Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Classics: How to Breakup with a Friend
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
- 0:06Speaker 2: I'm welcome to.
- 0:07Speaker 3: Step On Never Told your production of iHeartRadio. Yes, we
- 0:19Speaker 3: are back with another classic. We are moving towards the
- 0:22Speaker 3: end of January, I believe as this comes out January
- 0:24Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, and we've been bringing back a lot
- 0:27Speaker 3: of classics around resolutions or just maybe things you might
- 0:31Speaker 3: want to change in the new year. And one of
- 0:33Speaker 3: them that came to mind for me, not that I
- 0:36Speaker 3: have anything going on around this, but was how to
- 0:38Speaker 3: break up with the friends?
- 0:39Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, because I think a.
- 0:40Speaker 3: Lot of times towards the end of the year, you
- 0:43Speaker 3: take stock of that in the beginning of the year
- 0:45Speaker 3: and what relationships are good for you and healthy for you.
- 0:49Speaker 3: And sometimes that can mean I'm making the decision to
- 0:54Speaker 3: either cut back on your hanging out with someone or
- 0:57Speaker 3: to cut it off completely, and that can be a
- 1:00Speaker 3: really hard, hard thing. But I do around this time,
- 1:03Speaker 3: I think I've heard friends of mine talking about it
- 1:07Speaker 3: and really wrestling with well, I don't know, maybe I
- 1:10Speaker 3: don't maybe we're not actually friends, Like maybe this isn't
- 1:14Speaker 3: a friendship at all. So for anyone who is dealing
- 1:20Speaker 3: with that, wrestling with that, please enjoy this classic episode. Hey,
- 1:29Speaker 3: this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steph. I've
- 1:32Speaker 3: never told your production of iHeartRadio.
- 1:42Speaker 4: Oh Annie, I have a question for you. Okay, can
- 1:46Speaker 4: you tell me a time in your childhood you had
- 1:48Speaker 4: a friendship ending moment?
- 1:53Speaker 3: So the one that comes immediately to mind actually wasn't
- 1:58Speaker 3: a friendship ending moment for me, but one of my
- 2:02Speaker 3: best friends who's been on the show. Now, Katie, and
- 2:04Speaker 3: I have two best friends Katie, so that's very confusing.
- 2:06Speaker 3: But recently. Katie we grew up together. We were neighbors
- 2:10Speaker 3: and I loved hanging out with her.
- 2:12Speaker 1: She was friends with another Katie, my goodness.
- 2:16Speaker 3: Katie Jones, who was like a cool kid, and I
- 2:19Speaker 3: was very much not a cool kid at this point.
- 2:21Speaker 3: This was like third grade. I was cool up until
- 2:23Speaker 3: third grade, but then things changed. But they were both
- 2:28Speaker 3: at my house because Katie had come to visit my
- 2:31Speaker 3: friend Katie, and my friend Katie wanted to come hang
- 2:34Speaker 3: out with me. And I'm sorry this is so confusing,
- 2:36Speaker 3: but we were playing like that game of hop scotch
- 2:40Speaker 3: where you it's like a snail. I don't know if
- 2:42Speaker 3: anybody remembers that, but we loved playing it, and Katie
- 2:46Speaker 3: Jones reached her boiling point and said to my friend Katie, like,
- 2:50Speaker 3: I don't like this girl, Annie. You choose right here now,
- 2:54Speaker 3: which one of us is it gonna because I will
- 2:57Speaker 3: walk out of here right now, won't be friends anymore.
- 3:01Speaker 1: And I was kind of shocked because I didn't know
- 3:04Speaker 1: where this code.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Had come from.
- 3:07Speaker 3: But my friend Katie, she just continued to play the
- 3:10Speaker 3: game in silence, didn't say anything, and Katie Jones walked
- 3:14Speaker 3: away by herself.
- 3:16Speaker 1: And history was made.
- 3:18Speaker 2: Wow.
- 3:19Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, okay, it was pretty dramatic.
- 3:23Speaker 4: That is dramatic. I've never had a full fledged declaration. Yeah,
- 3:28Speaker 4: in giving you an ultimatum, wow, especially middle school.
- 3:31Speaker 1: That it was elementary school.
- 3:33Speaker 2: Wow.
- 3:34Speaker 1: And uh yeah.
- 3:35Speaker 3: They were not friends again after that, and things were
- 3:39Speaker 3: always awkward between me and Katie Jones. And we both
- 3:41Speaker 3: played clarinet and band. It was a little tense.
- 3:46Speaker 2: I love it. You gotta love to have competition, That's
- 3:50Speaker 2: what that is, right.
- 3:51Speaker 1: I was second chair, she was third.
- 3:55Speaker 2: Oh nice, when you would I did?
- 3:58Speaker 1: I did?
- 3:58Speaker 2: No, Yeah, I think I've had I had a few incidents.
- 4:01Speaker 4: I know I had one friend who was so bossy
- 4:05Speaker 4: that I Finally, I remember being on a swing set.
- 4:08Speaker 4: I just looked at her and yelled at her, stopped
- 4:10Speaker 4: telling me what to do, and walked off, and we
- 4:12Speaker 4: were never friends after that. It was weird because it
- 4:16Speaker 4: was more of like she was trying to get me
- 4:17Speaker 4: to talk.
- 4:18Speaker 2: To a boy and I didn't like that.
- 4:20Speaker 4: Yeah, and that was kind of the end of the
- 4:22Speaker 4: friendship because I was like, I don't want to talk
- 4:24Speaker 4: to even though I'm pretty sure I would say annoying
- 4:26Speaker 4: one as a kid, But that's the one I can
- 4:29Speaker 4: remember more so than anything else.
- 4:30Speaker 2: And a lot of my friendships.
- 4:32Speaker 4: Didn't end because anything bad, but a lot of them
- 4:35Speaker 4: ended because they moved away or circumstances happened where we.
- 4:39Speaker 2: Changed an interest. But it was never like, oh, we
- 4:42Speaker 2: can't be friends that you think of.
- 4:46Speaker 1: I did have my other next door neighbor, Jordan.
- 4:50Speaker 3: She was a bit younger than me, and I kind
- 4:54Speaker 3: of resented her after a while because it was those
- 4:56Speaker 3: situation where we always carpolled together.
- 4:58Speaker 1: We did our mom's were friends.
- 5:00Speaker 3: And so it was just like convenience, and she spent
- 5:03Speaker 3: so much time at my house and we babysit her family,
- 5:07Speaker 3: and I really didn't like her brothers. I felt like
- 5:09Speaker 3: they were mean to my brother and they took advantage
- 5:11Speaker 3: of all of our stuff, Like we would be not
- 5:14Speaker 3: at home and we would come home and they were
- 5:16Speaker 3: like using all of our stuff and it bothered me. Yeah,
- 5:19Speaker 3: but I was I think looking back, I was kind
- 5:21Speaker 3: of controlling, but she was also kind of mean.
- 5:24Speaker 1: See, and I overheard her.
- 5:25Speaker 3: Talking about me on several occasions, and eventually I was like,
- 5:31Speaker 3: I don't think we're friends anymore. You know.
- 5:34Speaker 2: I had that too.
- 5:35Speaker 4: I had a friend that I was friends with her
- 5:36Speaker 4: for three or four years, but it was definitely one
- 5:39Speaker 4: of those friendships that I was.
- 5:41Speaker 2: Her psychic, if you know what I mean. Like she
- 5:44Speaker 2: would do.
- 5:44Speaker 4: All these things so I would have to hang out
- 5:46Speaker 4: with her to so she could hang out with this boy.
- 5:48Speaker 4: I would have to do this with her that she
- 5:49Speaker 4: would love. I didn't want to do, but I'm like, okay,
- 5:51Speaker 4: I'm here. And I remember her trying to get validation
- 5:55Speaker 4: and want to flirt with boys and that was fine.
- 5:58Speaker 4: That was just not something I want to do. And
- 5:59Speaker 4: I was very scared of boys at this point in time.
- 6:02Speaker 4: And I remember her making fun of me for that,
- 6:04Speaker 4: and I was like, look, just because you like being
- 6:06Speaker 4: with all the guys doesn't mean I want to. She
- 6:08Speaker 4: took that as me calling her a slut and told
- 6:11Speaker 4: her friends that I called her a slut, and so
- 6:15Speaker 4: like they completely heard that, and then I was judgmental
- 6:18Speaker 4: and I could hear them talking about me, and they
- 6:20Speaker 4: would gang up on me on the bus said by myself.
- 6:24Speaker 2: Oh, I was one of those stories.
- 6:27Speaker 4: We kept kind of in touch for the most part,
- 6:30Speaker 4: but we definitely because we were also different grades and
- 6:32Speaker 4: all of that, so that changed.
- 6:33Speaker 2: She got a car, I didn't get a car. I
- 6:36Speaker 2: had to work. She didn't have to work, so it
- 6:37Speaker 2: was all nice for her. But yeah, it was really
- 6:40Speaker 2: weird friendship.
