Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends

Friendshipping podcast cohosts and pals Bane and Garritano offer a handy guide to making friends and maintaining friendships. Geared to young adults who are leaving a school environment for the first time, the advice focuses first on using “metathinking,” or “thinking about the way you think,” as a tool for “noticing strengths and weaknesses” and understanding how one learns. This, the authors posit, is the key to getting over one’s awkwardness concerning small talk and other aspects of friendship that might fill one with dread. The authors provide tips on a range of topics, including how to find new friends by starting a club or organizing a get-together, how to break up with a friend, how to ask friends to stop setting one up on dates, and what to do when a friendship seems like it might be turning into romance. They also consider how to bring a friendship from online to real life and the benefits and pitfalls of social media use. The authors successfully translate the conversational, easygoing tone of the podcast in their upbeat admonitions to be proactive with friendships. Those looking to bring more intentionality and kindness to relationships will get much out of this. (Nov.)