Friendships
S14. Episode 1: Why Friendship Matters: While friendship is critical to a happy, healthy, and long life, 62 percent of people have fewer than five friends. Tune in as Corey and Tracy talk about the benefits of friendship, the strength of weak ties, social media connections, the culture of friendliness, and figuring out what matters most in friendships. And if you want to know more about a friendship with an octopus, Corey’s inability to load the dishwasher, or Tracy’s experience at a writing group, you won’t want to miss this season kick-off!
S14. Episode 2: Making and Maintaining Friendships as an Adult: As an adult, making friends can be tricky. We don’t have the school yard or neighborhood filled with kids our age like we did when we were younger. Thus, we must be more inventive. Tune in as Corey and Tracy talk through a variety of options for making friends, like the Bumble BFF friendship app, Meetup.com, or even ChatGPT which can produce a curated list of events, classes, and social groups from AI, Meetup.com, or classes and local community groups. And, if you are wondering about Tracy’s incessant fear of her Alexa taking on an embodied form and ultimately killing her or Corey’s roller skating hobby as a kid that led her to her best friend, check no further than this episode.
S14. Episode 3: Deepening Friendships: If you want to learn more about enhancing your vulnerability, sharing your feelings, and building trust with friends, then you won’t want to miss this episode. Find out more about role modeling depth and openness for others to mirror while at the same time, making sure to have healthy boundaries to mitigate friend love-bombing, emotional U-Hauling, and the wounded deer syndrome. Tracy shares about how showing up authentically as herself has created a natural selection process for who wants to be friends with her, whereas Corey talks about asking questions as a form of connection rather than a transaction. Both, though, believe that the art of deepening connections can be learned. So, if you want some inspiration to enhance your ability to connect with others, this episode is for you!
S14. Episode 4: Healthy and Balanced Friendships: Do you ever feel like you are the one carrying most of the weight in a friendship – always being the one to ask a friend to hang out or reaching out via phone or text? What about those friendships where others have over-the-top expectations about your role in the friendship, monopolizing your time or leaning on you too much? Tune in for a lively episode where Corey and Tracy talk about reciprocity and balance in friendships and the importance of stepping back or stepping away. And, while Tracy spouts off about being old, her aversion to sarcasm, and not caring anymore about a lot of things, Corey shares her traumatic clown story and about how following through on commitments and reaching out first are must-haves for her in friendship.
S14. Episode 5: Managing Relationship Dynamics: How do you feel about road trips with friends? Sharing a bathroom with someone? Being a part of a friend group? Tracy is a big no for all of those, whereas Corey is a big yes. In this episode, you will find out why! Tune in for a lively conversation about preventing and resolving conflict with friends, including friends who ghost, hope as a terrible conflict management strategy, kitchen-sinking, and carefrontation. And, if you ever wondered if Corey and Tracy ever have conflict, be sure to pay attention to their recap of every conflict they’ve ever had – including Tracy usurping Corey’s friend, the podcast dilemma instigated by third party, and the fractured group text thread that resulted in invites going to Corey and not Tracy. But, rest assured, the two of them always talk through everything with each other’s’ best interests in mind and come to a resolve that is win-win.
S14. Episode 6: Friends with an Ex with Psychologist and Memoirist, Alisa Kriegel: Join us for an insightful and invigorating discussion with Alisa Kriegel, author of From Sexless Marriage to Sex Goddess, A Memoir. We talk all about her experiences and perspectives on fostering a post-marriage friendship with her ex-husband after his coming out. She shares about how relationships are built on three things – friendship, physical affection, and sex. We discuss how the loss of a relationship has the potential to turn our once-forever partners into “Somebody that I used to know,” according to singer, Gotye. We cover a lot of ground about women’s roles in society, co-parenting, conscious uncoupling, and the fine line between history with an ex and a friendship with an ex. Tune in for Alisa’s fascinating story and our amazing conversation all about exes as friends.
S14. Episode 7: Taking Friendship to the Next Level: Whether you decided to be friends before dating, ended up dating an acquaintance turned partner, or confessed your feelings to your bestie, a whopping 68 percent of people are in a relationship with someone they were friends with first. Tune in for Tracy’s story about heading off romantic vibes from friends by telling them she is a Republican and Corey’s about how salted tortilla chips and a metaphorical piano falling from the sky wooed her in to fall in love with a friend. And, you won’t want to miss some insightful tips about what to consider before confessing your feelings for your buddy!
S14. Episode 8: Nesting: Fostering Friendships While in a New Relationship: Why do some people vanish once they enter a new relationship? Tune in for a discussion where we talk all about time management, capacity, jealousy, isolation, friends not liking partners and partners not liking friends, retreating during a time of historic unrest, and all sorts of other reasons people nest. Tracy talks about her limitations being around feelings of overwhelm in that you can’t just prioritize something like hanging out with a friend over a barking dog who is calling for your immediate attention. Corey talks about the social obligation she feels to bring other lesbians together as a way of creating solidarity and community. And, as usual, they don’t agree about traveling with others!
S14. Episode 9: Toxic Friendships: From being a provocateur to backstabbing and unpleasantness to dishonesty, we as humans often put up with a lot from people, some of whom are genuinely our friends. What can you do to prevent yourself from getting caught up in a toxic friendship, and how can you get out of one when your so-called friend has crossed the line? Tune in for some doozies of stories from Corey and Tracy about the toxicity they have each encountered, red flags to look for, and how to transition out of a toxic friendship. And, if you want to know about Tracy’s fears in keeping a journal (or secrets, for that matter) or why Corey won’t ever go “back into a burning building,” you’ll definitely want to check out this episode!
S14. Episode 10: The Evolution of Friendship: If you’ve listened to the podcast for a while, you probably know the story about how Corey and Tracy met at a lesbian pool party and the subsequent past life connections they have uncovered over the years. But, did you know that Corey gets Tracy a Happy Friendaversary card every fourth of July or that Tracy’s favorite memory with Corey was trying to get past a rattlesnake while out hiking? Tune in for an honest chat about how Corey’s and Tracy’s friendship has changed over the years, the spiritual journey that continues to pull them together, and why Corey wants a doily for their ten-year Friendaversay. In the end, though, they decide on a new slogan for the friendship moving forward -Thriving, Not