Modern culture is obsessed with linear progress. More growth, more productivity, more optimization, more forward motion. But reality is cyclical. And when you try to live by a linear model in a cyclical world, you burn out, abandon things too early, and lose meaning.

In this episode, Jenna Marilyn explores how the pressure to always improve, pivot, and reinvent teaches us to leave instead of stay. To quit instead of tend. To chase what’s next instead of commit to what’s already here. She breaks down why repetition, routine, and returning have been quietly devalued, and how that disconnection from natural cycles shows up as exhaustion and confusion.

Wisdom lives in staying. In returning. In tending to relationships, practices, and seasons long enough for depth to form. Meaning is not created by novelty or constant escalation. It is built through commitment, attention, and participation over time.

Follow Jenna on Instagram: @jennamarilyn_

Email thoughts or reflections to: jenna.andrix@gmail.com

Host: Jenna Marilyn

Producer: JD Ferrell

Presented by: THE Modern Podcast Network and ThemodernHQ.com

In this episode, Jenna Marilyn explores why so many people feel stuck in cycles they genuinely want to escape. Scrolling, sugar, overconsumption, late nights, compulsive habits. And why it is not because they are lazy, weak, or lacking willpower.

Drawing from personal experience and addiction neuroscience, Jenna reframes discipline entirely. The real problem is not motivation. It is negotiation. When high-dopamine options stay available, the nervous system is wired to lose the debate every time. This episode explores why removing choice creates relief, how environment beats willpower, and why fewer decisions can feel like freedom instead of restriction.

If you are tired of arguing with yourself, breaking promises you meant to keep, or carrying quiet shame about habits you thought you would have outgrown, this episode offers a different approach. You do not need to fight yourself. You need to set yourself up. Freedom is not self-control. It is fewer choices.

Follow Jenna on Instagram: @jennamarilyn_

Email thoughts or reflections to: jenna.andrix@gmail.com

Host: Jenna Marilyn

Producer: JD Ferrell

Presented by: THE Modern Podcast Network and Themodern.fm

In this episode, Jenna Marilyn explores a metaphor that completely reframed the way she sees effort, failure, and what actually builds a meaningful life. Some people only respect $100 bills. Others pick up pennies. And those two people are relating to life in fundamentally different ways.

This conversation isn’t about money. It’s about energy. About who’s willing to stay impressed by the small, unglamorous moments that make up real growth. Jenna unpacks why failure isn’t rare or shameful, why avoidance is what actually keeps people stuck, and how the way you treat “small things” reveals how you handle the big ones too.

A meaningful life isn’t built by waiting for certainty or impressive outcomes. It’s built by responding to what’s in front of you, learning as you go, and choosing the kind of struggle that moves your story forward. Pick up the pennies or don’t. Either way, life keeps asking.

Follow Jenna on Instagram: @jennamarilyn_

Email thoughts or reflections to: jenna.andrix@gmail.com

Host: Jenna Marilyn

Producer: JD Ferrell

Presented by: THE Modern Podcast Network and Themodern.fm