Making friends and deepening existing friendships starts with some basic truths.

• “Every friendship starts with an act of bravery. And every friendship goes to the next level because of someone’s act of bravery. “
• “Do not wait for the other person to make the first move. It’s always your turn.”

These are just two of many wise and thoughtful quotes about making friends and deepening friendships from today’s guests, Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston.

Amy, Jess, and I—three friendship enthusiasts—shared times we’ve been brave in making friends and deepening those friendships as well as times we’ve struggled.

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MEET AMY AND JESS

Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston are cofounders of the viral page all about friendship, Sister, I Am with You. They coauthored the new book, Here For It and the Wall Street Journal bestseller I’ll Be There (But I’ll Be Wearing Sweatpants) and have been featured in national news such as Good Morning America to talk about friendship. They are friends first, business partners second, and absolutely adore any time they can spend together in real life (eating queso) and laughing till they ache.

Find Amy & Jess on: Facebook, Instagram, and on their Website.

We covered:

• Some of our own personal stories of the brave act of making friends, including how Amy and Jess met online and formed a real friendship
• The fear of rejection
• The fear of being awkward
• Letting go of assumptions you’ve made about what everyone is thinking
• The fear of leaving others out
• Finding a pickleball game!
• Focusing on the people who say yes and don’t fixate on the people who are not interested
• Not giving up all of your power to make friendships happen
• Intentionality and vulnerability in deepening friendships
• The fear of sharing who you really are
• Asking good questions
• Allowing kids and teens to experience friendship bumps (not trying to fix everything)

All transcripts are available on the main Buzzsprout “Dear Nina” site. Click on any episode and find the transcript tab.