Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
In this week’s episode of Everyday Better, Leah Smart sits down with psychotherapist and social worker Meg Josephson to explore the lesser-known "fawn" response — a survival instinct where people prioritize pleasing others to feel safe. While "fight," "flight," and "freeze" are commonly recognized, the "fawn" response often goes unnoticed, despite its profound impact on our relationships and sense of self.
Meg, author of Are You Mad at Me? How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You, shares insights into how fawning often leads us to abandon our own needs to keep the peace.
“Healing starts with awareness of it because this is such an unconscious pattern. Really what is happening is we're abandoning ourselves to keep the peace. We have to abandon ourselves in order to be hyper-attuned to what someone else is feeling or disconnected from, 'What do I want, and what do I think?' And it leads to this feeling of, 'Who am I? I don't even know what I want. I don't know what I think. I'm just a chameleon in all my relationships,” she explains.
Through a deeply compassionate lens, Meg and Leah explore how fawning shows up in everyday life—from overthinking social interactions to avoiding conflict— and how these patterns can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves.
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Are they mad at me?,” this episode will help you explore the root of those feelings and how to overcome them.
#linkedinnews #everydaybetter #Fawning #peoplepleasing #mentalhealth
00:00 - Meet Meg Josephson
01:53 - Fawn response and how does it affect us
04:36 - The origin of “Are You Mad at Me?”
07:12 - Breaking free from hypervigilance
10:21 - Difference between fawning and people-pleasing
12:29 - Fawn response is the most modern survival instinct
15:05 - The slow work of inner healing
17:12 - Facing conflict head-on
22:07 - You’re not for everyone - and that’s okay
24:54 - The role of guilt in people-pleasing
27:27 - Who do we become when we heal
29:02 - Final thought
In this week’s episode of Everyday Better, Leah Smart sits down with psychotherapist and social worker Meg Josephson to explore the lesser-known "fawn" response — a survival instinct where people prioritize pleasing others to feel safe. While "fight," "flight," and "freeze" are commonly recognized, the "fawn" response often goes unnoticed, despite its profound impact on our relationships and sense of self.
Meg, author of Are You Mad at Me? How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You, shares insights into how fawning often leads us to abandon our own needs to keep the peace.
“Healing starts with awareness of it because this is such an unconscious pattern. Really what is happening is we're abandoning ourselves to keep the peace. We have to abandon ourselves in order to be hyper-attuned to what someone else is feeling or disconnected from, 'What do I want, and what do I think?' And it leads to this feeling of, 'Who am I? I don't even know what I want. I don't know what I think. I'm just a chameleon in all my relationships,” she explains.
Through a deeply compassionate lens, Meg and Leah explore how fawning shows up in everyday life—from overthinking social interactions to avoiding conflict— and how these patterns can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves.
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Are they mad at me?,” this episode will help you explore the root of those feelings and how to overcome them.
#linkedinnews #everydaybetter #Fawning #peoplepleasing #mentalhealth
00:00 - Meet Meg Josephson
01:53 - Fawn response and how does it affect us
04:36 - The origin of “Are You Mad at Me?”
07:12 - Breaking free from hypervigilance
10:21 - Difference between fawning and people-pleasing
12:29 - Fawn response is the most modern survival instinct
15:05 - The slow work of inner healing
17:12 - Facing conflict head-on
22:07 - You’re not for everyone - and that’s okay
24:54 - The role of guilt in people-pleasing
27:27 - Who do we become when we heal
29:02 - Final thought
