As season 15 continues, we’re chatting today about a topic that has been close to my heart lately, and always, really — the power of friendship. We’ve already spoken about friendship this season, and we will again before the season concludes. I really resonated with Laura Tremaine’s 2023 book The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs. I think we have a tendency sometimes to put so much emphasis on one friend, but Laura’s book puts forth that we have many different types of friends that make up a life — and that each member of the Life Council is important, valuable, and necessary. Like I tell Laura in today’s episode, I see the Life Council like a presidential cabinet, all of my friends sitting around a table helping me navigate my way through life. And each of us has our own Life Council. Today Laura and I chat about how we are lonelier than ever, despite being more connected than ever; her five friendship philosophies, including making friendship a to do; the 10 members of the Life Council, including the Daily Duty friend, the Battle Buddy, and the Empty Chair; how we handle friendships when we are in different stages in life; the reality of the pain of a friendship breakup and how to grieve that loss; her best tips to make new friends as an adult and what she thinks about friendship groups; what she wishes more people knew about friendships; and so much more. I would personally like Laura to be my new friend, so let me tell you a little about her — she worked in film and TV production for many years at MTV, VH1, Fox, and Paramount Pictures before becoming a full-time writer. She writes about friendship (obviously), anxiety, motherhood, and marriage, and her posts and her podcast, 10 Things to Tell You, resonate with women looking for ways to connect more deeply with others as they move through life’s stages. She’s also the author of the 2021 book Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level, so, despite her reticence to call herself a friendship expert, I certainly see her as one. Sit back, get comfortable, and get ready to chat about friendship with me and the fabulous Laura Tremaine.

The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine