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Friendship IRL

Alex Alexander

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Navigating Friendship Through the Big Life Changes

• 51 min

When big life changes happen, our closest people want to anticipate our needs.  But after these transitions, we might be new versions of ourselves, with new boundaries, new interests. The things that mattered before don’t anymore.  Today’s episode is with my friend Sarah, who is expecting her first baby in March. While many of the things we talk about relate to the fact that she’s pregnant, the overall arc is about how the big life changes affect our friendships and support systems. Every time my friends who do not have kids announce they’re pregnant, I’m simultaneously freaking thrilled and mournful, knowing things will be different now. We won’t be quite as free to pick up and do what we want all the time. This conversation can apply to any big life transition: a move, an engagement, an illness, an accident, a career switch, or becoming an empty nester. How do we navigate through these enormous changes? Sarah and I discuss a bunch of tactics, from using communication to bridge the gap, to letting go of the quantity of time and increasing the quality of time. In this episode you’ll hear about: Fear, grief, and ego in among friends and family as we go through major life transitions and turn into new versions of ourselvesThe value in simple friends, who are not wrapped up in who we used to beReaching out to friends for different needs vs. in order of their “hierarchy” of closenessReconnections, and how these can facilitate completely new relationships The ways communication can bridge the gap between friends during life changesThe vulnerability of letting people in, and the benefit of doing so before the “big moments”Resources & Links Like what you hear? Visit my website, leave me a voicemail, and follow me on Instagram!  Want to take this conversation a step further? Send this episode to a friend. Tell them you found it interesting and use what we just talked about as a conversation starter the next time you and your friend hang out!

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