Building Fun Friendships in an Isolated World with Blake Blankenbecler

“If you are having trouble with your friends, it doesn’t mean you are a bad friend; It means you are a human friend.”

Air Date

August 22, 2022

Listen + Subscribe

Have you felt lonelier in your friendships and relationships since the pandemic? 2020 changed the landscape of friendships and relationships today. Beyond that, friendships already aren’t given the same weight in our culture as a dating relationship or a marriage typically gets. To help us discuss how we can build more sustainable friendships in a post-pandemic world is Blake Blankenbecler, creator of the Friendship Deck and a licensed therapist dedicated to being a “Friendship Educator.” We hope this episode is valuable for you this week!

Guest Bio

Blake Blankenbecler, LPC is a psychodynamic therapist specializing in anxiety, trauma, and eating disorders. She has a private practice called Fig Holistic Psychotherapy in Charleston, South Carolina where she gets to help folks come into greater compassion and integration with their story, their body, and their emotions. Out of her work emerged a desire to study some of the most foundational and pivotal relationships that hardly get anytime in the spotlight: our friendships. She believes that life is meant to be lived in connection and helps friends have more meaningful conversations and create more sustainable friendships. Blake recently released The Friendship Deck, a game for friends to play to help them navigate modern friendships as an adult this August.

Key Takeaways

Friendships start out based on similarities. If they never grow beyond similarities, then those friends remain at an arm’s distance.
Friendships hit the next level when they can hold space for differences.
“To have just a few really great friends is truly vital to your wellbeing.”
As we grow and heal, we sometimes realize that certain behaviors that we previously accepted are no longer healthy to tolerate in a friendship.
“The pandemic created a boiling pot that brought so much stuff to the forefront.”
Give yourself space to feel the legitimate hurt and grief about lost friendships.
As you seek to make new friendships, learn to embrace the awkwardness and minimize the new. We loved Blake’s advice here!