MAGICAL OVERTHINKERS

MAGICAL OVERTHINKERS

Overthinking about Confrontation

This week's Magical Overthinkers ep... a day early and ad-free!

Jan 20, 2026
∙ Paid

Why does speaking up feel so terrifying even when we know we’re right? This week, host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) is joined by happiness researcher and psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky (@sonjalyubomirsky) to overthink confrontation: why we avoid it, why we rehearse it endlessly in our heads, and why it so often feels riskier than staying silent. Together, they explore what confrontation does to our nervous systems, how fear of conflict gets tangled up with people pleasing and self worth, and when avoiding hard conversations actually costs us more in the long run. A gentle spiral about courage, communication, and learning to trust yourself enough to say the thing out loud.

Further Reading: How To Feel Loved by Sonja Lyubomirsky

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