Zach sits down with Evan Marc Katz, a dating coach for smart, successful women, and his wife Bridget. The premise alone creates an interesting tension: what does it look like when the guy who coaches women on how to find a partner actually goes home to one? The answer, it turns out, is less glamorous and more grounded than anyone might expect.

What surfaces quickly is that Evan and Bridget do not have a fairytale origin story. They were on the same dating site at the same time and never matched. They met at a party, talked for six hours, and built something slowly. Evan, who dated more than 300 people online over a decade, had never stayed in a relationship longer than eight months before Bridget. She, a serial monogamist by nature, had come from a completely different kind of romantic history. The episode moves through how two genuinely different people with different worldviews, different sleep schedules, different appetites for depth, decided to stop scanning for flaws and start building something that actually works. Along the way, Evan makes a sharp case that the qualities dating culture rewards, height, income, shared hobbies, politics, are almost entirely irrelevant to long-term happiness.

Bridget holds her own throughout, and some of the episode's best moments come from her plainspoken honesty: she does not love deep conversations on demand, she sleeps until 11 on weekends without apology, and she has no interest in discussing politics with anyone. Far from being a liability, Zach and Evan both recognize this as a kind of relationship wisdom. Bridget is the high-EQ anchor of the marriage, the one who sees everyone's point of view without judgment and never keeps score. Her sign-off captures the whole thing: never keep track, but always be ahead in giving.

Key Takeaways

• The traits that attract you to someone (chemistry, common interests, credentials) are almost entirely unrelated to the traits that keep a marriage together
• What gets you into a relationship and what sustains it are two distinctly different skill sets
• Choosing a partner who is good enough without requiring them to change is not lowering the bar, it is setting the right one
• The couple is a unit; when you stop tending the relationship itself, the garden dies even if nothing dramatic happens
• One person cannot be everything; healthy relationships require each partner to have a life outside the marriage too
• Assuming positive intent when your partner does something frustrating is one of the most practical things you can do daily
• Common interests are probably the least important compatibility factor, and most people treat them like the most important
• The Five C's are what every failed relationship actually failed on: character, kindness, consistency, communication, and commitment

Guest Info

Evan Marc Katz Dating coach for smart, successful women, primarily working with clients in their late 30s through early 70s who are navigating first-time or second-time partnerships. Evan spent over a decade dating online himself before meeting Bridget, which informs a very personal and data-driven approach to his work. He is also the host of his own podcast.

https://www.evanmarckatz.com/

Bridget Katz Evan's wife of 17 years, together for approximately 19. Bridget brings a grounded, high-EQ perspective to the conversation as someone who has lived alongside a relationship expert without becoming one herself. Her candor and warmth are notable throughout.

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Zach sits down with Matt and Paige, a married couple from the DFW area who have been together since they were 14 years old, and who now host their own podcast for spouses and partners of people navigating addiction. What sounds like a high school sweetheart story quickly opens into something far more complicated: a decade-long opioid addiction, financial abuse, gaslighting, panic attacks, and a slow, hard-won rebuild that took most of their adult lives.

Matt frames their relationship in three chapters: young and naive kids figuring out what love even is, the dark middle years where addiction quietly dismantled the life they were trying to build, and the current chapter where, for the first time in 25 years, they describe themselves as genuinely on equal footing. Paige's side of the story carries the weight of what spouses often carry alone. She didn't know it was addiction for years. She thought he was just treating her badly. And when his recovery finally stabilized, her body held the bill: panic attacks, rage, and a grief that had nowhere to go while things were still dangerous. She eventually came to a kind of peace, but only after Matt began holding real accountability, not just staying sober.

The conversation covers the question of when an addict actually earns credit from their partner, the long gap between sobriety and true marital recovery, how they talk to their kids about addiction, and what it means to finally feel known by someone rather than just tolerated. This is a candid, unsentimental look at what it takes to come back from something that breaks most couples apart.

