In this episode of The Wrong Ones, we dive into a truth that most women carry quietly: the tension between what we genuinely want, what we think we're supposed to want, and what our minds protect us from wanting at all. This conversation begins in therapy—naturally—where a single sentence cracked open an entire internal universe: "Sometimes I feel like maybe I don't even want marriage or kids… because if I did, wouldn't I have them by now?"

What unfolds from that moment is a deeply human exploration of ambivalence, desire, fear, self-protection, and the emotional calculus women are forced to do in a world obsessed with timelines. We explore why turning 35 feels like a psychological checkpoint, why wanting something can feel more vulnerable than not wanting it, and how often women confuse self-protection with clarity. Because sometimes the narratives we build around "I don't want that" are trauma responses with really good PR.

Through personal storytelling and psychology-backed insight, this episode unpacks the cultural scripts around marriage and motherhood, the nervous system's relationship to desire, and the quiet inner work of learning to tell the difference between genuine preference and fear-sized avoidance. Because when you finally slow down enough to separate the two, your entire relationship to your future shifts.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why women often say "I don't want that" when the truth is "wanting it feels too vulnerable"

• Ambivalence as an emotionally intelligent state—not confusion, not avoidance, but honest internal conflict

• How turning 35 triggers identity audits, timeline reevaluations, and the emotional detangling of inherited expectations

• The nervous system's role in desire: why wanting something exposes you to the possibility of loss, and how your brain tries to protect you

• The difference between self-protection and self-awareness—and how to tell which one is speaking

• Sparkle Megan, Love Is Blind, and why lifestyle compatibility is as important as emotional compatibility

• Outgrowing the life you thought you'd have at 25 and learning to choose the life that actually fits you at 35

• Why high standards lead to "late" marriages (and why that's not late—it's aligned)

• How childhood messages about love, safety, and identity shape adult desire

• The psychology of timelines: why most anxiety around partnership and motherhood comes from absorbing other people's fears

• The liberation of neutrality: "If it happens, beautiful. If it doesn't, my life is still beautiful."

Resources Mentioned:

• Ambivalence & Emotional Complexity (Larsen et al., mixed-emotion theory)

• Self-Protection & Threat Response (nervous system avoidance patterns)

• Attachment & Desire (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007; how past experiences shape current wants)

• Identity Development Across Adulthood (Erikson; midlife identity reevaluation)

• Social Clocks & Timeline Pressure (Neugarten; culturally conditioned milestones)

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