- 6:41Speaker 4: I remember trying to figure out how like a man,
- 6:43Speaker 4: I was like, this is a bad teenage.
- 6:46Speaker 1: Movie, right right.
- 6:49Speaker 2: But yes, we've discussed.
- 6:52Speaker 4: I'm sure everybody's wondering while we're talking about this, and
- 6:54Speaker 4: we've discussed before the power of female friendship and the
- 6:58Speaker 4: power of platonic female connection, and honestly, it's something that's
- 7:02Speaker 4: been a comfort and a lot of big, big help.
- 7:05Speaker 2: In this last year.
- 7:06Speaker 4: Friendship is, by the way, defined by Mariam Webster as
- 7:11Speaker 4: the state of being friends or the quality or state
- 7:14Speaker 4: of being friendly, which I feel like that's not strong.
- 7:17Speaker 2: Enough of definition to me because I'm like friendship is
- 7:20Speaker 2: so powerful.
- 7:21Speaker 1: Maybe that's right.
- 7:22Speaker 3: It's almost like the acquaintance. Yes, I feel like there's
- 7:25Speaker 3: a bunch of levels of friends. You know, you've got
- 7:27Speaker 3: your inner circle friends, and then you've got kind of
- 7:29Speaker 3: your acquaintance friends, right, I don't know.
- 7:33Speaker 1: Yeah, you do.
- 7:33Speaker 4: That's like the best friend title. Who's the best friend?
- 7:36Speaker 4: Who's your crew?
- 7:37Speaker 2: Definitely a lot of title to that. And if you've
- 7:49Speaker 2: been a.
- 7:49Speaker 4: Listener of the show, I think you probably already know.
- 7:53Speaker 4: We are all about women supporting women, and about how
- 7:56Speaker 4: important it is to maintain friendships with other women. As
- 7:58Speaker 4: in fact, I've always been one of those who go
- 8:01Speaker 4: by the Leslie Nope motto of uterresses before duterises.
- 8:07Speaker 2: I mean that for anyone with a uterus.
- 8:09Speaker 4: And of course, one of my I think one of
- 8:11Speaker 4: my better qualities I don't know, is that I am
- 8:14Speaker 4: ridiculously loyal and I'm definitely one of those that you
- 8:18Speaker 4: just can't mess with my people. If you do, I'm
- 8:21Speaker 4: coming to get you real hard.
- 8:24Speaker 1: I would agree. I think you're very loyal. I think
- 8:26Speaker 1: you're a wonderful friend.
- 8:27Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.
- 8:28Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 8:29Speaker 1: I one of.
- 8:30Speaker 3: The most fortunate areas I think in my life is
- 8:35Speaker 3: that I had really good and strong friendships with other
- 8:40Speaker 3: girls and women pretty much my entire life. And some
- 8:44Speaker 3: of those, you know, did fade away or turned out
- 8:46Speaker 3: to not work out for whatever reason. But I had
- 8:49Speaker 3: a core group of friends from high school and I'm
- 8:51Speaker 3: still really good friends with and we still see each other.
- 8:53Speaker 3: And then I have people from college, and then i
- 8:55Speaker 3: have people from work and like outside circles, and I
- 8:59Speaker 3: just think it's so whenever I'm thinking of.
- 9:04Speaker 1: Difficult situations and how do you get through.
- 9:06Speaker 3: It or what do you enjoy in life, it's almost
- 9:08Speaker 3: always like, oh, I have the support of my friends.
- 9:10Speaker 1: I have the support of this group of friends.
- 9:12Speaker 3: They're there for me, and they bring so much joy
- 9:15Speaker 3: and all so much support as well. And I know
- 9:20Speaker 3: people in my life who I'm close to who don't
- 9:23Speaker 3: have that, who don't have a strong support group of friends,
- 9:28Speaker 3: and I've just seen how lucky I am to have it,
- 9:33Speaker 3: like how difficult it can be without it.
- 9:36Speaker 1: So I am very much with you, Samantha.
- 9:38Speaker 3: I'm a huge proponent of friendships and especially among women,
- 9:44Speaker 3: And though we could continue to yes, sing the praises
- 9:47Speaker 3: of female friendship. We aren't talking about that necessarily today.
- 9:51Speaker 1: No, today we wanted to.
- 9:52Speaker 3: Take a look at the end of friendships and specifically
- 9:54Speaker 3: what happens when women stop being friends with other women.
- 9:58Speaker 1: And we need to go ahead and let you know.
- 10:00Speaker 1: I know that many of the.
- 10:01Speaker 3: Articles about that are heavily weighed down with a lot
- 10:04Speaker 3: of misogynistic language, a lot of stereotypical ideas of female
- 10:07Speaker 3: friends i e. Caddy, backstabbing, drama queen, and characteristics like that.
- 10:13Speaker 3: So though we may mention it, please take that with
- 10:17Speaker 3: a grain of salt.
- 10:18Speaker 4: Right, So, there are several reasons why a friendship will end.
- 10:22Speaker 4: We talked a little bit about it before in our
- 10:24Speaker 4: own personal experiences, and I'm sure we've all dealt with
- 10:28Speaker 4: it for some reason, but we wanted to look at
- 10:30Speaker 4: why and even when maybe we should go ahead and
- 10:33Speaker 4: just let it end.
- 10:34Speaker 1: Yes, And one of those things.
- 10:35Speaker 3: I've never heard of this before, but when I heard
- 10:37Speaker 3: the term, I was immediately like, oh, yeah, I know
- 10:40Speaker 3: what this is, and that's friendship fade. Yeah. So there
- 10:44Speaker 3: have been different reasons in ways to end a friendship,
- 10:46Speaker 3: and one of them is this one, which has been
- 10:49Speaker 3: more of a thing since the pandemic and lockdowns. I've
- 10:52Speaker 3: definitely heard people talk about it, like, you know who
- 10:54Speaker 3: your real friends are are, like the sticking friends I
- 10:57Speaker 3: feel like for me though, my experience has been there
- 10:59Speaker 3: so that I have faded, but I'm confident they're going
- 11:02Speaker 3: to come back right. Like we're just not hanging out
- 11:05Speaker 3: that much right now, and there's a lot of stress.
- 11:07Speaker 1: But I feel like if that eases.
- 11:10Speaker 4: We will hang out right And then just because it
- 11:12Speaker 4: happens doesn't mean it happens because it's something bad or
- 11:16Speaker 4: because you mean like you're being mean about it. It's
- 11:18Speaker 4: not always intended as negative.
- 11:20Speaker 2: I don't like you thing.
- 11:21Speaker 3: Right exactly, But okay, what exactly is friendship fade? According
- 11:26Speaker 3: to a Woman's Health article, friendship faid is the quote
- 11:29Speaker 3: feeling that your formally tight connections are disappearing at down
- 11:32Speaker 3: a pit of silence, just not gloomy at all. Of
- 11:36Speaker 3: silence sounds like a Dungeons and Dragon spell.
- 11:40Speaker 2: There you go, I silence.
- 11:46Speaker 3: But this is a bit different from the friendly fade,
- 11:50Speaker 3: which the Urban Dictionary defines as quote a passive aggressive
- 11:53Speaker 3: method to break up with a friend without being hurtful
- 11:56Speaker 3: or ghosting a friendship and we will come back to.
- 11:59Speaker 2: That, right.
- 12:00Speaker 4: So, not surprisingly, the pandemic has opened up the possibility
- 12:05Speaker 4: of this happening, and there could be so many reasons
- 12:08Speaker 4: outside of just being overwhelmed and panicked about the state
- 12:11Speaker 4: of the world, and for me specifically, one of the
- 12:13Speaker 4: reasons of the faith is due to the fact like
- 12:16Speaker 4: there's nothing new or really meaningful that's happening right now.
- 12:20Speaker 4: So I feel like when people ask me how are you,
- 12:23Speaker 4: I really have nothing to say other than eh, yeah.
- 12:27Speaker 2: You know, yeah.
- 12:28Speaker 4: My daily routine has come to the point that it
- 12:29Speaker 4: has become monotonous. Wake up, take out the dog, work, eat,
- 12:34Speaker 4: watch the same shows over and over again, and go
- 12:37Speaker 4: to bed again.
- 12:38Speaker 2: When someone asks what I've been doing? Is there anything
- 12:41Speaker 2: new going on with you? Literally, I'm like no.
- 12:47Speaker 3: My mom is the same, which is funny because as
- 12:50Speaker 3: the child, I feel like I'm the one always kind
- 12:52Speaker 3: of I don't do this anymore, but when I was younger,
- 12:54Speaker 3: I would dodge phone calls and stuff, and now I
- 12:57Speaker 3: get the feelings she's dodging by. And she told me
- 13:00Speaker 3: she's like, well, you know, I'm just not doing much.
- 13:03Speaker 3: I don't have much to talk about right, Yeah, that
- 13:05Speaker 3: makes sense, nor do I. And that's definitely something I've noticed,
- 13:11Speaker 3: especially in conversations with her, because it used to be
- 13:13Speaker 3: kind of I would come in and I'd be like.