Key Takeaways

• Sobriety and marital recovery are not the same clock. For Matt and Paige, it took nearly a decade after Matt got sober for Paige to feel genuinely safe again.
• When one partner gets well, the other one often falls apart. Paige's panic attacks and depression showed up four years into Matt's sobriety, once she finally felt safe enough to stop holding everything together.
• Feeling known is different from knowing someone. Matt describes the shift in their marriage as the moment they both stopped managing each other and started actually seeing each other.
• Validation is not a soft skill. Paige names Matt learning to validate her experience, not dismiss or minimize it, as one of the most meaningful turning points in their relationship.
• Putting your marriage first is not selfish parenting. Matt and Paige kept the marriage as the anchor even through the chaos of raising kids, and they're clear that a thriving marriage is part of what their kids need to witness.
• The spouse's story often goes untold. There are far more resources for addicts than for the partners who stay, hold things together, and absorb the fallout. Matt and Paige built their podcast specifically to fill that gap.
• Recovery for the partner requires genuine accountability from the addict, not just behavior change. Paige needed Matt to name what he had done to her before her body would let her relax.
• Curiosity is what keeps a long marriage alive. Even 25 years in, Matt describes Paige as someone he's still discovering, and he credits that sense of ongoing curiosity as part of what keeps them close.

Guest Info

Matt and Paige Hosts of Till the Wheels Fall Off, a podcast focused on the experience of spouses and partners of people struggling with addiction. Matt has 13 years of sobriety following a ten-year opioid addiction that began after an injury in his mid-twenties. Paige navigated those years as a partner who didn't know addiction was the cause of what she was living through, and has become a voice for others in similar situations. The show publishes three episodes per week, is over 300 episodes deep, and has a companion program built alongside a licensed therapist as well as a free Facebook community for listeners.

Podcast: Till the Wheels Fall Off https://twfo.com/

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Zach sits down with Susie and Paul, a couple who found each other through the comment section of a meditation app, fell in love before ever seeing each other's faces, and eventually moved across the globe to build a life together in Wollongong, Australia. Both came out of 20-year marriages. Both made the decision to leave. And both arrived at this second chapter with a fundamentally different understanding of what a relationship is actually for.

The conversation covers a lot of ground: the fear and courage it takes to end a marriage, what the brain does when it's protecting you from change, and why staying in stable misery can feel like the smarter option even when it clearly isn't. Susie, a life coach and host of the Love Your Life Show, talks about how she once saw relationships as a transaction, where she got something and gave something back, and how completely that framing has shifted. Paul, who has spent a decade studying, practicing, and teaching Buddhism and mindfulness, brings a steadying philosophy: you are the creator of your experience, not the victim of your circumstance, and your emotions exist to teach you, not to be avoided. Together they describe a marriage built on two whole people rather than two people trying to complete each other, and what it actually looks like in practice, including how Paul came back after a moment of frustration over grocery bags and said, simply, that he'd been a little unregulated earlier. Susie calls it the sexiest thing a man can do.

What makes this episode stick is how honest it is about the cost of the path they took and the fruit of it. All five of their kids, across two blended families, are thriving. And neither Susie nor Paul thinks that's a coincidence.

Key Takeaways

• Your brain will give you every reason to stay in a relationship that isn't working because discomfort is still known, and known feels safe
• Leaving a long marriage at midlife is not a failure. Sometimes the most courageous act is moving toward discomfort instead of away from it
• A relationship is not a transaction. It's a container for self-growth and a practice in loving someone imperfectly
• One plus one should equal three: two whole, self-responsible people creating something stronger together, not two halves looking for completion
• The most important things to cultivate in yourself and to look for in a partner: the ability to self-regulate and the ability to repair
• Repair doesn't have to be dramatic. It can be as simple as "I could have handled that more skillfully" or "I was a little unregulated earlier"
• Your emotions aren't happening to you. They're here to teach you something. The path through discomfort is the path, not a detour from it
• Staying in a broken marriage "for the kids" may be the very thing harming them. What children need modeled is not a facade of togetherness but emotional honesty and growth

Guest Info

Susie is a life coach and educator who works primarily with women on emotional intelligence, relationships, and parenting. She hosts the Love Your Life Show podcast (now at 400 episodes) and runs a monthly membership called the Love Your Life School, which offers classes on emotional regulation, difficult conversations, and parenting coaching, along with live coaching. She offers a free podcast roadmap at her website for new listeners looking for a starting point. https://smbwell.com/

