Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship

Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship

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Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship episodes

  • #215 - When Your Child Gets Dropped From a Friend Group
    How to help your child through exclusion without letting your own panic take over


    I've been a parent on both sides of friendship exclusion. I've had kids who were left out, and I've had other parents upset with me. And I know how hard it can be to watch your child struggle socially without letting your own emotions take over. Sometimes our kids move on from a friendship disappointment long before we do!

    My guest Andrea, founder of Strong Mom Strong Girl, knows what it's like when a child is deliberately pushed out of an established friend group. She now helps other mothers navigate these painful situations. Andrea and I make an important distinction between not being invited to everything (a normal part of life!) and being purposely dropped from a group. We also discuss why your child's friendship drama is not yours to "fix" in the way you might assume, even when it's affecting your own friendships, your sleep, and the atmosphere in your home.

    Andrea reminds parents: "What you can do is show up as the best version of yourself so that your child can borrow your peace rather than pick up on your panic."


    WE DISCUSS:

    • Why having a friend group should NOT be the ultimate goal for our kids.
    • The difference between ordinary disappointment, exclusion, and targeted mean behavior.
    • Why Andrea advises against calling the other parents, even when you know them well.
    • How our questions, facial expressions, and emotional reactions can make a difficult situation better or worse.


    Andrea is sharing only her first name, and this episode is audio-only, to protect her family's privacy.


    LINKS MENTIONED:


    • Strong Mom Strong Girl on Instagram @strongmomstronggirl
    • Dear Nina Episode 180: “Mean Mom Culture, Relational Aggression, and Belonging vs. Inclusion” with Dr. Noelle Santorelli.
    • Katherine Martinko's article, "The Problem With Group Chats," which encourages delaying children's participation in group chats, not just delaying social media.
    • The NPR/Ira Glass story: About middle schoolers using the comments on NPR's Instagram posts to communicate with one another, sometimes because they weren't allowed to use social media. 
    • A few more episode on teen friendships related to this episode: #65. Teen Friends Groups and Teen Friendship Strife: Dr. Lisa Damour & #152: When Your Child’s Friendship Issues Reopens Unresolved Wounds: Beth Segaloff



    LEARN MORE ABOUT STRONG MOM STRONG GIRL

    Andrea is the founder of Strong Mom Strong Girl, where she helps moms support their daughters through friendship drama, exclusion, and mean-girl behavior with more calm, confidence, and clarity. Everything she shares is based on actual lived experience and years of both research and trial-and-error. Follow her on Instagram, where you can find resources, actionable advice, community and more.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    42 min
  • #214 - Are We Giving Up on Our Friends Too Quickly? (Melissa Radke)

    Are we too quick to decide a friendship isn’t working?

    That’s the question running through this conversation with bestselling author and podcaster Melissa Radke. Melissa and I have both ended important friendships in ways we later regretted, and we spoke about what we wished we had done differently before deciding it was time to walk away. To quote Melissa, "Because a friendship can be hard without being wrong."

    We got into the things that can make people want to run from a friendship: jealousy, uneven effort, changing life circumstances, fear of rejection, and seeing a close friend become close with someone else. Are those signs that a friendship is ending, or are they just normal parts of having long-term relationships with imperfect people?

    We also talked about the friendship “tests” we give without telling the other person they’re being tested. Maybe you stop reaching out to see whether your friend will finally initiate. Maybe you say nothing about your birthday because you want to see if they remember. Instead of asking for what we need, we collect evidence.

    Melissa and I discussed what can happen when we give our friends a little more room, say what’s actually bothering us, and let them respond before we decide we already know how they feel.

    There are certainly friendships that need to end. But before we decide we’re done, it may be worth asking: Is this friendship truly wrong for me—or are we just going through something hard?



    LINKS MENTIONED:

    • Melissa's recent friendship piece on Substack. 
    • Episode #34 of Dear Nina about my own friendship breakup (that I regretted) "Reconnecting with an Ex-Friend"
    • Episode #210 of Dear Nina with that same friend. "A softer to way to think about friendships that faded"
    • Melissa's books
    • Melissa on Instagram 
     


    MEET MELISSA RADKE: 

    Melissa Radke is a bestselling author, speaker, and media personality known for blending sharp humor with heartfelt honesty and Southern charm. She first gained national attention through her viral storytelling and memoir, Eat Cake. Be Brave., and is the author of Chicken-Fried Women: Friendship, Kinship, and the Women Who Made Us This Way, which celebrates the relationships that shape who we become.