- 13:16Speaker 1: Here's the fifteen thousand new things.
- 13:18Speaker 3: That have happened, and now it's sort of like, oh,
- 13:20Speaker 3: my shashido plant has red shasheetos on it. Now she
- 13:25Speaker 3: is exciting by the way, and especially in regards to
- 13:32Speaker 3: lockdowns and rules, people have been divided on how to
- 13:34Speaker 3: the letter, people may be following those rules and for
- 13:37Speaker 3: some that changed the way.
- 13:39Speaker 1: You vowed that friendship.
- 13:41Speaker 4: Yes, I mean sure, yes, I think we even had
- 13:45Speaker 4: so we just finally are getting to the point of
- 13:47Speaker 4: going out. We hung out with your co host from Saber, Lauren,
- 13:51Speaker 4: and she was talking about, you know, what she did
- 13:53Speaker 4: during the pandemic, and she made stay but of course
- 13:55Speaker 4: I think you and Annie had a little more stricter
- 13:58Speaker 4: lockdown follows and and we were like, yeah, and apparently
- 14:01Speaker 4: people have been going out and I'm like, oh, oh wow,
- 14:05Speaker 4: I didn't know that. And definitely when making plans it
- 14:08Speaker 4: was me, you my partner, that was it. And if
- 14:11Speaker 4: I wanted to make plans with someone, we made sure
- 14:14Speaker 4: that we had a two week quarantine check up. If
- 14:16Speaker 4: we need to make sure that the other person had
- 14:18Speaker 4: tested and let each other know what's going on, and
- 14:20Speaker 4: then we wouldn't hang out. Apparently not everyone's doing that,
- 14:23Speaker 4: and I think we had. Did we have a conversation, Yeah,
- 14:26Speaker 4: we had a conversation about the fact that we wanted
- 14:29Speaker 4: to invite certain people, but we were thinking, I don't
- 14:31Speaker 4: know if they're actually following the quarantine rules.
- 14:34Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been really tough for me and I imagine
- 14:37Speaker 3: for a lot of people because it's not a shocking
- 14:40Speaker 3: thing to hear, Like I'm not I knew people were
- 14:43Speaker 3: doing that, but so I do get hurt by it
- 14:45Speaker 3: and I get a little mad about it. And honestly,
- 14:48Speaker 3: after we learned that when we were hanging out that time,
- 14:51Speaker 3: I went home and got really upset. Oh no, and
- 14:54Speaker 3: it's I had to think about why it was upsetting
- 14:56Speaker 3: me so much, and there's obviously something else going on there.
- 14:59Speaker 1: But it is.
- 15:01Speaker 3: It's an issue, and it's an issue where it's hard
- 15:05Speaker 3: not to have some sort of emotion one way or
- 15:08Speaker 3: the other where there's there's particularly in my case, I'm
- 15:12Speaker 3: thinking of one guy.
- 15:14Speaker 1: Who I know when I meet when we hang out.
- 15:17Speaker 3: It's going to become a point where he's going to
- 15:19Speaker 3: be like, I don't get why you were taking it
- 15:21Speaker 3: so seriously, and it's going to be hard for me
- 15:24Speaker 3: not to fight with this guy.
- 15:27Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I could see that.
- 15:28Speaker 4: I mean definitely for me, a part of that whole,
- 15:32Speaker 4: like people getting together, was I felt left out. And
- 15:35Speaker 4: this is a fear of mine of being left out
- 15:37Speaker 4: and unwanted. And even though it absolutely was my role
- 15:42Speaker 4: and my choice, but hearing about the after fact, because
- 15:45Speaker 4: they knew where I stood.
- 15:47Speaker 2: And so therefore, of course I'm not gonna invite you
- 15:49Speaker 2: wouldn't have come.
- 15:50Speaker 1: Very true, very true.
- 15:51Speaker 2: Yes, I'm still hard by it. I'm still hard by it.
- 15:55Speaker 1: No, isn't that the kicker though? Where Yes, it's like.
- 15:59Speaker 3: You know that you would have said no, but you
- 16:01Speaker 3: want to be asked anywhere exactly.
- 16:03Speaker 2: I've said that to a group of friends previously.
- 16:05Speaker 4: I was like, I know I'm not coming, and i
- 16:07Speaker 4: know I'm having a hard time responding to things, but
- 16:09Speaker 4: please don't leave me out.
- 16:10Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I'm absolutely the same.
- 16:14Speaker 3: I think I'm glad I didn't know about this because
- 16:16Speaker 3: I would have been made Oh yeah, but in general,
- 16:21Speaker 3: I do like sometimes I just say yes because I'm
- 16:25Speaker 3: afraid they'll stop asking me to go out, right, But yeah,
- 16:28Speaker 3: that's definitely been the new waters to navigate when it
- 16:34Speaker 3: comes to friendships and ideas around quarantining and this whole pandemic,
- 16:41Speaker 3: because it's also it goes back to almost that awkward
- 16:44Speaker 3: the joke of the awkward conversations you have with people
- 16:47Speaker 3: now where it's like, oh, what vaccine did you get? Oh? Right, right,
- 16:52Speaker 3: So it's kind of inevitably going to come up probably,
- 16:56Speaker 3: so it's just hard to avoid and it is people
- 17:00Speaker 3: have emotions and thoughts about.
- 17:01Speaker 2: It, they do, mm hmm.
- 17:04Speaker 3: And then there's also for women who have children and families,
- 17:07Speaker 3: perhaps just finding the time or energy to keep up
- 17:10Speaker 3: a friendship was too much.
- 17:13Speaker 1: Can totally see that.
- 17:14Speaker 3: Right, sounds exhausting, oh for sure, for sure, and many
- 17:19Speaker 3: have suffered loss or tragedy, and that type of experience
- 17:22Speaker 3: can completely flip a person's desire to socialize or even
- 17:25Speaker 3: feel like they can reach out to someone. And yeah,
- 17:28Speaker 3: that's that's another thing that I struggle with in friendships,
- 17:32Speaker 3: is being if I feel like I have something sad
- 17:36Speaker 3: or I guess just not even fun to talk about.
- 17:41Speaker 3: I don't feel like I can talk about it because
- 17:43Speaker 3: I feel like they're going to be like, oh, this
- 17:45Speaker 3: is awkward, and I don't want to be here right now.
- 17:47Speaker 3: I don't want to be talking about this right But
- 17:49Speaker 3: that's what friendship is, as you're being open with people
- 17:52Speaker 3: and all of that, but especially when you think someone
- 17:56Speaker 3: else is struggling too, you don't want to add to
- 17:58Speaker 3: their struggles.
- 18:00Speaker 1: It has been a time of struggling.
- 18:02Speaker 4: And which we're going to talk about in the bit.
- 18:03Speaker 4: But yeah, I feel the same way, especially when I
- 18:06Speaker 4: had my previous jobs.
- 18:07Speaker 2: They were Debbie Downer jobs. To say the least.
- 18:10Speaker 4: I came in as d Debbie Downer of the group
- 18:13Speaker 4: because if they asked me how my day went, Oh,
- 18:15Speaker 4: you don't want to ask me how my day went.
- 18:18Speaker 4: You know, tragedies and the sadness that happened in my field,
- 18:22Speaker 4: the many losses that I had over the winds, and
- 18:24Speaker 4: even my wins were sad. I remember I was trying
- 18:26Speaker 4: to explain to friends about something that was good, but
- 18:30Speaker 4: in what that sounded like. But it's still a child
- 18:33Speaker 4: that didn't have a parent and was going through loss.
- 18:37Speaker 4: How is this good type of situation? And being told
- 18:41Speaker 4: to stop talking. That's so like it. I actually was
- 18:45Speaker 4: shut down saying, really, you're going to talk about this now,
- 18:47Speaker 4: And I'm like, someone.
- 18:49Speaker 2: Just asked me how my day went, and this is
- 18:50Speaker 2: how my day went, and it.
- 18:52Speaker 4: Was a victory for me, even though to you it
- 18:55Speaker 4: sounds really sad because you don't want to talk about
- 18:57Speaker 4: children with loss, and I'm like, sorry, but yeah, that
- 19:02Speaker 4: taught me real quick. Oh, I can't talk to you,
- 19:05Speaker 4: I can't be with you, I can't let you know
- 19:07Speaker 4: what's going on because you don't want sad things.
- 19:09Speaker 2: And unfortunately, with my job, that's the majority of my stories.
- 19:14Speaker 1: Right, that was a very dramatical loo key out of
- 19:19Speaker 1: your face.
- 19:20Speaker 3: I'm just saying, well, we do have some more we
- 19:23Speaker 3: want to discuss, but first we have a quick break
- 19:26Speaker 3: for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
- 19:40Speaker 1: Thank you. Sponsored.
- 19:42Speaker 4: What do you do if you have allowed the fade
- 19:45Speaker 4: to occur? I'm very very guilty of this, but want
- 19:49Speaker 4: to snap back.
- 19:49Speaker 2: It's time.