Paul is Susie's husband and a decade-long practitioner, student, and teacher of Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation. He is the author of 9756 Miles to Happiness, named for the exact distance between where he and Susie were living when they met. He is offering MTR listeners a free 15-minute consultation through his website, https://www.paulpettit.com/

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Zach sits down with Arlina and Bob Allen, a couple who met in a recovery community over 30 years ago and have been building their marriage with the same tools ever since. What starts as a surprisingly revealing Game of Thrones conversation (they watch it on repeat as a bedtime ritual, and yes, they have strong opinions about House of the Dragon) turns into a grounded, real-world look at how recovery principles translate directly into relational health.

Arlina walks through a go-to story from early in their relationship: a tipping dispute at a dinner with friends that spiraled into a full-blown money fight. She breaks down the four-column resentment inventory she learned in recovery, showing how she moved from "it's clearly his fault" to "oh no, I'm the jerk." Bob talks about the role his men's group played as a sounding board, helping him sort through what was his business and what wasn't before bringing anything back to Arlina. Together, they describe a pattern of going to their separate corners, doing individual work, and coming back ready to own their part.

The conversation shifts into their current season of life: approaching the empty nest, figuring out what retirement looks like, and trying to answer the question "what kind of experiences do we want to have?" Zach reframes self-care as something that is actually selfish not to do, comparing it to an athlete hiding an injury from their team. Arlina and Bob both affirm that their self-care practices, morning routines, gratitude, exercise, prayer, are what keep them showing up as the best versions of themselves for each other. This is a couple who makes 31 years look like something worth rooting for.

Key Takeaways

• Resentment is the wedge that drives couples apart. Having a structured process to work through it, not just vent about it, is what keeps it from calcifying.
• The four-column inventory (who, why, how it affected you, and your part) is a simple, powerful tool for getting honest with yourself before you try to get honest with your partner.
• Money fights are almost never about math. They're about fear, control, and what you believe you deserve.
• Having your own people (sponsors, friends, a therapist) to process with before bringing conflict back to your partner changes everything about how the conversation goes.
• An amends is not just "I'm sorry." It's naming the impact of your behavior and asking what you can do to make it right.
• Self-care is not selfish. Skipping it is. When you don't take care of yourself, your partner is the one who pays the price.
• You can "out-responsible" each other in conflict. Instead of chicken-and-egging blame in one direction, try racing to own your part first.
• Couples who laugh about old fights have usually done the real work underneath. The lightness is earned, not accidental.

Guest Info

• Arlina Allen: Entrepreneur, sobriety coach, podcast host, and author of The 12 Step Guide for Skeptics. Arlina supports people who are considering quitting drinking or figuring out life after getting sober. Website: soberlifeschool.com
• Bob Allen: Communications professional who describes himself as "the guy in the chair," orchestrating communication across teams from engineers to executives. Bob is not on social media by choice.

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Zach is traveling this week, so this episode features his guest appearance on the Sexology Podcast with Dr. Nazanin Moali.

Zach joins Dr. Nazanin Moali on the Sexology Podcast for a conversation about how the emotional climate of a relationship directly shapes what happens (or doesn't happen) in the bedroom. The focus is Negative Sentiment Override, a concept from John Gottman's research that describes what happens when couples get stuck in a pattern where even neutral or well-meaning moments get filtered through a lens of criticism, contempt, or defensiveness. It's the kind of thing that quietly erodes connection without either partner fully understanding why.

The conversation covers how positive and negative emotional filters work, why a simple comment about pasta can become a full-blown conflict when trust is low, and how gender socialization plays into desire patterns in ways most couples never talk about. Zach and Dr. Moali also talk about the gap between impulse and response, the role of personal responsibility in conflict, and why contempt carries a particular kind of poison because it comes wrapped in a feeling of superiority.

What makes this conversation worth your time is the way it connects relational safety to sexual vulnerability. If your relationship feels charged, tense, or emotionally distant, that almost always shows up in your intimate life too. Zach and Dr. Moali reframe what sex is actually for in a long-term relationship and make the case for scheduling erotic play and expanding what intimacy can look like. It's practical, grounded, and refreshingly honest.

