The pain from friendship break-ups is real.

Society doesn’t give them the same weight as romantic break-ups, but sometimes they can leave you even more broken. When I had my own friendship break-up, I cried myself to sleep multiple nights a week for almost a year.

Today’s guest is Patrice Poltzer, whose friendship break-up was with a high school friend who she remained close with until the birth of her first child. She describes their parting as one of the greatest tragedies and mysteries of her life.

Patrice and I are not alone in feeling this way. The friendship break-up is one of this show’s most requested topics. We need to normalize the fact that not all friendships last forever. They have highs, lows, and some end very painfully. But, as Patrice says, maybe this is okay - it allows us more room to expand our hearts and let other people in.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• The story of Patrice’s friendship break-up and the repercussions it had on her life for years afterward
• How sometimes with deep friendship break-ups, you can’t move to being surface-level friends
• “Best friends” in pop culture vs. real life, and how, as adults, the term “best friend” is too all-encompassing
• Part of what makes some friendship break-ups so hard is that these friends knew us during important moments in our lives – potentially when nobody else knew us
• How even after a friendship break-up, the history is always there; it’s like walking into a room you’ve been in before and being flooded with memories
• The need to normalize that friendships have highs and lows, and not all friendships are meant to last forever

Resources & Links

Follow Patrice at patricepoltzercreative.com or on her Instagram.

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!