- 19:50Speaker 4: It's time we come back, right, maybe, I think again,
- 19:54Speaker 4: we've all been there. We get busy, overwhelmed, or just
- 19:58Speaker 4: don't have the mental capacity to call someone or even text.
- 20:02Speaker 4: But that's not because we don't want to. That's not
- 20:04Speaker 4: because we're trying to stop a friendship or fade a friendship.
- 20:08Speaker 4: It just happens. Life happens, So what can we do
- 20:11Speaker 4: to change that?
- 20:12Speaker 3: Well, first and foremost, be gentle with yourself and with
- 20:15Speaker 3: your friends. It might have been a few days or
- 20:17Speaker 3: weeks ever since you've heard from your people, But just
- 20:21Speaker 3: like us, they are going through the hardships of the
- 20:24Speaker 3: currency of the world. But what if they are going
- 20:26Speaker 3: through other things as well?
- 20:29Speaker 1: That's right.
- 20:29Speaker 4: And I don't know how many times I've been depressed
- 20:32Speaker 4: or completely exhausted, and I'm thinking, why aren't people checking
- 20:35Speaker 4: up on me? Why can't they read my mind? I
- 20:37Speaker 4: know I need them to check it up on me.
- 20:39Speaker 4: But then to realize maybe they're feeling the exact same thing,
- 20:42Speaker 4: or maybe they're going through something even harder, like those
- 20:45Speaker 4: moments of feeling like you're being neglected, you're also neglecting others.
- 20:49Speaker 4: You never know what's happening.
- 20:51Speaker 2: And just as simple.
- 20:52Speaker 4: Hello, And usually for me that's a gift of like, hey,
- 20:55Speaker 4: you know, I think my favorite one is the there's
- 20:57Speaker 4: a seal that runs up and does a wave. Okay, no, hello,
- 21:02Speaker 4: I love it, and that can change things that could
- 21:04Speaker 4: just be as simple I'm here, I'm check it up
- 21:06Speaker 4: without having to be too invasive, and it doesn't take
- 21:09Speaker 4: that much time because again, we never know to maybe
- 21:14Speaker 4: in the same place, and that miscommunication of who's going
- 21:17Speaker 4: to be the one that reaches out, yeah, causes.
- 21:20Speaker 2: A kind of friction.
- 21:21Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 21:23Speaker 3: I had a friend who we actually sat down and
- 21:27Speaker 3: talked about this because she was fundamentally misunderstanding and I
- 21:33Speaker 3: was fundamentally misunderstanding where both of us were coming from
- 21:37Speaker 3: because I was struggling with insecurity and I still do
- 21:40Speaker 3: where I don't want to be annoying or bother people, right,
- 21:43Speaker 3: So sometimes that means I won't reach out because I
- 21:47Speaker 3: don't want to bother people. But to her that was
- 21:49Speaker 3: reading as she's not reaching out, right, So there's that,
- 21:54Speaker 3: and then I do. I very vividly remember in college
- 21:58Speaker 3: having the realization of even people who look like they're
- 22:02Speaker 3: so put together in quotes and everything's fine, Yeah, you
- 22:05Speaker 3: don't know what they're dealing with.
- 22:07Speaker 1: You really don't unless you check or ask, right.
- 22:11Speaker 3: I used to have I don't necessarily think this was
- 22:14Speaker 3: a super healthy thing either, but I used to have
- 22:16Speaker 3: what I called the list of don't neglect, and I
- 22:19Speaker 3: would have people it was just this list.
- 22:21Speaker 1: I'm like, check in on these people.
- 22:22Speaker 3: And I would go through the list, you know, every
- 22:24Speaker 3: couple of days, just to make sure.
- 22:28Speaker 2: Keep in mind on that list.
- 22:30Speaker 1: Well, I don't do it anymore. This was in.
- 22:32Speaker 3: This was like when I first graduated college, and I
- 22:35Speaker 3: mean it was such a like anything to do where
- 22:38Speaker 3: I took something that should be fun and it became
- 22:41Speaker 3: much more of like a to do list and a stress.
- 22:44Speaker 1: So I stopped doing it.
- 22:45Speaker 3: But smart, Yeah, but yeah, I have those people in mind,
- 22:51Speaker 3: and it doesn't have to be big, like you said,
- 22:52Speaker 3: it can just be you know, hey, I saw this
- 22:55Speaker 3: and thought of you. And if they don't respond, that's cool.
- 23:01Speaker 3: They'll respond when they can, hopefully. And yeah, it's a
- 23:06Speaker 3: simple a simple hello. It can work whether it's through
- 23:09Speaker 3: a text, a phone call, Marco Polo, whatever way you know,
- 23:12Speaker 3: whatever way you typically communicate with your friend, or sometimes
- 23:15Speaker 3: it's fun to mix it up. Just a simple connection
- 23:18Speaker 3: can really do wonders. And yeah, I remember, your friendship
- 23:22Speaker 3: is the ability to just be yourself with someone.
- 23:25Speaker 2: Right.
- 23:26Speaker 4: One thing my friends and I would always laugh about
- 23:28Speaker 4: because I don't know there's an inside joke about just
- 23:31Speaker 4: the fact that I'm always sleepy.
- 23:32Speaker 2: I'm always sleepy, I just am. And you know this,
- 23:35Speaker 2: that we can.
- 23:36Speaker 4: Just be around each other and take a nap, and
- 23:38Speaker 4: that's true friendship. Like we would say, two friends nap together,
- 23:42Speaker 4: and I thought it was hilarious. But the overall ability
- 23:45Speaker 4: is that we can just be there without having to
- 23:47Speaker 4: entertain one another. And that was okay, that's fine. We
- 23:50Speaker 4: can do our own thing, but just be in each
- 23:52Speaker 4: other's space.
- 23:52Speaker 2: That's nice.
- 23:54Speaker 1: Yeah. I had my other friend Katie.
- 23:56Speaker 3: We had a standing nap time on Fridays at three pm.
- 24:00Speaker 1: We would take naps together.
- 24:01Speaker 4: And guy, look, when you get to the point where
- 24:05Speaker 4: you're super busy but you're trying to neglect your friendship,
- 24:08Speaker 4: you come together and you realize, oh my gosh, I'm
- 24:11Speaker 4: so tired, and the other person's like, yeah, me too.
- 24:13Speaker 4: I'm like, you know what, let's just close their eyes.
- 24:15Speaker 4: There's fifteen minute breaks, how about. Yeah, there's something delightful
- 24:19Speaker 4: to that.
- 24:20Speaker 3: It is because you're trusting someone with your kind of
- 24:24Speaker 3: like vulnerable, sleepy, not real interesting self at the moment.
- 24:29Speaker 1: Yeah, and I love and you're you're one of these transmitted.
- 24:34Speaker 3: But I love when you have a friendship where you
- 24:35Speaker 3: can kind of do your own thing. Like somebody will
- 24:39Speaker 3: be working on like one friend she sketches a lot
- 24:43Speaker 3: when we hang out while I'm like working on Dungeons
- 24:46Speaker 3: and No Dragons or fan fiction.
- 24:48Speaker 1: And we're together and we'll occasionally talk to each other.
- 24:51Speaker 3: It could be really short and easy going, but it's
- 24:54Speaker 3: not like we're doing something very exciting. It's kind of
- 24:56Speaker 3: separate but together. But there is, yeah, that camaraderie.
- 24:59Speaker 2: There there is. I think there's something nice to that.
- 25:02Speaker 4: Yes, And then also you can be thoughtful and romantic
- 25:06Speaker 4: with your friends and and you're really great at this.
- 25:08Speaker 4: And when I say that, giving small gifts or large
- 25:11Speaker 4: ones sometimes for no reason just to say I'm thinking
- 25:13Speaker 4: about you. I saw this and thought about you is
- 25:16Speaker 4: really really nice.
- 25:18Speaker 1: Yeah, and thank you for saying that you are too.
- 25:21Speaker 3: I do. It sounds really cheesy, but I get these
- 25:26Speaker 3: moments of just like such pure warm love for friends,
- 25:31Speaker 3: or like I've got to do something for this person, right,
- 25:33Speaker 3: and it just gets in my head and I'll do
- 25:36Speaker 3: I'll send like a silly video or y'all, I'll get
- 25:39Speaker 3: a gift. But I just get like overwhelmed with love
- 25:42Speaker 3: for someone and I want to do something. And there
- 25:45Speaker 3: have been so many different occasions when someone has just
- 25:49Speaker 3: needed to talk or feel loved, and giving small tokens
- 25:52Speaker 3: or small gifts is such an amazing thing to do
- 25:55Speaker 3: to show that thoughtfulness goes a long way. And I mean,
- 25:58Speaker 3: it's wonderful to get gifts when you but it's also
- 26:00Speaker 3: lovely to get something when you're not. It doesn't have
- 26:03Speaker 3: to be even a gift, like like I said, I
- 26:05Speaker 3: used to do. I used to do a lot of
- 26:07Speaker 3: funny videos or something.