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment Override means your partner's neutral actions start getting interpreted through a filter of criticism or hostility, and it happens gradually enough that you may not notice.
• Emotional safety is the foundation of sexual vulnerability. If it doesn't feel safe to be honest in the kitchen, it won't feel safe to be honest in the bedroom.
• The "pasta example" is a good litmus test: if your partner makes dinner and your first internal response is irritation rather than gratitude, your filter may have shifted negative.
• Contempt is uniquely damaging because it comes with a sense of superiority. It's not just anger; it's the belief that you're better than your partner.
• Gender socialization shapes desire in ways most couples never discuss openly, and those unspoken patterns create misunderstandings that look like rejection.
• Slowing down the space between impulse and response is one of the most powerful things you can do for your relationship. Reactivity is the enemy of repair.
• Taking personal responsibility in conflict is not about taking blame. It's about owning your part of the dynamic so something can actually shift.
• Scheduling erotic play and broadening what counts as intimacy helps couples move past the pressure of performance and back toward genuine connection.

Guest Info

This episode is a guest appearance by Zach on the Sexology Podcast.

Host: Dr. Nazanin Moali, clinical psychologist and host of the Sexology Podcast Website: sexologypodcast.com Instagram: @sexologypodcast

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Zach sits down with Ron and Catrina, a married couple behind the YouTube music show Covers on the Spot, to find out what happens when you treat a relationship like a live recording session. Ron is the creative director and host of the show, where bands are given a song they have never heard and tasked with covering it in a single day. Catrina is a graphic designer on the same media team at Musora and the quieter half of a pairing that, by their own description, sounds like "something harmonic." Together, they have three kids, a shared workplace, and a relationship built on aligned values and very different processing speeds.

Using a "covers on the spot" framework for the conversation, Zach gives Ron and Catrina relationship prompts and asks them to riff. What comes out is a candid look at how they handle conflict, protect their time together, and keep choosing each other through the daily grind of parenting and working side by side. Catrina is open about her tendency toward passive aggression and the work she is doing to change it. Ron talks honestly about learning to stop "winning" arguments and start listening instead. One of the most striking moments comes when Catrina says their relationship at its best sounds like silence: quiet, smooth, still moving.

Zach ties it all together with a Ben Folds story about orchestras resolving dissonance, not just difference, and drops one of his signature reframes: repair is more important than resolve. This is an episode for anyone who has ever stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to fix something with their partner and wondered if there was a better way.

Key Takeaways

• Winning the argument is not the same thing as being right about the relationship
• Giving your partner time to process is not waiting. It is participating.
• A relationship is not something you find. It is something you build with someone who wants to build with you.
• Repair is more important than resolve. You can go to bed without solving it and still be okay.
• Protecting your time together matters more than filling your calendar with activity
• The best relationships keep evolving their sound. What worked five years ago may not be the song you need now.
• Constraints (kids, time, fatigue) can actually sharpen how a couple communicates, not just limit it
• Vulnerability is daring to be fully honest with someone, not just showing them the version of yourself you think they want

Guest Info

• Ron (Catrina's husband): Producer and host of Covers on the Spot, a YouTube music show where bands cover a song they have never heard in a single day. Former high school musical theater teacher. Based in Chilliwack, British Columbia.
• Catrina (Ron's wife): Graphic designer at Musora. Handles YouTube thumbnails, Instagram assets, and physical product design. Former theater student (played Ariel in The Tempest). Self-described introvert.
• They have three children.
• They started dating January 1, 2011 after being friends since high school.
• Covers on the Spot: YouTube Playlist
• Musora (music lessons platform): musora.com

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Zach sits down with Natalie and Dan Slagle, a married couple and co-founders of Fyooz Financial Planning, to explore why money is one of the most charged—and revealing—topics in relationships.

Despite being financial professionals, Natalie and Dan found themselves running into the same conflicts as the couples they serve. The issue wasn’t knowledge. It was meaning.

They describe how two people can look at the exact same number—$2,700 spent this month—and experience it completely differently. For Natalie, it can trigger scarcity and concern about staying within limits. For Dan, it can represent flexibility and confidence that everything will be okay. Same number. Different story.

