Girls Night #88: How to Stay Close to your Friends When you’re in Different Stages of Life
IN THIS PODCAST EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
How to navigate a breakup or singleness when your close friend is falling in love or starting to date
What to do when you’re single and your friends are getting married
How to navigate having kids when your friends don’t have kids yet
What to do when your friends are pregnant or have kids and you don’t
How to handle a long-distance friendship
What to do when it feels like our friends aren’t prioritizing us as much as they used to
5 Tips we’ve learned along the way to help us get through these different seasons of friendship
And so much more!
(You can also listen right here!👇)
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night!
So, I have to be honest with you, I’m having a bit of a hard time keeping my cool enough to tell you about this episode. This episode is so special to me. First of all, it is such an important topic. It’s something I know we all have struggled with, and I’ve been wanting to do an episode about this for years!
But the other reason this episode is so special to me is because of my guests. My guests for today’s episode are three of my very best friends: Michelle, Kelsey, and Shannon.
In this episode, we’re talking about how to stay close to your friends when you’re in different stages of life.
I loved getting to talk about this with these three, because this is something we’re walking out in our lives right now. We’re all in different stages of life: Single, married, kids, no kids. Not only do our lives look different now, but throughout the years we’ve gone through all kinds of different seasons together, and we’re still going strong!
The day we recorded this episode was the perfect picture of this, actually, because we recorded this while we were in the mountains in Colorado celebrating new years together!
Our new years celebrations look a bit different than they used to, because instead of just us in the cabin, we had some husbands, and a handful of kiddos — who were all were doing their very best to stay quiet while we recorded the episode. (They did great!)
But we really have stayed close throughout so many different seasons of life, and in this episode we’re going to share with you how we’ve done it.
Since we have a few more guests than normal in this episode, here’s how we decided to organize it. Each one of us is standing in as the representative of our season of life. We’re talking about what it looks like for us to be single, to be married without kids, to be a mom who works full-time, and a mom who works from home. We’re each going to be sharing what life is like for us right now, how it feels when friends step into the next season of life ahead of us, and what we need in order to feel really seen, loved, and supported by the people in our corner.
My prayer is that this episode helps you and your girlfriends understand each other’s seasons of life better. I’m praying that as you hear our perspectives, and our stories, it gives y’all a better understanding of what each other is going through. And I’m praying that this episode helps us all know how we can better support each other in every season.
Just a fair warning, we cry in this episode, my friends also tease me a lot in this episode, which is very much to be expected, and we laugh a LOT. I did my very best — through shooting them warning looks, and through editing to keep this from being a full hour of us just giggling together. But I could only do so much. So just be warned. This is girls night to the max.
PIN ME!
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Steph’s book, The Lipstick Gospel (here’s a paperback copy and here’s a free digital download!)
Steph’s new prayer journal, Every Single Moment
See Stephanie’s guide for How to Make Friends in a New City
Quotes Mentioned:
“Just because we're in different seasons of life, doesn't mean we don't still have things to offer each other” - Stephanie
"I'm just going to commit to going through life with these people" - Shannon
"I think isolation is a pretty big commonality in parenthood" - Kelsey
"Over the years, I've had to be incredibly intentional about the people I want to give time to" - Michelle
"I have to know that the friends that I'm hanging out with are my ride or dies" - Michelle
"It's never too late to make a new best friend" - Stephanie
"You should always give your friends the benefit of the doubt" - Shannon
"A huge part of friendship is celebrating each other where you're at" - Kelsey
"Don't assume that people won't understand" - Stephanie
"Be willing to talk about things that aren't your season" - Stephanie
"If you're spending time with people who don't fill you up...just move on.” - Kelsey
“Get comfortable with conflict” - Shannon
CONNECT WITH SHANNON
CONNECT WITH KELSEY
CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE
WE LOVE OUR SPONSORS!
Our sponsor for today’s episode is Hello Fresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/girlsnight10 and use code GIRLSNIGHT10 for 10 free meals including free shipping.
WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT
here’s another resource I know you’ll love!
Every Single Moment
A 100-day prayer journal to help you savor the present and prepare for the future!