- 26:09Speaker 4: Right, Yes, you definitely did one for me. I did,
- 26:12Speaker 4: and you know what, because of we were using the
- 26:14Speaker 4: word romantic. This is also one of those that are
- 26:16Speaker 4: usually typically done by women. You don't see many male
- 26:19Speaker 4: friends giving each other things.
- 26:20Speaker 2: I know. That was a whole shtick and New Girl.
- 26:23Speaker 4: In which Schmidt gives his friend Nick a cookie and
- 26:26Speaker 4: he just and Nick is very suspicious.
- 26:29Speaker 2: He's like, why why are you giving me this cookie?
- 26:32Speaker 3: Why?
- 26:33Speaker 4: It was a whole episode based on the fact that
- 26:34Speaker 4: their thoughtfulness and he's like, men don't give each other gifts.
- 26:38Speaker 2: Men don't do these things.
- 26:39Speaker 4: And it's typically correct that I've only seen men give
- 26:43Speaker 4: the romantic partners a gift, but to give to each
- 26:45Speaker 4: other it seems so unugal, right, that makes me said
- 26:50Speaker 4: that they're messing out.
- 26:52Speaker 1: Yeah, it can be such a lovely, lovely thing.
- 26:56Speaker 2: Yeah it is.
- 26:57Speaker 4: But maybe you're good without that particular friendship anymore.
- 27:03Speaker 2: Yeah, then that's okay. That's okay too.
- 27:05Speaker 4: Maybe that friendship wasn't what you really needed, or maybe
- 27:07Speaker 4: it's no longer what you need, or some of those
- 27:09Speaker 4: differences that we talked about are too big and it
- 27:12Speaker 4: causes conflict and it maybe it's not a balanced friendship
- 27:16Speaker 4: to begin with.
- 27:17Speaker 2: So let's talk about that.
- 27:20Speaker 3: Yes, okay, So when is a friendship unhealthy? We wanted
- 27:25Speaker 3: to look into when a friendship is not an actual friendship.
- 27:30Speaker 3: So yes, let's start with toxic friendships. Toxic friendship is
- 27:34Speaker 3: something that causes a negative impact on your life. They
- 27:37Speaker 3: never give support or compassion in your life. They are
- 27:40Speaker 3: typically draining, unrewarding, stifling, unsatisfying, and unequal and again from
- 27:46Speaker 3: Urban Dictionary, these so called friends often backstab, gossip, lie,
- 27:51Speaker 3: act selfish, use, belittle, and even manipulate, and are taking
- 27:55Speaker 3: more than giving back to the friendship. Sadness and resentment
- 27:58Speaker 3: is felt towards the toxic friends. Breaking away from these
- 28:00Speaker 3: toxic friends is a must. And you probably all heard
- 28:03Speaker 3: terms like emotional vampire or energy vampire as well, which
- 28:07Speaker 3: doesn't necessarily have to be a friend, but often goes
- 28:11Speaker 3: into this whole thing.
- 28:13Speaker 4: Right, So we did want to talk about some of
- 28:15Speaker 4: the warning signs, and they're a lot more out there.
- 28:18Speaker 4: There are a lot more articles that you can look
- 28:19Speaker 4: at that give you specific maybe actions that are taking place.
- 28:23Speaker 4: But we just to do a few of those warning signs,
- 28:27Speaker 4: and one of them.
- 28:28Speaker 2: Is that they always put you down.
- 28:30Speaker 4: So of course I'm not necessarily talking about every once
- 28:33Speaker 4: in a while just a friendly jab where you tease
- 28:34Speaker 4: each other and move on.
- 28:35Speaker 2: Which I think I've done to you.
- 28:38Speaker 4: Yes, But if it's something that's not only causes you
- 28:41Speaker 4: to feel bad about yourself, or something that causes your embarrassment,
- 28:45Speaker 4: maybe you should rethink this friendship and.
- 28:48Speaker 2: What it's about.
- 28:49Speaker 4: An example that I think of on the top of
- 28:51Speaker 4: my head is the Mean Girls movie where poor Gretchen
- 28:54Speaker 4: just constantly gets yelled at by Regina and put down
- 28:57Speaker 4: constantly about being told that her ideas are and everything
- 29:00Speaker 4: she's doing is not as good as her that would
- 29:03Speaker 4: be one of those put down not good friendships right.
- 29:07Speaker 3: Another sign is crossing boundaries. Do they make you uncomfortable?
- 29:11Speaker 3: Do they keep pushing you to do things you don't
- 29:14Speaker 3: want to do, or they don't listen when you let
- 29:16Speaker 3: them know you don't like something or don't want to
- 29:18Speaker 3: be a part of something.
- 29:21Speaker 1: That is a sign. Another one is takers.
- 29:24Speaker 3: Those friends who use you for what you have, constantly
- 29:28Speaker 3: coming to complain and need advice, but their chicken on
- 29:31Speaker 3: you are see how you are doing.
- 29:34Speaker 4: Right, And then there's a non supporter. We all have dreams,
- 29:37Speaker 4: of course and goals and we definitely need help sometimes,
- 29:40Speaker 4: whether it's someone who would call just to see how
- 29:42Speaker 4: you're doing that day or how are you doing with things,
- 29:44Speaker 4: or those who just show up for you for moral support.
- 29:46Speaker 4: But if someone is not doing this but you're constantly
- 29:49Speaker 4: doing that for them, that's not someone you want to
- 29:51Speaker 4: be around. That's not someone who is a good friend,
- 29:53Speaker 4: someone who if you're trying to do something new me
- 29:57Speaker 4: I was trying to knit, you're very supportive and I
- 29:59Speaker 4: really appreciate that as where those non supportive would probably
- 30:02Speaker 4: go ahead and talk down on you and ask you
- 30:04Speaker 4: why you're doing it.
- 30:04Speaker 2: And you're going to fail. Those are people you don't
- 30:07Speaker 2: want to be around.
- 30:08Speaker 3: Yes, Yes, And when you get older and you look
- 30:12Speaker 3: back on how behaviors you had when you were younger,
- 30:15Speaker 3: there were some like I've really been working on, where
- 30:19Speaker 3: I would.
- 30:19Speaker 1: Get jealous of friends.
- 30:22Speaker 3: I would get jealous if I thought like they were,
- 30:25Speaker 3: you know, having a better life or whatever, being cooler,
- 30:28Speaker 3: And it was really hard for me to not like
- 30:30Speaker 3: say something kind of snarky to work about it, or
- 30:33Speaker 3: something kind of a put down. And that's been something
- 30:35Speaker 3: I've recognized and I've like actively tried to work on
- 30:38Speaker 3: as I've gotten older. And that's something to keep in
- 30:41Speaker 3: mind too, is to look for those things in yourself,
- 30:44Speaker 3: and especially if you have a friend who says something
- 30:46Speaker 3: about it, you should examine that thing, right.
- 30:50Speaker 1: And I have an.
- 30:52Speaker 3: Instance of two friends in my life who were both
- 30:54Speaker 3: my best friends, and they had a huge fight in
- 30:57Speaker 3: college and they have not made up.
- 31:00Speaker 1: One of them wants to and the other one doesn't.
- 31:02Speaker 3: But it's also complicated because they're both my friends, and
- 31:05Speaker 3: I've heard both of their sides of it, and I
- 31:06Speaker 3: get both of their sides of it, and you know,
- 31:11Speaker 3: you can't force someone if they're not ready to be
- 31:13Speaker 3: your friend again, then that's that's that.
- 31:15Speaker 2: That's it.
- 31:16Speaker 3: Yeah, it sucks, but yeah, would I would just also
- 31:19Speaker 3: keep in mind your own behaviors and friendships as well, exactly.
- 31:24Speaker 1: M hmm.
- 31:24Speaker 3: There's also something called co rumination. Co Rumination is defined
- 31:29Speaker 3: as quote extensive and frequent discussion, speculation, and focus on
- 31:32Speaker 3: negative feelings related to personal problems with close friends or friends.
- 31:37Speaker 3: That's from the National Institute of Health. It usually involves
- 31:40Speaker 3: the constant discussion and rehashing of the same problems and
- 31:43Speaker 3: often includes focusing on quote causes, implications, and negative feelings
- 31:48Speaker 3: around that problem. So think of when you were going
- 31:52Speaker 3: through a bad breakup and you went to your closest
- 31:54Speaker 3: friends to talk about all the whise what went wrongs
- 31:56Speaker 3: and how things could have changed.
- 31:58Speaker 4: So, yeah, this is actually we need to watch this.
- 32:01Speaker 4: I'm thinking about a Sex in the City episode where
- 32:04Speaker 4: specifically Carrie cannot stop talking about Big at that point
- 32:09Speaker 4: they'd broken up for the second time, and she goes
- 32:11Speaker 4: on and on and on and on to the point
- 32:14Speaker 4: that her three friends intervene and say, Okay, this is
- 32:18Speaker 4: a big, big intervention because you know he was called
- 32:21Speaker 4: Big because we cannot deal with this, that we cannot
- 32:24Speaker 4: keep talking about all the negatives you're bringing everyone down,
- 32:27Speaker 4: and not that we don't want to talk about it,
- 32:28Speaker 4: but we've given you the weak, long allowance of doing so,
- 32:33Speaker 4: and you keep repeating the same thing and it's becoming
- 32:36Speaker 4: really negative for you as well as for us. And
- 32:40Speaker 4: they were like, you need a therapist, and apparently they're like,
- 32:43Speaker 4: you know, we have the same.
