Poker, Mahjong, and Becoming Closer Friends Through a Game
The value of poker, mahjong, and other games for making friends and getting closer with the friends you already have. I’m a longtime fan today’s guest, author and podcaster, Mark Oppenheimer, who spoke with me about the value of a regular game with friends. In Mark’s case, he has a longstanding poker game. I talked […]
Listen for What’s Not Being Said with Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin is on Dear Nina to talk about friendship! Welcome to Dear Nina, conversations about Friendship. I’m your host, Nina Badzin. I’ve been writing about friendship since 2014. I lead creative writing groups in Minneapolis, and I’ve been a huge fan of today’s guest since 2009 when The Happiness Project was first published. I […]
Revisiting The Problems and Potential of Group Texts
We Still Need to Work on Group Texts I’m revisiting the problems and potential of group texts (but mostly the problems) because there are still some group text shenanigans I’d love to see go away. I want us to love our group chats with friends! We CAN improve! Hear about some easy ways the groups […]
How to Support a Friend Facing an Ambiguous Loss
Welcome to another episode of Dear Nina: Conversations about Friendship. Today we’re talking about how to support friends facing an ambiguous loss. My guest, Emma Nadler, is a psychotherapist in Minneapolis and the author of The Unlikely Village of Eden. Emma’s incredible memoir is about grief, healing, marriage, friendship, and letting go of believing that […]
Text Your Friends Back and Other Tips on Maintaining Friendships
One of Laura Tremaine’s friendship philosophies is to put connection and relationship on your daily to-do list. And one example of a “to-do” we discussed was this: TEXT YOUR FRIENDS BACK! This came up for Laura after a few friends called her out. After realizing some of her communication mishaps and a few other […]
Unexpected Friends and The Key to Long-term Friendships
It’s better to say something than nothing. Make the hard phone call. Donate to the cause. Let friends help you. Ask questions. Look past what you think you know about people. Assume the best. These are keys to long-term friendship I discussed with Will Schwalbe, author of We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of […]