    Through her writing, speaking, and podcasts, Chicken-Fried Women and The Radke Show, Melissa explores faith, friendship, women’s empowerment, and the beautifully imperfect parts of everyday life, connecting with audiences through her relatable stories, wit, and authenticity.

    Website | Instagram | Books | Podcast


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    46 min
  • #213 - Friendship "Flings," Uneven Effort, and Being Stuck in the Middle (Dr. Miriam Kirmayer)

    Dr. Miriam Kirmayer is back on Dear Nina, and this time we did something different: we each brought friendship questions the other person had not seen in advance.

    No prep. No polished answers. Just two people who think about friendship constantly digging into the kinds of questions that rarely have a clean yes-or-no answer.

    Dr. Miriam is a clinical psychologist and a well-known friendship researcher. She also now hosts the friendship podcast Two Peas on a Pod.

    WE GET INTO:

    • What to do when two friends are fighting and you’re stuck in the middle. Can you really stay neutral, and how do you avoid becoming the go-between?
    • “Friendship flings.” Why do some friendships get intense very quickly and then cool off just as fast? And when is that simply normal versus part of a larger pattern?
    • The eternal reciprocity problem. If you’re always the one reaching out, does that actually mean your friend cares less? 
    • When a friend is great one-on-one but treats you differently in a group. We talk about teasing, exclusion, mixed signals, and what Dr. Miriam calls an “ambivalent friendship.”
    • Why making plans is more complicated than it sounds. Reaching out, comparing calendars, choosing the place, making the reservation—sometimes one person is carrying more of that invisible work than anyone realizes.


    And finally, we turn the questions on ourselves: Does talking about friendship professionally make us self-conscious about our own friendships?


    LINKS MENTIONED:

    • Previous Dear Nina episode with Dr. Miriam: #109: "Quiet Quitting a Friendship"
    • Two Peas on a Pod episodes about friendship breakups. Part one and Part two.
     


    MEET DR. MIRIAM KIRMAYER:

    Dr. Miriam Kirmayer is a clinical psychologist, leading friendship expert, and one of the most influential speakers on human connection and social support. See more about Dr. Miriam's courses, keynotes, articles and more at www.miriamkirmayer.com. Listen to the podcast: Two Peas on a Pod. Find Dr. Miriam on Instagram on @miriamkirmayer.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    53 min
  • #212 - What Your Behavior May Be Saying to Your Friends (Laura Tremaine)

    When good intentions aren’t enough in a friendship

    What happens when you genuinely care about friends, but your behavior isn’t showing it?

    That’s the question at the center of my conversation with writer and podcaster Laura Tremaine, author of The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs and Share Your Stuff: I'll Go First. I’m bringing this episode back because Laura’s honesty about her own friendship missteps feels just as useful now as it did when we first recorded it.

    Laura realized that she had been relying on the history, chemistry, and closeness she felt with certain friends without doing enough to maintain those relationships as work, family, and other responsibilities increased. She wasn’t always texting back. She wasn’t checking in. And eventually, several friends cared enough about the friendships to tell her that it hurt.

    One of Laura’s biggest realizations was that there was a disconnect between what was in her heart and what her actions were communicating. She deeply valued these friends, but they couldn’t know that if she wasn’t showing it.

    So Laura did something surprisingly practical: she started putting friendship on her actual to-do list.


    WE DISCUSSED:

    • Why friendship sometimes needs to be treated as something we intentionally maintain—not something that runs on autopilot
    • The difference between making a friend a priority and making friendship feel like a chore
    • What to do when “I’m busy” or “I’m overwhelmed” starts becoming an excuse for behavior that’s hurting people we care about
    • Why responding to strangers online can sometimes feel easier than responding to the people closest to us (and why our friends might still take that personally)
    • Paying attention to the particular ways our friends like to connect
    • How our ideas about boundaries and self-care can work against the relationships we say are important to us


    I especially love Laura’s emphasis on noticing—noticing what makes a particular friend feel cared for, noticing the patterns in our own behavior, and noticing when our intentions and our actions aren’t lining up.

    And no, this episode isn’t an argument that you have to answer every text immediately or be endlessly available. It’s about something much more basic: If you want the friendship, are you behaving like you want the friendship?

     

    LINKS MENTIONED:

    Laura's books: The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs and Share Your Stuff: I'll Go First.