- 32:44Speaker 2: Issues too, and we don't know what to do.
- 32:46Speaker 4: This is why we have therapists, because we need someone
- 32:48Speaker 4: else to give us an unbiased opinion instead of yeah,
- 32:51Speaker 4: that dude's a dick, which that dude was a dick.
- 32:57Speaker 2: Anyway, just go to there.
- 32:58Speaker 4: But yeah, So, of course talking with our friends and
- 33:01Speaker 4: really letting go when working through things isn't a bad thing,
- 33:04Speaker 4: as in fact, one of the things I cherish most
- 33:06Speaker 4: is being able to completely be honest about all my
- 33:09Speaker 4: hurts and insecurities and having friends comfort me or shake
- 33:13Speaker 4: me out of it, like I really need that reality check.
- 33:16Speaker 4: So co ruminating can be a function of bonding for
- 33:19Speaker 4: many friends and can in the long run benefit in
- 33:22Speaker 4: a higher relationship satisfaction. And this is according to a
- 33:25Speaker 4: study completed by the Oklahoma State University. Not only that,
- 33:29Speaker 4: but the quality of the relationship and social support are
- 33:31Speaker 4: also higher for those who co ruminate. So not all
- 33:34Speaker 4: bad thing. And apparently this is only typically seen in
- 33:38Speaker 4: friendships with women. So men don't co ruminate, according to
- 33:42Speaker 4: the statistic, with their male friends. It's not something that
- 33:45Speaker 4: they do. They don't sit and empathize with each other,
- 33:48Speaker 4: which we kind of talked about a little before, but
- 33:50Speaker 4: they specifically said.
- 33:53Speaker 2: This is not a thing that happens with men.
- 33:54Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, yeah. However, there is some bad.
- 33:59Speaker 3: It's not all good because co ruminating is essentially sharing
- 34:02Speaker 3: and feeling each other's stress and anxiety, and it can
- 34:04Speaker 3: become a negative cycle and once you feed off each
- 34:07Speaker 3: other's stressors, causing a higher stress synchronicity that can also
- 34:11Speaker 3: trigger other mental health issues like depression. Psychologists Amanda Rose
- 34:16Speaker 3: found when women co ruminate, they were quote more susceptible
- 34:19Speaker 3: to emotional disorders. And with that, if your friendship is
- 34:22Speaker 3: based on shared pain or bad experiences, there's a danger
- 34:24Speaker 3: that you quote might start manufacturing that pain to keep
- 34:27Speaker 3: the relationship going, and doing so can lead to a
- 34:31Speaker 3: quote elevated risk of depression and anxiety. If these friendships
- 34:36Speaker 3: are dependent on only the bad and painful things in
- 34:39Speaker 3: the relationship, perhaps it's time to reflect on if that
- 34:42Speaker 3: relationship is healthy.
- 34:44Speaker 4: And there are examples specifically through people who were talking
- 34:48Speaker 4: about they actually really thrived on when their friends were
- 34:51Speaker 4: going through bad things and were excited by that and
- 34:54Speaker 4: was wanting to be the go person. And you know,
- 34:56Speaker 4: the co ruminating part is a little too real for
- 34:59Speaker 4: me feel I felt other attacked reading this. I'm not
- 35:01Speaker 4: gonna lie because I want to be a go to
- 35:04Speaker 4: person for people.
- 35:05Speaker 2: That's kind of the thing. I think that's part of.
- 35:07Speaker 4: My whole caregiver mentality that I really want to be
- 35:11Speaker 4: there for you, and so knowing that you trust me
- 35:14Speaker 4: enough to come to me in these dark times, yeah,
- 35:17Speaker 4: feels so rewarding that it's like, yeah, it kind of
- 35:20Speaker 4: does feed into I know I'm needed, and therefore I'm
- 35:23Speaker 4: going to keep being needed by being this person.
- 35:26Speaker 2: And maybe if you have these traumas then.
- 35:28Speaker 4: This is good for me, right, but it is it's
- 35:31Speaker 4: really unhealthy when you take on too much. I remember
- 35:33Speaker 4: there was one point where two of my closest friends
- 35:36Speaker 4: were going through really really hard things and I was
- 35:39Speaker 4: crying and upset about it later on to the point
- 35:41Speaker 4: that I realized that I was in pain because they
- 35:44Speaker 4: were in such pain that I felt like I couldn't
- 35:46Speaker 4: be happy. Right, it was a weird thing, and they
- 35:48Speaker 4: weren't doing that on purpose. And please understand, these two
- 35:51Speaker 4: friends are the best friends that I've had, and I
- 35:53Speaker 4: could do the same with them, and I have done
- 35:54Speaker 4: the same with them, but because of what was happening
- 35:57Speaker 4: that it was so intense, because it just felt like
- 35:59Speaker 4: every body was falling apart, that I didn't have the
- 36:02Speaker 4: right to be okay.
- 36:04Speaker 3: Yeah, and whereas I like, on the other hand, I'm
- 36:07Speaker 3: someone who struggles with like everything has to be even,
- 36:11Speaker 3: and so I've already and this is such a terrible thing,
- 36:15Speaker 3: but I've already been like, here are the people who
- 36:17Speaker 3: were really there for me when my dad died, so
- 36:19Speaker 3: when their parents died, to really be there, which is awful,
- 36:25Speaker 3: Like I want to be there for them, but it's
- 36:27Speaker 3: just one of those things where it's like, already stressing
- 36:30Speaker 3: me out right, that happened.
- 36:32Speaker 2: Yet you're like, who do I owe?
- 36:35Speaker 3: Yep, yep, And again, that's not what friendship is. That's
- 36:38Speaker 3: what it's about. You should try to be as like
- 36:41Speaker 3: equal as possible in giving and receiving. But it's not
- 36:45Speaker 3: like a book, right, It's not like a debt sheet
- 36:47Speaker 3: that you need to keep track of. I mean, you
- 36:50Speaker 3: should keep in mind if one person is doing a
- 36:52Speaker 3: lot more than the other, But in general it evens
- 36:55Speaker 3: out right.
- 36:56Speaker 4: Right, you know, a true friendship you do for each
- 36:58Speaker 4: other without thinking about that because it's automatic. It's easy
- 37:01Speaker 4: from both them so for sure. And you know, I
- 37:03Speaker 4: never really knew the term co ruminating, so.
- 37:07Speaker 2: It's like, oh, oh, that's what that is.
- 37:10Speaker 4: Grow So there's something to think on, for sure. But
- 37:13Speaker 4: to go a little deeper than just co ruminating and
- 37:16Speaker 4: toxic friendships, we did want to talk a little bit
- 37:19Speaker 4: about abusive friendships, and it's not talked about often, but
- 37:23Speaker 4: it should be something that people are aware of and
- 37:25Speaker 4: should watch out for. As in fact, a couple of
- 37:28Speaker 4: articles we're talking about the fact that this is not
- 37:30Speaker 4: addressed because it's not technically seen as domestic violence, and
- 37:34Speaker 4: so therefore people don't recognize it as quickly and realize
- 37:38Speaker 4: how harmful it could be. But more often than not,
- 37:41Speaker 4: abusive friendships and toxic friendships get mixed up, so we
- 37:44Speaker 4: just kind of use those words interchangeably, and there is
- 37:47Speaker 4: a subtle difference within.
- 37:49Speaker 2: Abuse of friendships.
- 37:50Speaker 4: You do again see the similar signs of toxic friendship,
- 37:53Speaker 4: but it continues on. As one article states, abusive friendships
- 37:56Speaker 4: often start on a positive note, but then the abuser
- 37:59Speaker 4: may use repetition compulsion, which is when an abused person
- 38:03Speaker 4: may unknowingly replay unresolved family dysfunctions in a new adult relationship,
- 38:09Speaker 4: and that abuser uses that so they know what you've
- 38:11Speaker 4: gone through and are able to use.
- 38:13Speaker 2: That tactic against you, much like an abuser.
- 38:16Speaker 4: Essentially, the person who is mistreated or abused may have
- 38:19Speaker 4: gone through a lot in their childhood and endured so
- 38:22Speaker 4: much in the childhood that it becomes a norm and
- 38:24Speaker 4: is familiar. So therefore they don't realize that that's what's
- 38:27Speaker 4: being extended into these friendships. And oftentimes you see you
- 38:32Speaker 4: don't realize the negativity that's falling on you, and you
- 38:35Speaker 4: feel like that's what you deserve or that's what friendship is.
