, Meredith sits down with Wendolyn and Joe for a funny, honest, and meaningful conversation about marriage, curiosity, anxiety, humor, roles, family culture, and what it looks like to stay on the same team.

Through questions about warning labels, weather patterns, Goodwill runs, roaches, old-man jeans, postpartum anxiety, love languages, carrots, trash TV, and building fences, Wendolyn and Joe show what it can look like to keep learning your person over time.

This conversation is not about having a perfect relationship. It is about staying curious, being teachable, knowing each other’s strengths, using humor without contempt, maintaining connection before something breaks, and choosing the culture of your home instead of simply repeating the culture you came from.

This week’s 1% shift: ask someone you love one question that helps you know them better — not because you don’t know them, but because connection needs maintenance.

Have you ever wondered if your anxiety is protecting you — or keeping you from actually living?

In this episode of Simply 1%, Meredith and Wendolyn talk about anxiety, what it is, what it is not, and why it sometimes serves an important purpose. Anxiety can be a signal to pause, prepare, pay attention, or practice discernment. But when fear starts making the decisions, it can keep us frozen, avoidant, and disconnected from the life we actually want to experience.

Through stories about parenting, safety, intrusive thoughts, cockroaches, trauma, control, and learning to “do dangerous things carefully,” Meredith and Wendolyn explore the difference between helpful anxiety and anxiety that has taken over.

They also talk about what it looks like to support someone in high anxiety without minimizing, rushing, or trying to fix their feelings too quickly.

This week’s 1% shift: the next time you feel anxious, ask yourself, “What kind of anxiety is this?” Is it asking you to prepare, discern, pay attention, get support, build a skill, or work through something deeper?

Anxiety is an alarm for assessment — not an alarm for a decision.

You can convince yourself of almost anything.

That a relationship will change. That everyone is looking at you. That you cannot do something. That you can afford something you absolutely cannot afford. Or that something someone said years ago still defines who you are today.

Meredith and Wendolyn are back together this week to talk about the stories we create, repeat, and eventually start treating like facts.

Sometimes those stories protect us. Sometimes they help us avoid something uncomfortable. Sometimes they justify what we already want. And sometimes they actually motivate us to move toward something better.

The question is not simply, “Is this true?”

It is also: Why do I need this to be true? What am I afraid of? And how is this story serving me?

Along the way, there are murderous Cabbage Patch dolls, expensive nachos, questionable childhood decisions, relationship reality checks, and possibly the first recorded use of the phrase “ball sack mentality.”

Your 1% this week: Notice one thing you have been telling yourself repeatedly and ask whether it is actually true—or simply a story you have gotten very good at believing.

Sometimes the “no” you did not want was actually protecting you.

In this solo episode of Simply 1%, Wendolyn explores why no is not always rejection, punishment, or deprivation. Sometimes it is a boundary. Sometimes it is timing. Sometimes it is protection from something that would not have been good for us in the first place.

Through stories about rest, friendship, parenting, money, relationships, discipline, and one unforgettable high-school crush, Wendolyn reflects on the value of learning to hear no, say no, and sometimes tell ourselves not yet.

She also shares why discipline can create freedom, why getting everything we want does not always build gratitude, and how looking back can reveal that some of the biggest disappointments in our lives were actually gifts.

This episode is a reminder that wanting something does not automatically mean it is right for us.

Your 1% practice this week:

Where in your life have you been saying yes when no—or not yet—may actually be what you need?

And where might a past no have protected you more than you realized?

Have you ever tried to bring up a concern, only to end up defending yourself, debating what happened, or arguing about something from seven years ago?

In this solo episode, Meredith explores why two people can experience the exact same moment and walk away with completely different interpretations. The problem is not always that one person is right and the other is wrong. Often, each person is working with a different angle, different information, and a different emotional experience.

Meredith introduces REPAIR, a six-step framework for having difficult conversations with more honesty, clarity, and care:

Recognize the person or their perspective.
Explain your concern clearly.
Put words to the emotion.
Acknowledge the part that belongs to you.
Invite the other person into a clear next step.
Reinforce the value of the person, relationship, or conversation.

The goal of a meaningful conversation is not to control the outcome or force someone to agree with you. It is to create the best possible conditions for both people to speak honestly, listen openly, understand each other more accurately, and decide what happens next.

Your 1% practice this week: Choose one concern you have been avoiding and write out your REPAIR before you begin the conversation.

What if gratitude isn't something you feel... but something you practice?

This conversation starts with air conditioning, Alaska, summer heat, and everyday frustrations. Somewhere along the way, it turns into something much deeper.

Meredith and Wendolyn explore why we often overlook the people, moments, and ordinary comforts that quietly shape our lives until they're gone. Through stories about family, childhood, relationships, travel, and even the invention of air conditioning, they unpack how gratitude isn't about pretending life is perfect—it's about learning to notice what's already good.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why we naturally take the best parts of life for granted
• How gratitude changes your perspective without changing your circumstances
• Why being specific with appreciation strengthens relationships
• The connection between gratitude, resilience, and emotional health
• How humor, forgiveness, and perspective can exist alongside pain
• Simple ways to practice gratitude without forcing positivity

This isn't a conversation about ignoring what's hard. It's about recognizing that even in difficult seasons, there is almost always something worth noticing.

Life is hard. We make it simple. One percent at a time.