     

    MEET LAURA TREMAINE

    Laura Tremaine is a writer and podcaster based in Los Angeles. She’s the author of two books about connection and friendship, is the co-host of the SLOW READ podcast, and she writes and hosts regular conversations on her Secret Stuff substack. You can usually find her on Instagram @Laura.Tremaine.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.




    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    37 min
  • #211 - You Don’t Have to Be Fully Secure to Have Good Friendships (Dr. Marisa G. Franco)

    Dr. Marisa G. Franco is back on Dear Nina! This time we spoke about her new book, Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment, and how our sense of self-worth affects the friendships we build, keep, and sometimes struggle to trust.

    Marisa’s first book, Platonic, focused on how we create and maintain strong friendships. Worth goes a step further inward: What happens when the way we see ourselves makes it harder to believe that other people genuinely like us, value us, or want to be close to us?

    One of my favorite ideas from our conversation is Marisa’s argument that the goal isn’t to become perfectly secure. It’s to become secure-ish—aware of the anxious, avoidant, insecure parts of ourselves without pretending they’ve disappeared.

    We discussed:

    • How old friendship hurts can become “open memories” that continue to shape new relationships
    • Why one painful rejection can make us expect rejection long after the original friendship is over
    • How low self-worth can sometimes look like not initiating, pulling away, rejecting compliments, or needing constant reassurance
    • When reassurance starts becoming exhausting for the friend who is constantly being asked to prove the friendship
    • Why our assumptions about what friends think of us may say more about our own fears than about what’s actually happening


    Marisa shares the story of Esme, who carried one devastating friendship moment from middle school into adulthood and became afraid to initiate with people she genuinely wanted to know. We expand on Esme's story to talk about reciprocity, rejection, memory, and the possibility of changing the meaning we’ve attached to experiences from years ago.

    I also share one of my own “open memories” from college and what came up for me while working through one of Marisa’s exercises in the book.

    And we get into something I talk about often on this show: sometimes a friend’s lack of initiation really does mean something—and sometimes it doesn’t. Self-worth, fear of rejection, disorganization, and all kinds of other factors can sit underneath behavior we’re very quick to take personally.


    LINKS MENTIONED:

    • Dr. Marisa G. Franco's previous episode on Dear Nina: "Telling Friends They've Let You Down"
    • Buy Worth & Platonic
    • Find Marisa on Instagram @drmarisagfranco

     


    MEET DR. MARISA G FRANCO

    An enlightening psychologist, international speaker, and New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Marisa G. Franco is known for digesting and communicating science in ways that resonate deeply enough with people to change their lives. She works as a professor at The University of Maryland and authored the New York Times bestseller Platonic: How The Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends and Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment.

    She writes about friendship for Psychology Today and has been a featured connection expert for major publications like The New York Times, The Telegraph, and Vice. She speaks on belonging at corporations, government agencies, non-profits, and universities. For tips on friendship, you can follow her on Instagram (DrMarisaGFranco), or go to her website, www.DrMarisaGFranco.com, where you can take a quiz to assess your strengths and weaknesses as a friend & reach out for speaking engagements.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    37 min
  • #210 - AI, Friendship, and the Danger of Outsourcing Connection (Sarah Baldeo)
    Why human connection requires friction, empathy, and accountability.


    I have real concerns about AI, and one of my biggest is what happens when we start treating it like a person—especially a friend.

    My guest, Sarah Baldeo, is a neuroscientist and the author of 100 Ways to Future Proof Your Brain in the Age of AI. She has spent more than 20 years working at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, so I wanted to bring some of my biggest worries about AI and human connection directly to her and I appreciated her treating my concerns with seriousness and respect. My biggest takeaway remains the same: we need to be very careful not to confuse something that can imitate human connection with the real thing.


    We discussed:

    • What happens when we ask AI what to say to a grieving friend instead of working through our own empathy
    • Why AI can feel like the “perfect friend”—always available, agreeable, and unlikely to make us uncomfortable 
    • Why real friendship requires disagreement, reciprocity, boredom, and sometimes friction
    • The risks of outsourcing too much of our emotional and cognitive processing
    • Why I’m especially concerned about teenagers growing up with generative AI
    • How Sarah believes AI can actually be used to challenge our thinking rather than replace it
    • My deep concern that we need to be very careful about confusing something that can imitate human connection with the real thing! 
     