- 38:39Speaker 3: Yeah, there have definitely been some situations, never like this
- 38:42Speaker 3: to this extent, but there have been situations where I
- 38:44Speaker 3: looked back and I was like, Wow, that wasn't a
- 38:45Speaker 3: good friendship. But at the time, it seemed just normal, right,
- 38:49Speaker 3: It felt like it just almost like the frog in
- 38:52Speaker 3: the boiling pot where it slowly got worse and worse.
- 38:55Speaker 3: But you were thinking this as your friend, and it
- 38:57Speaker 3: would be a failure to cut off the friendship, right, have.
- 39:00Speaker 1: To stay friends.
- 39:01Speaker 3: Abusers will play on your insecurities, but only after they
- 39:05Speaker 3: have quote seduced you into a trusting relationship, and they
- 39:08Speaker 3: are often excessively charming and attentive. Some other warning signs
- 39:12Speaker 3: include harassment, dishonesty, and manipulations. They are also likely to
- 39:17Speaker 3: be very argumentative and critical, and abusive friendships can cause
- 39:21Speaker 3: so many mental health and physical issues, such as depression, anxiety,
- 39:25Speaker 3: stomach problems, high blood pressure, and even PTSD.
- 39:29Speaker 4: I think again, we did want to address this, and
- 39:31Speaker 4: of course this is still vague. It might not be
- 39:34Speaker 4: all about the physical abuse, which is what's so easily
- 39:37Speaker 4: noted as this is abuse, right, but this emotional manipulative
- 39:41Speaker 4: tactics that causes people to be triggered in so many
- 39:45Speaker 4: ways by what their actions are because they know they
- 39:48Speaker 4: can trigger you or guilt you, or manipulate you into
- 39:52Speaker 4: filling that you owe them something, that it becomes an
- 39:55Speaker 4: abusive relationship.
- 39:57Speaker 3: Right, And we do have a little bit more for
- 40:00Speaker 3: you listeners, but first we're going to pause for one
- 40:03Speaker 3: more work break for word from our sponsor, and we're back.
- 40:19Speaker 1: Thank you sponsors.
- 40:20Speaker 4: So not all friendships and because it's bad. So it's
- 40:24Speaker 4: not all about toxic friendships and or abusive friendships. But
- 40:29Speaker 4: you know, things happen, we grow, we change, and sometimes
- 40:33Speaker 4: that means friendships change too. And there are people I
- 40:37Speaker 4: think gone fondly, but perhaps because of distance, we're not
- 40:40Speaker 4: friends anymore. Maybe they started a family, and because I
- 40:44Speaker 4: don't have a family, it's harder for us to relate,
- 40:46Speaker 4: or it's harder to find time. Any of those things
- 40:49Speaker 4: could be reasons while we are no longer friends. And yeah,
- 40:52Speaker 4: just your interests and commonalities have shifted. And of course
- 40:56Speaker 4: there's also possibility that your difference in belief. Yeah, that
- 41:01Speaker 4: changes friendships. Perhaps it's politics. And for me, definitely my
- 41:05Speaker 4: friends from my hometown, I don't talk to them as much.
- 41:09Speaker 4: Some of us stopped talking altogether because of their reactions
- 41:12Speaker 4: to Black Lives Matter, and that made me go, no, that's.
- 41:16Speaker 2: A deal breaker for me. If you can't see how
- 41:18Speaker 2: this is racist, sorry that it.
- 41:21Speaker 4: Is what it is as well as the fact that
- 41:23Speaker 4: I was super religious growing up. I'm no longer religious,
- 41:26Speaker 4: and that changed a lot of friendships for me from
- 41:28Speaker 4: college and high school, which again super religious to not
- 41:32Speaker 4: and those people who are super religious still doesn't mesh
- 41:35Speaker 4: too well in the end.
- 41:38Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And that is one of those things of.
- 41:43Speaker 3: Growing friendships and changing friendships because I too came from
- 41:46Speaker 3: a very small conservative town and sometimes because I was
- 41:49Speaker 3: liberal back then and most people are conservative and I'm
- 41:53Speaker 3: getting fights.
- 41:54Speaker 1: It's like my seventh grade it is my friends about their rock.
- 41:58Speaker 3: Wars, but I didn't have like too many like minded
- 42:04Speaker 3: friends that choose from But some of my friends who
- 42:06Speaker 3: didn't think that way then have changed when they got
- 42:10Speaker 3: out of the small town and things like that. So yeah,
- 42:13Speaker 3: for sure, And that's something I've always struggled with where
- 42:17Speaker 3: I'm just so determined. But we were such good friends.
- 42:19Speaker 3: We have to stay good friends. But sometimes, yeah, it's
- 42:21Speaker 3: just you change and they change and things.
- 42:24Speaker 1: Life changes.
- 42:25Speaker 2: Life changes.
- 42:26Speaker 1: It does.
- 42:28Speaker 3: That's not to say I do think you can make
- 42:30Speaker 3: things work if there's like an equal amount of interest
- 42:33Speaker 3: in time. But yeah, however, what if you want to
- 42:36Speaker 3: break up with a friend, how do you do that.
- 42:40Speaker 3: You can limit time. Sometimes ending of friendship is not necessary.
- 42:44Speaker 3: Maybe it's all about limiting the amount of time or
- 42:46Speaker 3: even specific situations, maybe only in group settings or maybe
- 42:50Speaker 3: one on one setting. Boundaries are always a beautiful thing.
- 42:55Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 42:55Speaker 4: I definitely had a friend of mine who I didn't
- 42:58Speaker 4: get along with a person and the way they explain
- 43:01Speaker 4: their friendship, not that they had to explain their friendship,
- 43:04Speaker 4: but because I wasn't the only one who was like,
- 43:06Speaker 4: I can't be around this person. They are too much
- 43:08Speaker 4: of this, this and this, and I'm going to go off.
- 43:11Speaker 4: I think I've said that I have a short temper.
- 43:13Speaker 4: But they were like, yeah, they're one of those friends
- 43:16Speaker 4: that they're better one on one.
- 43:18Speaker 2: They're really sweet and very attentive.
- 43:21Speaker 4: They get around a group of people and they don't
- 43:23Speaker 4: know how to pull back and just our vibrant personality.
- 43:28Speaker 4: And I'm like, okay, okay, yeah you have that one
- 43:30Speaker 4: on one setting. I'm good, which is not nice, but whatever,
- 43:35Speaker 4: but yeah. Also, we talked a little bit before about
- 43:38Speaker 4: the fading, the ghosting. It's a slow walking away from
- 43:41Speaker 4: a relationship. And I'd say this metaphorically obviously, and it
- 43:45Speaker 4: may be the best solution possible, especially when we're talking
- 43:47Speaker 4: about abusive or toxic relationships where you feel like it's
- 43:50Speaker 4: just be combative trying to have a conversation with it.
- 43:53Speaker 2: So whether it's you.
- 43:55Speaker 4: Know, less texting right, a little more time, not seeing
- 43:59Speaker 4: them as much as you used to, or all together,
- 44:02Speaker 4: you know, not answering the call immediately kind of situation,
- 44:05Speaker 4: not confiding in them so much, that might be a
- 44:08Speaker 4: solution for you if you really feel like that's the
- 44:10Speaker 4: only solution. Then again, let's say it is a really
- 44:13Speaker 4: deep and personal relationship, but there's something that has happened
- 44:17Speaker 4: that you feel like this is not going to work.
- 44:20Speaker 4: A face to face conversation could work. Just be honest
- 44:23Speaker 4: and open and also be willing to admit yourself when
- 44:27Speaker 4: you haven't been the best friend as well, and so
- 44:30Speaker 4: that could be a solution. I will say I know
- 44:33Speaker 4: many of people as of late sending emails, and I've
- 44:36Speaker 4: actually had an email they weren't necessarily trying to break well,
- 44:41Speaker 4: it did sound like a breakup letter.
- 44:43Speaker 2: It did sound like a breakup letter. Actually, it's happened
- 44:45Speaker 2: to me twice.
- 44:46Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, should remember this, So it's happened to
- 44:48Speaker 4: me twice.
- 44:49Speaker 2: Man I must be a bad friend.
- 44:50Speaker 4: The first time was because I was super religious and
- 44:53Speaker 4: pampas and over the top, and when they corrected me,
- 44:55Speaker 4: I was like, you're correct, I'm so sorry, and we
- 44:57Speaker 4: were fine After that.
- 44:58Speaker 2: That opened up a whole other conversation.
- 45:01Speaker 4: Another one was because they decided that because they were
- 45:06Speaker 4: married now that they wanted to start a family and
- 45:09Speaker 4: being around single friends wasn't good for them.
- 45:12Speaker 2: They broke up with me.
- 45:16Speaker 1: I know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at
- 45:17Speaker 1: your Saturdays. I'm a bad friend.
- 45:21Speaker 4: I just remembered why, and remembering those I'm like, wow.
- 45:24Speaker 4: And of course, to be fair, it wasn't a bad
- 45:27Speaker 4: thing to me.
- 45:28Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, okay, area, Yeah, we were talking
- 45:35Speaker 3: about this recently, So I guess I have a combo.
