192: The Stories We Tell Ourselves & The Meanings We Create: Separating Fact from Fiction

Send us a text

Story Telling & The Meanings We Create: Separating Fact from Fiction

What if the thing that's actually upsetting you isn't what happened... but the story your mind is telling about it?

For highly sensitive people, it can feel like tone, facial expressions, silence, or subtle shifts in energy cause our emotions. But this isn't the case. In this episode, MaryAnn Walker shares one of the most freeing concepts you can learn as a recovering people-pleaser: circumstances are neutral until we assign meaning to them—and that meaning is optional.

You’ll learn how to stop emotionally reacting to imagined stories, reclaim your power, and respond to life (and relationships) with more clarity, peace, and confidence.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why circumstances are always neutral—and how thoughts create emotional pain
• How highly sensitive people become conditioned to over-interpret tone, silence, and microexpressions
• The crucial difference between facts vs. stories (and why your brain loves filling in the gaps)
• Real-life examples including:
  • A partner not texting back
  • A friend canceling plans
  • A mother-in-law’s holiday comment
  • Divorce and relationship transitions
• How confirmation bias reinforces anxiety, guilt, and people-pleasing patterns
• A powerful two-highlighter exercise to separate truth from interpretation
• Why it’s not your job to intuit what others are thinking or feeling
• How letting go of story can reduce anxiety and create more trust in relationships

Work With Me

If you’re tired of your mind creating anxiety, guilt, or emotional exhaustion—and you’re ready to feel calmer, clearer, and more grounded in your relationships—I would love to support you.

This is one of my favorite things to do in coaching: helping highly sensitive people untangle thoughts from circumstances so they can choose stories that actually support their well-being.

✨ Wanting to start the New Year off with support?  Click here to apply now! https://maryannwalker.life/contact-me

Don’t Forget to Subscribe

If this episode resonated with you, make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss future conversations on emotional regulation, boundaries, anxiety relief, and healing people-pleasing patterns.

New episodes are released regularly, and subscribing ensures they show up automatically in your feed.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Explore 1:1 Coaching for Highly Sensitive People & Recovering People-Pleasers https://maryannwalker.life/contact-me

More Episodes to Explore: 

• Facts vs Stories https://www.buzzsprout.com/2028767/episodes/11068994
• Boundaries vs Manuals: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2028767/episodes/11236956
• Holiday Manuals: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2028767/episodes/11604245

💛 You deserve to take up space—even in your own mind.