    MEET SARAH BALDEO:

    Sarah Baldeo, PhD (c), Executive MBA, is a bestselling author, neuroscientist, AI futurist, TED speaker, and CEO of ID Quotient Advisory, whose work explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping human cognition, executive judgment, and leadership decision making and what that means for how we connect, trust, and relate to one another; she is also the world’s foremost doctoral researcher on AI and cognition. She is the author of 100 Ways to Future-Proof Your Brain in the Age of AI, and has been featured on CBC News, CTV, NBC, SiriusXM, and Yahoo Finance. A global keynote speaker with more than 1,300 appearances across North America and Europe, Sarah advises organizations on the future of human intelligence in the age of AI. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    41 min
  • #209 - Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Kids and Adults (Caroline Maguire)

    I’ve spoken before on Dear Nina about neurodiversity and friendship with several fantastic guests, but I wanted to have a conversation that could speak both to parents raising neurodivergent kids and to neurodivergent adults navigating friendship themselves.

    Caroline Maguire is an internationally recognized expert in social-emotional learning, ADHD, coaching, and relationship development. She’s the author of Why Will No One Play With Me? and most recently, Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults.

    We talked about encouraging friendship without forcing it, finding environments where connection comes more naturally, handling rejection, understanding the difference between an acquaintance and a friend, and taking those sometimes-awkward next steps that help a friendship grow.

    What I especially loved about Caroline’s approach is that friendship skills aren’t about becoming someone else. They’re about understanding yourself, building confidence, and finding the people who appreciate you as you are.

     

    LINKS & RESOURCES:

    • Caroline's book: Why Will No One Play With Me? and Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults.
    • Caroline on Instagram @authorcarolinem
    • Episode #110. Neurodiversity and Friendships: Dr. James Richardson
    • Episode #187: How ADHD Affects Adult Friendships--For People With ADHD and Their Friends: Cate Osborn and Erik Gude
     


    MEET CAROLINE MAGUIRE:

    Caroline Maguire, M.Ed., ACCG, PCC is an internationally recognized expert in social-emotional learning, ADHD coaching, and relationship development. She is the author of the award-winning book, Why Will No One Play with Me? and FRIENDSHIP SKILLS FOR NEURODIVERGENT ADULTS (Balance Books), and hosts The ADHD Social Playbook podcast. An educator, coach, and sought-after speaker, Caroline developed a comprehensive Social Emotional Learning (SEL) training methodology that equips parents, clinicians, and educators with practical tools to build self-awareness, emotional regulation, social understanding, and meaningful relationships. As a neurodivergent person with ADHD, dyslexia, and learning disabilities, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work.


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    49 min
  • #208 - Making Friends at Any Age Takes a Little Risk (Harlan Cohen)

    Harlan Cohen on friendship, social courage, and finding places where you belong.

    Finding friendship—at any stage of life—requires the risk of hearing “no.” And that “no” rarely comes directly.

    That’s one of the ideas I dig into with Harlan Cohen, a New York Times bestselling author and founder of Best First Year, a college success coaching program for students and parents. So much of what Harlan teaches incoming college students and their parents applies just as much in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. This episode was so popular last year that I was waiting for the right time to play it again. The week I'm dropping off child #2 at college is the right time for sure!

    If you’re starting over socially, hoping to expand your circle, or just tired of feeling bruised by the ups and downs of friendship, this one’s for you.


    We get into:

    • Why taking risks and hearing “no” are simply part of friendship at every age
    • The difference between an expectation and a requirement in friendship
    • What to do if you’re always the one initiating plans—a popular topic on Dear Nina, and Harlan’s answer was fantastic
    • Harlan’s framework of "people, places, and patience"—and why we all need places where we’re accepted simply for showing up as ourselves, with no barrier to entry
    • The story of Harlan’s first college roommate and the twist he didn’t learn until 30 years later


    LINKS & RESOURCES:

    • Harlan’s College Success Coaching Program Best First Year
    • Harlan's episode with his freshman year roommate
    • You will love Harlan on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube!

     


    MEET HARLAN COHEN:

    Harlan is the New York Times bestselling author of The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College and six other titles (over 1 million copies in print). His social media accounts have over 1.5 million followers and he hosts the popular podcast, The Harlan Cohen Podcast. He is the founder of Best First Year, a college success coaching program for students and parents. Harlan lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and three children.