- 45:38Speaker 1: I have a combo example, because.
- 45:40Speaker 3: I have an email fade out situation that just happened,
- 45:44Speaker 3: which this person was one of my best friends.
- 45:46Speaker 1: We've known each other since we were four years old.
- 45:48Speaker 3: We've traveled together, we went to college together, we were
- 45:53Speaker 3: roommates for a while, and she moved out.
- 45:57Speaker 1: Of the country.
- 45:58Speaker 3: She There are also issues around she really didn't like
- 46:03Speaker 3: other women, which didn't sit well with me because I
- 46:06Speaker 3: was like, what about me? Though, I don't feel about this,
- 46:09Speaker 3: and then yeah, yeah, there there's some issues, but I
- 46:13Speaker 3: wanted to keep the friendship going, and so we had
- 46:15Speaker 3: like an email thing that slowly dropped pretty much like
- 46:17Speaker 3: twice a year. We did go on two journeys abroad
- 46:22Speaker 3: during that time, but this was the first year. She
- 46:24Speaker 3: sent me an email last year and was like, oh
- 46:25Speaker 3: my gosh, pandemic, how are you going in the US.
- 46:28Speaker 3: So what's been going on with you? I'm so sorry
- 46:29Speaker 3: I haven't been in contact. I'm really bad about it.
- 46:32Speaker 3: I sent her this whole thing, and I was like,
- 46:33Speaker 3: this is what's going on with fee?
- 46:35Speaker 1: How are you?
- 46:36Speaker 3: Don't worry about, you know, being bad contact? I'm just
- 46:38Speaker 3: bad to hear from you. And I never heard from
- 46:40Speaker 3: her again. And this was her first birthday where I
- 46:42Speaker 3: didn't send the like happy birthday thing because I guess
- 46:46Speaker 3: we're done right.
- 46:48Speaker 1: It's weird too, that situation is weird.
- 46:50Speaker 3: I wonder if anyone else can relate to this, where
- 46:53Speaker 3: we would have a lot of discussions where she would
- 46:55Speaker 3: like say, this is my problems with you.
- 46:59Speaker 1: And I.
- 47:00Speaker 3: I'm someone who tries to be really self aware, especially
- 47:03Speaker 3: like as I've gotten older.
- 47:04Speaker 1: It wasn't in high school.
- 47:05Speaker 3: Or whatever, but like, as I've gotten older, sometimes she
- 47:07Speaker 3: would say things where I'm like, am I just being
- 47:11Speaker 3: really obtuse because that doesn't sound like how I've interpreted
- 47:14Speaker 3: these situations at all.
- 47:18Speaker 1: It's just odd.
- 47:19Speaker 4: Yeah, if someone is so quick and constantly trying to
- 47:22Speaker 4: tell you you're bad, that would be toxic.
- 47:25Speaker 2: That's the put down thing.
- 47:26Speaker 3: She was definitely a friend, where like I was very,
- 47:31Speaker 3: very worried all the time that whatever I said or did,
- 47:34Speaker 3: our friendship was over and that was the end.
- 47:37Speaker 1: But we did have some wonderful times together and it
- 47:39Speaker 1: does make me sad right.
- 47:41Speaker 2: And there, there definitely is.
- 47:42Speaker 4: I think that's the part of the problem is when
- 47:44Speaker 4: you remember the good times mm hmm, and it's been
- 47:47Speaker 4: long enough that you forgot the bad times, you're like, eh,
- 47:52Speaker 4: but it's.
- 47:52Speaker 2: Nice to have those memories.
- 47:53Speaker 4: And I've always been that type of person who would
- 47:56Speaker 4: say that I love meeting people, even though I'm an
- 47:59Speaker 4: inter because they change your perspective somehow, and you find
- 48:03Speaker 4: something new about yourself in that relationship, and hopefully it's
- 48:07Speaker 4: a good thing.
- 48:08Speaker 2: And even if it's a bad thing, it's still a
- 48:10Speaker 2: lesson to learn. It's the very least.
- 48:12Speaker 4: And then as I'm getting to forty, yeah, I only
- 48:15Speaker 4: have time for essential friendship, meaning people who I can
- 48:19Speaker 4: feed into and they could feed into me and we
- 48:21Speaker 4: can come out together as better people. Like it's just
- 48:24Speaker 4: when you get to a certain age, it's harder to
- 48:26Speaker 4: make friends a B.
- 48:28Speaker 2: I've become more set in.
- 48:29Speaker 4: My ways as I get older, and it's harder for
- 48:33Speaker 4: me to change my personality to fit.
- 48:34Speaker 2: You don't get me wrong.
- 48:36Speaker 4: Reading a room and being able to at least understand
- 48:39Speaker 4: and be compassionate and all of that for sure, But
- 48:43Speaker 4: at the same time, I'm not going to be giddy, happy, sweet,
- 48:46Speaker 4: go lucky girl. That's just not me, right, And I
- 48:49Speaker 4: no longer have time, right or the mental capacity to
- 48:54Speaker 4: try to change my personality to fit into this. I mean,
- 48:58Speaker 4: I feel like I struggled to not just without work
- 49:01Speaker 4: and try to be professional. I don't know whether you know,
- 49:05Speaker 4: like professional is hard for me?
- 49:08Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And I think that's something we all kind
- 49:12Speaker 3: of learn and go through. Is essentially, what is this
- 49:17Speaker 3: friendship giving me? Is it worth the time and energy?
- 49:21Speaker 3: And I know back when I first started and we
- 49:26Speaker 3: were the stuff, I've never told you had the YouTube
- 49:28Speaker 3: channel that was really active. That was one of the
- 49:30Speaker 3: things we heard the most from young listeners especially, was
- 49:35Speaker 3: how do I I'm in a toxic friendship?
- 49:37Speaker 1: What do I do? So?
- 49:39Speaker 3: I know that this is something we all have dealt
- 49:42Speaker 3: with and seen, right, So I hope that this helps
- 49:45Speaker 3: in some way.
- 49:46Speaker 4: Yes, And the good news is there are people out
- 49:49Speaker 4: there who can connect. And there was a survey that
- 49:53Speaker 4: said that one in ten people don't actually have close friends.
- 49:57Speaker 2: That made me sad because.
- 49:59Speaker 4: I definitely could tell you you immediately the four people
- 50:01Speaker 4: that I could call if I was in an emergency state.
- 50:04Speaker 4: And that makes me sad to think that someone might
- 50:06Speaker 4: go without that because for sure, as a person who
- 50:09Speaker 4: don't feel close to my family didn't have a family
- 50:12Speaker 4: at one point in time, my friends are my family.
- 50:16Speaker 2: Yeah, So I.
- 50:17Speaker 4: Can't imagine what it would be like not to have
- 50:19Speaker 4: people close to me that I could lean on and
- 50:22Speaker 4: know that we'll be there for the times that I
- 50:24Speaker 4: can't be there for myself or that I can't see
- 50:28Speaker 4: the reason to keep going because I've had many of
- 50:30Speaker 4: those times. Yeah, but having friends to truly be there
- 50:33Speaker 4: to hold my hand in the darkest moments. That's been
- 50:36Speaker 4: a lifesaver, literally a lifesaver for me.
- 50:39Speaker 1: Yes, I totally agree.
- 50:41Speaker 3: That's very, very, very powerful and I wish that everyone
- 50:46Speaker 3: had it because I think it does make you good.
- 50:48Speaker 1: Friendships help you make you.
- 50:50Speaker 3: Better because I have see you and Samantha knows, I've
- 50:55Speaker 3: been on a fan fiction binge.
- 50:57Speaker 1: I just read a fan fiction where one of.
- 51:00Speaker 3: The characters was like about to die and realized like
- 51:05Speaker 3: literally no one would come to save him because he's
- 51:07Speaker 3: a terrible person and no friends.
- 51:11Speaker 1: It's then changed his ways once he survived.
- 51:16Speaker 2: That sounds like a scrooge.
- 51:18Speaker 3: It's very very much Yes, yes, don't be a scrooge everyone.
- 51:24Speaker 4: And if you need friends and you've been listening to
- 51:27Speaker 4: us and count as us friends, please know.
- 51:29Speaker 2: We are your friends.
- 51:30Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we really do appreciate the support from all
- 51:33Speaker 3: of you. That is a true statement. And if you
- 51:35Speaker 3: would like to contact us, you can Our email is
- 51:38Speaker 3: Stuff medium, mom Steph at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
- 51:40Speaker 3: find us on Instagram at Stepmo I've never told you
- 51:42Speaker 3: are on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always
- 51:45Speaker 3: to our super producer Christina.
- 51:46Speaker 2: Who is also a friend.
- 51:47Speaker 3: Yes, and thanks to you for listening steff I never
- 51:50Speaker 3: told you his protection of iHeartRadio.
- 51:52Speaker 1: For more podcast from Iheartradiovi.
- 51:53Speaker 3: Is it the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you
- 51:55Speaker 3: listen to your favorite shows.
- 52:04Speaker 4: Yeah,