For anyone who has been hurt by a friend--or a group of friends--recently or in the past, this 14-minute episode is for you. It's a solo episode that came from my reaction to a TikTok video I saw by a woman who was left out of a group trip years ago and has decided she will never trust anyone with her friendship again. 

Other titles I considered: (and all relate to this 14-minute episode!)

• Not All Women Are Vicious 
• Don’t Let Being Left Out Dictate Your Future Friendships
• Don't Overly Focus on the Friends Who Rejected You
• You (and your kids) Will Survive Being Left Out 
• There is a Natural Drifting From Friends at Each Age and Stage of Life

In other words, I covered all of the above in this one. 

LINKS MENTIONED:

• The TikTok video I’m reacting to in this episode 
• “Why Big Friend Groups Often Fail and Helping Kids Handle Friendship Conflict” with Dr. Lisa Damour
• “I’m Just Not Into This Friendship” with Ruchi Koval
• “Friends Will Hang Out Without You” with Taryn Kessel
• “Difficult Teen Friendships and Parent Involvement” with Stephanie Sprenger
• “Every Friendship Starts or Deepens With an Act of Bravery” with Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston

QUOTES FROM THE EPISODE: 

"There's so much focus on who wasn't interested, who drifted away, who left, who left you out, who left your kid out. Let's focus on who said yes. That is where our energy should be.”

“I don't think it's a good idea to ‘normalize,' to use an extremely overused word on the internet, turning our lives upside down when friends do things without us. If we're going to normalize anything, let's normalize that friends WILL hang out without us. Just like we sometimes want to hang out in smaller groups or with just one or two people.

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