The friendship breakup has become a feature of modern life: Online, advice abounds on "how to aggressively confront, or even abandon, friends who disappoint us," Olga noted. But what if another solution exists? Instead of firing your friends, psychologists told her, it helps to expand your circle, allowing more people to provide you with different types of support or camaraderie: "Rather than resting on one pillar, healthy friendship is better imagined as crowd-surfing-many hands holding you up," Olga writes.
I was 28 and fed up with the dating scene. Swiping had become a ritual of ghosting, small talk, and scheduling conflicts. I work in business development for a US law firm in Hong Kong and was chasing a promotion, so it was easy to tell myself romance could wait. Then, one night, a casual scroll on Instagram inspired me to try something different.
When Jennifer Austin met Molly in second grade, they quickly became best friends. They giggled through classes until the teacher separated them, inspiring them to come up with their own language. They shared sleepovers and went on each other's family vacations. But they gradually drifted apart after Austin's family moved to Germany before the girls started high school. Decades passed before they recently reconnected as grown women.
We had similar jobs when I started six years ago. During that time, I've had two big promotions, and she has stayed where she is. Her work is well-received, and she always gets positive reviews, so she's frustrated she hasn't been promoted. She asked me to help her figure out what is going on. (When asked, her supervisor didn't give a straight answer, which is typical here.) I think the problem may be how she presents herself. She dresses within the letter of the dress code but more casual than those around her. She takes personal calls within earshot of others and will pop in and out of the office to run errands or pick up her kids from somewhere, and then work from home to make up the time. While technically it is allowed, others don't do this. Only 10% of our job is client-facing, but looking and acting the part is noticed.
A decade ago it was whitewater rafting, ropes courses, and ziplines. This time, to mark a milestone birthday, three longtime friends - Ben, Brice, and I - set our sights on the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), 150 miles of crushed-limestone rail trail threading the Appalachians from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburgh. Ben (a college housemate), sidelined by bad discs, volunteered for logistics and to turn his 2020 Toyota Sienna into a makeshift SAG wagon.
Because her husband has health issues, she retired early to be at home to care for him. She recently confided to me that they haven't been intimate in almost 20 years and that two years ago she started a romantic relationship with a man she knew. She says they both lack physical affection in their marriages and came together to fill that void.
I'm friends with my co-worker, not in the way where we naturally grew close after being forced to spend eight hours a day with each other. We were friends before we became co-workers. When I heard she had applied for the same company, I was excited, but grew wary. I secretly didn't want her to get it. I was scared of what it would do to our relationship.
I'm not just saying that he's lazy, unmotivated, and never takes her out or wants to travel with her, but yes to all of that. I hate how he makes her feel like she's asking for too much out of a partner. I hate how he tells her that he'll do something with her or for her then he doesn't.
At one point, I was resting on a hip thrust machine, letting my mind wander without auditory stimuli beaming directly into my brain - kind of nice, actually - when a woman called, "Hey, do you have a second?" and asked for advice on using the belt squat machine. I was happy to help, and we chatted for a bit before exchanging friendly goodbyes.
When the bill came, it sat on the table for a while; neither of us touched it. Eventually, I picked it up and asked if she wanted to split it, and she said yes immediately. I was caught off guard because she had clearly said beforehand that she wanted to treat me, so I hadn't expected to pay. It's not about the money
Rob had long been an unreliable narrator, and his latest story had been a doozy about owing back rent and borrowing thousands of dollars from a shady loan shark who had threatened him with bodily harm if he was late with his payments. There was always a germ of truth in Rob's stories, and this one involved even more disturbing details, but I was going through some of my own stuff at the time, mainly looking for a new job,
A close friend, "Sam," and his girlfriend, "Emily," are doing something truly terrible. She has a lot of student debt to pay off, so they have come up with a plan. She will date and marry someone rich, and he will pay off her student loans, and then she will break up with him to be with Sam after a few years.
When Sheen wanted to meet Carlos Estévez because the major league pitcher shared Sheen's given name, he turned to his connected friend, Tony Todd. When Sheen was in the throes of a crack addiction, fired from his starring role on "Two and a Half Men" and in need of an unwavering voice of encouragement, he turned to his non-judgmental friend Tony Todd.
Rapping over the singer's own classic 2000 single "One Mo'Gin," the often frenetic Rhymes spends several minutes lovingly celebrating both the man and the artist. (Before letting the remainder of the seven-minute track play out to haunting effectiveness.) Whether you're a fan of one artist and/or both, it's the kind of homage that cuts to the beating heart of D'Angelo's singular legacy.
"That stage of life is all about figuring out who you are, which means emotions run high and identity can feel more fragile," said Kristin Anderson, licensed clinical social worker, founder of Madison Square Psychotherapy . "Because teens are still developing emotion regulation skills, small misunderstandings can escalate quickly in ways that are less common in adult relationships."
You may be taking on too much responsibility for S and T's relationship dynamics. If a simple request about feeling secure in the place where you're sleeping hurts her or drives a wedge in her marriage, that's largely her responsibility. I don't write this to be callous. But think of what you're actually asking: You don't want to be filmed while you sleep. This is not unreasonable in the least.
I have been in recovery for alcohol addiction for almost 31 years. Needless to say, my life is wonderful and so good compared with those years when I was active in my addiction. Recently I was with someone who knew me before recovery. In a room with people who really didn't know me very well, she told the story about how I was drunk, in a blackout and stole something from someone.
I consider them all my best friends even though I have friends in my life that I see more regularly, she wrote, adding that she felt foolish, childish, to be so upset, especially given her vintage.
Until recently, my best friend, Josh, couldn't name a single Disney ride. Meanwhile, I've visited nearly every park worldwide and subscribe to Disney blogs. When a last-minute work trip sent him to Asia, he decided to take an extra week of vacation. Since his wife couldn't get the time off, he asked me to join him for our first guys' trip in a decade.
For decades, Moncler has been associated with winter and puffer jackets, but I have always felt that Moncler is about something deeper: love and a sense of togetherness. These values have shaped everything we've done for over 70 years. Across every product and every campaign, there runs a consistent thread of emotion and human connection. Through their story of friendship, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro embody everything Moncler truly stands for: affection, warmth, and the belief that we are all better and warmer together.
As a lifelong proponent of close friends and tight circles, I saw this as my opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and meet new people, whether that was in my Shakespeare class or at random cafés around the city. I'd lived in the Midwestern suburbs my whole life before moving to Syracuse (a place that didn't feel much different) for school. So, in London, I was looking forward to making friends in a new kind of cityscape.
On the small screen, Wood specialises in vulnerability the kind of characters who survive life despite having a layer of skin missing. You watch in the nail-biting hope that their courage will be enough to see them through and that the people they meet will be kind. It makes sense that Film Club, Wood's first foray into writing (with Ralph Davis), is built round another variation on this theme.
The clubs are strict they have security guards, and apparently everyone expects you to wear high heels and tiny dresses, neither of which are really my style. On two occasions, my friends and their tiny dresses were approved by the bouncer, but my mom jeans and I were not. I was embarrassed, but the fact that my friends decided not to go in made me feel a lot better.