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‘Modern Love’: How to Stop Asking ‘Are You Mad at Me?’

‘Modern Love’: How to Stop Asking ‘Are You Mad at Me?’

The Daily vor 1 Jahr

0:00

45:00

“Am I in trouble?” “Am I secretly bad?” These are questions Meg
Josephson, a therapist and author, grew up asking herself. She
was constantly trying to anticipate other people’s needs, worried
that she was letting other people down. And it wasn’t until she
found herself standing in the aisle of a Bed Bath & Beyond,
trying to remember her favorite color, that she realized her
desire to please everyone was eroding her sense of self.

On this episode of Modern Love, Josephson talks about how that
realization led her to confront her tumultuous childhood, and
what it took to stop “people pleasing.” She then reads the Modern
Love essay “My Three Years as a Beloved Daughter” by Erin Brown,
about a woman who found a type of love in her best friend’s
parents that she had never experienced before, and what that
taught her about her own parents.

Josephson’s book, “Are You Mad At Me?,” is available Aug. 5,
2025.

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