The conversation explores how those differences are rooted in early experiences: Natalie learning at a young age to separate “needs” from “wants” and take responsibility for the latter, while Dan grew up in a household where generosity and gift-giving shaped his relationship to money.

Zach helps reframe the tension: the problem isn’t who’s right—it’s that couples often don’t realize they’re talking about different contexts entirely. One partner may be thinking about this month’s budget, while the other is thinking about long-term security.

Natalie and Dan share the simple but powerful practice that changed everything for them: regular, structured money conversations. By sitting down together—often in a public space to keep things grounded—and asking each other how they feel about the numbers, they’ve been able to move from assumption to alignment.

The conversation expands beyond finances into time, parenting, and partnership—especially as they navigate building a business together while raising a young child. From learning how to “clock out” of work to intentionally creating space to miss each other again, Natalie and Dan offer a practical and honest look at what it takes to stay connected in a shared life.

This episode is a reminder that money problems are rarely about money—they’re about meaning, communication, and learning how to build a shared vision.

Key Takeaways

• The same financial number can mean completely different things to each partner
• Money is measurable, which makes conflict around it more intense
• Financial behaviors are deeply shaped by childhood experiences
• Assumptions—not numbers—are often the real source of conflict
• Structured conversations reduce anxiety and increase alignment
• Talking about how you feel about money matters as much as the math
• Household values should guide how money is spent
• Separation (work, space, roles) can increase connection in relationships

Guest Info

Natalie & Dan Slagle

Natalie and Dan are a married couple and co-founders of Fyooz Financial Planning, a firm focused on helping couples align their finances with their values and life goals. Their work sits at the intersection of financial strategy and relational dynamics—helping couples not just manage money, but communicate about it effectively.

• Website: https://www.fyoozfinancial.com/
• Free consultations available nationwide (U.S.-based clients)

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Zach sits down with Hazel Grace and Nico for a wide-ranging conversation about polyamory, relational integrity, and what it actually takes to repair after conflict.

Hazel Grace, a relationship coach and educator with a PhD in human sexuality, and Nico, a lumberjack and self-described relationship nerd, share how they’ve built a deeply intentional partnership within a polyamorous relationship structure. They unpack common misconceptions about polyamory—especially the idea that it’s simply about sexual freedom—and explain how their approach is rooted in responsibility, communication, and care for the entire relational ecosystem.

Zach asks about Hazel Grace’s framework called The Art of Repair. Drawing from their own childhood experiences, decades of personal healing, and years of coaching couples, They outline a clear process for navigating relational ruptures and restoring trust.

Through a real-life example involving a broken ankle and an emotional reaction that escalated quickly, Hazel Grace and Nico demonstrate how repair actually works in practice: pausing to regulate, developing empathy, seeking permission to talk, acknowledging what happened, naming the impact, and then rebuilding integrity.

The conversation is a powerful reminder that conflict is inevitable in relationships—but repair is a skill anyone can learn.

Key Takeaways

• Polyamory isn’t about unlimited freedom; it requires responsibility for the impact of your choices
• Relationships don’t come with fixed rules—you can design agreements that fit the people involved
• Many people mistake “no conflict” for healthy relationships, but avoiding conflict can limit emotional intimacy
• Repair begins with regulation, not explanation
• Empathy for both self and partner is essential before attempting repair
• Asking permission to have a repair conversation creates safety and consent
• Understanding each person’s experience matters more than determining who was “right”
• Repair restores trust through acknowledgment, empathy, and concrete actions

Guest Info

Hazel Grace, PhD

Hazel Grace is a relationship and intimacy coach specializing in relational healing, sexuality, and communication. They teach workshops and courses on relationship repair and works with individuals and couples to develop deeper intimacy and emotional connection.

• Website: https://drhazelgrace.com
• Workshops: Northern California & Colorado
• Courses: Online self-paced programs on The Art of Repair

Nico

Nico is a sawyer—running a mobile sawmill business where he mills lumber directly on clients’ properties. In the winter he works in snow removal in the mountains. He also collaborates with Hazel Grace in relationship workshops and educational programs.

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