     
    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    41 min
  • #207 - The Teen Friendship Habits We Bring Into Adulthood (Sheri Gazitt)
    Friend groups, exclusion, conflict, and the patterns we don’t always outgrow


    Some friendship habits start much earlier than we realize. The way we react to being left out, how much security we get from being part of a group, whether we avoid conflict, and even how willing we are to be vulnerable with friends can all have roots in our teen years.

    My guest Sheri Gazitt has spent more than 30 years working with teen girls and their parents. She’s the founder of Teen Wise and the author of Girl Drama Decoded: Empower Your Daughter Through The Ups & Downs of Girl Drama & Friendships. What struck me throughout our conversation is how easily the friendship issues she sees with teenagers translate to adult friendship.

    We spoke about the difference between being deliberately excluded and simply not being invited, why being part of a friend group isn’t always the same thing as having close friendships, and what Sheri calls creating “parallel friendships” instead of putting all of our social energy into one group.

    We also got very practical about conflict. Sheri shared a four-step approach to having a difficult conversation with a friend, including one step I especially appreciated: considering whether there’s any part of the situation you need to own yourself.

    And we talk about what can happen after friendship disappointments pile up. Sometimes the way we protect ourselves is by keeping future friendships at a safe, superficial distance without even realizing we’re doing it.

    This episode is useful whether you’re watching your own teenager navigate friendship or recognizing some very familiar patterns in your adult life. The good news is that these are skills—and we can keep getting better at them.


    MEET SHERI GAZITT

    Sheri Gazitt is an international friendship expert, speaker, and founder of Teen Wise. With over 30 years of experience and a background in counseling psychology, she’s helped thousands of girls navigate friendship struggles, social anxiety, and the emotional ups and downs of growing up. She’s the author of Girl Drama Decoded and supports moms through her Mom Wise Collective while also working directly with teen girls through private coaching. Coach Sheri is known for making complex social dynamics feel understandable and giving families practical ways to build confidence, connection, and healthier friendships. Find Sheri on Instagram @BeTeenWise and on Facebook.



    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.



    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    30 min
  • #206 - How Friendships Change When You Stop Drinking (Suzanne Warye)

    Alcohol is so woven into social life that choosing not to drink can change how you spend time with friends, which invitations come your way, and what you begin to notice about the way you connect.

    My guest, Suzanne Warye is the author of The Sober Shift: An Empowering Exploration of Sobriety, Parenting, and the Joys of Alcohol-Free Living and the host of the popular podcast The Sober Mom Life. Suzanne's decision to stop drinking was not a “rock bottom” story. She could drink moderately, but she hated how much mental energy alcohol took up in her life as well as the after effects. Once Suzanne stopped drinking, she had to figure out what friendship and socializing looked like without it.

    In the episode Suzanne and I spoke honestly about the friendships that remained strong, the friendships that faded, and the hurt of being left off an invitation because someone assumes a sober friend would not want to come.

    We also discussed learning to sit through the first awkward minutes of a gathering without numbing your anxiety and why Suzanne’s standards for connection changed once alcohol was no longer the main event. We briefly chatted about THC drinks and gummies, phone use as another form of escape, and motherhood and “mommy wine culture.” And we talked about what happens when you start wanting your time with friends to feel more present and less "numb."

     

    Past episodes related to this one:

    #17. Friendship and Sobriety: Jen Veralle

    #130: The Sober Curious Lifestyle and Your Friendships: Hallie Sawyer

     

    Meet Suzanne:

    Suzanne Warye is a sobriety influencer and the host of the popular podcast The Sober Mom Life. Residing on the North Shore of Chicago with her husband and three kids, Suzanne spends most of her time reheating her coffee and rocking her “whole heart, half ass” parenting philosophy. Her new book THE SOBER SHIFT:  A Modern-Day Guide to Living an Abundant Sober Life is currently available in hardcover, audio and e-book and the paperback will be available on Sept 29, 2026. To connect follow her on Instagram @suzannewarye or visit www.thesobermomlife.com 


    ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO


    !! Catch up on all Dear Nina episodes on Apple and Spotify

    📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina

    🔎 Information on any upcoming "Dear Nina Live" events

    🎈 Celebrate your friend on the show by dedicating a week of episodes!

    📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack

    ❤️  Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group

    📪  Ask an anonymous friendship question

    📪 email: [email protected]

    🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.




    Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!
    34 min

About Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship

From the publisher's feed

“Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship” is for anyone who wants to make sense of the gray areas of adult friendship: changed closeness, uneven effort, group dynamics, hurt feelings, and what to…

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